With a little luck and some excellent timing (and if my recent eBay buyers pay up), I’ll have my brand new sub-notebook just in time for next Thursday’s Harrisburg bloggers / Twitter-users / new media meetup.  The MSI Wind goes on sale here in the US at $399 for the Linux (SUSE) version and $499 for the Windows XP version.  Look for it at Costco and Best Buy — as well as mail-order via Amazon and friends — starting this Monday 6/16/08.

The Wind is gaining rave reviews over and over and over again.  It lacks some features of full-on “desktop replacement” laptops such as an optical drive and 17″ screen.  But it does come with everything you need for most everyday computing tasks, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, 3 USB 2.0 ports, a near-full-size keyboard, and a whopping five-to-seven hours of battery life.  Although I plan on purchasing a full-power 17″ notebook later this summer, this should fit the bill for my everyday websurfing and system administration.  And, let’s face it, I’m going to be a lot more comfortable bringing a $400 notebook on a road trip than I would feel with a $1500 notebook.

The meetup, as always, is taking place at The Abbey, which is the second floor of Appalachian Brewing Company on Cameron Street.  We’ll be there 7-9, tossing around more web buzzwords than a 1998 Venture Capitalists’ conference.  Come hang out and meet your fellow bloggers / Twitters / local new media users.