MSI WindBOX Atom Pictured

[btarunr]

With the state of the world economy, conditions are becoming increasingly favourable for good sales of ULPCs, with several IT giants taking netbooks and nettops seriously. The surge started post Intel's introduction of the Atom processor. MSI is preparing a slim form-factor nettop that is fan-less and light enough to be mounted on the back of an LCD monitor that supports the VESA wall-mount standard.

The WindBOX measures 180 x 255 x 19 mm and weighs a little over two pounds (1.08 kg to be precise). It is driven by an Intel Atom running at 1.60 GHz, and features 1GB of memory. It supports a SATA drive to handle storage, and provides basic connectivity that includes: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports, a 3-in-1 memory card reader, audio and WiFi. The WindBOX will be available later this quarter.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Marineborn]

bleh, its looks iffy, i would rather have a laptop with much more power

 

[OnionMan]

Ya, these things are gonna have to be sub $200 to really offer anything.. For $100 more you can get a netbook roughly the same size (1/2 thicker)..

And lets see how big the psu cord is for this thing...

 

[Nemesis881]

bahaha when I first read "windBOX" I thought I would see something similar to the Falcon-NW "fragbox", only with a ton of fans on it or something

 

[Mega-Japan]

So let me get this straight. This is like a PC on the back of your monitor?

 

[btarunr]

So let me get this straight. This is like a PC on the back of your monitor?

Straightened, yes.

 

[AsRock]

bahaha when I first read "windBOX" I thought I would see something similar to the Falcon-NW "fragbox", only with a ton of fans on it or something

Maybe they named it that because it blows..

 

[FordGT90Concept]

That's tight. It would be an all in one computer with as big of a monitor as you need if you had a touchscreen. I could see libraries using that for search terminals.

 

[Katanai]

Well I for one think it's a good idea. It's an all in one PC but you can upgrade the monitor, there's nothing wrong with that...

 

[z1tu]

I agree, this is a good ideea

 

[tkpenalty]

its an excellent idea because of the economic crisis and recession- we need computers for less. Compared to a normal PC this uses at least five times less power and has a small. The EEE top is the same thing in concept though (and yet again like the EEEPC vs MSI Wind, the MSI ends up slimmer).

 

[Mussels]

personally, i think every workplace needs these.

Lots less desk space, lower thermal output (hence less air con needs) and overall a lot simpler to setup and install.

 

[hat]

I like this idea, I hope it takes off. Hopefully the future holds more powerful processors than the Atom for around the same power usage. I'd love to see a 2GHz C2D run at around 10w.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

personally, i think every workplace needs these.

Lots less desk space, lower thermal output (hence less air con needs) and overall a lot simpler to setup and install.

Heh, and cheap enough just to pop a bad unit off and stick another on (have a few spares on hand).

 

[Disparia]

personally, i think every workplace needs these.

Lots less desk space, lower thermal output (hence less air con needs) and overall a lot simpler to setup and install.

Definitely!

I've been working on two plans for where I work. Either virtualize everyone and the servers or start deploying attachable PC's. Any monitor with a VESA mount and integrated speakers means only having a power cord and Ethernet cable.

For longevity purposes I've been waiting on someone to release an Atom 330 model. Dell and Asus have promised them for sometime this quarter. Also, they have DVI and 100/1000 Ethernet, which the MSI WindBox seems to lack.

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

I think this is a pretty damn good idea, and those saying a netbook is better.... you must have woman's hands. With these you can use a full size keyboard and monitor (yeah you can plug in a usb keyboard and an external monitor to your netbook but then you just turned it into this with more desk clutter).

 

[3870x2]

It is a very innovative idea for a workspace.

 

[lemonadesoda]

Completely silly product:

1./ As a desktop replacement, they should use the Atom 330 with 2GB RAM. DDR2 is dirt cheap, as is the A330. There is no excuse to run a single core and 1GB memory when YOU ARE PLUGGED IN!!!!

2./ What a STUPID setup with that SD card! Try inserting/removing a CD card based on the setup in that picture!!!

3./ Let's hope it is running a 2.5" and not a 1.8" drive!!!

...they could have got this right... by just spending another $10.

 

[insider]

Not to mention VGA instead of a DVI connector.

 

[aj28]

I like the look of it, but something tells me that I'm not going to like the price. And I agree with what a few people above have said in that dual-core is a necessity for productivity environments in the year 2009. You can live without 2GB of memory on XP, but in a corporate environment where there's plenty of distribution, virtualization, and anti-virus tools running in the background, I could see it giving users a healthy performance boost.

 

[evil bill]

I guess Asus and MSI have a vested interest in not making these kind of things too good, especially the Mark 1 versions, or they might take away sales from their more premium products. As their mainstream tech advances, these things will become more advanced too.

 

[Darkrealms]

I'm seeing one advantage.
If its cheap enough. I have a computer for my car ; )