MSI @ Computex

source: hardwarezone.com
The Touch Factor

The touchscreen trend in the consumer tech industry continues to rage unabated at Computex 2009, as companies try to capitalize on the success of touch-enabled smartphones and bring the interface to other devices. Microsoft's Windows 7 and its support for touch interfaces is another big reason vendors are all still touting touchscreens on their displays this year.

MSI has gone with using touch on its many All-in-one PCs
, which arguably benefits from this interface. With up to six models on display, albeit sporting similar exteriors, it's quite the lineup.

It was early in the day at MSI's booth at Nangang Exhibition hall but that did not prevent the bevy of booth gals from going through their routines.

We start off from MSI's many all-in-one PCs. As their names imply, the display and the PC are integrated and most of these models are using less powerful and less power hungry CPUs like Intel's Atom or AMD's single core Athlons.

Demonstrating how one can utilize the touch screen in everyday situations.

The lowest-end model is the 19-inch AE1900, which is your typical Intel Atom 230 1.6GHz processor with integrated GMA 950 graphics. Maximum memory onboard is only 1GB though you'll get a 160GB hard drive and standard connectivity like wireless. At least MSI has its own Wind Touch UI that makes it easy to quickly access PC applications.

You can customize which applications to appear on the Touch UI by simply checking or unchecking these tick boxes next to applications.

Moving onto the 20-inch display models, the AE2000 has a similar
Atom 230 processor but buffs up the graphics department with
an ATI Radeon HD 4300 graphics chip. Like the AE1900,
it comes with Windows XP Home installed.

AIO and Nettops

The 14-inch CR400 shown here for instance comes with an integrated NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G chipset and up to 4GB of memory. With its 6-cell battery, it weighs around 2.1kg or around the same as the 15.6-inch X600.

These are the 16-inch CX600 and CR600. Both have similar Core 2 Duo processors and differ in the chipset used. The CX600 uses a SIS672DX chipset with ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 graphics while the CR600 went with NVIDIA and its GeForce 8200M G. They are otherwise similar in terms of weight and dimensions.

A closer look at the keyboard on the CR400 with its obvious orientation for Eastern languages besides the standard QWERTY layout.

The largest of the series, the CX700 and CR700 weigh at least 3kg each and are 17.3-inch notebook behemoths. Like the CR and CX600, they differ in the chipsets used, with the CX going for a chipset from SIS with ATI discrete graphics while the CR is NVIDIA based.

We also saw some MSI gaming notebooks on display, like this GT628, which comes with an NVIDIA GTS 160M graphics chip for that gaming boost. The red outline gives it away as a gaming rig of course.

The gaming flagship from MSI has to be the GT729, which is a 17-inch
machine weighing 3.2kg and with a Radeon HD 4850 graphics processor
to ensure that the latest games are more than playable.

Slim and Portable

Signaling perhaps a renewed focus on consumer products, MSI's notebook selections at its Computex booth were also greatly increased from previous years.

MSI's X-Slim series of notebooks has its detractors and fans alike but the company is going ahead with an entire range of X-Slim notebooks spanning many screen sizes and configurations.

The first X-Slim notebook to debut at CeBIT, the X340 may look the same but it's now using an Intel Penryn SFF ULV processor. The entire X-Slim series will be using such processors.

The X400 comes with a slightly different exterior. It's slightly larger at 14-inch but what's different are the varied color schemes and a special texture design for the notebook's surface. Specs-wise it's about the same as the X340, though heavier at around 1.52kg.

Last but not least, we have the 15.6-inch 16:9 X600, which ditches the integrated GMA 4500MHD on the X340 and X400 for an ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330. Importantly, MSI manages to keep it slim and very light for its class at around 2.1kg.

With its dimensions, it was capable of squeezing in the numeric keypad.

Besides the notebooks, MSI has not forgotten the netbook segment and continuing with its Wind series, we saw the 10-inch U115 Hybrid (launched late last year) at its booth. Here, we have the Atom Z530 (1.6GHz) paired with the Poulsbo chipset (US15W) and up to 1GB memory. It's unique in the sense that it has a hybrid storage option of both a solid state harddrive and a normal hard drive within.

The U123H has an Intel Atom N280 processor but what's really nice about it is its built-in 3.5G HSDPA module. Other specs are typical of netbooks, like its 10-inch screen and GMA 950 graphics. It weighs 1.2kg with a 3-cell battery.

The latest Wind netbook, the U200 is a different kind of beast despite looking like MSI's other netbooks. It is larger at 12-inch but more importantly, it has an Intel Penryn SFF ULV processor, integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics and up to 4GB of memory. To say the least, the specs are anything but a netbook. It's also much heavier at 1.4kg with battery. The U200H model will come with HSDPA module integrated.

Classic and Gaming Notebooks

From the sexy X-Slim series, we move on to the 'Classic' series, which generally have full-featured Core 2 Duo processors with a variety of chipsets and discrete graphics solution.

The 14-inch CR400 shown here for instance comes with an integrated NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G chipset and up to 4GB of memory. With its 6-cell battery, it weighs around 2.1kg or around the same as the 15.6-inch X600.

These are the 16-inch CX600 and CR600. Both have similar Core 2 Duo processors and differ in the chipset used. The CX600 uses a SIS672DX chipset with ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 graphics while the CR600 went with NVIDIA and its GeForce 8200M G. They are otherwise similar in terms of weight and dimensions.

A closer look at the keyboard on the CR400 with its obvious orientation for Eastern languages besides the standard QWERTY layout.

The largest of the series, the CX700 and CR700 weigh at least 3kg each and are 17.3-inch notebook behemoths. Like the CR and CX600, they differ in the chipsets used, with the CX going for a chipset from SIS with ATI discrete graphics while the CR is NVIDIA based.

We also saw some MSI gaming notebooks on display, like this GT628, which comes with an NVIDIA GTS 160M graphics chip for that gaming boost. The red outline gives it away as a gaming rig of course.

The gaming flagship from MSI has to be the GT729, which is a 17-inch machine weighing 3.2kg and with a Radeon HD 4850 graphics processor to ensure that the latest games are more than playable.

MSI's Motherboards

As expected, MSI continues to expand its DrMOS technology to all its motherboards. Additionally, auto-overclocking is also a concern, with MSI including quite a few of its newer technologies on the latest boards, like OC Dial and Max FSB.

Lynnfield is the next big mainstream processor from Intel but it's not expected until later this year. Of course, that's not stopping practically all the motherboards from showcasing the processor along with their own compatible P55 chipset boards, hidden under the heatsink that is.

While we have all seen the Eclipse, the Plus version is MSI's latest high-end X58 representative. It brings MSI's newest OC technologies, like OC Dial and Max FSB to the series.

The more 'mainstream' of the two P55 motherboards displayed by MSI, the P55-GD65 comes with OC Genie for one-touch overclocking. Whether that works all the time will depend on the configuration. From our experience with such tools, it's a hit or miss.

The more extreme P55-GD80 from MSI has an extra graphics slot for 3-way CrossFire/SLI, along with more SATA ports.

Again, this is not exactly the newest product that MSI has at its booth, but the mATX X58M is one of the first X58 boards to bring the entry price for Core i7 lower, to around US$170.

Of course not forgetting the AMD side of it, MSI has done a great job with its 790GX and 790FX boards so we have high hopes for its 785G -E65, which is a slight upgrade of the 780G chipset but it's mostly the same. It's coming soon however, so do look out for it if that class of chipset is what you're hunting.

Graphics Development and Misc

With nothing new from the graphics chipmakers, MSI was intent on improving their current offerings, with better, more reliable components and improved cooling solutions.

MILSPEC or military class is what MSI is aiming for its graphics cards, with pure iron used in the solid state chokes on the graphics cards. Claimed advantages include no buzzing noise under heavy load, protection from power surge and better for overclocking.

The military class chokes on one of the MSI's graphics card.

The other thrust of MSI's strategy for its graphics cards is in the form of cooling, with this large 'Cyclone' fan a key example.

The rather large but hopefully quiet Cyclone cooler. It has multiple heatpipes for heat transfer and helps to cool the surrounding components around the GPU core.

We spotted this SyrenSound Hardcore sound card at MSI's booth. It uses a PCIe x1 interface and supports 7.1 audio.

We saw this last year at Computex but MSI's in-vehicle entertainment system, Funtoro is back.