MSI has unveiled its latest netbook, although for some reason it seems like MSI has dropped the Wind branding for the U115, which is otherwise a rather interesting option on the netbook market. MSI claims it is the first hybrid storage netbook and we can't really argue with them about it, as we haven't heard about anyone putting both an SSD and a hard drive in a netbook before.

We have to say that we like MSI's technical terms in the press release, as according to it, the U115 has "super long" battery life when set to run in ECO mode. There's no explanation as to how long the battery lasts and maybe MSI wants to keep this as a surprise for a future demo, maybe at CES 2009.

Unlike previous netbooks from MSI, the U115 is based on the Menlow platform and as such uses a Z530 Atom processor which is clocked at 1.6GHz and the CPU is paired up with the US15W chipset. This is part of the reason behind MSI's "super long" battery life.

The hybrid storage solution consists of either an 8GB SSD and a 120GB hard drive or a 16GB SSD and a 160GB hard drive. When you set the U115 to ECO mode, the SSD takes over and the hard drive powers down.

Other specifications include a 10-inch LED backlit LCD display with 1,024x600 resolution, 1GB of DDR2 memory, a range of WiFi options, depending on model, including either 802.11b/g/n or 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, a 1.3 or 2 Megapixel Webcam, a 4-in-1 memory card reader, three USB 2.0 ports, a D-sub connector, an Ethernet port and a pair of audio jacks.

The U115 will come with either a three or six-cell battery and with the three-cell battery it weighs in at 1kg. The U115 measures 260x180x31.5mm (WxDxH) at its thickest point. No pricing or availability has been revealed, but we'd expect the U115 to be slightly more expensive than your average netbook due to the dual-drive configuration.

You can find the press release with a couple of pictures here

Also read

MSI to revamp the Wind with new CPU