14 DAY TRIAL // Micro-Star International has once again assumed its role as purveyor of all kinds of computers, in this case having supplied part of the worldwide market with a certain machine that has only been official in North America for about a week.
Like so many other companies, Micro-Star International hasn't been doing very well on the PC market.
The main problem lies with the notebook segment, especially that of mainstream and high-end products that mostly reply on Intel's platforms.
Basically, as confirmed by analysts not long ago, shipments of Sandy Bridge laptops were actually even more abysmal, so to speak, than expected.
In fact, besides the issue with flawed Intel Cougar point 6-series chipsets, there is the matter of an apparent drop in notebook interest on the part of customers.
Fortunately, MSI did not, this once, bring forth a new laptop, having chosen to, instead, deliver an All-in-One system that isn't even based on an Intel platform.
Instead, the outfit went for the AMD Brazos, specifically the 1.6 GHz E-350 dual-core APU (accelerated processing unit), complete with Radeon HD 6310 integrated DirectX 11 graphics.
The AiO has 2 GB of DDR3 to complement that chip, as well as a hard disk drive of 500 GB with a rotary speed of 7,200 RPM (rotations per minute).
Additionally, there is a 6-in-1 card reader, a 0.3 megapixel webcam, HDMI, a pair of USB 3.0 ports and even a DVD drive.
All this, along with Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, plus a pair of 3W speakers, are packed inside a 20-inch frame whose display is a multi-touch panel with a native resolution of 1,600 x 900 pixels.
The MSI Wind Top AE2050, as it is called, has been available in North America for a week already, but has not made it to Europe as well. It runs Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional (64-bit) and is priced at 599 Euro.