Evesham Mini PC Plus

[MuFu]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/01/02/evesham_mini_pc_plus/1.html
http://www.theregister.com/2005/12/22/review_aopen_mini_pc/
http://www.evesham.com/PCs/List.asp?e=87591488-93F2-4FA2-ABCE-E44E43060FAE

Quite neat, if a little expensive. No S/PDIF output though - what were they thinking?! Looks good on it's own - you could always hide away an M-Audio Sonica Theater, external DigiTV box and another hard drive.

... or just stick a beige mini tower in the cupboard instead.

 

[Mariner]

The problem being (with what I've read on SilentPCReview) is that these AOpen MiniPCs are pretty loud or, should I say, the noise the blower makes is rather irritating.

Until we can get (practically) silent PCs the HTPC concept isn't quite there, IMO. Media Centre extenders could be the answer for some, I suppose. I wonder if the single-core Yonah could be a better choice as this should be cooler than PentiumM.

 

[Tahir2]

Should be cooler? It may turn out to be just as hot as Pentium M as Yonah will be running at a higher speed.

I have discovered to get a HTPC to play 720P or 1080P content smoothly you do need a lot of horsepower and unfortunately that costs in noise levels.

 

[Mariner]

I'm thinking of the single-core Yonah, to be honest. Should have mentioned that.

I suppose that a dual-core system is preferable for at media centre PC to ensure no glitches in recording whilst multitasking and as speed isn't all that important perhaps the slowest dual-core Yonah would still be cooler.

In the future I'd expect that Cell would be the ideal processor for such a media PC system but will we ever see one become available? PS3 aside that is!

 

[b0nneville]

Fanless - super quiet

I found this Fanless Pentium M machine. Very small form factor.

http://www.cappuccinopc.com/slimpro-sp625f-fanless.asp

Have any of you guys tried it out or heart anything about it?

b0n

 

[Tahir2]

Not heard of that company but talking about the latest Intel processors the new Core2 Duo chips should be ideal because they are good performers per watt and have a low power consumption.
I don't think it would be that hard to make a fanless HTPC yourself right now.

As to the cappucinopc.com looking at their upgrades ($425 for 2x1.0GB low profile memory?!) some of the upgrade options are extortionately priced. However it is a nice site...

 

[SPM]

Try this site for various mini-itx small factor, fanless, and automotive PCs:

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/