ASRock plans to launch a small desktop computer with a low-power Intel Celeron N3000 dual-core processor and passive cooling (which means no noisy fans).
It’s called the ASRock Beebox, and according to Hungarian website iPon, it’ll probably be available in select markets starting in June or July.
The Beebox is about the same size as an Intel NUC mini-computer, measuring about 4.7″ x 4.3″ x 1.8″. But while most NUC systems feature fans to keep the processor from overheating, the Beebox uses a 4 watt Intel “Braswell” processor which doesn’t produce a lot of heat and features a case designed to dissipate heat without any fans.
While the fanless design is nifty, it’s not the only thing that helps set the Beebox apart from some earlier mini-desktops. It also features a Type-C USB 3.0 port, a well as a three other regular-sized USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, dual HDMI ports, DisplayPort, a headset jack, and 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0.
The computer has two SODIMM slots for up to 8GB Of RAM, and there’s room for an mSATA SSD and/or a 2.5 inch SATA drive.
ASRock may offer several models: iPon has obtained slides showing a model with 2GB of RAM, 32GB or storage and Windows 8.1 with Bing software and a another model with 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and no operating system. There’s also a barebones model that comes with no memory or storage: you’ll have to supply your own..
No prices have been been announced yet.
via FanlessTech
These NUCs are always interesting for a HTPC until they release the prices.
Interesting. I like the updated jacks and it seems like Braswell will be able to support three screens then. Wasn’t aware of that.
Huh. Didn’t know Brad was reading Hungarian pages too! Well met!
Too bad it do not have the analog 5.1 or 7.1 like the other Asrock htpc models or their motherboards. That is a huge turnoff.
I don’t really see the major drawback with lacking analog ports. All that functionality goes through the HDMI port anyways. Even if it’s a turnoff for you, most people won’t even notice.
Please do correct me if I’m wrong here, but why would you want an analog output? Any digital to analog conversion will suffer quality loss, so if you want to do that conversion, it’s better to send it out as the original digital signal, and have a device that is specifically designed to do that conversion do it to minimize quality loss.