MSI on Friday started shipping its Wind U123 netbook to the US. The 10-inch system we tried at CTIA is MSI's first with the slightly faster 1.66GHz Atom N280 and centers on battery life; a relatively large 6-cell pack is stock, and an optional 9-cell unit extends its battery life to over 8 hours. Lid colors are less conservative with blue and red as options.

A basic model starts at $350 with the 6-cell battery, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a 1.3-megapixel webcam and 802.11g Wi-Fi. Advancing to the 9-cell battery lifts the price to $380 but also adds Bluetooth and 802.11n wireless. MSI hasn't said when expected versions with internal 3G (the U123H) and TV tuning (U123T) will be available.