MSI Wind desktops and laptops exposed and fondled, Atom seen by all

MSI has been teasing us with its Atom-based laptops and desktops for some time now, so it's only right that they finally give it up and let some journalist rip open a Wind for some straight-up circuit porn. Confirmed on the board are the aforementioned Atom 230 processor, 1GB DDR2-533 RAM, a 160GB SATA drive, gigabit ethernet, a DVD combo drive, 65-watt power supply, and passive cooling with that gargantuan heatsink. As for performance, testers say the machine was capable of playing 720P video without much ado, but wouldn't deal with 1080P. On the laptop side of things, it looks as though the U100 will come in a whole rainbow of colors beyond the red, black, white, and pink we've already seen. Nothing new on that side other than the usual "is it still $399?"

Read - Up close with MSI desktop in Taipei
Read - Extreme closeup with MSI Wind notebooks

[John @ May 27th 2008 9:22AM]

I just broke Wind.

[Scott Culp @ May 27th 2008 9:31AM]

Man that desktop version looks like a cheap toy!

[Scott Culp @ May 27th 2008 9:35AM]

And I hope they decide to leave that graphic off the case of the laptop. Looks like bird crap target practice.

[KEROLiUKAS @ May 27th 2008 9:40AM]

Lookin' Good.

[Taling Hallenthur @ May 27th 2008 9:57AM]

It seems that the motherboard on the photo doesn't have anything to do with MSI Wind.

[peekinde @ May 27th 2008 10:06AM]

that girl = ew

[Xepol @ May 27th 2008 11:20AM]

The plastic top on one doesn't look limited to just the white - it almost looks like it continues up and some how blends right into her skin...

That isn't as freaky as the second girl who looks like someone actually stapled a smile onto her face (or nailed it on - what the heck is going on there???)

Maybe they were going for the android look or something. Either way, it's seriously distrubing.

[dale_nx26 @ May 27th 2008 8:10PM]

omg. that's the freakiest looking girl I've ever seen!

[Jack @ May 27th 2008 10:12AM]

Man, I'm having such a hard time. I'm definitely getting an ultra-portable before the summer's end (I've spent 4 semesters too many lugging a heavy 15.4 inch HP dv5000z around campus)... but I don't know which one to get.

I was in love with the eee 900. But the 901 looks like a complete devolution of the eee brand (that, and the Atom is not the holy saviour it was hyped to be). That, and the 901's price bump (650) is pushing it into my no-man's land.

I really dig the styling of the Wind (considering the toy-like nature of the 901), but I'm concerned 10-inches is pushing the size a smidgen to large. That, and I prefer the eee's SSD over the HDD of the Wind. But it does have an LED-backlit screen -- which I louvre.

Side-note: I strongly dislike the HP mininote. Personal preference on style. I know it's shallow, but whatever.

Help engadgeteers... should I just hold off until late August before dumping my monies, or should I just get a 900 while I still can?

[josh @ May 27th 2008 10:22AM]

Jack: Honestly, there are so many coming out that, unless you need something right now, you're going to see all these manufacturers and distributors settle on a price point this summer / fall. Will be interesting, at least to me, to see there they end up - $399 seems to be the starting point, but with units coming from elsewhere for under $300, I'm gonna be waiting.

[James Petersen @ May 27th 2008 10:20AM]

I've had enough money saved for an ultra-portable for about 3 months now and it's been burning a massive hole in my pocket.
I've finally settled on the XP version of the MSI Wind. XP so I can run Cubase and I can always stick Ubuntu on it at a later date.
The Wind isn't too much bigger than the eee as the photos on http://www.itechnews.net/2008/05/26/msi-wind-laptop-reviewed-and-compared/ show.
Personally, I love the look of the HP but couldn't do with that puny processor.

[pundit @ May 27th 2008 10:22AM]

Send a note to askatengadgetdawtcom then you'll get help, maybe. There are lots of options and you should probably note what kind of performance, hard-drive size, etc. etc. that you need.

[Jack @ May 27th 2008 12:44PM]

@Josh: Yeah, I definitely think that may be the best bet... I haven't even seen what Dell has to offer yet.

@James Petersen: That was actuallly a helpful link. I followed it back to the original, which was (translated) but helpful:
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://article.pchome.net/content-630588-1.html
Also, that site has an awesome video that made me love the MSi Wind a little more (vid took a while to buffer for me):
http://www.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Farticle.pchome.net%2Fcontent-630588-1.html&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=zh-CN&tl=en

@Pundit: I'll surely do that once we know what's coming later this summer.

Thanks fellahs

[Jack @ May 27th 2008 12:46PM]

Hrm. My second link leads to the same place as my first. Well anyways, the video is on Page 15. They speak in some strange devil-tongue, but it was still relatively informative (somehow).

[Dan S. @ May 27th 2008 10:48AM]

"And so, I'm riding my bike in the park, and this PC comes up and says 'Oy! You can't do that!' And I say 'Can't I?' And then its case falls off and it's struggling to cover up its motherboard and processor, but it's too late because, I've seen everything. I've seen it all."

[0150r @ May 27th 2008 10:55AM]

The motherboard pictured in the first link has PS2 and serial connections which are absent from the desktop case...the desktop has more audio connections as well.

[d00b @ May 27th 2008 11:03AM]

Desktop design is same-old. Serial & parallel ports in this age? No video out other than VGA? It needs onboard GPU for multiple 1080p feeds (for a media server) and HDMI ports, plus a mini-PCI slot for wireless option.

Re: Wind Notebook - Right Shift key would be better placed to the right of the Up cursor (the cursor T moved in a little), then all the lower right keys wouldn't be so squished. And it would be nice to have dedicated PgUp/Dn keys. Thinkpad keyboard layout have been around forever. Why don't more co's copy it?

[coffee @ May 27th 2008 1:36PM]

1. not designed for multiple 1080p feeds, nor is it a media server. agreed on the ports. remember the intent of the box and likely price point, it's not a monster mini-pc, it's a desktop version of the Wind -web surfing, email, light office duties.

2. I haven't seen a 10" thinkpad keyboard layout resembling what you're describing. compromises are made for size. Plus the touchpad likely has a scroller built in.

[SteveS @ May 27th 2008 5:16PM]

Where does the 1.6GHz Atom fit into the world of desktop processors? I've seen preliminary benchmarks but no "exhaustive" ones...

[Ayle @ May 27th 2008 6:37PM]

Desktop processor? It is weaker than the cheapest cpu you can find on newegg.

[steve @ May 28th 2008 6:20PM]

On the software side of it - Suse has a remote desktop client right? I'm not familiar with Suse.

[Giles @ Jun 4th 2008 8:20AM]

Wonder if it will be fine handling 1080P if you added a graphics card - would be the basis of a cute, silent HTPC if so... :)