Don’t feel like spending $900 on a tiny desktop computer with a low power Intel Atom processor? No problem, because when it comes to nettop computers, expensive is the exception rather than the rule. Case in point: Habey’s new EPC-6568S is a mini-desktop PC with a dual core Atom processor, NVIDIA ION graphics, and a $250 price tag.
That price won’t get you a hard drive, memory, or operating system, so the Habey EPC-6567S isn’t exactly the cheapest nettop around. But you do get a pretty nice steel and aluminum enclosure and a wide range of ports, including:
- 2 DDR3 SODIMM slots for up to 4GB of memory
- 2 SATA 2.0 3GB/S 2.5″ hard drive bays
- HDMI and VGA output
- 2 mini-PCIe slots and 4 internal USB ports
- 2 external USB ports
- mic, line, S/pDIF jacks
- RS-232 port
- Ethernet port
The case measures 8.9″ x 7.9″ x 1.8″ and weighs about 4 pounds. The computer has a 1.8 GHz Intel Atom D525 procesor and NVIDIA ION GT218 graphics with 512MB of dedicated video memory.
Habey is positioning the nettop as a media center, and it looks like it would be a pretty good option for sticking next to your TV and streaming music or videos from another computer on your home network or the web.
You could also plug in a USB TV tuner if you wanted to turn the box into a digital video recorder — although I personally like a homemade DVR with a little more processing power so that I can convert large video files into smaller DiVX or H.264 files.
Will it run LinuxMCE (Linux Media Center Edition), and if so, does it come with a 3 button gyro device to control the channels (say good-bye to the 40 button on remote, say hello to the 3 button gyro remote).
Quote -> although I personally like a homemade DVR with a little more processing power so that I can convert large video files into smaller DiVX or H.264 files.
One always can set up a home server for that.
It’s too bad that Elgato doesn’t have a turbo.264 that works with Windows. Then you’d be able to have a low power home server as well.