The new MSI AE2220 is one of the latest All-in-One PCs to join the multi-touch crowd. What makes the AE2220 stand out is its affordable price tag, (the base model goes for as low as $699, yet it still manages to be a capable multimedia machine. The system sports a 21.6″ 1920 x 1080 touchscreen that takes advantage of Windows 7’s multi-touch gestures. The glossy screen is very nice in person with vivid colors, and watching videos on it was impressive with very smooth playback, even with 1080p video files. Multi-touch gestures also felt easy to operate on the system’s touchscreen. But in particular, I was especially impressed with the fact that the system sports HDMI-in, which means that you can hook it up to your PS3, Blu-ray player, etc to be used as a display. Not enough All-In-One PCs are doing that, though it looks like it might be becoming a trend.

 

The system chassis is pretty sleek as you would expect from an all-in-one, and it’s also available with Blu-ray. Other standard features include a card reader, 6 USB ports, a 1.3MP webcam, 2 speakers with SRS sound for a total of 10 watt output, and the NVIDIA Ion chipset, which makes the system powerful enough for HD video playback and basic gaming,  The system is also Energy Star compliant so you can feel green when you plug it in. Under the hood MSI bundles some custom software including a neat touch enabled app that lets you organize a carousel-like interface of shortcuts to all your favorite programs. MSI also provides users with special webcam software that lets you create special effects that can transform you in to someone else as you chat.

At Amazon you can currently pick up the base model of the AE2220 for just $699 but it will be retailing for $749.99. The base configuration comes with a 2.4GHZ Dual Core processor, 4GB of Ram, and a 640GB hard drive. Unfortunately,  some premium features like Bluetooth  are notably not present in the AE2220, but overall, the system offers a lot of value for the money and a lot more performance than your average $500 nettop, so  for those who can shell out the extra few hundred, it will absolutely be worth it.

Update Nov/30/09: We’ve updated this post with more current configuration information, and also to clarify that the AE2220 does indeed have an eSata port