Go with the MSI more bang for the buck IMO. Also bought my fiancee this laptop.
We cant really ask for more especially about build quality and battery life while trying to lower the price and maintain better performance.
For build quality there are always UMPCs with better build and longer battery life but the performance is not that comparable to the Atom chip and the price difference is huge too.
There is also the HP mini 1000 which has a great design that start at $359 (in the US).