I’ve had my eye on the new nettop category of “all-in-one” touch screen systems. First the Asus Eee Top was interesting at a good price, but when the MSI Windtop came out around $530 with DVD+RW, it seemed too good to be true. I watched Amazon and as soon as they had one, I snatched it up. Free shipping, no tax, can’t beat the price.
Unboxing
It shipped from Amazon in it’s original box, not packed within a larger box. It looked pretty beat up and had been opened. I opened it up and was pleased to see everything in order. Unpacking the system was straight forward. The computer was well protected, wrapped in poly packing and wedged with 2 Styrofoam ends. There were two other boxes, one for the keyboard and another for the accessories.
Setup
As with most computers these days, plugging everything in was straight forward and even a little easier since it’s an AIO system. Booting the system up gave the following setup screen where you had to pick a language.
After selecting English it took about 20 minutes for XP to finish installing, after which you went through the normal Windows XP Home setup screens.
Once the system rebooted, XP came up and auto launched the MSI Touch Interface. The system seemed pretty speedy for the specs. There are two model, this being the low end with:
- Intel 1.6GHz Atom 230
- 1 GB RAM
- 160 GB HD
- WiFi N and 1 GB LAN
- DVD RW
- 1.3 Webcam
- 4 in 1 Card Reader
- 18.5” Touch Screed (16:9)
Software
The MSI Touch application is nothing more than an application launcher with large buttons, grouped by the following categories: Work, Fun, Tools, and Web.
The Wind Touch interface isn’t nearly as cool as the HP SmartTouch, Dell One, or even the Eee Top. Worse is that you can’t add your own applications to the launch pad. I poked around and found a text file in the program directory and I was able to add my own applications that way, but who’s going to want to do that!
Other Software included Office 2007 Trial, Cyberlink Power series, and some good opensource/freeware: Gimp, Freemind, GeoGebra, Gantt Project, and DIA. Unfortunately none of which are really tailored to “touch”.
Other MSI software:
| MSI EasyView | The one pretty cool touch application for view photos, unfortunately slow. |
| MSI Q Face | Webcam fun |
| MSI Chicken Game | A game that’s controlled by the webcam and head tracking. Even my 8 year old thought it sucked. |
| MSI Starfighter | another webcam game |
| MSI Easy Face Logon | A facial recognition app for logging in. Haven’t tried it. |
| Soft Stylus | A very nice on screen keyboard and hand writing recognition |
Impressions
Performance: No benchmarks here, it’s a nettop! That being said it felt pretty snappy. Browsing the internet, running Word 2007, playing an Xvid file from the network, and playing a DVD all behaved in what I would say are acceptable speeds.
Styling: No doubt about it, this is designed very well. The clear plexiglass around the edges add a touch of sophistication to it that makes it NOT look like a $500 computer.
Accessories: The keyboard isn’t too bad and the mouse has a red LED glow, neither are wireless. The system came with a blank DVD-R to use with the backup software, which ran without issue. There’s also a cleaning cloth for the screen.
Software: A weird bunch of software. Some of it pretty good, some of it crap. Unfortunately none of the software showed off the touch screen as I had hoped. Don’t buy this because of the software bundle.
Screen: The MSI site touts the screen as being 16:9 and gorgeous for it’s class. I have to say, I agree. It’s bright and clear. While touching the screen, it feels secure and with the stand you don’t feel like you’re going to tip it over. I played an Xvid file on it full screen from the network and it looked great. Even better was playing the Ironman DVD.
Casing: The case has a glossy finish, adding to the styling. Buttons are well placed and the DVD drive is located on the upper left. USB ports on the lower left and back. Control buttons on the lower right. The one downside is no VESA connection on the back, so you won’t be mounting this in a kitchen or on a wall.
Hacking: I tried to get the case off the back and something was holding it near the top by the webcam, so I didn’t force the issue. I was able to add my own apps to the MSI Touch software by manually editing a text file. I also was able to download and install the Eee notepad software, the Dell One Paint app, and with some editing of files HP TouchSmart would install and run, but quit without Aero. I’m going to try it again with Windows 7.
Conclusions: This is a tough one. At first I thought it was perfect, but then the software didn’t show off the touch screen. Then I found out that the MSI website had been updated, showing that the 1 GB was not able to be upgraded because it was on the motherboard, no memory slot. OUCH!
Then a few days later the Dell One was released, and I kicked myself again. Then I stopped by Staples and they had an HP TouchSmart on clearance for $799. Both of which are not nettops and kick the ass of the WindTop’s specs. But after further review, to get a Dell One, with touch (multi) is over $800 when you’re all done and you’re not always going to find the TouchSmart on clearance. So in the end, both are over $300 more than the MSI WindTop. And… I have to remember that I didn’t start off to buy a desktop.
So I came back full circle. If you want an AIO PC with some style (no Apple tax), netbook performance, the fun of a touch screen, for around $500, then you can’t beat the WindTop right now. The kicker might be Windows 7. I’ll be putting the RC on it this week and I’ll report on it. I’m hoping that it pushes it over the top, since so much has been done in the touch department. I’ll keep you posted.
Update: engadget has a dissection of the WindTop over here.
I recently put Windows 7, Build 7100 on the MSI AE1900-10SUS and the touch screen calibration does not do an accurate calibration. How did you get yours to work? Any help would be appreciated.
I had the same problem. I installed the XP calibration driver that came on the CD and it worked! Haven’t had a problem since.