Not everyone needs a complete desktop PC,
even one that’s been shoehorned into a microATX enclosure. There are a breed of
computer that are even smaller, and they can provide a very cheap option for
someone who just wants something to surf the Internet or reply to emails. Here
are some very competitively priced ones:
MSI DC100-010XEU Wind Box Mini PC ($325
from Scan)
The new AMD Brazos ‘E’ class processors
have generated plenty of interest, as they can deliver a solid office computing
experience extremely cheaply. One of the systems to use them is the MSI
DC100-010XEU, a machine that seems to apply the ergonomic principles of the
Tardis to get what it includes inside a remarkably small box measuring just
191.8 x 150.93 x 34.94 mm (WxHxD).
MSI
DC100-010XEU Wind Box Mini PC
Wedged in here is the E450 dual core APU
running at 1.65 GHz, 2GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM, a 320GB hard drive and AMD HD
6320 graphics. The OS is your problem to solve, and Scan will probably add
delivery costs to this price once they’ve received the stock they’re currently
awaiting. If you don’t mind buying things on pre-order, his looks like it could
be a very nice system.
Lenovo Q180 Nettop PC ($293 from Ebuyer)
While others are embracing AMD technology,
Lenovo is a firm fan of Intel. As such when designed the Q180 Nettop PC, it
chose an Intel Atom, specifically the 1.86GHz D2550, to power it. That’s one of
Intel’s new ‘Cedar Trail’ designs, which supports both Hyper Threading and
Virtualization technology. However, what’s critical to this amazingly small
computer design is the 10 watt TDP that scaling the chip to 32nm has allowed.
The Atom’s weakness is the integrated
graphics, so Lenovo have spruced up this model with an inbuilt AMD Radeon
HD7450 chip. It also has 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive, but no optical disc
and no OS at this price. The CPU is a bit of a slug, too, and even with AMD’s
help it might struggle playing 1080p video smoothly, though it is fine for
general office use.
Lenovo
Q180 Nettop PC
What’s nice about this design is that it
comes with a bracket that allows you to mount it on the rear of a monitor that
has VESA, though you’ll obviously need a monitor and other peripherals to use
it.
Acer Revo L80 Nettop PC ($244 from
Ebuyer)
This is an odd looking computer, which
looks a bit like the result of someone taking a power-file to a box they didn’t
care for. That said, for a complete working system it is remarkably cheap. Acer
managed this by using the Intel Celeron 887 1.5GHz as the workhorse of this
system, but it’s a slow old nag. To try and balance that limitation it did put
4GB of RAM in here and a 500GB hard drive, though these don’t really make up
for the Celeron. But even if the CPU isn’t rocket assisted, there is more than
enough power in the L80 to do general office work and Internet related tasks.
Acer
Revo L80 Nettop PC
Oddly, it does come with an OS, Free DOS,
which I can’t see many customers keeping installed for long. To use this you
will need a USB mouse and keyboard, a monitor that has HDMI or DVI inputs, and
an external USB optical drive.
Zotac Z-Box SD-ID12 Intel Atom Mini PC
($156 from Overclockers UK)
When I first saw this product the price
seemed like a typo, because this is a fully working computer that just needs an
operating system and a few peripherals to be up and running.
Zotac
Z-Box SD-ID12 Intel Atom Mini PC
The price is reflected in the older
technology that the SD-ID12 has in it, using the NM10 chipset and the Intel
Atom D525 CPU. That’s a dual core CPU and the chip includes the Intel Graphics
Media Accelerator 3150 GPU, but this isn’t anything that gamers would dream
about. The GPU is only DX9 compliant, and the HDMI output can only generate
720p resolution.
It should also be noted that this system
won’t work out of the box, because it has no installed RAM or hard drive.
You’ll need to add a DDR3 SODIMM for memory and a 2.5” drive to get it
operational, and unless you have those items to hand you might be better
choosing an alternative design.
If you have the parts, a relatively low
expectations then the SD-ID12 could be a outstandingly inexpensive option.
