When the first MSI Mega SFF hit the market several years back, it was hailed in many circles as the most well integrated (and often thought to be best looking) small form factor system. Appearing more like a combination car stereo/home theater component than a computer, it gave all of us in the industry new respect for MSI - previously known for motherboards, graphics cards, and other general computer components.
So we were all surprised when MSI went rather quiet on us over the last few years. To their credit, quite a few players entered the "hot" SFF market, and then proceeded to exit over the last 18 months when less than stellar growth in the overall industry forced them out.
But MSI is now back in the public eye, with the release of the Mega mPC 945 small form factor barebones system, featuring support for the latest Pentium D dual core CPU's and sporting the Intel 945G chipset.
Additionally PC Stats has taken a look at AOpen's mini PC MP915-B system, based on the Intel 915GM chipset and supporting Socket 479 Pentium M 400/533 MHz processors, this even smaller SFF PC has got a lot of press in the past for resembling Apple's Mac Mini size and looks.