Tiny Computer From Mynix

vnsnes writes: "Mynix brands their e-Space computer as the world's smallest PC. It is, '...the only alternative to Desktops and Notebooks; for those who need computing in two places, typically the Home and the Office.' It looks really cool, but would it really be practical for anyone? For people chucking information between home and office it would seem much more economical to get broadband service at home and setup a VPN. Why would anyone use e-Space as a notebook when it comes without a screen, a keyboard, or a mouse? Yes, you can save space with this little guy, but you'll still need room for a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse on your desk. And they aren't exactly cheap: about $1,600. For about the same price you can get a laptop computer with the same specs but with all the necessary peripherals. PC Magazine review here." I guess this fills the same niche that the Saintsong Cappucino does, whatever niche that is.

Comments

Assumptions

[DarkZero]

For people chucking information between home and office it would seem much more economical to get broadband service at home and setup a VPN

You're assuming that the target customer knows what a VPN is, which is a doubtful. Honestly, not that many average consumers have a VPN, a LAN, or even extremely common geek things like broadband service at home.

Could be useful. . .

[Cyberllama]

Its a shame manufacturers don't put a little more thought into such products. A few more refinements and I would be able to think of dozens of uses. However, as it stands, I can still think of few:

1) Put linux on it and hide it away as a server. Everyone loves a tiny server, espeically at lan parties when the less equipment you have to lug around too much equipment.

2)How about a Beowulf cluster of 100 systems. . . In your closet!

3) uhm....Other stuff I guess? Honestly with just a tiny screen and some sort of input method this could really be neat. I mean Palms/PocketPc's just don't have enough power in them. . . But since the manufacturers seem more inclined to make a neat gadeget (which admittedly is enough to make me sort of want one) than they are a useful product you'd have to do this bit of mod work yourself.

Re:Could be useful. . .

[rbruels]

...but is not practical.

Sure, it would be neat to Beowulf a large chunk of these, and stick them in a closet. Unfortunately, there are two major problems with that:

-You'll still have to worry about heat ... and if you throw 100 of these in a closet with its corresponding switches and miscellaneous accessories, it will heat up to approximately say, the temperature of the sun. Most standard household closets don't have a dedicated HVAC system.

- Secondly, and most importantly, at $1600 a pop, you could construct a pretty mean rack-mounted cluster, which although taking up a smidgen more room, will give you a helluva lot better than a bunch of PIII/750s.

Nope, this is just another useless invention, though certainly eye-catching. While stashing away this as a tiny server might be neat, you again have to remember the price...I'll build you a really powerful and tiny mini-ATX system which will be easy enough to stash and hide away, for about a grand less. ;)

Good try, Mynix, but you'll only get a brief spurt of purchases from impulse buyers and gadget-freaks (in my family, called "the Uncle Robert syndrome", in homage to an old gadget-freak of family yore :).

Happy holidays to everyone!

Ryan

security

[whiteben]

Perhaps one possible target audience for these machines are the same people who invest in removeable hard drives. There are lots of people who want the security of removeable media -- perhaps a combined package of the processor with the hard drive would be attractive to these people.

BEN

Actually fairly useful,

[CharlieG]

but not at that price!

Picture you develop/work in two locations, home, and a client. The client may NOT allow you to have a VPN. They have supplied you with a desktop, plus a computer system. This allows you to bring YOUR box with you to have the environment YOU want - you use THEIR monitor and keyboard, and work!

Thing is, at that price, you can buy a laptop

Re:Why post this?

[danamania]

I wouldn't call anything odd entirely useless. Products like this, Apples dead G4 Cube, Qubes, Saintsongs, Yellow Briq Nodes, the 20th Anniversary Mac from a few years back - even miniscule Amiga 600's all have a part in shaping what's going to come. There's no reason to believe a machine this size won't come up someday, perhaps 5 years from now, that's as expandable as any desktop system and -can- be as useful as a laptop or PDA is now. Many will naturally fall away to the side as they're not viable today, and all we've lost is half a kilobyte of slashdot frontpage. Nothing's as valuable as shifting thought sideways - it's where all of the unique Fun Stuff that truly IS useful comes from in the end. Get the memes out there into the minds of designers and engineers!.

danamania