Last November 18 saw the launch of the Wind Top AE2220. The all-in-one touchscreen PC features a starting SRP of $749, a 21.5″ display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, and an integrated Nvidia GeForce 9300 GPU. MSI’s marketing promises that this product is “35% more energy efficient than a traditional PC” and has “the power to run full HD movies, resource-hungry applications, sophisticated 3D games”.

That depends on what they mean by “traditional PC”, and I doubt this rig can run Left 4 Dead 2 at the integrated display’s native resolution. However, the Wind Top is promising as an HTPC, as it’s compatible with the standard VESA wall mount, like your typical HDTV. It can also play BluRay discs and burn DVDs, and the lowest-end model features 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a 320GB hard disk. While the multi-touch interface (courtesy of Windows 7) is unproven and thus won’t win me over, the inclusion of a wireless mouse and keyboard makes the sub-$800 price tag seem even more reasonable.

Complete specs below for the new MSI Wind top AE2220 series is available at MSI’s US website.

Straight from SmartFish’s PR: Pay $50, and we’ll deliver you a mouse that’s the most ergonomic yet! The basis of this promise is that the ErgoMotion Laser Mouse features a swivel mount, which adjusts automatically to your mouse hand:
The ErgoMotion Mouse is redefining what a true ergonomic product should be by actually reducing your risk of Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI). How? By adding motion! The ErgoMotion Mouse utilizes a patented motion-base that adapts to your natural hand and wrist positions while you work. The mouse will rock, swivel or pivot with your movement so your hand and wrist are never …read more

They say Black Friday was so named because Philadelphia city officials usually braced themselves for “massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks” as people take advantage of the day off to shop until they drop for the holidays. In any case, those problems are non-existent when you shop online, and Dell has a lot of Black Friday deals for shoppers looking for a computer for themselves or loved ones.

According to research by warranty firm SquareTrade, you really get what you pay for, with premium-priced laptops lasting longer than their cheaper counterparts on average. Good news for those who’ve spent money for specs, bad for buyers trying to eke by on affordable netbooks; from the survey of 30,000 portables, netbooks have a 5.8% chance of failing within the first year.

Another notable trend becomes clear when comparing brands. Here’s the list of nine different brands, ranked from most reliable to least, in terms of malfunction rate:

Asus
Toshiba
Sony
Apple
Dell
Lenovo
Acer
Gateway
HP

Looks like Asus‘ marketing department have a new talking point to advertise, while Apple has …read more

Yesterday saw the release of the OCZ Colossus, a new high-performance SSD line with capacities of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. If you’ve considered tapping the speed benefits of solid state disks for your PC (SSDs are basically high-capacity thumb drives plugged directly into a desktop or laptop motherboard), but always found the current capacities a limitation, salvation is here!

The OCZ Colossus uses the standard 3.5″ SATA chassis, meaning it’s an easy plug-in for contemporary desktops. Unfortunately, that’s too big for most laptops, which usually accept only 2.5″ drive modules. The relative heftiness of the Colossus has something to do …read more

Oh wow, Leica recently came out with the camera in the UK! Quick, save up 9,500 euros so you can buy it!

Wait, what? Almost ten-thousand European simoleons for a camera? There’s a reason why professional photographers spend good money on cameras, lenses, and accessories like flash. It’s because these pricey gadgets truly make for a better picture.
Now don’t get me wrong; No one should ever doubt the image quality achievable through technology from Leica (better known to the average geek as the lens provider for the Panasonic Lumix line). But why would you that much for a camera that has …read more

Yesterday saw Dell start shipping the Dell Adamo XPS, which they market as the world’s thinnest laptop. This ultra-thin gadget is 10.3mm thick at its heftiest point, and tapers down to 9.7mm. Average thickness is thus just under a centimeter at 9.99m. Aesthetically it stands out, thanks to its unique configuration, which sees the keyboard portion actually embedding itself into the display when the laptop is shut. The hinge placement unfortunately seems to make it hard to use the Adamo XPS on uneven surfaces, and definitely limits this laptop’s lap potential, though it does allow some natural cooling.

Complete spec list …read more

Check this out: a YouTube vid demoing the NES-friendly “de-make” of Left 4 Dead, featuring a soundtrack, graphics, and gameplay well-suited to the 2d console-ness that was the 80s!
While only the Boomer made an appearance in the demo above (and is actually tougher than your typical infected, compared to the original), creator Eric Ruth assures us that the finished product, to be made available for free this January 4, 2010, will be more complete. Q & A detailing the game below!

Q: Is this just an animation or an actual game?
A: An actual game. It will be available for free download …read more

If only we could go back in time and continue earning living wages as children. The Junior 35 MPH Classic Corvette, while a 2/3 scale replica of the 1956 Corvette, actually runs on gasoline and features automatic transmission for easy driving. It seats two kid-sized people, and can zoom them around at a maximum speed of 35 miles per hour.

Even if both the driver and passenger are hefty specimens of childhood, the Classic Corvette can support up to 330 pounds—though I’m sure traveling near or at max weight will affect the car’s performance somewhat. With a price of $32,000, the …read more

Ok fine, so Blizzard recently implied that Diablo III won’t see a 2010 release. But it’s not the end of the world for us Diablo fanatics, as there are games out now that provide similar gameplay. None of the following are Diablo III, but from my experience, I think they’ll do a good job of keeping you busy, dungeon-hack-wise, until Blizzard finally completes the Diablo trilogy.

The Original Diablo
I’m not kidding. In some ways, the first Diablo provided a more compelling gameplay experience than Diablo II and its expansion, Lord of Destruction. There were limits: you couldn’t run, magic item generation …read more