After “inventing” a genre of notebook that nobody thought they wanted but now clamour for - the netbook - Asus took the insides out of one, built it into a slim TFT screen and created the net-top (or nettop) desktop PC.

Not wanting to be caught out, like they were when Asus launched the first netbook, many manufacturers have produced their take on the nettop. Leading the charge is MSI with the Wind Top AE1900.

Ideal, if desktop space is at a premium and you aren't intending to do any hard-core computing, just basic office work and web surfing, MSI's AE1900 is powered by a version of the standard processor fitment for a netbook, namely Intel's Atom, in this case the 1.6GHz Atom 230. The only difference between this and the Atom N270 found in netbooks is the TDP of the processors; the N270 is a mere 2.5 Watts while the 230 isn't that much more power-hungry at 4 Watts.

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The Atom is backed by just 1GB of 533MHz DDR2 memory which unfortunately cannot be expanded. This comes as a nasty shock, and also begs the question why MSI didn't just equip the AE1900 with 2GB of memory as standard.

Needless to say, as it uses Intel's integrated GMA950 graphics core, sharing up to 128MB of system memory, your gaming experience on the AE1900 will be somewhat limited or, to be more accurate, pretty well non-existent.

The 18.5-inch, 16:9 aspect ratio screen isn't bad but does suffer from its relatively low native resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels, something that is particularly shown up when looking at text, which tends to look a little blurred. It does, however, have the added benefit of being a touch-sensitive screen.

The touch-screen works well enough, though you may want to fine-tune it to suit you by using the touch calibration tool. MSI has included its own launch bar which launches after Windows and brings all the useful everyday apps into one place under four sections; Work, Fun, Tool and Web, making them easy to find and launch. The launch bar can be switched on and off depending on how you want to work.

If you find yourself failing to to grips with the touch-screen part of the AE1900 then fear not; MSI bundles a keyboard and mouse in with the system, which is good news as it's not easy to use the on-screen virtual keyboard for jobs that need a lot of inputting. On the downside, both the keyboard and mouse are USB and not wireless, so you lose two USB ports by using them. For storage there is a 160GB hard drive which, like the memory, can't be upgraded.

If you are going to design an all-in-one PC in white plastic (it's also available in black) and Perspex then you are always going to suffer from jibes about looking like a Mac, but the AE1900 does look rather good sitting on a desk, propped up by its secure Perspex rear support.

The left-hand side of the unit holds a DVD burner, a 4-in-1 card reader and two USB ports, while the other side is home to the power button, volume controls and the screen brightness controls which are all hidden out of sight. What does make its presence felt is the very bright blue hard drive activity LED which after a while can become a real nuisance.

The rear of the screen is home to the DC-in (the AE1900 uses a notebook-style power brick), two more USB ports, two audio ports and the LAN port for the Gigabit Ethernet. If you want WiFi then there is 802.11b/g/n built in.

A stylish all-in-one, ideal for those people who haven't got the necessary space for the traditional desktop PC, this machine would have been helped by bundling a wireless keyboard and mouse, although their inclusion would bump up an already pretty substantial price tag. While the touch-screen is good, the real disappointment is the lack of upgradability of both the memory and hard drive.