MSI Titan 700 mini-PC gets reviewed

We weren't exactly hot on MSI's Titan 700 mini-PC when it first hit back in May, and now that TrustedReviews has had a chance to look one over, it looks like our initial impression wasn't that far off the mark. Although the diminutive case was stylish in an industrial way, the fit and finish left something to be desired, and the DVD door is apparently rather convoluted. The machine itself, powered by a ULV 2GHz VIA C7M, is "annoyingly audible" when running, and you're not getting a ton of horsepower in return -- a 720p AVI file barely played, and a .mov at the same res brought Windows Media Player to its knees. Like we said last time, unless space is at a premium, you're probably better off investing $500 into a real PC -- even if that means you have to forgo the Darth Vader looks.

[nanobis @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:04AM]

ha sounld like my home desktop, just a bit smallr

[cy21 @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:05AM]

is it just me or is everyone just copying ASUS ?

[ShadowKain @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:14AM]

Em, HP has been doing this for quite some time with their slim line of desktop PC's. And they do it quite well in comparison. If one likes these sort of things, I would much rather suggest the HP slim lines over this. Granted, the slim line HP offers may be 2-3 inches taller or what not, but it is a heck of a lot better contructed, I used to sell them in my former retail days ( 5 months ago lol, but sold them during my 2 1/2 years). But it does* seem many companies are jumping on the "small and annoyingly cheap bandwagon" these days. I wish they would focus their efforts elsewhere into more quality components and design. Via chip loud? Come on VIA...

[initialxy @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:07AM]

so this is not the wind desktop version eh?

[TimeyWimeyStuff @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:20AM]

Get a Mac Mini if you want a small media center.

Plays 720p x264 MKV's fine

And you can even put XP Media Center/Vista on it if you want

[w00t @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:37AM]

Not only that, but you get a much more potent core 2 duo, it's virtually inaudible unless you stress it, it has a slot loading DVD drive and it looks nicer!

Oh, and if Windows is your thing installing it is as easy as holding down alt at boot with the disk in :)

[Neeko @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:56AM]

i would consider the mac mini but a HTPC provides better video resolution options plus the ability to play games if i want. Not sure about the specs on the video card on a mac mini.

[Richard Lai @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:26AM]

A bit of a big name for such a small PC.

[Fusion Fuzo @ Jul 3rd 2008 7:27AM]

YUK

[DiRT @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:01AM]

Call me crazy, but I prefer this look at anything by Apple. Why can't every computer look like a Robocop/ED-209 lovechild?

[inno8sky @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:39AM]

Are you guys sure it was Windows Media Player that you were using to watch .mov files? As far as I know, there are two players that will play .mov files, that piece of garbage quicktime (one of the many apple disasters) and VLC.

[Fusion Fuzo @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:00AM]

@inno8sky
and real player

[i961vw @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:52AM]

Egh. Looks like a computer built in the 80s.

[Charlie @ Jul 5th 2008 1:52AM]

Most of the above comments are fair and accurate. Where this box shines is if you use it as a home server that is left on 24/7. It will use considerably less power and thus emit less heat than all the other machines mentioned. With 0 cpu loading and drives spun down it will only use ~1watt. Under full load it uses around ~25watts this makes it environmentally friendly and electricity bill friendly.