If you thought that MSI would grant CES to pass it by without unleashing a veritable smorgasbord of new kit upon us, you’re dead wrong. For starters, the company will be showcasing its Wind U115 and U120 netbooks for the first time in the public eye at CES, and those oh-so-intriguing NetOn all-in-one machines we spotted overseas will also be making their US debut. Said rigs will arrive in 16-, 19- and 22-inch flavors, and it’s expected that Intel’s dual-core Atom will be powering the trio. Carrying on, we’ve got the EX625 and EX623 entertainment lappies joining the EX family with inbuilt subwoofers and Blu-ray drives, and the GT725, GT727, GT627 and GX420 will all be sliding into the gamer-centric GX line. Finally, MSI will be demonstrating its first “eco-friendly carbon fiber concept gaming notebook,” so we’ll definitely be sashaying over to wrap our paws around that. Head past the break for the full release.

Continue reading MSI at CES: Wind U115 / U120, NetOn all-in-one Computer, gaming laptops galore

Filed under: CES, Laptops

MSI at CES: Wind U115 / U120, NetOn all-in-one Personal computer, gaming laptops galore originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a opportunity to sit down with VIA’s VP of sales and marketing, Richard Brown, earlier this day to discuss the finer points of the company’s position in the marketplace. While it was a intriguing conversation (mostly about the state of netbook and smartphone CPUs in 2009), our eye was caught by a prototype netbook he’d brought with him. The ‘book in question is a Nano-driven model that’ll be sold under the “Dr. Mobile” brand name and dubbed the “FreeStyle.” The system boasts a 1.3GHz CPU (which can be clocked to 1.6GHz), runs atop the VX800 chipset, features an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display, a proper trackpad with two real buttons, and sports 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, and optional onboard mobile broadband. Besides having a truly healthy amount of screen real estate for such a small display, the laptop was surprisingly stylish and lightweight — a welcome change from the stream of generic netbooks we’ve seen as of late. The company anticipates it to clock in at $500 when it hits around February, and says that the CPU outperforms similarly-spec’d Atom chips, with decent support for Vista. We should see a working model on the floor at CES, so keep your eyes peeled for a followup. For now, enjoy the hands-on!

Filed under: Laptops

Nano-powered “FreeStyle” netbook hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, how’s about some news not originating from Las Vegas? Dell has chosen this day to take the wraps off of its cleanly styled Inspiron 15 notebook, and while there’s nothing here to write home about, the price accurately reflects the low-key nature of the machine. Prospective buyers will notice a 15.6-inch widescreen panel, up to 4GB of RAM / 320GB of hard drive space, an optional Blu-ray drive, integrated webcam, Intel’s Core 2 Duo powering the ship and optional Bluetooth / facial recognition software. The rig is expected to be available online later this month starting at $600, though impatient souls can find non-configurable versions right now at Ideal Buy (USA) and Curry’s (UK).

Filed under: Laptops

Dell introduces 15.6-inch Inspiron 15 notebook: starts at $600 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI has unveiled the 13.4-inch X-Slim 320 (is that you, U300?), which at 1.98cm and about 2.87 pounds puts it just a teensy bit lighter and thicker than its Cupertino-born doppelganger, and comes with either a 4 or 8 cell battery that lasts up to 10 hours. The company provides no specs in its presser, but our cohorts at Engadget Chinese were at an MSI pre-CES event and report that we’re looking at a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1366 x 768 resolution, up to 2GB DDR2 RAM, 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, 3.5G network card, three USB ports, an Ethernet port, VGA output, and an all-in-one card reader, and according to Crave it might be using the NVIDIA Ion platform. It’s coming second quarter of 2009 for about $800 — we’ll see it for ourselves later this week.

[Via Engadget Chinese]

Read - MSI press release
Read - Crave report

Filed under: Laptops

MSI unveils ultra-thin X-Slim 320, fits snugly into manila envelope originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not content with letting the freelancers at Venture Beat hog the spotlight, some HP-loving Canadians decided to take their 2133 Mini-Note and add a dash of Google’s Android OS — the ideal thing to happen to netbooks since SSD. There isn’t really much in terms of details right now, but if you’re the kind of person who gets completely stoked by watching someone go through a preference pane and empty pic album — without using a mouse, mind you — we’ve got just the video for you after the break. Let’s hope this Android-netbook lovefest doesn’t stop anytime soon.

[Via Netbooknews.de]

Filed under: Laptops

Move over, Eee: Android now running on HP Mini-Note 2133 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eee-branded tablets and UMPCs may be coming, but if you want one right now your only option is to do it yourself. You could go the duct tape DIY route, but those looking for a more aesthetically entertaining path should instead consider ordering up an Aeeeris conversion kit. It’s basically a $60 reverse-facing replacement bezel for a 700-series netbook, providing indentations for the touch-screen LCD, its controller, and a pair of speakers (all sold separately). Supposedly the conversion is a “breeze,” but after watching installation vids we’re not so sure we’d agree with that — nor the marketing spiel on the site that labels this as a low-cost solution for small businesses. Still, if you’re looking for a tablet on the cheap, missed out on the $600 tx2500z last month, and don’t have any qualms about dissecting your Eee, hit up the read link and order this day.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Aeeeris kit turns Eee into UMPC, is later killed by Seeephiroth originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t have a heck of a lot to go on here, but the above is apparently a new, 8.9-inch widescreen netbook from Exper called the Exper Style. It seems to boast standard netbook internals — a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and an 8GB SSD– and apparently runs Windows XP. It also costs about $470, and comes in a almost endless range of super duper-looking colors. We’re not sure about when this one will be available, but hit the read link for a video of this darling in all its glory.

Filed under: Laptops

Exper Style’s colorful 8.9-inch netbook rolls out in Turkey originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re all for taking lemons and making lemonade, but at least clean up the mess before you showcase it to the world. All kidding aside (sort of…), Sir Bibin and Nick Lee found something superior to do with their jacked up PowerBook G4 Titanium than fetch a few pennies on eBay. When the hinges finally cracked, they decided to just fold ‘er on over, epoxy a pair of completely lackluster speakers on the side and add a wired Apple keyboard in to create a makeshift PowerMac (er, iMac, we suppose). Truthfully, we’d be way more into this if not for that very apparent spitball and the circa 1991 telephone cluttering up the masterpiece, but you know what they say about an artist and his / her studio.

[Thanks, Michael and Nick]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

PowerBook G4 Titanium inelegantly modded into desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look out, Intel — the whole world’s gunning for you, with both VIA (possibly, anyway) and now Freescale looking to snag a sliver of the netbook CPU pie. Reportedly, the latter company will be debuting a netbook-centric chip at CES this week from its i.MX line. More specifically, the i.MX515 — which is based on the Cortex-A8 core from ARM — will aim for miniature laptops that sit at or below the nearly mythical $199 price point. It’s being reported that Freescale will showcase a Pegatron (ASUS spinoff) built netbook in Vegas, though it’s not clear just yet if similar models will actually be available for purchase in the near future. The real kicker, however, is the potential battery life of machines with this here chip installed — we’re speaking up to eight hours, though there’s no indication of what size battery pack would be required to reach that goal. It should be noted that the low-power CPUs won’t support Windows at all, so you’ll only see ‘em within machines with Linux-based operating systems.

[Via Personal computer World]

Filed under: Laptops

Freescale’s i.MX515 netbook processor promises low cost, long battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jimmy Rogers gives us an inside look at the ThinkGeek headquarters in Fairfax, VA. In the video, he interviews John Frazier, the site’s buyer who travails the web in search of wacky gadgets. Continue reading to watch.

[via Geeksaresexy - ThinkGeek]

Via Techeblog

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