One of the main Wind Nettop 120 features is its compactness, in the volume of a thick file is hidden fully functional desktop machine. In fact I dare to say - more functional than some assembled ones. Don't get me wrong though, that statement of mine is valid only for the physical interaction between user and computer. Performance is something different, we'll focus on it later.
The Wind front panel allows access to two USB connectors, card reader, standard jacks for headphones and microphone and DVD writer. Unfortunately even though very comfortable to use in horizontal computer position it is not so in vertical. Problem is that when the computer is in vertical position operating the DVD becomes a tad ill at ease, if the unwritten rule to position the computer on the right of the monitor is observed (even placed under the level of the monitor the computer is usually on the right of it). In this situation loading and removing disks is done "blindly", which is a nuisance and also doesn't allow use of mini CD's and DVD's (which isn't all that bad, but still). Of course you could flip the Nettop a further 180 degrees, though that positioning evidently contradicts all other markings, and by simply moving the computer on the left of the monitor all above said becomes irrelevant and the problem is "solved". A quick search in the Internet still proves that MSI are no fools and Wind Nettop CS 120 has a much more suitable solution to all this – a Slot-load DVD.
On the back panel we find four additional USB connectors, RJ-45 LAN connector, D-sub connector, power connector, jacks for the 7.1 channel sound and the wireless card antenna. Quite enough considering the computer's purpose.
Not much to be said about the side panels, they're there and do what is expected – they complete the case. Except brand and legalization labels on them the other things worth mentioning are two - the bottom panel (in horizontal position) has rubber legs that prevent it from slipping on any surface and the bottom panel (in Vertical position) is almost entirely ventilated for providing sufficient air flow.
Once I saw the shell I had to peek inside. And interesting the insides were indeed. As with any brand-name machines Wind has few major (conditional) modules. The front panel is one of them, the second is the one in which are mounted the hard drive, optical drive, light indicators and power button. The third (and last) module is actually the case/chassis to which the motherboard is mounted on.
As you already know (from Wind specifications) the type of memory used is SO-DIMM (as in laptops) and even though unbacked by anything I did expect to find at least two slots. That would allow a bit of a freedom for upgrading, unfortunately with the single slot there is should you get more memory the available stick will be of no use to you. Another interesting decision is to use yet again another typical laptop component, namely - the wireless network card. Since I'm no expert it's difficult for me to assess if the use of a standard card would be a problem, but I assume that the chosen method at least avoids adding a PCI or PCI-E slot on the motherboard, compensating for the larger card size and the higher power consumption.
The boldly announced 2 Sata ports are actually occupied by the hard drive and the optical drive. With so compact computer more are hardly needed, still one eSata would be greatly appreciated. Curious thing is there is a Compact Flash reader on the motherboard that hasn't been mentioned anywhere. Its placement suggest its use as a card reader was never intended, but also suggests another possibility – using it with CF/Microdrive.
The last element I focused on was the cooler of the chipset and the CPU. As you can see from the photos it's passive. That on one hand is good choice for cool computer that is to be silent too. But on the other hand unfortunately the module with the hard drive and the optical drive hover half of it when assembled. And while the disk MSI choose is a cold one, if you change it, because of the confined space that particular place could become a hot spot.
Views: 2459 
