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MSI rumored to have TriDef 3D laptops on deck, no active shutters required
We've heard this song and dance before, but DigiTimes has it that MSI is on pace to shove out a 3D laptop this September. Before you open that jaw and feign a yawn, you should know that the company is purportedly not following convention by integrating NVIDIA's 3D Vision technology; instead, it'll rely on Dynamic Digital Depth's (DDD's) TriDef 3D software for transferring 2D images to 3D. This means that users will be able to use cheap-o polarized glasses rather than the more expensive (and battery draining) active shutter variety. Somehow or another, the whole thing is supposed to launch at under a grand, so we'll be poking around on the IFA show floor hoping that this one comes to fruition.
Darren Murph07.21.2010
MSI launches Wind12 U230 'Light,' shaves two inches and 30 clamshells from predecessor's hide
Are MSI's 12.1-inch netbooks a hair too large for you? Wonder of wonders, there's a smaller version that's practically exactly the same inside. Though the new MSI Wind12 U230 Light confusingly weighs just the same as its predecessor (3.3 pounds) and is still 1.22 inches thick, it's got a smaller 11.6-inch matte LCD screen that makes it two inches shorter in either direction on a horizontal plane. You're still getting the same 1,366 x 768 display, 1.6GHz Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, 2GB of RAM, Radeon HD 3200 graphics, 250GB hard drive and sub-par four hours of battery life, but MSI did think to trim the fat in one last direction, and knocked $30 off the price. That makes the now-shipping U230 Light a somewhat reasonable deal at $400 from Amazon. PR after the break.
Sean Hollister07.21.2010
Laptop's 2010 tech support showdown reveals ugly truth: you're (almost) on your own
Dealing with warranties is one thing -- it's almost always a crap-shoot, and you're continually pressing your luck when trying to get something covered without any out-of-pocket expense. But how's about the tech support that's so whimsically promised with so many laptops these days? Our pals over at Laptop put in an inordinate amount of work in order to find out, pinging a full dozen manufacturers via phone and chat in order to measure hold time, level of support offered and overall satisfaction. Just about every major laptop maker was included (Acer, Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Toshiba and Fujitsu, just to name a few), and an in-depth report of their findings was posted for each one. In general, though, they found that most companies wouldn't hang around long enough to answer those nagging questions that typically end up in forums ("How do I remove bloatware?"), oftentimes pointing the caller to a paid alternative that would actually take the time to address their issues. If you're considering a new machine, and you aren't exactly one of those nerdy go-getters who can troubleshoot everything yourself, you should certainly give the source links below a look. Just try not to get too depressed, cool?
Darren Murph07.14.2010
Twelve flavors of GeForce GTX 460 now shipping from Newegg (update: official)
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460 hasn't even been officially announced, much less reviewed, but that won't keep you from buying the company's latest Fermi-based graphics card anyhow. Over at Newegg, usual suspects ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI and Palit have fielded twelve models in all, most with slightly different features, thought it seems the base configuration has 336 CUDA cores (down from 352) and a mere 768MB of GDDR5 memory. Interestingly enough, this silicon's actually rated faster than its older brother the $280 GTX 465 with 675MHz graphics and 1,350MHz processor speeds, and a 3.6GHz effective memory clock. All your frames are pushed through a decidedly narrower 192-bit memory interface, though, so we'd guess that for around $200, you won't be getting (much) more than you pay for. Let's just hope they run cool. Update: The card's official, and it seems there's a 1GB, 256-bit version of the GTX 460, too. Hit the break for the full press release, filled with all the puffery a video game marketing team could want. [Thanks, Polytonic]
Sean Hollister07.11.2010
MSI ships 17-inch GX740, complete with Core i7 and Radeon HD 5870
Jonesing for a new gaming laptop, are you? We're sure you've already spent far too many hours browsing your options, but MSI's hoping that it can grab a moment of your time to demonstrate the merits of the GX740. This 17-inch beast measures a full 1.5-inches thick and weighs just over seven pounds, but all that heft nabs you a great deal of potency. Within, you'll find a 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard drive, DVD burner, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 GPU (1GB DDR5), gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) running the show. The panel tops out at 1,680 x 1,050, but you will get an ExpressCard slot, a trio of USB sockets as well as VGA and HDMI outputs. If your mind has been made up, you can get this one headed your way now for the tidy sum of $1,399.99.
Darren Murph06.12.2010
MSI rolls out GT660 gaming laptop with Dynaudio sound system
We caught sight of this one back around CeBIT time, but MSI's just officially dropped some fuller details on the GT660. The HD16-incher will be powered by a quad core Intel i7 CPU, a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285M chipset, up to 12GB of RAM and a standard 500GB hard drive. It also boasts two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, plus a 9-cell battery and a Dynaudio sound system. There's no word on pricing or availability yet but we'll let you know when we do.
Laura June Dziuban06.09.2010
MSI replacing BIOS with UEFI firmware interface sometime this year?
The Unified EFI Forum is a trade group that includes Microsoft, Apple, Intel, and ARM. The goal? To develop and implement UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). The specification replaces BIOS as the software interface between your computer's hardware and OS, doing away with several limitations of the BIOS firmware interface in the process. Unlike the old, dependable BIOS, however, UEFI comes with a flashy-mouse driven interface; and instead of being written in assembly, it's written in C -- which means that it needs more resources, although it's also a lot more flexible. According to an article on THINQ.co.uk, MSI will introduce the spec on Sandy Bridge motherboards "towards the end of this year." Also according to THINQ, Seagate has stated that UEFI is "an essential requirement" for PCs with boot drives larger than 2TB. That said, it doesn't look like the classic text-based firmware is disappearing any time soon: most existing motherboards simply don't have the overhead to support its flashy successor. Besides, manufacturers have spent too much time developing their own custom BIOS and hardware features to throw 'em away just yet. Update: Of course, this is but a brief introduction to the topic. Special thanks to Brian Richardson for pointing out this post at Intel that goes into much greater detail.
Joseph L. Flatley06.09.2010
NVIDIA shows 16 new Optimus laptops at Computex, teases GTX 460M GPU
Just in case you were wondering where and when you might get a taste of the Optimus elixir, NVIDIA has handed us a detailed list of Computex debutants that will be taking the graphics switching technology with them to retail. A total of sixteen new Optimus machines are on show in Taipei, and although ASUS is still the biggest purveyor (with six SKUs, not counting previously announced products), Lenovo and Acer have also jumped on board, with the IdeaPad Y460 and a pair of Packard Bell EasyNotes, respectively. Notably, the FX700 above from MSI is marked as using an "unannounced" next-gen graphics chip, which we suspect might be the GTX 460M, a mobile GPU that NVIDIA is showing, but not talking about yet. Guess that'll be slotting in just below the recently unveiled GTX 480M. We've got pictorial evidence of the 460M's existence after the break, along with the full list of new Optimus-ized machines, which you can also scope out in the gallery below.%Gallery-94167%
Vlad Savov06.02.2010
MSI robot vacuums invade Computex, set sights on Roomba (updated)
We don't have a ton of details on these just yet, but MSI has rolled into Computex with something of a surprise: a new line of robot vacuums. As you can see, they look remarkably similar to iRobot's Roomba vacuums, and they apparently come in three different versions: the standard M800 Smart Vacuum Robot, the R500 Slim Vacuum Robot, and the R1300 Security Vacuum Robot, the latter of which adds a camera and internet connectivity for some low-level surveillance. No word on pricing or availability just yet either, but MSI has at least kindly put together a wonderfully soothing promotional video. Check it out after the break. Update: We've been told from the floor at Computex that MSI will begin shipping its new robots in Q1 2011 for about $150 (model R500), $450 (M800), and $600 (R1300). They are still undecided if this will include North American and European markets.
Donald Melanson06.01.2010
Driver updates for charging iPad on PCs
If you're one of the many iPad customers having issues with charging, there may be relief in sight. A few popular PC motherboard manufacturers have released new drivers for their mobos that supposedly enable (or help with) iPad charging. If you have an ASUS, Gigabyte, or MSI motherboard, you can try hitting those links, downloading and installing the new drivers, and see if that helps. Unfortunately, this is still a YMMV situation -- there are a ton of different factors that go into the kind of power that can come off of a USB port, and even if you have the right software for the right motherboard manufacturer, there's no guarantee it'll work exactly right. Still, if you've been craving a little extra power while charging your iPad on a PC, and know your way around a motherboard software update (which can be quite a task in itself, let me tell you from experience), attempting an update might be worth it. If you get it working and see an improvement in your iPad's charging capability, be sure to let us know in the comments. [via Engadget]
Mike Schramm05.31.2010
Gigabyte, ASUS and MSI deliver driver software to allow iPad charging from the PC
You one of those unlucky folks who found out about the iPad's dislike of low-powered USB ports on standard PCs after you'd already pulled the trigger? Well, you can stop crying yourself to sleep nights and finally do something about it: Gigabyte, MSI, and ASUS have all come out with software that hops up their respective, fairly interchangeable motherboards and delivers extra juice to an iPad-plugged USB port. Of course, they built these softwares for their own hardware, but there's a video after the break of a reckless user putting the ASUS software to work on a myriad of non-ASUS (mostly Sony) machines. Your mileage may vary, but if you wanna play it safe we'd say look into who built your motherboard before installing: we're not scientists, but we hear extra electricity "does stuff." [Thanks, Jeff F.]
Paul Miller05.31.2010
MSI WindPad 110: a 10-inch Tegra 2-powered Android tablet
Oddly MSI didn't officially talk about its Android-powered WindPad 110 during the press conference, but it definitely exists. The 10-inch slate runs Android 2.1 and is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It's got a different design to the WindPad 100, but retains the same 10-inch capacitive touchscreen and will have a USB port and video-out capability. While the tablet runs just stock Android, we're definitely digging the curved form factor and the ability to swap out the back cover for a more "stylish" option. We heard very conflicting things about the availability of the tablet -- one product manager told us that the company hasn't decided if it will bring it to market, while another told us that they plan to sell it for $399 by the end of the year. Hopefully we'll clear that up soon, but we've got some hands-on pictures below, along with a video after the break. %Gallery-93941%
Joanna Stern05.31.2010
MSI WindPad 100 is a 10-inch, Intel Atom-powered Windows 7 tablet
Oh, hello WindPad! MSI just took the wraps off its 10-inch, Windows 7 tablet during the company's Computex press conference. The tablet is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 2GB of RAM, and packs a 32GB SSD that boots Windows 7 Home Premium, though MSI has created a Wind Touch UI layer. While they were showing early prototypes, it will have two USB ports, an HDMI and a webcam when all is finalized. According to an MSI product manager on hand, the WindPad 100 will hit the market later this year for around $499. We just caught a few minutes with the tablet so hit the break for some early impressions and a short hands-on clip. %Gallery-93937%
Joanna Stern05.31.2010
MSI follows fate's whispers, intros 24-inch Wind Top AE2420 3D
Typical, right? As the 3D craze flows from the cinema to the television and onto the PC, it was just a matter of time before one of MSI's Wind Top all-in-ones shipped with support for the third dimension. By most accounts, the new Wind Top AE2420 3D looks like a mildly larger version of the AE2220 we peeked late last year, touting a 24-inch 1080p multitouch panel, support for shutter glasses (a single pair is included), Core i5 or i7 CPU options and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD5730 pushing the pixels. There's also a pair of 5-watt speakers built-in, not to mention an Ethernet jack, VGA output and a handful of USB 2.0 sockets. Mum's the word on pricing, but MSI is expected to have this bad boy on display as Computex kicks off early next week. Yeah, you know we'll be there pretending to be embarrassed while donning the spectacles. Update: Turns out we already spent some quality time with this guy back at CeBIT, only now it has a name. Huzzah!
Darren Murph05.29.2010
MSI X340 reborn as DIY carbon fiber tablet, watch it stream YouTube at 720p (video)
Tired of touchscreen tablets that lack speed, a usable UI, or support for a certain streaming video format that will go unnamed? As one of our favorite sayings goes, if you want it done right, do it yourself. One Engadget reader took that idea to heart in crafting the 13.4-inch carbon fiber contraption you see above, imbuing it with enough high-end netbook parts to run Windows 7 at a brisk pace and play 720p video on its large, resistive touchscreen. Starting with the guts of an MSI X320, adding an accelerometer and 40GB solid state drive and finally sandwiching a random Chinese digitizer on top, the whole 1.6GHz Atom Z530 machine cost him under $700 in parts. For that price, we're sure many of you would be happy to follow in his footsteps, but if not, by all means continue complaining to your tablet manufacturer of choice. We have another favorite saying: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Video after the break; Q&A with the creator at our more coverage link.
Sean Hollister05.28.2010
MeeGo 1.0 demoed on MSI netbook, looks shockingly stupendous (video)
You've already watched pre-release versions of MeeGo fly around on a number of netbooks, but if you're still wondering if it's worth your while to install v1.0 on your own machine, you owe it to yourself to have a look at the video posted after the break. The fine folks over at Liliputing have installed the fresh-out-of-the-lab operating system onto their MSI netbook in order to showcase some of the features, and frankly, we're duly impressed by what we're seeing. It's clearly light on its feet, with an Expose-like shifting of screens happening at speeds which we previously only dreamed of seeing on an Atom-based rig. We can't say the rest of the world is really ready to ditch Windows 7 for something as niche as this, but judging by this vid, you should probably give it a whirl. What's to lose, right? P.S. - Phoronix was able to run the new OS through the benchmark gauntlet, and it certainly showed up Ubuntu. [Thanks, Rafael]
Darren Murph05.27.2010
MSI rolls out Wind U160DX netbook with 15-hour battery
It may just seem like yesterday that MSI was introducing its Wind U160 netbook at CES, but the company's now already back with an updated model in time for Computex: the Wind U160DX. While it's outward appearance remains mostly the same, the netbook's internals have been upgraded across the board, including a new Atom N455 processor, some DDR3 memory, MSI's own "Turbo Drive Engine" and, last but not least, a 15-hour battery (aided in part by MSI's ECO power management system). Still no word on pricing or availability for this one, but we should be hearing more about it soon enough at Computex, and you can get a closer look at it right now courtesy of Engadget Spanish at the link below.
Donald Melanson05.21.2010
MSI Graphics Upgrade Solution seeks an ExpressCard slot to call home
It seems like we've been talking about external graphics cards forever, but how many do you recall that look quite as raw and ready as this? The Graphics Upgrade Solution, set for a full unveiling at Computex, is MSI's latest answer to the eternal problem that is gaming on the move. Serving as a conduit -- via its own PCI Express interface and the oft-neglected ExpressCard slot -- between desktop GPUs and laptops, the GUS comes with its own power brick that can support cards with up to an 84W TDP. That, together with the limited bandwidth on offer, makes the ATI Radeon HD 5670 bundle pretty much the top of the GUS pile, but at somewhere around $229 that doesn't look like a terrible deal at all. Alternatively, you can buy the bare unit for around $100 and make use of some old GPU to give a little extra pep to your laptop. It's all good.
Vlad Savov05.21.2010
MSI shows off convertible 'SketchBook' laptop concept
Well, it looks like MSI isn't waiting for Computex to show off some of its wild, new concept devices -- it's just unveiled this so-called "SketchBook" at an event in Amsterdam. Offering a new twist on the convertible laptop, this one doesn't actually convert into a tablet, but rather features a rotating base that has a keyboard on one side and a full-size graphics tablet on the other -- hence the name. Unfortunately, MSI is staying mum on any other details at the moment -- let alone pricing or availability -- but our counterparts at Engadget Spanish did get a chance to check out an early, non-functioning prototype of the device. Check out a shot of it after the break, and hit up the source link below for the complete hands-on.
Donald Melanson05.20.2010
MSI brings Core i5, GeForce 310M to 15.6-inch CX623 multimedia laptop
Nah, it's no Core i5 ULV-powered X series, but MSI's latest does use a Core i5 processor and does have an X in the model name. Mind-blowing, right? The outfit's latest 15.6-incher is a multimedia powerhouse, humming along with a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 310M GPU, twin DDR3 RAM slots (plenty of space for 4GB), a 1,366 x 768 resolution display, six-cell battery, 1.3 megapixel webcam and a pair of stereo speakers. There's also a 320GB or 500GB SATA hard drive, 4-in-1 card reader, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI / VGA outputs, twin USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA socket, audio in / out, Ethernet and a "film print coating" over the palm rest area to minimize wear. Mum's the word on a price and release date, but we suspect we'll know a bit more on both of those points when we touch down at Computex in a fortnight.
Darren Murph05.18.2010