Up close with the MSI AE1900 Wind Top

The Eee-rivalling nettop lands

14 May 2009 11:47 GMT / By Chris Hall

MSI showed off the incoming AE1900 Wind Top in London yesterday, and Pocket-lint was on had to give it a good poke.

You'll obviously be wondering what the "AE1900" name is all about - apparently it's "All-in-one" "Entertainment" and 19-inches. Before you ask MSI do plan to launch larger versions.

While on the topic of naming, we initially questioned the Wind Top name because it is so close to Asus' Eee Top. We put this to our man at MSI, who responded with a wry smile before embarking on something about "leveraging the brand".

Anyway, we bought you the specs back in April, but we did have a good play with it yesterday, and like the Eee Top, MSI have used their own custom "Wind Touch" software to make things easier for fingertip control.

The nice thing about it is the ability to add programs into the shortcuts really easily, so you can launch anything installed on your nettop by touch. There is even a funky EyeToy-style space invaders game using the webcam.

The AE1900 comes with a wired mouse and keyboard. The mouse is sculpted for right-handers, so all us lefties will moaning about that and the keyboard is pretty standard - it doesn't quite have the same impact as the funky one that ships with the Eee Top, which is a shame.

With a built-in optical drive, it will easily double-up as a DVD player too.

Heading into shops before the end of May, the AE1900 can be yours for £659.