So how close is an MSI Wind clone to the real thing? Pretty damn close. Today the Averatec Buddy (N1000) was dropped at our office by the netbook stork. The Buddy is a rebranded MSI Wind and has had few changes made to its chassis and internal organs. The Averatec has a similar glossy black lid to the Wind, but has a black matte frame around it. Under the hood, there is no noticeable difference in the look and feel of the keyboard, palm rest or screen. Check out our video below for a comparison between the two netbooks. So why would someone get an Averatec Buddy over a MSI WInd, other than its cute name? We aren't really sure. The Averatec Buddy is priced at $479.99, compared to the WInd which is going for $449.99 (for the 3-cell version) on Amazon.com at the moment. The Averatec does have a larger hard drive at 160GB (the Wind has a 120GB HDD) and comes with CyberLinks YouCam software and a 60-day trial of Norton AntiVirus. But the Averatec lacks Bluetooth which comes standard on the MSI Wind. The rest of the specs remain the same: 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB of RAM, 1.3-MP webcam. Like the lower-cost Wind, the Avaratec comes with only a 3-cell battery. Unlike the Wind, there is no 6-cell version available. Our guess is that you would choose the Averatec Buddy if you are a fan of the Averatec brand and if the Averatec happens to be available at retailers that don't stock the MSI Wind. Or of course, if it freefalls in price. [flq:c51cb1e09e034a5a9ffad835e3de94cb]
