The Netbook Heads to the Desktop with MSI Wind Top
Much has been made about the growing popularity of the netbook--aka, the miniaturized laptops with 8- to 10-inch screens and low-power processors that are designed primarily for surfing the web and geared toward students (for examples, see the Asus Eee PC and Acer Aspire One). Now the stripped down functionality of these netbooks is getting transmogrified into an all-in-one desktop computer (à la the iMac and the HP Touchsmart), with the Wind Top AE1900 from MSI (which also manufactures the popular Wind netbook) joining the ASUS Eee Top in this new nettop space.
The Wind Top has an 18.5-inch LCD display (beating the Eee Top's 15.6-inch screen) that includes touchscreen capabilities, enabling you to use the MSI SoftStylus application to browse, enlarge, rotate and scan through all your images with the swipe of a finger. It's also powered by Windows XP and integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics (which shares video memory with the 1 GB of system RAM), includes an integrated webcam, and comes in two flavors--the 01SUS with 1.6 GHz Intel Atom 230 processor/160 GB hard drive and 05SUS with a dual-core 1.6 GHz Intel Atom 330 processor/250 GB hard drive. And just in time for Earth Day, MSI reminds us that the AE1900 consumes 80 percent less energy then a traditional desktop PC at no more then 50 watts of power.
True, the Wind Top is not a computing powerhouse like the iMac or HP Touchsmart, but it's not designed to be. And starting at $530 for the 01SUS, it's a pretty good choice as a PC for the kids' room or the kitchen. Both Wind Top models are available for pre-order, but MSI is promising to ship the 01SUS starting this week.
--Agen G.N. Schmitz
Donald Sensign on April 22, 2009 at 07:27 AM
According to the Amazon sales page for both computers, they ship with Vista basic. Bummer.
davod on April 22, 2009 at 07:34 AM
1GB of Ram does not seem to be enough, especially with shared video memory.
PapayaSF on April 22, 2009 at 09:10 AM
A touch-screen desktop? That'll build up your shoulder muscles....
submandave on April 22, 2009 at 02:50 PM
I don't see why they don't jump on the most obvious niche market: an HDMI output Wi/Fi box to plug direct into your HDTV. Couple with a BlueTooth input device and you've satisfied 80%+ of the average consumer's computer needs.
TS Alfabet on April 22, 2009 at 04:17 PM
here's the deal though...desktops are going the way of the dinosaur. Eventually there won't be any need to have any programs stored on a "Home Computer" as all of the programs and data-- photos, documents, etc.. will be remotely accessed. So the "thing" sitting on your desk is essentially just a monitor that shows you the video feed of whatever program you've logged into on that powerful, remote computer... "cloud computing" is here to stay.
All we will care about in a year or two is the monitor and interaction tools-- mouse, touch screen, keyboard. Operating system will be irrelevant as the remote computer will have the op system and we will be logging on to sites that may use Unix or Windows or OSX or Linux or whatever. Everything we can think to do now with a computer will be a question of finding an on-line provider we are comfortable with at a price we are comfortable with.
bud on April 22, 2009 at 04:57 PM
Cloud computing?
Just another way to say "All your data are belong to us."
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