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Massive Small Form Factor Preview From Computex

Posted by timothy on from the now-wipe-chin dept.

Ultim8pc points to this "huge article covering almost every Small Form Factor offering that was on show at Computex. Includes, details of each manufacturers history in SFF." I especially like IWill's oscilloscope-looking Athlon 64 case.

4 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Why not USB? by Hecubas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The first thing I noticed on the alternate story link is the two PS/2 cables sticking out the front.
    Can anyone explain to me why there are still boxes shipping with the old PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports? Doesn't every OS worth installing on x86 hardware support USB now? Futhermore, why can't I find a decent keyboard with extra USB slots in it and with out all the redundant "multimedia" buttons (ala iMac) so I can hide the box under the table?

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    hecubas

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    Hecubas
  2. I modded a broken GameCube by mao+che+minh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I took a broken GameCube, gutted it, and put in some SFF components. The controller ports made great PS2 ports, and I carved out slots where the memory cards went for USB. The only problem was the power supply, which is sticking a bit out of the rear of the 'Cube. I keep it next to my working GameCube just to throw people off.

  3. Re:what's the point? by egomaniac · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm building a small form factor computer to use in my entertainment center as a DVD player / MP3 player / web browser / game system (especially old emulated games).

    My TV has a VGA in, and many of these PCs have digital audio out -- so why the hell not? A small PC is perfect for this sort of thing.

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    ZFS: because love is never having to say fsck
  4. Re:what's the point? Portability, Space, ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I used my shuttle as a personal computer at work, taking it to/from work every day. It's small enough to make that practical. I added a KVM switch at work to make pluging it in a breeze! My box had a 200 & 80 Gig drive and a Nvidia GForce 4 Ti4200 128M card. Totally blew away my tower system at work :) Great for demos of celestia and for playing months of music, ... Not to mention being able to use Source Navigator to cruise my code library...

    If you want a no compromise portable computer then SFF is the way to go. I have yet to find a laptop keyboard that I like and the drives are too slow for really demanding tasks. They are great for disconnected computing, but if have monitor/keyboard/mouse at the destination then SFF works great.

    The other place where SFF really comes into it's own is for computing in tight spaces. Boats, RV's, small office/desk situations.

    Of course once you get used to them you have to ask yourself how long the towers are going to last.