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I don't game on my TV. Okay, that isn't entirely true. I have an old PS2 and a Wii. Both which never are used, but attached to the TV anyway. I dabbled into Steam Machines, with very low end hardware (cheap NUC-like. I got it dirt cheap on sale). It works for casual games, but, frankly, most games on Steam -even the casual ones- are badly adapted for using on TV. The fonts are too small, and if you need to do any significant reading, you have to sit way too close to the TV.

They're cheaper than an NUC, but more useful than a RPi.

Shuttle makes fanless VESA-mountable PCs that use the low power Atom CPUs. This would be a great use for them.

I'm excited to nab a Shuttle DS57U. The package is larger but still very small, VESA mountable, Broadwell-powered, and is fanless so you don't need to worry about dust or noise.

I've had good experiences with the Shuttle XS35GS series running XBMC on linux. Low wattage, fanless, fit easy on a shelf, and totally silent with an SSD.

I love my Shuttle XS35GT - small as a paperback book and completely silent, zero moving parts (fans or disks). I actually run WinMCE on it and like the IR remote controlled interface. VLC for the very few files WinMCE with the right codec plugins can't handle + Netflix and Spotify of course.

I've had good experiences with the Shuttle XS35GS series running XBMC on linux. Low wattage, fanless, fit easy on a shelf, and totally silent with an SSD.

My Workstation ATX case is tall enough I don't need to put it on a stand to reach ports and disk drives. A monitor has to be visible, the case does not.

I should take your silly claims as insults and leave you without any assistance. I am sadly a better person than that and will instead try to help you find what you are looking for.

The following should be quite close, you may need to select a different model on that website.

http://us.shuttle.com/ConfigurePackage.aspx?package=74GSH61R4-001-SCG-001

My computer case has had the fans upgraded, since it did not come with fans and actually does hold a RAID array of SSDs. So a sight more modern than yours. You may claim that little raid box is no faffing about. Until it dies and you can't read those disks. Using linux software raid I can just move the drives to a new machine. It outperforms hardware Raid unless you are spending thousands on the controller as well. I know I tested it vs such controllers I have at work.

Intel wants them to also go after the Mac Mini

Yes because MAC invented small PC's its not like the microATX was introduced in December 1997. The original
  release was January 22, 2005 for the MAC Mini. Lets ignore the rich history of SFF PC's from the likes of Shuttle [I have owned many] http://www.shuttle.com/ or even new popular brands like Revo from Acer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_Aspire_Revo Which oddly I also own.

Interesting idea... but as much as I might not mind a netbook cpu in a netbook... having one in a dedicated server - not so much.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18034050

I'll take the spike on usage when its in use quite happily :) and 13w on idle is fine thanks for something that will be idle for a lot of the time.

I have a blu-ray writer in this rig (currently typing this, same box in windows 7 :P ) and I've never used it to read a blu-ray disk nevermind write one since I bought it (and replaced it under warranty) within the 6 months or so I've had it. Wouldnt mind one in the mini.. maybe that's what I should wait for?

I have to admit... I cant say any part of that system actually grabs me :-| Come on! you should know just as well as me how much megahertz doesn't matter :P :)

I do however agree on the upgrades... upgrading my cube was always part of the fun. Fun that apple has taken away by soldering everything to the board :-|

I dont need a new monitor since most of my use would be via vnc. Internal wifi N, internal bluetooth and the OS is thrown in for 'free' (yes you forgot the windows tax) I'm guessing you pirate yours. Although on that halo'd note, I'm likely to install os x server on it anyway \o/ (and yes I'll get that through alternative means too)

Slightly faster processor ?!?!?! ... I suggest you read up on your architecture, both cpu and gpu. I think if I was going to go down your route for a non apple machine I'd just screw the wattage and space constraints and go for a shuttle pc or something like that... although if I did that I wouldnt be able to harness the gpu for other uses so easily as I would with a mac mini. I bought my cube on ebay as a curious apple poker ( I used to despise apple btw) for less than qtr the price it retailed for 4 years before.

450mhz 1mb cache PPC cpu able to out perform a 800mhz PIII w/ 128/256kb of cpu cache. As much as I love how well my cube has handled over the years... I get the impression the cost/ architecture of the mini wont match up in comparison for another 10 years. But the cube was sold as a premium space saving server. If they brought the cube back with todays expandability performance etc.. I doubt I'd drop the $2.5-3k they would want for it.

http://sys.eu.shuttle.com/home.jsf

On the cache note I see it appears to be a sore topic for the Atom line..
http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyID=29035 If I want a minimum of 1mb I'm restricted to 1.5ghz with just less than half the bus speed of the core 2 duo. I'd be curious to see what that actually means in direct comparison though, I wouldn't like to be comparing apples to oranges.

3mb cache, faster memory and 1066mhz bus speed on the mini no mention it would appear of sata speeds on that asrock review either...

*shrugs* the mini so far still seems to fit with what I'm looking for as a comprimise of power over space / resource economy. Thanks for showing me the asrock system tho :) Last I heard of the Asus budget line they only did motherboards.

Sooooo - with that thought in mind, I'll wait until the next refresh where it would appear I'd get the return of 4mb cache, 1066mhz+ bus speed, blu-ray? and whatever else apple decides to throw in. I wouldnt be surprised if apple merged the appleTV with the mini and beefed the full thing up a bit as a media centric server.... we'll see I guess. I'm disappointed in the rpm speed of the hdisk in the mac mini but both the slot loading drive and hdisk can be replaced for something faster further down the line.

I think you picked on the wrong 'fanboy' here. I have as many reasons to hate Apple as I do Microsoft or I

I'm running Windows 2008 x64 on my Intel Atom computer. It's a great little in-office staging server, with x64 Sql Server and Windows. Oh, and it's dual core.

So, what, future computers may come with a big sticker :

WARNING : Should not be used in life-critical calculations.

You mean something along the lines of this?

"The Software is for entertainment and general informational purposes only and is not designed, intended or licensed for use in hazardous or critical environments requiring fail-safe controls including, but not limited to, the design, construction, maintenance or operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control, life support or weapons systems. THE COMPANY SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR SUCH PURPOSES."

Those types of disclaimers are already more common than you probably realize. There are PLENTY of existing reasons consumer PCs & software shouldn't be used in such situations. This one was pulled from the license agreement for a Weather Widget. You'll probably find one in your computers manual, or the component vendors websites if you built it.

http://us.shuttle.com/Scgsupport/Policy_Accessories.html
There's another one.

From a hardware waranty:
"YYY does not warrant that the operation of the product will be uninterrupted or error-free."

I think the detailed ones are mostly in software license agreements . You can always write your own software though, and be amazed when it fails to do what they never guaranteed it would do.

Shuttle X100/X200

http://us.shuttle.com/X100.aspx
or
http://us.shuttle.com/X200H.aspx

I tried posting the comparison, but it was too much work...

http://us.shuttle.com/X200H_2.aspx

Bigger, heavier, twice the price... but I would happily take that over the Mac-Mini, and im sure there are others aswell... but, its not "my thing" I'd rather have a computer that took up an entire room that I could climb inside, thats would be kickass...lol

Shuttle X100/X200

http://us.shuttle.com/X100.aspx
or
http://us.shuttle.com/X200H.aspx

I tried posting the comparison, but it was too much work...

http://us.shuttle.com/X200H_2.aspx

Bigger, heavier, twice the price... but I would happily take that over the Mac-Mini, and im sure there are others aswell... but, its not "my thing" I'd rather have a computer that took up an entire room that I could climb inside, thats would be kickass...lol

Shuttle X100/X200

http://us.shuttle.com/X100.aspx
or
http://us.shuttle.com/X200H.aspx

I tried posting the comparison, but it was too much work...

http://us.shuttle.com/X200H_2.aspx

Bigger, heavier, twice the price... but I would happily take that over the Mac-Mini, and im sure there are others aswell... but, its not "my thing" I'd rather have a computer that took up an entire room that I could climb inside, thats would be kickass...lol

I wonder why nearly nobody hasn't built a cheap mac mini equivalent for the linux market yet.

I wonder why nearly nobody hasn't built a cheap mac mini equivalent for the linux market yet.

Desktop linux machines have already hit the $200 mark.

Mirus ($189.99 after rebate)
Everex ($199.99)
KPC ($229)
Limbo ($249)

Maximum continuous power: 110W

http://us.shuttle.com/X100_4.aspx

Power adapter: 120W
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 with dedicated graphics memory
CPU options: 1.6GHz Celeron M up to 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo
Hard Drive: Up to 750GB 7200rpm
Card reader: integrated SD/MMC/MS/MS-Pro

The Mac mini uses slow, small notebook hard drives (max 160GB 5400rpm) and slow, outdated Intel integrated graphics (GMA 950 with shared memory).

The article linked to from the slashdot article was missing some info, such as what linux distro it will have preinstalled. This one says it will be Ubuntu. All I could find on shuttle's own site was this press release.

Just put normal scotch tape over it. It will absorb some of the intensity of LED's but still let you see the LED state when you want to know. I used to have a Shuttle XPC box in my room that kept me awake at night (their LED's are very bright). Just a little square of scotch tape and I was sleeping through the night again.

And while we're at it, why do so many mini ITX cabinets look like early '70's stereo equipment? Just give me a cheap box that's as blank as possible and mounts a CD drive horizontally. That means the case on;y has to be 6" wide, not 11".

I want a mini ITX computer, with as small a fan as possible to be a NAS. But the whole project is absurdly expensive compared to what it would cost for a big ugly mATX.

I think the narrowest you could realistically hope for that's relatively cheap is something like AOpen's S120 Mini-ITX case, which is 7.8" wide and accepts standard slim optical drives. When it becomes available, I still don't think it will be "cheap" compared to microATX solutions.

I think the smallest you can expect from a cheap microATX case is something like the In Win BT611T, which is 12.2" wide (with integrated PSU) and $45.

Looks better than the luggable-type system my boss got a couple of years ago. We do consulting work around the country, and he and I had to lug this thing on a cross-country airplane flight. Whereas the new computer folds up like a briefcase, that thing had to be carried in two pieces, plus keyboard!

There's good hardware out there. You can buy more rugged phones, especially for Nextel's network. The Motorola i530 meets the MIL-STD-810F ruggedness specification. It has all the usual stuff (camera, Bluetooth, web browser, etc.), it's much tougher than most phones, it's about the same price as most phones, and it's not much thicker. Available in black or bright yellow.

Shuttle PCs, the little breadbox units, are very well made mechanically, with good internal rigidity, support for cards on multiple sides, and a liquid cooling heat pipe system that really works in high ambient temperature environments.

You don't have to buy the crap.

I'd agree with this, Alienware PCs/Notebooks look fairly atrocious. I'd much rather have a nice small Shuttle (I currently own a SN45G, bit old, but still very pretty), or Antec if I need the extra space. And while my Dell laptop isn't "pretty" per-se, it isn't garesh either.

Get some Shuttle XPCs

Your basic Shuttle PC weighs about 4kg before you add the disk and CPU, takes standard PCI cards, has an optional handle for the top... plus you'd need an LCD monitor of whatever size is convenient and a little keyboard. That'll weigh a lot less than these misnamed monster laptops, use standard parts so there's a viable upgrade path

I agree that Shuttle SFFs are more upgradable, but they weigh much more and are not nearly as portable.

A light dual-core Shuttle SFF like the G5 2000 Series weighs 3.2kg net and 4.8kg gross (other models weigh more). I'll assume "gross" weight includes disk, CPU, etc. Shuttle's light 17" semi-portable LCD (has a handle) weighs 4.3kg net and 6.4kg gross (the better model weighs more). I'll assume the gross weight includes the LCD's power brick. Not including keyboard/mouse and speakers, that's 11.2kg (24.7 lbs) for a light Shuttle SFF with 17" LCD that (together) are only semi-portable (you need a good carrying bag).

A Dell XPS M2010 weighs a total of 20.8 lbs (9.4 kg), but that includes its 20.1" LCD, full-size detachable keyboard, 8 speakers w/subwoofer, and AC adapter. Sure, it has less upgrade options than a Shuttle SFF. But (unlike most laptops) the Dell monster does have two hard drive bays with RAID support, a much larger (20.1") built-in widescreen LCD, and is much more portable than the Shuttle bundle. For my money, I'd take a Shuttle but I'd rarely transport it. However, it's not comparable to Dell's monster portable.

these misnamed monster laptops

"Laptop" is just a traditional name we have used for foldable portable computers. I like to call the Dell XPS M2010 a "briefcase computer," but more people understand what you mean if you call it a big fuckin' laptop.

Your basic Shuttle PC weighs about 4kg before you add the disk and CPU, takes standard PCI cards, has an optional handle for the top... plus you'd need an LCD monitor of whatever size is convenient and a little keyboard. That'll weigh a lot less than these misnamed monster laptops, use standard parts so there's a viable upgrade path

I agree that Shuttle SFFs are more upgradable, but they weigh much more and are not nearly as portable.

A light dual-core Shuttle SFF like the G5 2000 Series weighs 3.2kg net and 4.8kg gross (other models weigh more). I'll assume "gross" weight includes disk, CPU, etc. Shuttle's light 17" semi-portable LCD (has a handle) weighs 4.3kg net and 6.4kg gross (the better model weighs more). I'll assume the gross weight includes the LCD's power brick. Not including keyboard/mouse and speakers, that's 11.2kg (24.7 lbs) for a light Shuttle SFF with 17" LCD that (together) are only semi-portable (you need a good carrying bag).

A Dell XPS M2010 weighs a total of 20.8 lbs (9.4 kg), but that includes its 20.1" LCD, full-size detachable keyboard, 8 speakers w/subwoofer, and AC adapter. Sure, it has less upgrade options than a Shuttle SFF. But (unlike most laptops) the Dell monster does have two hard drive bays with RAID support, a much larger (20.1") built-in widescreen LCD, and is much more portable than the Shuttle bundle. For my money, I'd take a Shuttle but I'd rarely transport it. However, it's not comparable to Dell's monster portable.

these misnamed monster laptops

"Laptop" is just a traditional name we have used for foldable portable computers. I like to call the Dell XPS M2010 a "briefcase computer," but more people understand what you mean if you call it a big fuckin' laptop.

Take a look a the XPC line from Shuttle. They support the current tech found in any desktop pc. You can have an Athlon64 X2 in there with a loads of RAM. They are as big as a lunchbox! Here's the URL: http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/brb_def ault.asp

i've had a shuttle xpc for about a year now, and it seems a good bit smaller and sexier to boot when compared to this hornet monster. definitely fits great as my media center pc in my living room.

http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/brb_def ault.asp

It isn't tiny, but the Shuttle XPC M 1000 looks a lot like a home theatre stack component. It's not slim though.

For something more cubish, Shuttle has the SB36G5M running Intel's "Viiv" media platform

Skimp on the graphics card and the the sound system, and a gaming machine becomes a very affordable workstation.

In any case, high-end processing power doesn't usually make sense in a non-gamer's laptop. A laptop needs battery life and an absence of weight. In any case, IT people don't usually need to run big CPU-intensive apps.

Of course, if you're a scientific or engineering type, you probably need not only raw processing power, but the ability to do fancy graphics. So yeah, an Alienware workstation might make sense. But not a laptop!

I don't think an Alienware laptop really makes sense in any case. Why devote cost and weight to a battery you'll never use? If you want a portable gaming system, get a Shuttle

I would have jumped all over the P M, except there was no desktop gear for it; unless I bought a notebook PC and did some expensive hacking...

Examples:

• AOpen i915GMm-HFS motherboard
• AOpen XC Cube MZ915-M barebones
• AOpen MP915 MiniPC
• DFI 915GM-MGF motherboard
• Shuttle XPC SD11G5 barebones
• Shuttle XPC M1000 Media Center system

Tom's Hardware has a June 2005 review on the AOpen I915Gmm-HFS motherboard:

The Next Generation of Cool: AOpen's 37 Watt Pentium M Desktop PC

I would have jumped all over the P M, except there was no desktop gear for it; unless I bought a notebook PC and did some expensive hacking...

Examples:

• AOpen i915GMm-HFS motherboard
• AOpen XC Cube MZ915-M barebones
• AOpen MP915 MiniPC
• DFI 915GM-MGF motherboard
• Shuttle XPC SD11G5 barebones
• Shuttle XPC M1000 Media Center system

Tom's Hardware has a June 2005 review on the AOpen I915Gmm-HFS motherboard:

The Next Generation of Cool: AOpen's 37 Watt Pentium M Desktop PC

Or you could just get the Shuttle XPC M1000 media center. Already installed w/HDTV. http://sys.us.shuttle.com/M1000.aspx I got one of these when they first came out and I loved it. I think the biggest selling point for Microsoft MCE is the ability to install plug-ins. The two best plugins for MCE are azureus with KangarooTV lets you download latest torrents of TV shows. The other is MyNetflix. Which lets you select your upcomming Netflix discs using your remote. Also MCE does a good job with Xvid files over the network. Plus the 6600LE supports hardware decoding of H.264 files, a much needed feature. -flipsoft

I have two of these Shuttles. Room for two 3.5" hard drives and an optical drive. But still small. I can fit one in my backpack. I also was considering the MacMini, but needed raw cpu power for simulations. Also I wanted more storage than laptop drives have.

The cooling is decent and keeps the temp low for one, but the other one has a Prescott that gets considerably hotter. Not too hot, but several degrees more than if it were just in a normal sized case. If I had known about Prescotts I wouldn't have got one and wouldn't have a problem.

Oh yeah, it's really quiet. 2 feet from my bed and doesn't bother me at all. Not as quiet as the MacMini though. Some of the Shuttles are more quiet than others, so it's helpful to read reviews.

I'd agree, that is somewhat large. I myself have been using a Shuttle ( http://global.shuttle.com/Product/Barebone/brb_def ault.asp/ has some of the available models) case which fits nicely into my collection of home theatre equipment. Most non-geeks that come over are pretty shocked to find out that it is the computer in use.

How about a Shuttle SD11G5. It has an external power brick, heat sink on the CPU and a single fan.

It uses the Pentium M chipset, so it doesn't draw a lot of power. Built-in Creative 7.1 sound, SPDIF in, SPDIF out, 1 PCI Express and 1 pci slot, and VGA/DVI onboard output. SFFTech Review. Shuttle's tests say that it's noise level is 24 dB.

Shuttle's ST62K has an external power supply, and uses socket 478 cpus:

Review at Silent PC Review
Shuttle Product Page

$215 at Newegg

Let me lay it out for you: this is a desktop system that supports the Pentium M (Dothan). It has a 220W power supply, while my 8-year old Pentium 2 450MHz system has a 200W PSU. With that 220W and a 2GHz Pentium M, you could also run a 160GB 7200RPM hard drive, a Geforce 7800GT and an optical drive. Now imagine taking that to the next level; the Yonah is the basically a dual-core version of the Dothan. How many laptop CPUs can power a desktop workstation with half the energy requirements? Not many.

Anand's comparison is not only valid, but timely. CPU performance alone doesn't matter today, in an age when the video card can cost twice as much as the CPU. It's efficiency, instructions per cycle or per watt, that counts in the long run. This paves the way for smaller and more mobile computers, supercomputing clusters with a fraction of their current size and operating costs. The brute force megahertz wars ended years ago; Motorola/Freescale, IBM and now Intel realize this. Reducing the first room-sized digital computers to desktop towers was a revolution; in twenty years, as this power efficiency focus continues, it will happen again.

Not in a big way until Conroe in the second half of 2006. I'm pretty sure "desktop" use of Yonah will be limited to a few small form factor desktops like Dothan is used today.

Yonah will still be 32-bit while Intel's entire "desktop" line of CPUs (including Celeron) have adopted EM64T. I don't think this is that important, but Conroe will add EM64T and other enhancements to the "Pentium M core."

65nm Pentium 4/D processors (Cedar Mill/Presler) are launching around the same time as Yonah (January) and are already shipping in volume to manufacturers. Another Anandtech article showed significant power savings from 65nm, which will make Pentium 4/D power consumption reasonable (but not quite as low as AMD 90nm). In addition, Pentium 4/D will also add virtualization technology (Vanderpool) which Yonah will lack.

Intell is should switch its R&D and support the Pentium M as a desktop chip

I don't think the Pentium M architecture is lacking in R&D (see Conroe). Yonah is making some steps toward being a desktop chip by adding SSE3 and floating point enhancements, but Conroe will complete the transition by adding EM64T, virtualization technology, desktop chipsets, and more lenient power requirements.

When I read the title I thought that this article would feature some nifty non-pc like designs. Wrong. They're just SFF PCs, some with a hide-away drive bay, except for possibly the last one which has some artistic curves.

    I've built two mythboxes now. The first is of the Shuttle G2 variety, which works nicely, but still looks very PC. The one I built for the girlfriend is a much prettier ASUS Pundit which is very aesthically pleasing. It's not "booksize" as advertised (unless you read books twice the thickness and length of a hardcover), but it's the smallest full-featured case I've found. Too bad the card reader isn't Linux supported and doesn't have all the card types available.

    What we really need is an article on very tiny (mini-itx preferably) motherboards and cases. I need something without fans, because most fans are distracting. The two I have are minimal, but if you strain it can definetly be heard. The Via chipset looks promising, and the almost fanless 1Ghz Epia Nehemiah motherboard might fit the bill, but I'm not sure how well supported the architecture is supported in Linux.

    In researching my post here, I stumbled across Shuttle's latest M1000 offering. That looks pretty sweet, but I haven't done my due dilligence on Linux compatibility yet.

    So, if someone could review the prettiest, smallest, fanless (and throw in cheapest too) HTPC case/motherboard combos, it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Till then, I'll browse http://www.mini-itx.com/ from time to time.

When I read the title I thought that this article would feature some nifty non-pc like designs. Wrong. They're just SFF PCs, some with a hide-away drive bay, except for possibly the last one which has some artistic curves.

    I've built two mythboxes now. The first is of the Shuttle G2 variety, which works nicely, but still looks very PC. The one I built for the girlfriend is a much prettier ASUS Pundit which is very aesthically pleasing. It's not "booksize" as advertised (unless you read books twice the thickness and length of a hardcover), but it's the smallest full-featured case I've found. Too bad the card reader isn't Linux supported and doesn't have all the card types available.

    What we really need is an article on very tiny (mini-itx preferably) motherboards and cases. I need something without fans, because most fans are distracting. The two I have are minimal, but if you strain it can definetly be heard. The Via chipset looks promising, and the almost fanless 1Ghz Epia Nehemiah motherboard might fit the bill, but I'm not sure how well supported the architecture is supported in Linux.

    In researching my post here, I stumbled across Shuttle's latest M1000 offering. That looks pretty sweet, but I haven't done my due dilligence on Linux compatibility yet.

    So, if someone could review the prettiest, smallest, fanless (and throw in cheapest too) HTPC case/motherboard combos, it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Till then, I'll browse http://www.mini-itx.com/ from time to time.

Links to MCE 2005 systems(their e-stores)
I know this takes all the fun out of it, but sometimes it really is just too much work
to get a computer to do stuff that should be easy(i.e. Suse vs. Gentoo; i use both).
Consider these a few points of reference for your plans for World Domination
("...What are we going to do tonight Brain?..." ;-)

Shuttle: Shuttle m1000
which looks like a 'normal' audio/video component, and a variety of SFF-based systems from 899$US.
the advantage of the SFF-based systems would be customizability(video cards up to 6800gt, HDDs to 400GB
(three drives in a P-series chassis=1.2TB),

HP(Hewlett-Packard): HP z500 series
also a 'component' style chassis, five models of varying performance and capacity, also customizable.

Gateway: Gateway FX400
sadly, all towers, but customizable(dual-core!)

Sony's newest vaio system: Sony VGX-XL1
a bit pricey at 2300$US but totally full featured with a dual-core P-D 820, and a 200-disk optical jukebox
NOT customizable.

(why can't i get the HP link to NOT be green? OR, better yet, why can't i get the other links to BE green? bah.)

when you can just buy a Shuttle or some other small form factor pc mostly put together already.

when you can just buy a Shuttle or some other small form factor pc mostly put together already.

There's been stuff out there for several years now.

A lot of the "small form factor" barebone cases by Shuttle, Biostar, Soltek, etc. might fit your spec.

Most of those cases are still at least four times bigger than a Mac Mini to accomodate full-size AGP/PCI-Express/PCI cards and 3.5" and 5.25" bays but then they are probably four times smaller than a regular PC tower. Price-wise they are somewhat more expensive than a DIY PC.

But yes, someone has thought of this.

The Shuttle XPC K 6200h is $650 with mouse and keyboard. It far outclasses the Mac mini because it has a modern CPU/bus, a desktop 7200RPM hard drive, and a PCI slot.

Of course, the GP did not mention anything about small form factors. He clearly was referring to the amount of computing power you can get for $600. Nice straw man, Jason1729.

The Shuttle XPC K 6200h is $650 with mouse and keyboard. It far outclasses the Mac mini because it has a modern CPU/bus, a desktop 7200RPM hard drive, and a PCI slot.

Of course, the GP did not mention anything about small form factors. He clearly was referring to the amount of computing power you can get for $600. Nice straw man, Jason1729.

Shuttle already has a working cablecard implementation, they showed it off at Computex. Its chances of getting licensed by CableLabs to hook directly to a computer are about the same as my chance of getting laid anytime soon.