2009-01-06, 07:57
The Asus Nova p20 is a newish small formfactor PC from Asus. I got one of these on loan from my PC shop with the intention to buy it if it does what I want ( which it does ). it comes with Vista, so I quickly wiped that and installed Ubuntu 8.10. After some trial and error I managed to get the wireless and 5.1 audio ( spdif ) working properly which were the only things I had trouble with out of the box.
XBMC runs great on it, plays 720p with DTS soundtrack movies perfectly, even over SMB share if using wired network ( wireless was hit and miss with occasional buffering pauses on 720p ). I've even played a few 1080p trailers and sample videos which seemed okay, but could have been dropping frames that I didn't notice.
1.8GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160;
1GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM;
Asus P2P5B1-DHS motherboard;
120GB Seagate Momentus hard disk;
Matshita UJ-85JS slot-loading DVD-RAM;
Intel GMA X3000 integrated graphics;
DVI-I out; Realtek HD integrated audio; S/PDIF out;
integrated speakers; 4 x USB; Bluetooth; 802.11bg;
Windows Vista Home Premium;
52 x 183 x 251mm (WDH); 1.8kg
It comes with a TV Dock which gives it another DVI-D output, front USB ports, a spot for a 2.5" laptop drive, ESATA and a Digital TV tuner ( not supported under linux ). Also a remote control and a keyboard/mouse combo.
A few things I've read suggests that the RAM can be easily upgraded, and the CPU can be upgraded to a E6420 as well which should get close to handling proper 1080p.
This was the perfect replacement for my aging xbox.
XBMC runs great on it, plays 720p with DTS soundtrack movies perfectly, even over SMB share if using wired network ( wireless was hit and miss with occasional buffering pauses on 720p ). I've even played a few 1080p trailers and sample videos which seemed okay, but could have been dropping frames that I didn't notice.
1.8GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160;
1GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM;
Asus P2P5B1-DHS motherboard;
120GB Seagate Momentus hard disk;
Matshita UJ-85JS slot-loading DVD-RAM;
Intel GMA X3000 integrated graphics;
DVI-I out; Realtek HD integrated audio; S/PDIF out;
integrated speakers; 4 x USB; Bluetooth; 802.11bg;
Windows Vista Home Premium;
52 x 183 x 251mm (WDH); 1.8kg
It comes with a TV Dock which gives it another DVI-D output, front USB ports, a spot for a 2.5" laptop drive, ESATA and a Digital TV tuner ( not supported under linux ). Also a remote control and a keyboard/mouse combo.
A few things I've read suggests that the RAM can be easily upgraded, and the CPU can be upgraded to a E6420 as well which should get close to handling proper 1080p.
This was the perfect replacement for my aging xbox.