MSI Unveils Wind Pad Tablets, Unique Sketch Book, GT660 and FX600 Notebooks

Today at Computex, MSI unveiled a plethora of new mobile products, including a pair of tablets, the Windows 7-based Wind Pad 100 and the Android-2.1 powered Wind Pad 110. The company also showed off two new notebook lines and the Sketch Book, a notebook with a rotating keyboard.

Wind Pad Tablets

MSI had not one, but two tablets on display. The Wind Pad 100 is a 10-inch Windows 7 tablet with an Atom Z530 processor and Windows 7 as its operating system, though Windows 7 is enhanced by a unique MSI touch UI. MSI claims it will last up to 10 hours on a charge. The Wind Pad 110 looks a little bit different and it’s powered by an undisclosed ARM processor, running Android 2.1. It’s supposed to last up to 12 hours on a charge.

Both tablets have front-facing high-resolution Webcams for video conferencing. Both have docking stations and USB ports and both have SD card readers. No word yet on pricing and availability for either.

MSI Sketch Book

In addition to the tablets, MSI showed off the Sketch Book, a unique notebook designed for those who like to scribble. The Sketch Book’s keyboard actually flips over to reveal a giant drawing pad that users can employ to draw or write; MSI also says it will have proprietary handwriting recognition software. It wouldn’t power on, but we got to play with it for a few minutes anyway. We really like this design, but we don’t know where it will go or even what OS it will run.

MSI GT660 Gaming Notebook Offers Power, New 3D Technology

The MSI GT660 is a gaming notebook that the company is positioning as a performance leader. It includes:

• MSI Turbo Drive technology to overclock not only its Core i7 CPU, but also its video card
• A high-speed GTX285M graphics chip
• USB 3.0
• Two hard drives in RAID 0 for increased load and save times.
• A chrome touchpad
• 3D technology using polarized, unpowered glasses

We had a chance to see the 3D on this system and came away really impressed. Unlike previous notebooks with Nvidia 3D technology, MSI provides inexpensive polarized 3D glasses that don’t require power. This allows MSI to include two pairs with the system and to sell replacement pairs for a low price (we don’t know what that is yet). The system includes software that actually makes 2D images and video appear in 3D.

Stylish MSI F Series

MSI’s F Series is designed for style, but includes a heavy helping of power. We got to go hands-on with the 15.6-inch MSI FX600. It sports a Core i5 or Core i7 processor, along with Nvidia Optimus technology that switches between its discrete Nvidia graphics and integrated Intel chip. Along with a stylish pattern on the lid and deck, it has an attractive textured touchpad. THX Speakers provide really compelling sound and a media button changes the gamma output of the monitor to improve the contrast and sharpness of videos.

See more in the video of the FX600 below.

We look forward to getting a closer look at some of these systems when we visit MSI’s booth later this week.