After announcing its Wind low-cost laptop, MSI has decided to take a crack at a low-cost, small-form-factor desktop PC. The company has announced the Titan 700, a system that seems to take after Apple's Mac mini, but with a more affordable price tag and less potent hardware.

MSI designed the Titan 700 around the Mini-ITX form factor, and it packs a 2GHz VIA C7 processor, a VIA CN700 integrated graphics chipset, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 120GB 2.5" Serial ATA hard drive, and a slim DVD burner into its enclosure. At the back of the machine, you'll see ports for DVI, VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, USB, analog 5.1-channel audio, and (oddly) old-fashioned RS-232 connectivity.The Titan 700's hardware may not be the greatest, but MSI has managed to cram it into a very tight space. The whole PC measures only 185 mm × 240 mm × 70 mm (7.3" x 9.4" x 2.8"), and it's powered by a laptop-style 60W power supply. MSI has taken care to keep the system quiet, too: it quotes noise levels of 35dBA at load and only 20dBA at standby.

So, how much does this all cost? In its UK press release, MSI names a price of £234.99 including value added tax. If you strip out the VAT and do the currency conversion, that works out to $389.68—quite reasonable for a full-featured SFF desktop and a couple hundred bucks cheaper than the most affordable Mac mini.