[ps3killer]

Which verison is $380?

I think the Celeron one.

[fekker]

Could only be a a mini-itx socket 775 with geforce 9400 onboard.. that mobo isn't out yet.

It can't be micro-atx, those boards are 9.5" (i.e. too big to fit in the specified space)

if it was a 9300 onboard, then yeah, that's doable, there's a few of those out there in mini-itx form..

With it stating onboard 9400, and the cpu choices mean it's a socket 775 board, that combo is not currently possible.

sounds like vapor to me

but you could easily make something similar with the mini-itx 9300, cpu, ram, slim hdd, small case.

[b01]

I'll wait for a nVidia ION PC that is close to the reference specs. It will run CoD4 and run at 220 Wat, or something like that. And is smaller than a Mac mini.

Yea, I think I'll wait til later this year.

[decaturguy]

The price for Intel® Core™2 Duo.

Dear Decaturguy :

We dont have any reseller in Europe right now, we sell directly from our factory, The sample price for Lv 2130 is $560.00.
Cy
Oversea Dept.
Lucidatech CO.,LTD
ADD:1958 East Nanhu Road,Changchun,Jilin Province,P.R.China

TEL:+86-431-85825559
FAX:+86-431-85825596
Email:? at lucidatech.com
MSN:? at hotmail.com
Skype:lucidatech
http://www.lucidatech.com

[motd2k]

Thats really expensive for what it is, no?

[decaturguy]

Yeah thats too expensive for something you buy directly from the factory and from unknown company located in China.

[Applefan]

i just checked theri website , the machine supports XBMC now

[Schroeder]

Asus is coming out with an update to the EEE box line. I personally think this would be the way to go.


Here's a link to Asus' web site.
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?content...tKZ9hHhda2

For those not wanting to make the jump:
Specifications
OS Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
CPU Intel® Atom™ N330 Dual Core
Memory 2 x So-DIMM Slots, DDR2-800 2G (UP to 4G)
Storage SATA 2.5'' 250GB
Optical Drive Slim Slot-in Super Multi DVD-RW
Chipset NVIDIA® ION™
Graphics NVIDIA® ION™
LAN 10/100/1000 Mbps
Wireless 802.11b/g/n

Front Panel
* Slot-in Super Multi DVD-RW
* Card Reader x 1
* USB 2.0 x 2
* Headphone-out jack x 1
* MIC x 1

Rear I/O
* Wi-Fi antenna x 1 (built-in)
* USB 2.0 x 4
* D-Sub x 1
* HDMI out x 1
* eSATA x1
* Audio out (S/PDIF out) jack x1
* Giga Lan x 1

Power Supply 19Vdc, 3.42A, 65W Power Adaptor
Dimension 1.5 L (193mm x 193mm x 39mm)
Weight 1.2kg

Accessories
* QSG
* Power Adapter(65W)+ Power Cord
* Stylish Stand
* VESA-Mount Kit
* Remote Controller (Option)
* Wired/Wireless KB+ Mouse(Option)

Colors: Noble White & Modern Black

[podiboq]

After checking the specs I don't see why this Eee-box is better then the AS-Rock ION 330-BD which has a Blue-ray player, runs at 2.1Ghz, has a boot-time under 10 sec. and is cheaper too?

[CrashX]

After checking the specs I don't see why this Eee-box is better then the AS-Rock ION 330-BD which has a Blue-ray player, runs at 2.1Ghz, has a boot-time under 10 sec. and is cheaper too?

I don't think the price in us is announced yet .. But I believe it will be $299 US to compete with Acer Aspire ($199 lacks wifi, dual core, dvd drive )

[CyberMaxX]

After checking the specs I don't see why this Eee-box is better then the AS-Rock ION 330-BD

Perhaps you missed:
Comes with an OS (Windows 7 Home Premium) Pre-Installed
--- ASRock ION has no OS preinstalled it is up to you to install one.
Comes with an external eSATA port
--- ASRock ION has no external eSATA port or for that matter no support for eSATA
Comes with an external Card Reader
--- ASRock ION doesn't include one.
Comes with built in wireless 802.1 b/g/n
--- ASRock ION has no builtin wireless.
Athestically pleasing sleek design which would look nice next to you HDTV in your living room. If you don't like the Modern Art look the ASUSTek comes with a VESA mounting kit as well.
--- ASRock ION truely lives to the name of a Nettop Box, even the back panel isn't color matched.

ASRock ION-330BD Caveats:
The Memory is Dual-Channel so if you originally buy it with 2GB and wish to go to maximum supported 4GB you'll have to dump the memory chips to perform the upgrade. Flip side is that Dual Channel is 2x faster then Single Channel, just be aware of this when and if you purchase the ASRock.

Though it has a Blue-Ray Drive built in keep this in mind if Blue-Ray is your thing and if it's a selling factor for you.
It will not Bitstream High Definition Audio from Blue-Ray [downsampled PCM only via HDMI as 7.1 channels of LPCM audio.]

The Intel ATOM 330 is rated at 1.60GHz here
ASRock includes a utility disk called ASRock OC Tuner which is a user friendly tool to help you OverClock and Monitor the device. So yes, you may get it to 2.1GHz but it's a tweek and not spec.

As for the Instant On Booting of ~10-20 seconds there's a catch to that as well.
Technically it works but in order to do so each time you shut down the system it has to fully reboot itself and THEN immediately shut itself down again EVERY TIME.

And, if everyone isn't aware - ASRock happens to be a subsidery of ASUSTek.
I believe that they are managed seperatly and sometimes compete with each other, but mostly ASRock makes budget boards with ASUSTek using slightly higher quality parts.

Cheers
CyberMaxX

[podiboq]

Over at ION Based I found this article. Zotac has entered the market with it's MAG (Mini All-in-one Giant)

Seems to be a promising little machine but lacks an ODD. Prices are not yet known.

[podiboq]

Comes with an OS (Windows 7 Home Premium) Pre-Installed

I know but don't consider this an advantage as most people will want to use Linux/XBMC, so why pay for it?

Comes with an external eSATA port

When you have 6 USB2 connections?

Comes with an external Card Reader

you got me their

Comes with built in wireless 802.1 b/g/n

as I said before, 6x USB2, so plug-in a cheap Wlan USB-adaptor

Aesthetically pleasing sleek design which would look nice next to you HDTV in your living room. If you don't like the Modern Art look the ASUSTek comes with a VESA mounting kit as well.

That's a matter of taste

ASRock ION truly lives to the name of a Nettop, even the back panel isn't colour matched.

I didn't quite get this one...., but I'm not planning to look at the back-panel (neither will you if you use the VESA-mount for ASUS )

The Memory is Dual-Channel so if you originally buy it with 2GB and wish to go to maximum supported 4GB you'll have to dump the memory chips to perform the upgrade. Flip side is that Dual Channel is 2x faster then Single Channel, just be aware of this when and if you purchase the ASRock.

Hmm, the Asus doesn't have the same "problem"?

As for the Instant On Booting of ~10-20 seconds there's a catch to that as well. Technically it works but in order to do so each time you shut down the system it has to fully reboot itself and THEN immediately shut itself down again EVERY TIME.

This an automated process, no User Input needed once selected.

And, if everyone isn't aware - ASRock happens to be a subsidiary of ASUSTek.
I believe that they are managed separately and sometimes compete with each other, but mostly ASRock makes budget boards with ASUSTek using slightly higher quality parts.

Up to a certain degree true (AsRock is more like ASUSTek's little playground), however in this case a no go. AsRock for example uses HQ solid capacitors on this particular motherboard.

C'ya

[BORIStheBLADE]

Over at ION Based I found this article. Zotac has entered the market with it's MAG (Mini All-in-one Giant)

Seems to be a promising little machine but lacks an ODD. Prices are not yet known.

Nice find.

[CyberMaxX]

Your First reply was

After checking the specs I don't see why this Eee-box is better then the AS-Rock ION 330-BD

I'll add some details.

I know but don't consider this an advantage as most people will want to use Linux/XBMC, so why pay for it?

Last time I checked the Majority of OS users out there are Windows Based and not Linux. So I believe that having an OS preinstalled would be an advantage to those who don't want to install one or for those who don't want to get involved with Linux. "Those" being the majority.

+1 for a device that comes pre-installed with the latest OS (supported by a major company) along with its specific drivers, all targeted to the majority of users in the world. Also, all one has to do is get the Build (Released or SVN) of XBMC that they want to use, install it and off they go.

One does not need to hunt down the latest linux build or for that matter jump all over the internet to find specific drivers for the hardware in question.

I would say that the advantage here is that having to pay a little extra to have the os pre-installed saves alot of time and hassels no?

When you have 6 USB2 connections?

In regards to eSata VS USB 2.0 - eerm...

I'd take connecting external drives to eSata then over USB 2.0 anyday.
With HTPC as your main application one would have to say that your Library will grow and you will be adding more storage to it one day.

Don't forget:

For every USB 2.0 device that you attach to one of those 6 ports you have to share the USB Bandwidth amongst all the devices.

eSata also supports S.M.A.R.T drives and Hot Swapping of Drives where as USB 2.0 can not.

USB 2.0 also relies heavily on the CPU to do the I/O work. eSata on the other hand offloads it, the CPU now has less work to do in that regards.
This is a huge advantage for paying a bit extra to have an added external eSata port for future expansion.

Raw Bandwidth: eSata 3,000Mbit/s USB 2.0 480Mbit/s
Transfer Speed: eSata 300MB/s USB 2.0 60MB/s

+3 for having eSata for the Transfer Speed it will smoke USB 2.0, no CPU Overhead, Hot Swap on a drive failure.

Side Note: The EEE device has 6 USB 2.0 ports as well - 4 in the back 2 up front.

you got me their

Yep having that Card reader is a +1 for when the family comes by for a visit and have their pictures stored on a media card. Plug in the card and we are ready to see where Grandma and Grandpa went for vacation.

as I said before, 6x USB2, so plug-in a cheap Wlan USB-adaptor

+1 again for not having to go out and buy a cheap WLAN USB adaptor.
The EEE device comes with one and along with having the OS preinstalled I don't need to go and hunt down drivers for it. Not to many WLAN USB adaptors coming with Linux Drivers on their Install Disk last time I checked.

That's a matter of taste

True looks are a matter of taste to everyone, but if you have a better 1/2 it better look good if it's going to be sitting out in the living room LOL!
No real advantage here you are correct, unless of course your wife has a say in that department. If I showed her pictures of both believe me, she would pick the ASuS over the AsRock in a heartbeat she wouldn't even care about specs. HAHA

I didn't quite get this one...., but I'm not planning to look at the back-panel (neither will you if you use the VESA-mount for ASUS )

The Advantage here is that a VESA mount kit is included where as the ASRock you would have to go and buy one.

+1 for the included VESA kit.

Hmm, the Asus doesn't have the same "problem"?

EEE is Single Channel and not Dual so you don't have to pair the memory chips.

This an automated process, no User Input needed once selected.

Taking time that would be spent during the boot and putting it at the end of the shutdown process. It's really a wash, either way. How many people actually shutdown a PC and just walk away without making sure that it really shutsdown?

Up to a certain degree true (AsRock is more like ASUSTek's little playground), however in this case a no go. AsRock for example uses HQ solid capacitors on this particular motherboard.

Yes to a certain degree true about AsRock they are known to go on the cheaper side of parts. Do you have a link showing any statements that they are now using Higher Quality parts on this "particular" motherboard?

In short:
Yes the AsRock is cheaper but you are truely getting something for which you are paying for.

The ASuS EEE does have quite a few more advantages spec wise compared to the AsRock so yes expect to pay more for it. Don't get me wrong if you feel that the advantages that I listed don't warrent the extra cost for the ASuS by all means the AsRock may work for you. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't basing any buying decisions on the 2.1Ghz, Blue-Ray and it being cheaper as you stated because you may have thought that the Specs are somewhat the same. Having it boot fast is nice but then again one could just put their device into a suspended state or hibernation if the OS supports it and perform the same thing.

I see you dropped the "You got me their" replies for the 2.1Ghz and Blue-Ray responses. I do hope that the details that I provided in my previous post helped with some understanding about the AsRock.

2.1Ghz - No that's marketing Intel rates the ATOM 330 at 1.60Ghz, anyone can Overclock their device.

Blue-Ray Drive - again marketing, you still don't get a true Blue-Ray experince like you would with a real Blue-Ray player without true HD Sound Bitstreaming.

Besides if one is building an HTPC your are probably going to rip your DVD's HDDVD's and Blue-Ray DVD's to your Library and stuff it all on your Hard Drives. I'm past putting them into a ODD slot to watch, I'd rather have XBMC with the Home Theater Plugin added this way I can enjoy some trailers, and watch a bunch of queued up movies from my library without getting up to load in another DVD.

Cheers
CyberMaxX