Taiwan-based ECS has unveiled a new mini-desktop PC with an Intel Atom Bay Trail-M processor and a price of $200 or less. The ECS LIVA is expected to go on sale in late April, and while the system will support Windows and other operating systems, it’ll ship without an OS.

Japan’s IT Media and PC Watch have details.

ECS LIVA

The ECS Liva measures 4.6″ x 2.8″ x 2.2″ and weighs less than 7 ounces, making it a bit more compact than even an Intel NUC computer.

It has 2GB of RAM, 32GB of eMMC flash storage, 1 USB 3.0 port, 1 USB 2.0 port, HDMI, VGA and Ethernet jacks, and 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. Unfortunately the memory and storage are not upgradeable — they’re soldered to the motherboard.

ECS plans to offer the LIVA mini PC kit first in emerging markets where it could be positioned as a low-cost PC. Eventually it could make it to more developed markets where the system could be sold as a home entertainment PC.

Thanks to the low power components, ECS says you could power the LIVA from an external battery pack when you’re away from a wall jack. It also uses passive cooling thanks to a fanless heat sink.

At launch the ECS LIVA will support Windows 8.1, but the company says support for Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux are also in the works.

via FanlessTech

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15 replies on “ECS LIVA mini PC: Tiny Bay Trail desktop for under $200”

  1. Hmm, seems like they sandbagged the NUC comparison, the DN2820FYKH0 has upgradeable memory and SATA, and costs less…

  2. The funny thing is that you can get a Toshiba Encore 8″ Bay Trail tablet with these same specs, HDMI out, expandable storage with an IPS touchscreen display AND Windows 8.1 for about $250 to $280 right now. I don’t really see this as a good deal… Especially with no OS installed. VGA and ethernet connections are not required for most tasks that you would need a PC like this for and they are not expensive options to add… For about $220, I would rather build a Bay Trail Celeron-based NUC or Brix from Gigabyte.

  3. On the other site (linked to above), it indicates the memory and ram is soldered in? It would be nice to upgrade that when needed. It seems like a good price. It would be interesting to see if ReactOS https://www.reactos.org or eComStation https://www.ecomstation.com will run on it. I am glad an OS does not come with it. I won’t have to pay for something that I probably won’t use.

  4. I am hoping by the end of the year there will be many more of these types of computers, with more options and even lower prices. I really need one for running Miro and Bittorrent Sync. The fanless design is a must.

  5. It’d be nice if consumer targeted pico-ITX and nano-ITX boards and cases become popular. Right now, they’re targeted towards embedded and industrial markets with little to no case options. As a result, they cost a lot.

    For example, I have a Z530 Atom based pico-ITX board that costs $400+ for the board and a power supply. You still need an SO-DIMM RAM, storage (SATA, PATA or microSD card) and case. I’m starting to see pico-ITX and nano-ITX Bay Trail boards but they’re all for embedded or industrial use so the price are going to be high.

    1. Agreed I’d like to be able to consider a form factor of this type without planning a case mod for it as well.

  6. If you can power it with the TV USB port, sold. Even better if it can miracast.

    1. Only the Bay Trail T, for tablets, SoCs can miracast because all Celeron/Pentium branded chips disable features like Quick Sync, which is used to help encoding for Miracast streaming…

      It’s also less likely the Bay Trail M/D SoCs would be low power enough to be run from a USB port… at least a regular one but it would be possible with a Bay Trail T SoC… but Bay Trail T means it’s more likely to be a embedded design and not a flexible design… Like Bay Trail T only supports eMMC storage, etc.

  7. Definitely a good starting point. This would be a good computer to buy for kids. Just slap Linux on and you have a computer that they can’t get a virus on.

    1. You are hugely underestimating kids in general. They can get virus on an feature phone..

      1. I think you overestimate kids. While I do agree that they are particularly gullible, the fact is that there really is no malware for Linux. It’s impossible to get a virus that doesn’t exist, no?

        1. Unfortunately they exist – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_malware. Kids are very susceptible to social engineering and can easily be tricked into installing stuff. Yes, Linux is more robust because no one will give kids the admin password, but.. the user account can be compromised and users usually share the same group..
          For mine rascals I use a VM that is not connected to the main IP network, my file server shares only a small kids approved readonly content on the secondary network and the VM is rolled back each night. You may call me security freak but I don’t like taking chances when it takes a few hours to set the things a bit more secure.
          The more Linux becomes popular, more viruses will appear.
          The fact that security patches are announced and fixes appear in clear source is a two blade knife.. Attackers can gain knowledge on the exact security problem and distros or the user may delay providing/installing the patch.

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