Archive for May, 2010
Viewsonic showed us this little VOT125 nettop way back at CES in January, but there weren’t many details and we hadn’t heard anything since. Well, today the company’s officially announced the VOT125 PC Mini today and it looks pretty good. Viewsonic prmotes it as as a space-saving PC, and emphasizes the ‘greeness’ of it – ie. low power consumption and ViewSonic says that the VOT125 uses up to 90 percent less plastic than similar nettops, and consumes up to 90 percent less power, making use of a range of ultra low power Intel ULV CPUs.
So the specs: The VOT125 boasts 2GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, four USB 2.0 ports, plus DVI / HDMI. You can grab one up starting today, and it’s got a starting price of $499.
The computer can handle a number of recent Intel CULV chips, including:
- Intel Celeron 743 single core CPU
- Intel Celeron SU2300 dual core CPU
- Intel Pentium Dual Core Su4100 CPU
- Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CPU
All four versions are bundled with Intel GMA4500MHD graphics.
Check out the full PR after the break.
These days, more and more people are giving up their cable tv connection and are watching television content online – via Hulu.com, Netflix or by downloading tv from Bittorrent sites. If you’re like me, this has started to limit your tv watching to your laptop screen. But, with a small investment and half a day, you can build a dedicated, silent, home theater PC to connect to your flat screen tv. This post on Lifehacker covers how to use the open-source XBMC software to run on a $199 Acer Aspire Revo to build a comprehensive home theater PC.
What You’ll Need:
- Acer AspireRevo: This $200 nettop ships with 1GB of RAM, an Intel Atom 230 processor, 160GB
- XBMC Live: This is a Live CD version of XBMC that boots directly into XBMC and has a tiny footprint. You can find the download specifically set up for these NVIDIA ION machines on this page, you can grab the direct download here, or download via BitTorrent here.
- A thumb drive: It doesn’t have to be huge, but this 8gb Kingston Datatraveler is cheap ($15.95) and will be useful for other projects as well.
- An IR receiver/Windows Media Center remote: This isn’t strictly necessary, but if you want to control your shiny new XBMC via remote control, you’ll need some sort of supported remote with a USB receiver. I got this Mediagate remote for about $30 and it works great. (Incidentally, it also works like a charm with XBMC as soon as you plug it in.)
Read the full post here on Lifehacker how to create XBMC HTPC Nettop. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes, the Asus Eee Keyboard is available and shipping now for $599 at Amazon.com. It almost brings a tear to our eye, and some of us thought this day might never come, but the EeeKeyboard is at long last ready for public consumption.
Just in case you’ve missed the 2 year run up , the specs of this keyboard shaped nettop include an Atom N270, a gig of RAM, and good ‘ole Windows XP . There’s aA 5-inch 800 x 480 multitouch display is supported by a Broadcom Crystal HD chip for decoding of high-def video, UWB connectivity to wirelessly stream to a nearby HDTV, and a battery that promises four hours of autonomous use.
Following on from the IdeaCentre Q100 and Q110 nettops, Lenovo has launched a new iteration called the IdeaCentre Q150. This latest nettop from Lenovo updates to the latest next generation ION platform (Ion 2) and uses a dual core Atom D510 processor. There are a few changes to the outside casing, but on the whole, the same look & feel is kept.
We took a look at the Q100 last year and were generally impressed with the little nettop, although a little underwhelmed on the performance front. Hopefully the Ion 2 and Dual core Atom D510 should solve that issue. We look forward to getting our hands on the Q150 for some hands on tests.
The Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150 will go on sale at the end of next month (June) with pricing starting at $249.
Skip past the break to see the full specs.
Tranquil PC is a UK-based PC maker, and the T7-MP2 is a new system with an Intel Atom D510 dual core processor and NVIDIA ION graphics. The system is optimized for home theater use, and is nearly silent, thanks to the passive cooling system — there’s no fan. As one would expect for a HTPC, it has a bevvy of video outputs including HDMI, DVI, and VGA video, and SPDIF and analog audio outputs.
There are 6 USB ports and an eSATA port for additional storae space, and the nettop supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi. There’s no optical disc drive built in, but you an attach one via one of those USB ports.
The T7-MP2 runs Windows 7 Home Premium with Windows Media Center functionality, and it’s compatible with an array of US internet television services including the BBC iPlayer, SKY Player, and ITV Player.
The base model runs £479 and comes with a media center remote control, 2GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive, but you can up the specs if you’re willing to pay a little more. The Tranquil PC T7-MP2 will ship starting on May 30th, but it’s available for pre-order today.
via Netbook News.de
