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msi

MSI's supercheap 16-inch laptop includes Blu-ray

The 2009 budget train continues, as MSI has just announced a back-to-school lineup of 16- and 17-inch additions to the Classic C Series notebook line, promising starting prices as low as $549. What's new and notable here is that the 17.3-inch models all have 1600x900 resolutions, which is a nice upgrade from the 1366x768 we're used to seeing on budget machines. Even more intriguingly, the 16-inch CR600-017 includes a Blu-ray/DVD drive for hi-def movie watching (but sadly and quizzically, only a 1366x768 resolution on that one). But this is the kicker: it only costs $649.

All … Read more

MSI notebook first with Intel's ultra-low voltage processor

The battle over ultrathin, low-voltage laptops has begun in earnest.

MSI announced Wednesday the availability of the X340, the first notebook to hit the market sporting Intel's new CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) processor.

The X340 is the first of many ultrathin notebooks that look a lot like the MacBook Air, but bear significantly lower prices. Intel's CULV processor draws 5.5 watts, or one-sixth the power of other mobile processors, which leads to longer battery life. The X340 has a 13.4-inch screen, and is priced at $900. It weighs 2.86 pounds, measures .78 inches thick and … Read more

New colors + TV = MSI U123

MSI's newest Wind has gone on sale, upgrading to an Atom N280 processor from the previous N270 for some modest performance gains. What else is new as compared with the last-generation Wind? Four colors instead of two--blue, red, gray, and white, so a family of four could have its own MSI Wind party and not mix up their laptops.

Also new and notable is a TV antenna connector, turning the Wind into a portable broadcast-ready set in a pinch. Most of what we watch these days is on the Internet anyway, but this could always come in handy for … Read more

Mac OSX 10.5.7: Better for Hackintoshed Netbooks?

Although Apple doesn't have any clear Netbook plans on the horizon, that hasn't exactly stopped anyone from getting their own Apple Netbook the hacky way. Hackintoshes, i.e. PCs with Mac software loaded on them, hadn't truly started stealing the spotlight until the Netbook phenomenon. For as little as $300 and a copy of Leopard, you too could have the sort of ultraportable that Jobs and Co. would only sneer at.

The downside, besides no official hardware support from Apple, has been battery life, an area where OS X hasn't exactly been Netbook-friendly.

That is, until … Read more

MacBook Air competitor packs thrifty Intel chip

A notebook from MSI portends the crush of lower-cost, Intel-based MacBook-Air-like laptop designs to come.

As I've written before, consumer ultra-low-voltage (CULV) chips will arrive in earnest this summer. The X-Slim X340 from MSI (Micro-Star International) is using the ULV SU3500, a precursor to lower-cost CULV Intel chips to come.

(Note: On April 19, Intel cut prices (PDF) on a wide range of processors. Though the SU3500 didn't see any cuts, the prices on its low-power cousins, the SL9400 and SU9400, were reduced 10 percent and 9 percent, respectively.)

What is CULV exactly? Well, one thing it's … Read more

CNET Live--Episode 99

Paul Kocher from Cryptography Research gives us the lowdown on botnets and just what we need to be afraid of.

Watch the show on CNET TV.

Things we crave: Trade HD DVDs for Blu-rays with Warner's Red2Blu program

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Download of the week Netstumbler and iStumbler

Cheapskate Netgear N router for $25

Your video call Mark in Albuquerque, N.M. wants to know why Windows update isn't working fro him in Parallels. A tough one to do without followup questions, but most likely he needs to have Parallels tools installed. If that's not it, a bridged connection … Read more

MSI's Atom-powered WindTop hits e-tail tomorrow

According to our inbox, MSI's WindTop AE1900 touch-screen all-in-one PC is scheduled to hit online retailers Tuesday. It will join the already available Asus Eee Top and Averatec All-in-One in the niche-but-growing Nettop category. On paper, anyway, the Wind Top may stand out due to its many features.

The $525 WindTop essentially marries the key features of the Eee Top and the Averatec system with no price premium. Like the Asus system, MSI's WindTop will feature touch-screen capability, only with a larger, 18.5-inch screen that MSI says conforms to the familiar 16:9 screen ratio common to … Read more