Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve been following our reviews of Windows 8 laptops, you know we haven’t been too kind to the slider form factor. It’s not like we set out to pan these machines, but time and again we’ve found that the propped-up display ruins the typing experience. Keep that in mind as we begin our review of the Slidebook S20, MSI’s flagship Win 8 device, priced at $1,200 in the US. It’s a bold move from a company whose bread and butter is not ultraportables, but gaming systems. In fact, the 11.6-inch S20 is the outfit’s only high-end Windows 8 Ultrabook. So the company must have quite a bit of confidence in that form factor, then, if it didn’t bother with dockable tablets or some other kind of convertible design. Could that mean the S20 has something all the others don’t?

Filed under: Laptops

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When we first heard MSI was showing off a device at CeBIT called the S30, we assumed it was the successor to the S20, the company’s first Windows 8 Ultrabook. Alas, though, it’s not quite an Ultrabook, and it’s certainly not as well-specced a system as the S20. What we have instead is a 13-inch thin-and-light, one that’s headed to Europe for €699 and up. To start with a quick rundown of the specs, it comes either a Core i3 or i5 processor, along with 4GB of RAM and a variety of storage options, with the best one being a 500GB / 64GB SSD combo.

Oddly, that 1,366 x 768 display doesn’t support touch — a surprise given the price, and given that other machines in its class do include that feature. At least the touchpad seems to do a capable job of handling all the various Windows 8 gestures. Finishing up our tour, that 23mm-thick chassis (a bit too thick by Ultrabook standards) is wide enough to accommodate an Ethernet jack, along with HDMI-out and a VGA socket. Only one USB 3.0 port (plus one 2.0 connection) seems a bit stingy, though. In any case, enjoy our hands-on video, and maybe even stay tuned for a closer look at that S20 Slider.

Filed under: Laptops

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MSI is in a froth of gaming frenzy at CeBIT 2013, with a new 27-inch gaming-centric all-in-one PC taking pride of place in the updated range. The MSI AG2712 squeezes Windows 8, Intel third-gen Core i5/i7 processors, and a touchscreen into its slimline chassis, but also finds room for a discrete graphics chip. We caught up with the new model to find out whether that made it special.

If you’ve seen a recent MSI all-in-one, the AG2712 shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. It’s a symphony of plastics, stacking various colors, shades, and finishes – clear, black, grey; matte and gloss – into a blunt-edged monolith with an adjustable stand (angle, not height).

It’s not going to win any design awards, nor any for quality feel; still, it does what it promises to. Down the left edge there are power/control buttons, indicator lights, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, and a memory card reader. On a recessed panel on the back, you get two more USB 3.0, along with a pair of USB 2.0, audio in/out, an ethernet port, and VGA output. You also get a pair of HDMI ports, one outputting for a second display, and the second accepting an input so that you could use the AG2712 as a standalone display for a PS3 or Xbox 360, for instance.

Finally, on the right edge there’s a tray-loading optical drive. MSI throws WiFi in the box too, though if you want the 10-point multitouch display you’ll have to pay extra; as standard, it’s a regular Full HD screen. Either way, you get a welcome anti-glare finish which we found did a decent job of avoiding the show-floor lighting.

It’s the pure specifications that MSI is most proud of, though, and so you get a choice of Core i5 or Core i7 processors, paired with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670X graphics. Audio is courtesy of THX TruStudio Pro processing, though we’d be tempted to plug in some external speakers since, while the AG2712 goes loud, it lacks thump at the low end.

MSI isn’t saying how much the AG2712 will cost, at this stage, and given the all-in-one is competitive with a laptop on specs, but not a regular desktop, we’d hope the company bears that in mind when it slaps on the stickers.

MSI AG2712 Gaming All-in-One PC hands-on is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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MSI has been churning out all-in-one PCs for we don’t even know how long, but until now it hasn’t marketed any of them toward gamers. And we can see why: all-in-one PCs don’t have the modular, expandable design of a tower, and also aren’t mobile like a laptop (not that gaming notebooks are portable, per se, but you get what we mean). Nonetheless, MSI is taking a chance anyway, in the hopes that some gamers out there would prefer a slimmer, space-saving machine, even if it meant sacrificing the processing clout you’d get from a full-fledged rig.

The AG2712, which was announced a few days ago and is on display here at CeBIT, is a 27-inch desktop that generally looks and runs like any other all-in-one — you know, one not targeted at the gaming set. On the outside, it has a few too many glossy bits, with a see-through stand at the rear and a wide speaker grille sitting just below the bezel (it makes use of THX audio technology, but there’s no subwoofer for accentuating bass tones). On the inside, it runs a mobile Core i7 processor — Ivy Bridge for now, though a company rep staffing the event here didn’t rule out a Haswell refresh later on. For graphics, you’ve got NVIDIA’s 670MX, a laptop-grade GPU announced back in October. As it happens, it’s actually standard for all-in-one PCs to pack mobile components. The difference here, though, is that this was built for gamers, and the AG2712 is also kinda thick ’round back, which defeats the purpose of building a desktop with mobile bits in the first place.

On a cheerier note, we appreciate the 27-inch, 1080p touchscreen, which will be offered with a wide-angle matte finish, as pictured above. (Okay, fine, you can get a glossy version instead, if you like.) Otherwise, the remaining specs are pretty standard: HDMI in / out, VGA, Ethernet, a multi-format memory card reader, a tray-loading optical drive, headphone / mic sockets, and six USB ports, two of them USB 3.0. If, on second thought, you don’t need all that, MSI is also showing off a 22-inch model, the AG2212, which will have optional discrete graphics and starts with a Core i3, not i5, CPU. Either way, pricing hasn’t yet been finalized, so although we’re not keen on the idea of a gaming desktop using mobile parts, we’ll withhold final judgment until we see how inexpensive it is. For now, enjoy some hands-on photos past the break.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

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MSI has announced an updated version of its Radeon HD 7950 graphics card line-up by unveiling the Radeon HD 7950 Twin Frozr Boost Edition OC. Specs-wise, the card sports a 384-bit memory interface, a core clock of 880MHz (960MHz PowerTune Boost Clock) and a 3GB of GDDR5 memory set @ 5000MHz. Not only that, the card also employs the third-generation Twin Frozr cooling system (w/ 2x PWM fans) and features 1x dual-link DVI, 1x HDMI and 2x mini DisplayPort outputs. The Radeon HD 7950 Twin Frozr Boost Edition OC will retail for around $330. [MSI]