By Chris Scott Barr

While Apple has more or less defined the all-in-one computer, they’re certainly not the only ones in the game. MSI has announced their latest AIO desktop, which offers a few things to the average user that you won’t find in Apple’s iMac.

The Wind Top AE2010 features a 20-inch screen (1440×900 resolution), AMD Athlon X2 (1.5GHz), ATI Radeon 3200 (with 128MB of DDR3 memory) and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. Other features include a 1.3MP webcam, 4-in-1 card reader, 802.11 b/g/n wireless and gigabit ethernet.

The things that really set the Wind Top apart from the competition are it’s touchscreen functionality, and the inclusion of both VGA in and out. While it’s not uncommon to see an AIO with the ability to use a second monitor, it is very rare to see on that can actually be turned into a monitor when needed. Just imagine, you could essentially have this and a second monitor, and a second computer at your desk. Then you could run them both separately, or use either of the computers with dual monitors. Sure, not everyone needs that sort of thing, but it’s still pretty cool to know it’s there if needed.

The Wind Top AE2010 looks great (though I’m not sure what’s up with the little leather strip under the screen), and at $650 seems to offer a lot at a decent price. Look for it on sale sometime this month.

[ MSI ]

By Shane McGlaun

MSI has been introducing notebooks at a fast pace over the last few months. It seems the firm is trying to take advantage of its newfound name recognition thanks to its popular line of Wind netbooks. Most of the new notebooks that MSI has been unveiling recently sport discreet NVIDIA GPUs, as does its latest notebook announcement.

The new MSI GX723 has an NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 graphics card with 512MB of RAM. The machine can be optioned with up to 4GB of RAM and 320GB or 500GB HDDs; Bluetooth is optional and Wi-Fi is integrated. The notebook has a 17-inch screen with a resolution of 1680 x 1050.

The brains of the machine is an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU coupled with an Intel PM45-ICH9 chipset. HDMI out is built-in and Blu-ray is optional to take advantage of the HDMI output. A plan vanilla DVD burner is standard. MSI offers a stock 6-cell battery and an optional 9-cell unit. Pricing and availability are unknown at this time.

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By Shane McGlaun

MSI was relatively unknown as a computer maker here in America until the netbook revolution and the firm unveiled the wind U100. The little U100 was one of the better netbooks on the market. MSI is now getting ready to launch its own MacBook Air competitors with two new X-Slim models called the X400 and X600 coming soon (we think).

The exact price and launch date for the X400 and X600 are unknown. What we do know is that the X400 will have a 14-inch screen and boast a super thin Li-poly battery with the entire notebook weighing 1.5kg. The X600 will offer a 15-inch screen with a total weight of only 2.1 kg. The X600 will also sport a discrete GPU.

The two machines are similar to the X340 that was previously announced and features an Intel Core 2 solo ULV processor. It would be safe to expect the X400 and X600 to sport the Intel ULV processors as well, though possibly dual-core variants. An 8-cell battery is optional on the X400 and a 9-cell unit can be added to the X600. Both machines will use external optical drives.

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By Shane McGlaun

A few years ago most computer users had probably never heard of MSI. After the netbook revolution began the MSI Wind surfaced as one of the better netbooks on the market and brought the brand to the masses.

MSI has unveiled a new and very slick looking new notebook computer with a 15.6-inch screen. If Darth Vader had a laptop the GX633 would be it with its brushed black aluminum and red trim. Also featured on the notebook are MSI’s turbo mode and ECO Engine.

Turbo mode overclocks the notebook when on AC power for more performance at the press of a button and the ECO Engine allows the user to tweak power settings by pressing a button for different uses. MSI uses a 15.6-inch LCD on the machine and it uses an AMD Turion X2 Ultra dual-core processor. Graphics are via the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M and the machine has 4GB of RAM and up to 500GB of storage. Blu-ray is optional as well.

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By Shane McGlaun

I am a big fan of PC gaming and I really like computer hardware as well. I am not really that into overclocking though, I prefer to get my video cards overclocked from the factory so I don’t worry about frying what I just spent big money on.

If you are into overclocking things like your video cards, MSI has the perfect new product for you called the N260GTX Lightning and Lightning Black Edition. Both of the cards feature solid caps for durability and a world’s first 10 phase PWM.

The PWM has 8 phases for the GPU and two for the memory allowing for more stability when overclocking. Both of the cards also double the standard GTX 260 RAM to 1792MB. The Black Edition has a touch sensitive Air Force panel that lets users overclock the video card from the front of their computer as needed. Pricing and availability are unknown.

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