MSI Anion PR620 Notebook: Laptop Air Purifier

Digital technology convergence has come to air purifiers, witness the hidden webcam air purifier for spying.

With so much demand for ionizer air purifiers seen advertised on TV, we are finding an ionization needle popping up on appliances of every sort.

The ficus tree air purifier, disguised as a plastic office plant, joins AC units, dehumidifiers/humidifiers, fans, and other appliances with negative ion generation added.

Micro-Star International (MSI), a Chinese (Taiwan) electronics firm, is showing a concept notebook computer at the CeBIT digital trade show show, now running at Germany's Hanover Exhibition Center.

MSI's PR620 is a laptop computer with built in "anion" air purifier.

"Anion Notebook"

Anion is the scientific term for negative ions. I am in favor of negative ions, and my Sharp Plasmacluster ionizer air purifier runs at my side as I write.

The new product has been used as comic relief by some editors of electronics websites.

But I have found no web post with the technical background to debunk the Taiwanese computer maker's ludicrous English-as-second-language green marketing claims.

Eco-sites and computer blogs have echoed MSI's claims verbatim.

Reality check overdue.

I make no assessment of the company's computing products, only their air purifier marketing.

Notebooks, frequently used in poorly ventilated indoor spaces, are positive ion (cation) emitters. Adding a negative ionizer to counteract this cation pollution is not inherently a bad idea.

According to MSI's widely propagated marketing copy, the laptop releases 550,000 anions ions/cc measured 50 cm from the air vent, "more than if you were right next to mountains and beaches."

Fine, but commonly available $100 desktop ionizers purify air with 100 trillion ions/cc. Twelve volt ionizers for the car dashboard put out 2 million neg ions at similar measuring distances.

So the Anion Laptop is pretty weak relative to tabletop ionizers as a whole.

"The notebook strongly absorbs dust particles in the air to prevent inhaling into human body, eliminating all possible contact to disease."

Ionizers do not absorb dust particles, they flocculate them into charged groups too heavy to remain airborne. These then adhere to nearby surfaces, including clothing. Flocculated particulates are not removed or adsorbed, they lie ready to become airborne when the charge dissipates.

Contact with disease organisms is reduced, not eliminated.

The PR620 emits "ozone lower than 0.02 parts per million."

Problem!

Ozone emissions from air purification equipment is properly expressed in parts per billion (ppb).

So the notebook air purifier is a modest ozone generator, emitting 20 ppb. Compare the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze at 48 ppb ozone, the Ionic Pro CL-369 at 33 ppb and the Brookstone Pure-Ion at 26 ppb.

These ionizers were blasted by Consumer Reports for ozone emissions. Sharper Image, once a leading seller of air cleaners, recently went bankrupt.

My full sized Sharp air purifier puts out 10 ppb.

Marketing copy is copycatted from English language websites: "ultra-oxygen free radicals," "activated oxygen."

"Ultra-Oxygen Free Radicals can exterminate all kinds of viruses in the respiratory passages to prevent its spread."

Fact: ozone in air must be concentrated 50 times higher than outdoor air purity standards to kill microorganisms.

The PR620 is also claimed to eliminate toxic gases in the air, which the company calls the "Silent Assassin."

To the extent that the PR620s ozone oxidizes volatile chemicals, it also oxidizes your lungs and eyes.

Smoker-Free Quickly function, a short term turbo mode, is asserted to eliminate all smog, dust, and second cigarette smoke in the air.

Not!

No air purifier, not even my $1,000 IQAir, can "eliminate all" secondhand cigarette smoke. This weak ionizer-ozonator absolutely cannot make this claim.

Lastly, the MSI notebook is claimed to improve the users cosmetology, by repelling viruses from the upper skin cells, "leaving the skin smooth and shining."

I think MSI has problems beyond the obvious Chinese-to-English communication barrier. I suggest MSI delay the introduction of computers with integrated ionizers until these marketing issues have been addressed.

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