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To get ECC support from Intel, you need to buy a Xeon, at which point they charge you an extra $800-$1000 for the gates to be enabled.

Boy, when you make up numbers, you really reach deep into your ass, don't you?

Core i7-920 for $280 and the same-socket, indentical spec Xeon W3520 for $310.

The only issue might be that you need a motherboard that supports ECC, but $270 for this one isn't a lot more than the $200 or so you'd pay for a non-server board with equivalent build quality. Unless things have changed drastically since the last time I looked at AMD motherboards, not all of them support ECC, either.

To get ECC support from Intel, you need to buy a Xeon, at which point they charge you an extra $800-$1000 for the gates to be enabled.

Boy, when you make up numbers, you really reach deep into your ass, don't you?

Core i7-920 for $280 and the same-socket, indentical spec Xeon W3520 for $310.

The only issue might be that you need a motherboard that supports ECC, but $270 for this one isn't a lot more than the $200 or so you'd pay for a non-server board with equivalent build quality. Unless things have changed drastically since the last time I looked at AMD motherboards, not all of them support ECC, either.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889253238

TV = $150
Wii = $200
TV + Wii = $350 < $500 Try again.

TV = $150
Wii = $200
TV + Wii = $350 < $500 Try again.

What about this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152160?
Or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114801?
I realize they're not in Euros, I'm unsure of their availability where you are. I think AMD is coming out with an updated version of this platform this summer.

What about this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152160?
Or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114801?
I realize they're not in Euros, I'm unsure of their availability where you are. I think AMD is coming out with an updated version of this platform this summer.

I suppose that depends on which video cards and SSDs you use.

I suppose that depends on which video cards and SSDs you use.

Insightful? Regardless of how you actually meant that and what you were attacking, I'll take the bait as though you were attacking Linux and/or Linux on iPads specifically.

I doubt Apple really wanted the iPad to be jailbroken in less than a day after release, nor do I think Apple expects the average computer user to jailbreak it even if certain individuals do figure out how to.

If you want Linux pre-installed on an iPad-like, or really simply a touch-screen computer, then you shouldn't be paying for some hardware and software combination and trying to jailbreak and unlock it and whatnot, you should be instead buying one with Linux pre-installed or a truly open computer which allows you to install whatever you want i.e. barebones.

If you foolishly actually expected to be able to easily install Linux or whatever you wanted to on an iPad, then you need to understand the difference between a "normal computer" i.e. "PC", and an "appliance". The difference is non-standardization at some point, locking you out on purpose. The iPad could function like a normal computer, the BIOS could look for and allow booting from a different device in order to install a new operating system like normal computers, but it has been artificially barred from doing so. The solution is to buy and support open devices which do give you this freedom, because having to install custom-tailored images to devices once, and if, you can get them unlocked is B.S.. Now, if part of the reason was due to having small embedded memory chips in the past, there's no excuse now days for that when you have tiny microSD cards with 16GBs on them, and there never was much of an excuse with Linux any way since you can have functional Linux environments (kernel and shell) as small as a few MBs, and fully graphical X environments for only what, 100 MBs? 50?

I've never tried Blu-Ray media on my system. I have a 3Ghz Pentium D on my machine, that is about equivalent to a 1.8Ghz Core2Duo. I've thought about upgrading, I really have, but every time I think about it I realize that for my particular situation I would gain very little for the cash. OpenOffice would just spend a bajillion wasted CPU cycles instead of a million between my key presses ;)

If you leave your system on 24/7, you'd probably save $250/yr on your power bill.

Might be worth picking one of these up to see how much your system is guzzling down.

When I had the choice of an Athlon XP NAS or VIA C7 NAS a few years back, I went for the brand new C7 NAS. At 8 cents per kwh, I've already saved close to $200.

Pentium D's are power guzzlers by comparison, so you might save enough to pay for a complete upgrade in just 1-2 years.

And my music library just sounds better than your mp3 library.

My FLAC library just sounds better than your AAC library. Oh, but Apple won't let you play FLACs on their locked-down players. So sad. My $20 Sansa Clip can play FLACs, doesn't require any special software, and even has a built-in FM radio (that I can record!).

Twenty bucks.

Jetway NF76-1G6E-LF 1.6GHz Via Nano fanless, single DDR2 slot up to 2 GB, 2 onboard sata, gigabit lan. While only 2 sata II 3Gbps on board, jetway has a line of daugther boards for their motherboards, ADPE4S-PB is the 4 port sata card. The sata controller both on board and the daughter board is marvel based and jetway has linux drivers available for download. I do not know if it is in the mainline kernel or not.

If 6 sata II 3gbps ports isn't enough, PROMISE SATA300 TX4 PCI SATA II 4-Port Adapter will give you another 4 ports.

*DISCLAIMER: I am NOT affiliated with jetway or with newegg. I have simply been considering a sillier project my self, and have not purchased the above mentioned products.

Newegg has a crapload of them. You just want to search for 'directional antenna'. There are ones that are rated for outdoor usage (water-tight casing) which you can just strap to a pole with line-of-site. see http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=directional+antenna

I only make these suggestions on legal use, as longer distances require both ends to have a high gain antenna. But in the case that everyone is talking about, you should get a connection from a couple thousand feet easy using a high gain antenna on just your side.

Heres some examples of stuff that should work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833980009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833980012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833978020

note that for legal reasons, you may need to reduce the power output on higher gain antennas to keep the system legal, otherwise you might get a knock on your door from a FCC guy.

I only make these suggestions on legal use, as longer distances require both ends to have a high gain antenna. But in the case that everyone is talking about, you should get a connection from a couple thousand feet easy using a high gain antenna on just your side.

Heres some examples of stuff that should work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833980009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833980012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833978020

note that for legal reasons, you may need to reduce the power output on higher gain antennas to keep the system legal, otherwise you might get a knock on your door from a FCC guy.

I only make these suggestions on legal use, as longer distances require both ends to have a high gain antenna. But in the case that everyone is talking about, you should get a connection from a couple thousand feet easy using a high gain antenna on just your side.

Heres some examples of stuff that should work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833980009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833980012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833978020

note that for legal reasons, you may need to reduce the power output on higher gain antennas to keep the system legal, otherwise you might get a knock on your door from a FCC guy.

I only make these suggestions on legal use, as longer distances require both ends to have a high gain antenna. But in the case that everyone is talking about, you should get a connection from a couple thousand feet easy using a high gain antenna on just your side.

Heres some examples of stuff that should work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833164110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833980009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833980012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833978020

note that for legal reasons, you may need to reduce the power output on higher gain antennas to keep the system legal, otherwise you might get a knock on your door from a FCC guy.

FWIW, I note that some of the Atom-based motherboards seem to be fanless, e.g. Intel BOXD410PT:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121398

And its WAY faster than a Pentium 50! :)

Yup like the Netgear WNDR3700 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122326

Last I'd looked Apple was the only one that seemed to be offering this but now it seems like a few others have dribbled out. Question is would it be better to try and build something X86 or buy something like the Netgear? The Netgear isn't yet fully supported by DD-WRT except in alpha firmware apparently, Tomato doesn't work on it I don't think, but OpenWRT is supporting it.

And yeah, I knew about the 5GHZ from previous research done the last time /. posted this kind of question but was hazy because it had been awhile. Back then I couldn't find a 5ghz router that would work, now it looks like there's at least one and maybe more. Just not sure if it's best to build or buy...

I'm not running this but a friend is. He claims it CAN support WiFi and that it has served him well on Via X86 hardware. http://www.clearfoundation.com/Software/overview.html From his description it's pretty good at blocking and handling traffic like a good firewall\IDS. Add in wireless and it just MIGHT serve the need. However he's not yet gotten wireless hardware on his to test so no personal experiences with that portion yet. He's running it on this -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856107055 but has no room for a PCI card and has been trying USB dongles with no success so far.

Something like that is what I'm most interested in. Yeah, it's another box to admin but it's powerful, has no issues with "flashing", no need for hardware hacking, and the features are limited only by hardware support, CPU, memory, and people's willingness to add them. As it stands now I do a little admin on my current router anyway and if an x86 box could be administered as easily I'd jump on it even if it does cost more than an Asus, Buffalo, Netgear, or Linksys device...

Thoughts? What would be good hardware for this? So far the problem has been finding a good hardware base - two GigE NIC, a good CPU, some room for expansion, and LOW power....

Question: Have you tried Trendnet? Not Open Source, but it is what I have been using on my home clients and they are quite happy with them. Got enough good reports that I bought myself one of their routers nearly 2 years ago, and it has been running ever since without needing a single power cycle. Their web interface is actually quite nice and easy to use as well.

So if Open source isn't a "must have" and you are just wanting a home router you don't have to constantly power cycle you might want to give them a try. The top two are the ones I have had the most experience with, installing about 30 of the wireless and 20 of the wired (including myself as I didn't need wireless) and so far it has been smooth sailing. They are quiet, don't put out a lot of heat even when being pounded, easy to use interface, and they just keep going and going. So if you don't need something fancy and just want it to work...well there you go.

Reading lots of posts here with good hardware. Add to your list the NETGEAR WNDR3700 which is dual band and is supported by OpenWRT with DD-WRT apparently working on it. http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122326

Buffalo also makes one that looks interesting but isn't dual band http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833162031

Reading lots of posts here with good hardware. Add to your list the NETGEAR WNDR3700 which is dual band and is supported by OpenWRT with DD-WRT apparently working on it. http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122326

Buffalo also makes one that looks interesting but isn't dual band http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833162031

Found the NetGear WNDR3700 in another posting. 64MB of RAM and 8MB of flash with USB ports on-board. It's dual band!

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122326

Not cheap but not too hateful either. Supposedly OpenWRT supports it and DD-WRT will soon. I don't own one but this might just be my next router :-)

So get a LCD that rotates 90 degrees ... it's called pivot function or something. I have a Samsung 2494HM that's 24" 1920x1080 but there are others, for example the 24" 1920x1200 panel SAMSUNG 2443BWT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001323

You get the best of both worlds, 1200 pixels width that works for 95% of the websites out there, perfect for a A4 page too, and lots of height so you don't scroll a lot.

ATI had to do a number reset, as did Nvidia, simply because the numbers were getting too huge. It is actually pretty trivial to compare, simply look for the DirectX version. You can also search the net and find nice charts like this which will give you details like TDP which will help you make a more informed choice. With the bang for the buck firmly in the AMD camp right now that is what I use, and the easy rule there is 50>70>90, with the 50 being the budget (like my HD4650) followed by the 70 and the 90 being the hardcore chips. And of course for the ultra hardcore you have the X2, which is simply 2 GPUs.

If you are wanting a SFF gaming PC you would be MUCH better off building instead of buying. I have found unless you spend crazy money they tend to use cheaper parts in the SFF boxes and if you build it yourself you can get better choices on parts and CPU/GPU. If you don't mind the advice of an old greybeard PC builder I would probably go with a shuttle such as this one. Add a 95w Deneb quad, such as the 925 quad, along with one of the low power 5xxx GPUs, and you'd have a nice mini gaming rig. Unfortunately nearly all the "DVD player" styled boxes ATM are Atom based and Atom sucks. So unless you are simply wanting the biggest ePeen I'd look at a quad core AMD with an ATI 5xxx chip for graphics. That is what I've been building for my customers lately and they couldn't be happier with the performance or the power usage.

As for Linux and DRM, the way I always understood it is for DRM to have any kind of chance it has to have low level hooks that the user does NOT have access to, and of course since Linux allows you to get and recompile the source it would be pretty easy to have one person recompile a "DRM disabler" that feeds a false message to the DRM allowing it to run whenever. One of the other posters mentioned TiVo, but that is a "black box" where the DRM is enforced at the hardware level like a PS3 which of course doesn't work with a general purpose box like a PC. And as for steam itself being a form of DRM protection, most of the latest RAZR1911 games are actually Steam rips. So while steam has been bypassed on windows, with a much more "hacker friendly" OS like Linux I doubt it would take any time at all to bypass DRM, which is what I was getting at.

Actually, it's this drive Seagate FreeAgent Go which is $100 on NewEgg. But, oohhh...it comes in pretty colors!

I don't think the article specified, but with the included content, I assumed an external (Seagate 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive) for $69.99 with free shipping.

And what's up with their $100 "promotioal" price, and the claim that "an empty 500 GB Seagate hard drive usually sells for $140"? It took me all of 20 seconds to find a 500 GB Seagate on Newegg for $54.99 with free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170000%201309139890%201309239101&ShowDeactivatedMark=False

That's the total cost of 2x4GB at their specified speed. It's still cheaper to get third party RAM and tossing out the old stuff.

OCZ has the Z-Drive (ZDM841T) which is PCI-E and 1TB which is $3800. They use PCI-E to get around sata's speed limitation, and has a speed of 870MB/s read and 780MB/s write. It seems like that would be a better option, and it isn't new. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227500

32 GB / $125 USD / Sequential Write: 187.5 MB/s / Sequential Read: 294.5 MB/s.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211419

You do realise that sequential reads and writes are pretty much irrelevant to most people, right? The big benefit of SSDs is _random_ read and write speed, which is where HDDs really suck.

For a lot of people, that would be the largest upgrade in terms of speed they could possibly give there computer. Maybe reducing the time to load photoshop from 8 seconds to 2.

And how often do you load photoshop? For most people, saving six seconds on something they do once a day is hardly going to be 'the largest upgrade in terms of speed they could possibly give their computer'.

I put an SSD in my new HTPC because I wanted it to boot up fast, and while it probably halves the boot time there it's otherwise pretty underwhelming.

You can get 60GB for under $120? Damnit, I considered an SSD recently and 30/40GB was £100 for the cheapest ones. Didn't get it in the end because of reports of degrading performance over time. That'd be one hell of a downer if you'd bought something that large and expensive!

No, you can't.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150636%201421439415&name=60GB

The lowest price for a 60GB SSD is $140, and that's from a no-name company. If you want quality for that spec, your wallet will be taking a hit of about $200

This has been on newegg for a very long time: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227500

I've been waiting forever for its price to drop, but nothing seems to be happening. I don't think SSDs will be of any consequence to mainstream users before memristors become all the rage.

Okay, so how do I go about finding a mobo with onboard video that doesn't require binary-blob drivers.

Intel onboard video generally Just Works out of the box (the major notable exception is the clustersomething that is Poulsbo).

Is Intel the best option?

Yes, with the notable exception of Poulsbo. AMD is getting better, since they've started giving the xorg devs specification information again. However, Intel has several main xorg hackers, whereas AMD has fewer, if any.

I just haven't ever encountered a low-cost mobo on the shelf at Fry's that had Intel onboard video.

Perhaps the problem is Fry's? Two of the cheapest three Intel mobos are Intel onboard graphics: http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=280&name=Intel-Motherboards&Order=PRICE HTH.

That was my thought too.

Windows 7 Home Premium: $99.99 (or Professional for $140) Microsoft Security Essentials: $0.00 Knowing your wireless card and webcam will work: Priceless

Hm, that's a lot less than $200.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

That's an OEM version. OEM licensing terms apply.
Also, $99 for OEM Windows? That's a ripoff.

Yes, you can buy it for about half that:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116752 Newegg: $100

But $100 is $100, and if you're building a basic machine on a budget, even $100 makes a significant difference in the overall cost of the machine.

Of course, if the purpose is to get a working machine, they can be had with Windows Seven Home or Starter already installed in the $300 range, which is about what the author's machine would cost if you wanted to add Windows to it.

On the other hand, Ubuntu, Mint, etc are not feature-limited based on what you spend on them. I can run a remote desktop server, have Compiz (fancy desktop effects), encrypt hard drives and home directories, run a Virtual OS, and run it in any language I choose. Any of those features would require at least Windows Seven Pro, and in a few cases Enterprise or Ultimate.

From the original post:

James Kelly shows how easy it is to build a computer and install a complete software suite for US$200 excluding monitor, keyboard, and mouse. You can't even buy the operating system and anti-malware protection for Microsoft Windows for that, let alone have any money left over for hardware and productivity software!

I can buy a retail copy of Windows 7 Home Premium for $179.99 at Newegg, with shipping for another $1.99[0], and Microsoft Security Essentials is free for download[1], and a very reasonable product for many users.[2]

Also, I can get an Acer Aspire REVO at Bestbuy for a nickle under $200, with a copy of Windows XP SP3 included.[3]

I can't wait to see the specs on the $200 computer build outlined in this "outdated before it was published" book... Also, didn't this book come out a while ago? At least 4-6 months ago - are the parts listed even still commonly available?

[0] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116716&cm_re=windows_7_home_retail-_-32-116-716-_-Product

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/?mkt=en-us

[2] http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/mse.asp

[3] http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+AspireRevo+Nettop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Atom%26%23153%3B+Processor/9535434.p?id=1218120545008&skuId=9535434

That was my thought too.

Windows 7 Home Premium: $99.99 (or Professional for $140)
Microsoft Security Essentials: $0.00
Knowing your wireless card and webcam will work: Priceless

Hm, that's a lot less than $200.

I don't know if I would want to go single core for an HTPC. I have built a few for customers and while an HTPC doesn't need to be a monster you also don't want it to become bogged down, especially if they may want to do a little transcoding or light gaming on it as well.

If it were me I would probably build it around something like this as the dual core Sempron only uses 64w but still gives them decent performance. Add a fanless ATI 4xxx series for hardware transcoding, a nice micro ATX HTPC case, And windows 7 HP x64 and you would have a sweet little system.

In the end an HTPC all comes down to trade offs. While some like to have quiet above all, my customers prefer having an onboard burner and a big fat HDD so they can keep all their favorite movies/shows/music loaded and ready to go. With Win 7 HP X64 and a wireless card so they can surf and watch Internet TV as well as their cable/sat they are happy little campers, And if they are happy, then my wallet is happy ;-)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116030&cm_re=hd_pvr-_-15-116-030-_-Product

At least until they eliminate analog outputs. I own one and can say it works very well (up to 1080i) with 3-4 year old PC hardware. You get H.264 encoded m2ts or ts files with 5.1 sound. You can use it to record live TV, but I prefer to DVR the show then record off the DVR.

unlocked phone handsets aren't exactly easy to buy in the United States.

Huh?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=unlocked+android&x=0&y=0

or perhaps

http://www.google.com/phone

I'm not sure I understand your definition of easy.

I would not want to work on a 5TB data set. UCK. HD space is pretty cheap though. I just Googled and the first HD I came across was a WD Caviar 1TB for $80. On my main personal computer I have about 1.2TB of disk space (mostly full now).

My main limit has been trying to avoid buying large drives. I had a 500GB drive have a CRC error with about 250GB of used space. It was a giant pain to try recovering anything on it before being sent out. That is when I even have an option of sending out a disc for replacement. Now most of mine have HIPPA or confidential data that I simply can not risk sending out. If a disc dies I just have to eat it.

Random HD price example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136490

I still don't know why I had so much trouble doing division earlier. =P

The aspire is not a netbook. It's a core 2, and it's battery life need not try to compare. (which, btw, it's a core SOLO, not a dual core...) ...

Depends on the model. I got a brand new AS1410-2920 a couple of months ago with a SU2300 processor for the price I mentioned ($450 USD).

Like I said in another post at these prices iPad isn't competing with netbooks. It is competing with laptops. There are a lot of cheap Intel CULV laptops, or AMD NeoX2 laptops. Netbooks using Atom are even cheaper. You can get an Acer Aspire One for $300 USD.

As for H.264 decoding, I could do it with a single core 1.4 GHz Athlon XP using CoreAVC, so I doubt I cannot do it in a dual core SU2300 1.2 GHz. However since the Intel GMA 4500 MHD chipset does it in hardware the point is moot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855158052&cm_re=mp3-_-55-158-052-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855101193

that took o about 2 min to look up. Sony is as much a respectable maker as apple and guess what? there is a 50% price premium for the apple over even sony.

I found one article. There are more and more out there. YOU LOOK IT UP.

By no means am i going to sit here and find articles about each and every problem each every apple product has. My point which i feel which has been more or less been validated is that. Apple is a normal manufacturer who targets the middle to upper quality segments of the markets they are in.

While they do this they have similar quality controls issues as any other firm in their position. I just pulled out a few concrete examples.

Firms with similar company profiles (sony) for example charges around 2/3 the price apple dose for a similar products.

In a situation where customers were truly informed the prices apple would be charging would be ~= to the prices of sony or philips etc.

Even if you think apple is slightly better, its crazy talk to say 50% price premium better.

Thus is follows current apple consumers are not making informed purchasing decisions.

You can get a Via C7 board for $60 so I honestly don't know how much cheaper they could go. I agree that they never advertised like AMD/Intel, but from what I understand they make a good living in the ultra low power market.

That said I would probably go with the Dual Sempron for just $15 more, as the Sempron is still pretty low power and it has better expansion options, better graphics from an Nvidia onboard, and dual cores. It would probably be a better deal for the Linux users as well, as from what I understand Nvidia drivers work quite well in Linux. it would probably make a great low power server or desktop.

What is nice is that now we finally have the choice to go low power, whereas before it was pretty much either run a mobile CPU in a desktop (like in the old AMD 754 days) or underclock the CPU, and now there are plenty of low power options that will do most jobs without being a space heater or breaking your wallet. I am currently typing this on a 1.8GHz Sempron and I can really tell the difference when compared to the P4 based Celeron it replaced. Almost no heat, quiet as a church mouse, and no turning my apartment into a sauna. And for just surfing, downloading, and A/V, frankly it is more than enough.

You can get a Via C7 board for $60 so I honestly don't know how much cheaper they could go. I agree that they never advertised like AMD/Intel, but from what I understand they make a good living in the ultra low power market.

That said I would probably go with the Dual Sempron for just $15 more, as the Sempron is still pretty low power and it has better expansion options, better graphics from an Nvidia onboard, and dual cores. It would probably be a better deal for the Linux users as well, as from what I understand Nvidia drivers work quite well in Linux. it would probably make a great low power server or desktop.

What is nice is that now we finally have the choice to go low power, whereas before it was pretty much either run a mobile CPU in a desktop (like in the old AMD 754 days) or underclock the CPU, and now there are plenty of low power options that will do most jobs without being a space heater or breaking your wallet. I am currently typing this on a 1.8GHz Sempron and I can really tell the difference when compared to the P4 based Celeron it replaced. Almost no heat, quiet as a church mouse, and no turning my apartment into a sauna. And for just surfing, downloading, and A/V, frankly it is more than enough.

Would you like a $1130 CPU with that?

I built a fairly simple computer with a low-wattage Athlon X2 on a Micro-ATX motherboard. I put a fanless Radeon HD 3450 in as well as a BD drive and put OEM Windows 7 Home Premium on it. I control it with a wireless media keyboard w/ trackball