Short of height and of wide girth, is how we’d like to describe the U130. Its footprint is small, thanks to the 10-inch display, however, it could have been smaller. Although any smaller and the keypad would have become unnecessarily cramped, as it is it’s barely usable. The U130 is squat though, unnecessarily so, thanks to the absence of any sort of streamlining of the body on MSIs part and an extruding battery pack. It feels pretty solid and the plastics used are pretty thick and without flex, unlike some flimsier stuff we’ve seen in the past. A glossy black lid embossed with fine dark grey lines is nothing special, but there’s something about the overall effect that is nice. MSI follows the glossy lid with a smooth black finish inside which as a whole, other than its thickness the U130 isn’t too bad looking. As mentioned, the bezel will not appeal to our slim-everything loving generation. Under the lid, the left/right click is a single strip and while small, it is easy to use, though the button feels unnecessarily clicky. The choice of material on the trackpad is good for accurate tracking and there is a great balance between grip and slip; the mouse buttons are a bit hard to press. The keys are slightly smaller than what is considered comfortable. Key spacing is a little on the skimpy side. To be honest notebook, users will struggle to adjust.Unfortunately it seems a larger surface area on the top of each key would have helped, instead MSI chose to have keys with sloping sides – meaning a lot of potential contact area between your fingerpads and the keypad is missing. Towards the right side on the bottom edge of the palmrest is a group of LED indicators. There are no shortcut keys and the power button feels clicky, thankfully it’s black – no garish chrome here.

The control key on the left is not the corner key – an ergonomic goof up many netbook vendors are guilty of, and one that there is just no getting used to. The speakers exhibit a complete lack of bass; in fact LF sounds are missed for the most part. The webcamera despite its impressive rating of 1.3 megapixels is pretty ordinary, but better than the other 0.3-megapixel units out there. Just make sure you use it in well-illuminated surroundings.

Finding Windows 7 Starter Edition was a nice surprise, as was the performance in the Wi-Fi test. DisplayMate trashes the screen. At 1024 x 600 pixels, a product highlight it is not. Brightness levels are okay, but the colour and contrast is very minimal. The resolution might be a problem for hardcore internet-junkies. Note that the U130 is based on the new Pinetrail platform and this makes it a frugal performer when it comes to power consumption, even though MSI cheated a bit by sending us a 6 cell battery. The U130 is generally available with a 3 cell; the 6 cell being optional. We were able to get over five and half hours – not bad at all. Shockingly, this tiny netbook chalked up the highest 3D Mark scores, including the CPU score, a testament to its new innards. Incidentally, the model we received did not have support for a SIM, although this is optional.

Rs. 23,000 may seem like a lot to pay for a netbook, but such is always the case with new hardware. Expect a price drop within the next five months as competing models also incorporate Pinetrail. However, MSI can do a lot more in the looks department; for when blowing close to 23,000 rupees on a netbook, we expect a bit of glitz.
 

Short of height and of wide girth, is how we’d like to describe the U130. Its footprint is small, thanks to the 10-inch display, however, it could have been...