If you thought your netbook was a small computer, you’ve clearly never placed it next to a Fit PC 2. This little nettop computer is just about an inch thick and 4 inches dep and weighs less than a pound. But it has room for an Intel Atom Z530 or Z510 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 2.5″ hard drive. It uses Inte’s GMA 500 graphics which features hardware video acceleration for H.264, MPEG2, VC1, and WMV9 video. The computer has Ethernet, mic, line, and headphone jacks as well as 4 USB ports and 2 mini USB ports. There’s also a Mini SD card reader and integrated 802.11g WiFi. There’s a DVI port with an HDMI adapter for connecting a display.
Rob Beschizza at Boing Boing Gadgets spent a little time with a Fit PC 2 and he’s put together a review. He reports that like most nettops, you could probably get away with using the Fit PC 2 as a primary desktop computer if you spend most of your time browsing the web or performing non-CPU-intensive tasks. This is not the computer for you if you need a machine for video editing, running Photoshop, or other heavy duty apps.
Standard definition web video is OK, but HD web video is choppy. And while the machine can handle 720p video in a handful of formats, it struggled with 1080 Quicktime movie trailers.
The best part of the review though, are the pictures. Beschizza photographed the Fit PC 2 hanging out with a Mac Mini, which looks monstrous, as well as a handful of paperback books. In antoher photo you can see that the computer is barely any bigger than the hard drive tucked away inside.
The Fit PC 2 will set you back between $255 and $399 depending on the configuration options.
Also! The supplied trailers (10mbits/s) were perfect at 1080p, but a few quicktime trailers were imperfect even at 720p. I imagine that it’s the mbits/s that are the real test. Blu-ray rippers beware.
Also, Dissatisfied Customer must have had a lemon. Or the cheapo 1.1 GHz version is markedly worse than the 1.6GHz one–entirely possible. I have watched plenty of HD video on it just fine; no stuttering at all in desktop use.
Not one game tried on it even worked, though, apart from really old stuff. GMA 500 is literally a one-trick pony.
You know, I think if it had more RAM, photoshop would be tolerable.
I have one of these.. and it’s a real piece of ****.
We installed Windows XP, and the system BARELY drive the Starfield screensaver without stuttering. Forget using this thing for HTPCs, which is what it was targeted for.
At this price tag, you’re better off just spending a bit more and getting one of those small Dells. Trying to return it now, and lo-and-behold – NO ONE will reply to your emails!
Just another piece of hardware with nice specs that doesn’t deliver… but hey, that’s typical these days, isn’t it?
it still costs twice as much as it should.