X

MSI tries the Windows tablet game with the WindPad

One of the Windows tablets on display at CES is the unfortunately named WindPad from MSI.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
See full bio
Dan Ackerman
MSI

Tablets are a hot commodity, or so the PC makers churning them out would have you believe. Though none of these devices, save for Apple's iPad, has really made a splash, we're still seeing plenty of Android and Windows tablets and slates being announced. And unlike CES 2010, a few of the models appearing at CES 2011 may actually make it to market in a timely manner.

One of the Windows tablets on display is from MSI, a company known for churning out a range of mostly decent laptops, with a few unheralded gems thrown into the mix. The unfortunately named WindPad has a 10.1-inch multitouch display and is powered by an Intel Z530 CPU.

Though that Z-series CPU doesn't fill us with hope (in fact, it's usually a recipe for disaster in anything other than an unambitious Netbook), the WindPad does offer a few features that other tablets (we're looking at you, iPad) lack. Notably, it has a mini-HDMI port, one USB connection, an SD card reader, Bluetooth, and dual cameras.

Storage space, according to the spec sheet we saw, include 16/32/64GB SSD and 320/500GB HDD options, and the system includes 2GB of RAM.

Look for the MSI WindPad in late January for between $499 and $699.