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Smaller Than The Mini PC, The P4/2400 Micro PC
fist_187 writes "Tom's Hardware Guide has a story on the smallest PC since the Mini-PC: The MicroPC. It's a Pentium 4/2400 MHz machine, but you'd probably mistake it for a cable modem. I'm sure this trend will continue on to the Nano-PC, Pico-PC, and the Dick Tracy Watch."
How many of you want to bet this will not even install UT2003, let alone run it.
Sort of defeats the purpose of a LAN party convinience. If only they could make it 1 inch wider to include a Radeon 9700pro...
But that's just wishful thinking.
Since competing with speed is turning out to be non-productive, the focus will be on something else, and an obvious candidate is size. Another issue I would fervently hope gets on the table is noise and power consumption.
I am sick and tired of large beige boxes sounding like a jet taking off. Having a unit like that as the home-wide server would be a dream come true. In the same way, the 'maxi'-notebooks increasingly seem like an excellent alternative to a traditional desktop, and much for the same reasons. Maybe, hopefully, we are not too far away from another format switch, where the base hardware is smaller and quieter than the stuff we put up with today.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
I'm obviously missing something here (or missing something obvious here). What's the point? Why not just buy a laptop?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
I'm not going to spend an additional $1000+ or more just to save a cubic foot of space on my desk.
I don't really understand including so many connectors in a mini computer. Why have two PS/2 ports, a serial port, a parallel, analog and digital audio in/out, 2 ethernet, and 2 non powered firewire ports?
USB should replace the PS/2, serial and parallel ports, and I'd rather have one powered firewire ports then two unpowered ones, and I don't need 2 ethernet ports, or even a modem port on htat kind of computer.
I wouldn't mind a PC Card slot though, and where's the DVI?
Any one have a good reccomendation for a super-mini that can boot with LinuxBIOS so it doesn't need a HD or CD drive, but does have ethernet and USB?
Here you go! Two nics, smaller than a PIX or other rackmount nonsense, and you're good to go.
"If something is the best thing since sliced bread, then sliced bread is still better"
Not necessarily. If sliced bread has a goodness of 100, and everything since then has a goodness of 90 or lower, then whether the new thing has a goodness of 95 or 105 it is still the best thing since sliced bread and can be either better or worse than sliced bread itself.
I want a sandwich.
The current version is equipped with AGP graphics that will even sway 3D-game fans.
and later...
Not for suitable for 3D games: The built-in SIS graphics
The following benchmarks show that the Micro PC doesn't do well running 3D games. But that's not too surprising, since this PC was not designed as a gaming machine.
Evidently the editors fell asleep?
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
One solitary 2.5" drive, which guarantees slower speeds than desktop, higher price, and general lack of space (I use 200+gig on my main machine)
I can't see value for this in langamers (of which I will admit, I am not) because of the lack of module replacement and overclocking. Lacking either an AGP or PCI it doesn't even take the place of business on-site demos that require such things - the laptops will still be preferable.
Of course, I look across the room at two 18" tall towers, the second case I recently purchased -because- it was so roomy. I find small machines too annoying to work on.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
DVI and a decent chipset - I'd be interested to know why they didn't go with a mobile Radeon or GeForce chipset, which would presumably be OK heat and power wise for the enclosure.
Even with only mediocre graphics, it's a tempting bumble.
The main thing im looking for is a PC of this size that requires NO FANs. Go ahead, slow it down to 700mhz or less. Thats plenty of speed to run a head-less http, ssh, mail, ftp server. Ive got a Pentium class 166 that is doing everything I need without making a sound and I love it! Its getting a little old and Im looking for a no-fan PC (Including no cpu fan). By the way, the Seagate Barracuda IV IDE drives are extremely quiet. Its the only moving part in my system.
For people who want a small, quiet PC for their desktop, I think they need to put it into a nicer-looking case and make it quieter (I didn't see anything in the review about noise so I assume it's not particularly quiet). Also, something like a DeskNote (search on Google)--a laptop form factor with desktop components--is cheap and space saving. For gamers, it really needs a PCI+AGP slot so that they can put in their favorite graphics cards. For lab equipment and other uses, you probably don't need such a high-end processor--a min-ITX board is cheaper, quieter, and generates less heat. Overall, I think this is a real niche product. But it shows that more small PCs are on the horizon.
Smaller is cooler, yes. But what use is a PC like this? It's small in size, but without the benefit that most computers that are small bring- mobility. The MicroPC provides portability, but in practice, not more than a laptop (with or without a head!). So why would one want to spend the extra money or suffer the limitations? The size of this thing could be kind of useful if it could be "converted" into a full laptop or desktop (with PCI, AGP slots and HD bays) ala the OQO or MCC. But it's not. It's not been designed to accept a battery and a small touchscreen-endowed display, to make it into a bulky mobile computer for when a full-speed computer is needed (there are situations when this could be needed). but nope- it's just a small version of a regular computer. Whoooop-de-doo!
:P But given the choice between something even smaller for the same price and capabilities, I'd take the small one. But what the MiniPC worthwhile?
/. that are thinking "WOW! I must have one!" I'm interested in your opinion- what draws you too this? To look cool at LAN parties or to brag to those on IRC? I'm seriously curious- any insight would be great.
Sure, given the choice, I'd rather have a small, out of the way computer rather than a big noisey PC desktop. Er, well, I have had that choice, and I went with the iBook.
Why is it that Slashdot people and Wintel nerds often love these things, but rail against something like an iMac or eMac? A MicroPC has all the drawbacks of an all-in-one design and then some.- with the exception of a built-in monitor (on most [all?] iMacs and eMac models, the built-in can be bypassed or use as a second monitor).
There has to be folks out there on
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
I'm sick of PCs.
I look at a PC and what do I see? Decades of short-sighted design, kludges, needless complexity, and backward compatability.
Why? Because it's cheap? Because it's what we've always done? Is that all?
I say throw off the x86 architecture--we've long sinced reached its esthetic limitations. It's ugly; it's hot; it's loud; it has bus after redundant bus; it has a cpu architecture that's wheezing; it has connectors up the wazoo; and don't even get me started on the abomination that is the PC bios!
I want something simple, elegant, and quiet; something that doesn't have to answer to the kuckelheaded profit motives of twenty years of design revisions. Something that doesn't give kernel hackers cold sweats when they think of all the chaotic evil hiding in that arch just waiting to be unleashed!
I want the BeOS of hardware!
Designing a PC today like remodeling an abandoned house. Who cares then if you've replaced the tile in the kitchen if the pipes are wrapped in duct tape? (Oh. And the house is haunted, too.)
Note, however, that I still prefer cheap hardware to good hardware. Which, um, I suppose is the problem....
That said, however, surely someone can design an architecture using existing technologies that doesn't have to answer to ISA madness (or equivalent) yet is still an open standard? I mean, can't someone take a bunch of standard buses (PCI, IDE, USB, etc) and design something sensible to connect them to? Am I really so stupid about what's involved? (Entirely possible)
I just find it very hard to believe that the PC is really the best one can do.
--
Francis Avila