MSI showcases new Blu-ray-equipped Wind Box DE200, we go hands-on

MSI hasn't made a big fuss about it, but the Wind Box DE200 is new for CeBIT 2009. The unit seems to be the bigger brother of its Wind Box DC100, and while we're stoked about the optional Blu-ray player, we're seriously doubting that the listed Celeron M 550 (2GHz) is the only CPU available. The unit also comes loaded with NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M GPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard drive, 802.11n WiFi, HDMI and DVI outputs, Windows Vista Home edition, a multicard reader, audio in / out, Ethernet, a few USB 2.0 ports and an overly glossy enclosure. We've no pricing or release information to share just yet, but you can peek a few more angles down in the gallery below.

MSI showcases new Wind Box DE200, we go hands-on

[adokimus Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:15PM]

Waiting on the pricepoint... would make a nice hackintosh mini

[proxifuel Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:19PM]

Shame OS X can't playback blu-rays movies.

[adokimus Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:27PM]

dual-boot FTWBBQ!

[VenQWish Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:16PM]

ow man, if this can bring some good power usage numbers to the table, I'll definately get one! Was thinking about the mac mini, but this would be pretty much better in every aspect. A better processor wouldn't hurt though :/

[stokd Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:20PM]

"Great HD Exprince"

Lawl.

Also, will a 9400M play Spore? Diablo III perhaps?

[LloydChiro Posted Mar 4th 2009 8:41PM]

It will play Mission Impossible.

[Kurotetsu Posted Mar 4th 2009 8:45PM]

No, but then this obviously isn't meant to be a gaming machine anyway.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:23PM]

> Shame OS X can't playback blu-rays movies.

Who wants to be tied down to "physical media" anyways?

Free yourself from it and then it doesn't really matter what platform you're running (WinDOS, MacOS, Linux).

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:46PM]

people who want to be able to watch movies on more than one machine, people who want to still have their movies if their HDD dies, or a bunch of other very feasible reasons

[proxifuel Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:07PM]

Well if it wont even playback blu-rays it means I can't rip them from blu-ray to .mkv and then enjoy what you describe.

[Xeno Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:19PM]

Wow, this needs to support cable tuners to make a great little Media Center!

[icase81 Posted Mar 4th 2009 7:36PM]

Uncontrol:

What about people that still want to be able to watch their movies if they scratch a disk, or their disk gets stepped on or sat on? I can back up files on my HD legally. I can't legally backup BD disks or DVDs.

[Zoinks Posted Mar 4th 2009 11:31PM]

You could always keep the discs in the case they came in rather than storing them between two pieces of sandpaper, on the floor, or on the couch. Just an idea.

[Bokal Posted Mar 5th 2009 3:48AM]

@Ian: Blu-ray don't scratch, it's one of the improvement of these discs.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:25PM]

The power button reminds me of a certain AI.
Oh, and does mini-HAL have an HDMI port? If not, mini-HAL needs some work before I consider it.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:27PM]

I need to learn how to read. My bad.

[Twitchy Posted Mar 5th 2009 3:25AM]

Just need to replace the LED with a red one. Crap, now I want.

[moochy Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:33PM]

If Apple was a wishy washy ass company like most computer folks, they'd have blu ray. But Job doesn't want to be bitched slapped by Sony's extensive usage agreement. You have to have a legal team to figure out the shit Sony lays down just to use blu ray.
Of course, the pc whores out there are using MS's OS cause, well they don't have their own OS and they don't design most of their swag if any.
And Apple has 30 billion in the bank doing it their way.
Ha Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Raul7 Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:38PM]

Maybe if they didn't overprice their products, they wouldn't be close to that 30 billion...

[kspraydad Posted Mar 4th 2009 6:23PM]

Um...the licensing is done through BDA and Apple is on the Board of Directors.

Just sayin.

[Bokal Posted Mar 5th 2009 3:52AM]

If msi legal team can "figure out the shit Sony lays down just to use blu ray", I thing Apple legal team is able to do it too.

Maybe they are too busy sueing palm?

[billmiller Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:34PM]

So...today is MSI frenzy as opposed to yesterday's ASUS frenzy.

[palehorse Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:34PM]

If the price is right, and this thing handles HD well enough, this might be THE mac mini killer... after all, who the hell wants to pay $800 for that Apple piece of shite they announced yesterday!?

[J Acheson Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:48PM]

One major sticking point of Blu-ray on computers is the software side of things. My blu-ray playing computer at home uses PowerDVD, which doesn't work all the time but came free with the drive.

Hopefully this thing has the DRM issues worked out?

[stokd Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:52PM]

Doesn't WMP support Blu-Ray?? I've been away for Windows for so long I just assumed it did or maybe there was a plug-in or something?

[iamnotafish Posted Mar 4th 2009 8:13PM]

Doesn't VLC do blu-ray? I have no idea but it does everything else no?

[enderwiggn Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:48PM]

Do want.

[mykie Posted Mar 4th 2009 4:56PM]

This could be a nice little HD XBMC box.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:07PM]

+1

[OriginalJosh Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:09PM]

eeebox 206 or this guy....hmmmm

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:09PM]

Do very much want.

[glennS Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:16PM]

Nice.

[Maeztro Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:28PM]

Wind-Box? That's the name?

[Jamus Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:31PM]

Damn them and their lack of pricing with announcements.

I am wondering if it will come in a much cheaper bluray-less version also. Hmmmm.

[DLM SV Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:34PM]

Cool.

[seeloesix Posted Mar 4th 2009 5:53PM]

would like to see other processor options but, either way this should be a good exprince.

[jsmrekar Posted Mar 4th 2009 8:14PM]

specs ~= to Mac Mini - BRD is a huge addition/advantage.

mini may be losing his seat in society.

also, this comes in black.

[iamnotafish Posted Mar 4th 2009 8:14PM]

Would this be able to playback blurays? I'm definitely interested in the price point - if a blu ray player costs $300, and this costs a little extra but is basically a PC + BR player then it might be worth it.

[LloydChiro Posted Mar 4th 2009 8:44PM]

It's got the Blu-ray drive, but it can't play them. Unless you downscale it to VHS quality, ironically.

[NeoteriX Posted Mar 4th 2009 11:07PM]

LloydChiro has no idea what he's talking about.

From a hardware standpoint (given the 9400 has HD acceleration), this has the power to playback Blu-Ray just fine.

Tom's Hardware was able to play Blu-Ray back with a 1.6Ghz AMD Sempron processor:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-780g-chipset,1785-3.html

[Zoinks Posted Mar 4th 2009 11:34PM]

WOOOOOOOOOOSH

[youfacethetick Posted Mar 4th 2009 11:48PM]

Mac Mini with essentially all of this BUT Blu Ray is $650 - well not exactly as the Mac Mini also has Bluetooth, a 2.0 Core 2 Duo (not a cheesey celeron), full software (iMovie, OS, etc).

So if this thing is priced below $700 I might be interested. Otherwise a Mac Mini with 2 GB from Crucial ($37) - so 3 GB - will give me what I want for $637. Blu Ray - at best - is worth an extra $70 to me. It's pretty worthless to me, in other words.

[youfacethetick Posted Mar 4th 2009 11:49PM]

Yes, pick what to own based on color. That certainly makes sense.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 5th 2009 8:55AM]

Because of the GPU, I can relent on the CPU a bit.

BTW, just so you all know, MPC-HC...........

http://xvidvideo.ru/

Better than VLC by far, and takes advantage of the GPU in a machine like this.

[OLight Posted Mar 5th 2009 10:30AM]

What I want to know is, when you drop it, do you break Wind...Box?