The folks at MSI seem to be keen on pushing the envelope of product design lately. At CES, they had the odd, but sort of useful computer-in-a-projector concept. This week at CeBIT, they apparently have the MSI Toast PC — a computer that, as far as I can tell, looks like a toaster.

The Toast PC is a nettop with slim, toaster-like design. The slot-loading DVD drive at the top loads a disc sort of the way a toaster loads bread. There’s also a remote control that you can snap onto the side of the computer for safekeeping — and more of that toaster illusion.

I think I liked the Projector PC better.

The MSI Wind U160 is the new top of the line model from netbook maker MSI. But that doesn’t mean it’s horribly expensive. Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the netbook. It’s available for order in black or brown. Both models cost $380.

Amazon describes the 6 cell battery as a “15 hour” battery, which I suspect is a bit of an exaggeration. But I was able to get 10+ hours of run time out of the Asus Eee PC 1005PE, a netbook with the same basic specs as the Wind U160, which was described as having a 14 hour battery. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the MSI Wind U160 can run for at least as long.

The rest of the specs are pretty much standard netbook fare, including a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU with GMA 3150 graphics, a 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, and a 1.3MP webcam. The laptop runs Windows 7 Starter Edition and weighs about 2.4 pounds.

via Netbooked

MSI announced a handful of new 10 inch netbooks with Intel Atom N450 processors in January. The MSI Wind U160 is probably the most attractive of the bunch. I got a chance to play with one for a few minutes at CES, but Johannes at NewGadgets.de did me one better and he got MSI to send him a pre-production model. You can check out his unboxing video (in English) after the break.

The laptop has a glossy lid, a chiclet-style keyboard, and a textured touchpad with a single mouse button that makes the Wind U150 look an awful lot like the Asus Eee PC 1005PE.

The computer ships with Windows 7 Starter Edition, a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, GMA 3150 graphics, and a choice of a 3 or 6 cell battery. There’s also a SIM card slot, indicating that the Wind U160 may be available with a 3G modem.

The 6 cell battery does stick out like a sore thumb at the back of the netbook. One thing that sets the Wind U160 apart from other MSI netbooks is that it has a two-tone color scheme. The lid, keyboard, and base of this particular unit, for instance, are black. But the battery and the area where the keyboard meets the lid are a metallic gray color. I’m not really sure how I feel about this particular color combo, but the models I saw at CES had more of a gold and chrome color combo, which looked a bit better.

You can check out Johannes’s unboxing video and a few hands-on photos I shot at CES after the break.

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I got a chance to check out the recently announced MSI Wind Box DE220 nettop while I was at CES earlier this month. And then I kept forgetting to upload the pictures. So here you go.

The small form factor desktop PC comes with a choice of a single core 1.66GHz Intel Atom D410 or dual ore 1.66GHz Atom D510 processor. Both models are available with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics, up to 4GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of hard disk space. The computer runs Windows 7 Home Premium and comes with an optional 802.11b/g/n WiFi card.

The Wind Box DE220 measures 10.8″ x  x 6.7″ x 1.6″.

No word on pricing or a launch date.

You can find more pictures after the break.

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With a base price of $499, the recently announced iPad isn’t exactly cheap. Most netbooks, smartphones, and other mobile computing devices available today can be picked up for significantly less. But for an Apple product, $499 ain’t bad. COO TIM Cook had previously indicated that he didn’t think the company could produce anything worthwhile in the netbook space (and he’s not a fan of traditional netbooks) for less than that price. So most pundits kind of expected the Apple Tablet to run $800 or more. As it turns out, the most expensive version of the iPad will run $829, and that’s for a model with 3G connectivity and 64GB of storage.

Anyway, long story short, that’s bad news for some of the companies that were hoping to put out their own tablets and market them as cheaper alternatives to the Apple Tablet. DigiTimes reports that Asus, MSI, and other would-be tablet makers were hoping to sell their products for 20% to 30% less than Apple’s. But that would have been a lot easier if the iPad cost $1000.

That doesn’t mean we won’t see some of the promised iPad competitors hit the streets later this year. But the profit margins are likely to be slimmer and we could see companies cutting some corners to keep costs down.

Of course, there have also been plenty of chip-makers promising that $200 tablets could hit the streets at some point. But I haven’t seen a manufacturer actually follow through on that promise yet, and my guess is that we’ll have to rely on telecom subsidies to bring tablet prices down to that point.

In case you got all caught up in the Apple Tablet madness that was yesterday, now might be a good time to remind you that there are dozens of other companies working on touchscreen tablets designed to fill the niche between smartphones and notebooks. You know, if that’s an actual niche that people want to see filled. That remains to be seen.

Anyway, one of the more intriguing devices I spotted at CES was a barely-functional 10 inch tablet from MSI. It sported an NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset, which means that the low power device should get decent battery life while surfing the web, playing games, reading books, or watching HD video. The MSI tablet was hardly the only device fitting this description on display at the show, but MSI has made a pretty good name for itself by pumping out quality netbooks, video cards, and other products in the last few years, so I actually believe that this tablet has a decent chance of making it to market.

And according to DigiTimes, the MSI tablet will hit the streets in the second half of 2010 for about $500. That’s pretty much the same price as the base model of the Apple iPad. It’s not quite clear how the two devices will stack up on a feature-by-feature basis. We do know that the MSI tablet will run Google Android while the iPad will run the iPhone OS. And the widescreen  MSI tablet will be capable of handling 1080p HD video while the iPad tops out at at 720p video playback on its 1024 x 768 pixel display. I’m also fairly certain that MSI’s device will be able to handle multitasking, and by the time it’s released, Android should be able to support Adobe Flash.

But there are still a few question marks about storage, memory, and wireless connectivity options.

You know what happens when PCs get smaller and smaller? It gets easier to cram a complete PC into other products that were once thought of as peripherals. Case in point: MSI’s Projector PC.

Basically, this concept machine takes a low power computer and shoves it inside a somewhat standard looking projector. This lets you project the PC display on any white screen or even a ceiling. Instead of carrying a laptop and projector with you to a meeting, you could just carry the Projector PC.

The system can handle up to 60 inches of HD video playback.

According to Gizmodo, the PC packs an Atom processor and NVIDIA ION graphics. It also has HDMI output, Ethernet, 4 USB ports, mic and headphone jacks, and a DVD player. The Projector PC is only a concept for now and may never make it to market.

via NewTeeVee

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MSI is showing a 10 inch tablet with a capacitative toucshcreen display. I didn’t get a lot of details about it when I stopped by the booth the other day, but Engadget reports that it’s powered by NVIDIA’s new Tegra 2 platform. It also runs Google Android.

It’s not clear at the moment whether MSI will actually bring this tablet to market or if it’s just a concept device.

More pictures below.

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I stopped by the MSI booth this afternoon and got a chance to check out the new MSI Wind U135 netbook running SUSE Linux with the Moblin user interface. This model will begin shipping in February, and Novell says SUSE has been optimized to boot in as little as 30 seconds.

While the Moblin interface is full of widgets for interacting with web services, sort of like the Skylight user interface Lenovo is using on its upcoming smartbook, under the hood you have a full Linux desktop environment. That means you’ll be able to install applications packaged to run on SUSE Linux as well as programs that will be available from Intel’s developer program for Atom.

You can check out a brief hands-on video after the break.

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MSI is showing off a netbook prototype with twin 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen displays and no physical keyboard. But you can bring up an on-screen keyboard and tap away. What’s interesting is that the keyboard vibrates as you type. It doesn’t quite feel like using a physical keyboard, but it does give you a sense that your fingers have actually touched something. If you find the vibration disconcerting, you can adjust the vibrate level up or down.

The demo unit I tested out this afternoon is an early prototype, and the touchscreen wasn’t quite as responsive as I (or the friendly MSI rep) would have liked. I found it a little difficult, for instance, to drag items from one screen to the other, or to make the keyboard larger or smaller. But it’s likely that these kinks could be worked out before MSI would bring the device to market.

The company is gauging interest in the design at CES and is reaching out to partners before deciding whether to actually go into mass production. But the hardware and software is pretty much ready to go.

There was also a 7 inch dummy unit at the MSI booth, but it was non-functional.

Interestingly, Asus is also showing a dual screen prototype at its booth this year. But it’s a non-functioning concept device inspired by the We-PC project. There are no plans to actually go into mass production on this device yet.

You can check out a short video of the MSI prototype, as well as more photos after the break.

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