MSI Wind Top AE1900 Launched…But Why?

Quite a while back MSI released the Wind Top AP1900 which aimed to bring together the style of an Apple iMac and the success of the MSI Wind netbook together – and although it wasn’t unsuccessful it didn’t set the world alight.

But, undeterred, they have tried again and the sum of their efforts is the MSI Wind Top AE1900 which manages to cram in its marketing more of the markets favourite words than the dictionary – phrases like ‘environmentally friendly’ touch screen’ and ‘high efficiency’ all of which make it sound very promising, so we thought it was worth a look.

So let’s start with the looks, which are an immediate reference Apple. In fact if it wasn’t for the letters ‘MSI’ on the front you would be forgiven for thinking that it was a new Apple iMac concept, but I think that is definitely more of a compliment than a bad thing! You’ll also notice the fact that it is widescreen (a 16:9 ratio) and that it has a 1.3 megapixel webcam sitting on the top.

As I have already mentioned it has a touch screen, and this is probably the biggest improvement from the AP1900 allowing it to be used as a computer in the less traditional sense – as a home hub allowing quick access to the internet, music, video and other media, which it will undoubtedly do in a very similar way to the iMac, but at a lower cost.

The screen has a few of other positives as well – a 5 millisecond response time, a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a brightness of 250cd/m2 all of which make using the touchscreen easy and enjoyable to do.

Another of the features that the marketing plays on is its energy saving credentials – it only uses 45 watts of power when in full operation which MSI claim is an 80% saving on a traditional Desktop PC (interestingly this is 10W more than its predecessor; this is probably due to the fact that this uses a touch screen).

This is mostly down to the Intel Atom 230 processor that is used – one that is very similar to the kind that you will find in netbooks. The graphics (Intel GMA950) are also identical to the kind that you will experience in a netbook; this really isn’t for playing games on. However it is very quiet as it has a sound level that will ‘never’ exceed 26 decibels which (according to the marketing department) is the same as in a library.

So, these specifications combined with the normal array of ports, DVD drive and n-WiFi you will have a neat little package that will do everything you need (so long as it’s only looking on the internet, playing media and doing word documents) in a slim stylish bundle – and all at a price that will be cheaper than an iMac (admittedly we don’t actually know but it is 99.9% certain).

The only question you need to ask is – “Do I really need an MSI Wind Top AE1900?” I personally struggle to see its function; it is no good as your first desktop as it isn’t powerful enough to do any of the more intensive tasks that you may need to do every once in a while (like open up a .pdf [heavy sarcasm!] ) and it isn’t portable enough to function as a tablet/portable device, and there is no point in having it as a media centre if you have either of the above as they can both do it… I’ll let you decide!

Via – Engadget

Related Pages:

1. New Apple iMac Update (October 2009)
2. Apple iMac & Mac Mini Updated
3. Archos 10 Netbook Launched
4. New iPod Shuffle Goes Minimalist
5. Facebook Lite Launched – A Faster and Cleaner Interface!

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