Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

MSI is demonstrating their Projector PC concept at CES 2010 and Engadget has some details on the oddly alien head looking device. I really am hoping that this is remains a concept but I can see where it comes from. For years now, projectors have had the ability to display simple images, video and some even can handle powerpoint presentations through a flash drive, eliminating the need for a PC. The next logical step would be the integrate a PC into the whole mix! While computing has been relatively static over the past few years, and probably will remain so for a few more years to come, I am not sure I am keen on a PC that I would have to swap out bulbs every few thousand hours. Engadget is right; a nettop/projector combo makes much more sense.

"In the land of netbooks and nettops, the tried-and-true all-in-one PC still has a place in this world yet. MSI is living proof of that, with its 21.5-inch Wind Top AE2220 bringing Windows 7, multitouch and an eye-pleasing design to the collective masses. Said machine just started shipping to consumers at the tail end of last month, and we've been fortunate enough to spend a few weeks tinkering with one of the most cost effective AIO options on the market right now."

MSI have impressed Engadget with their take on the all-in-one PC. To start with they have bypassed the Intel Atom chip and put a Core 2 Duo in to give it some power. Combined with a responsive touch screen and a sleek look, they seem to have built a rather nice device. As Engadget mentioned, there really isn't a killer touchscreen app that takes advantage of these new devices which means you tend to end up using the keyboard and mouse anyway. If you had one of these devices at home, then what app would you use to take advantage of the touchscreen?

"Taiwan's MSI, known mainly for its PCs, has released its latest portable media player, the MT-V660. The device is styled after Microsoft's Zune HD and uses a Rockchip RK2806 chipset along with a 3.2-inch display with a 480x320 resolution."

While Apple's iPod line has had a quadrillion copy cats, Microsoft's Zune has remained relatively unscathed until now. With the Zune HD getting rave reviews it was only a matter of time before similar looking products started showing up. If I were Microsoft, I would feel flattered! The fact that this one comes from MSI is a bit of a surprise, but it appears that the less euphoniously named MT-V660 appears to offer playback for a wealth of formats. Whether it will support the rest of the features a Zune HD offers, and have as slick an interface remains to be seen. One thing that is certain though, is that it will be sold beyond the US border.