Pentium M Goes SFF

Jonesy writes "The folks at The Tech Report have reviewed an interesting new small form factor box (a roughly toaster-sized desktop PC) from AOpen based on the Pentium M. As expected, performance is on par with a Pentium 4, but noise and power consumption are much lower. The reviewer says, 'Subjectively, the EY855-II was simply amazing. At one point, I sat with the system at ear level two feet away. I closed my eyes and strained to hear it, but was unable to do so.' The one fly in the ointment: relatively high prices still on Pentium M processors, although that could change soon."

Comments

Noise factor

[kogus]

In every environment I've worked in, it has been easy to just position the PC in a way that I can't hear it, even if it is a bit noisy. I, for one, am not willing to pay *any* extra for a quiet desktop. The Mac mini isn't popular because it is quiet, it is popular because it is a practical fashion statement- something Apple is good at.

Re:Noise factor

[2nd Post!]

What if you're listening to classical music?

What if you're using the computer to learn how to speak foreign languages?

What if you're using the computer in a library?

What if you're using the computer in a soundstage?

What if you're using the computer in a recording room?

What if you're using the computer in a theater?

What if you're using the computer in a home theater?

What if you're using the computer in a bedroom?

There are lots of noise sensitive places. In fact there are more 'quiet' places than non quiet, so the lack of a 'quiet' PC is probably hurting more than you suspect.

how about a server farm

[PureCreditor]

if Pentium Ms are similar performance to Pentium 4s, wouldn't it be ideal for clusters and server farms in which (a) density, (b) heat, and (c) power dissipation becomes major factors in day-to-day operations?

Except only one company has done that

[2nd Post!]

Look around, and only one company has truly done that... Apple with the Mac mini.

Many of the SFF PCs use m-itx, rather than laptop, motherboards and components. As such they use regular desktop CPUs, hard drives, heatsinks, and optical drives.

The Mac mini, however, uses a laptop hard drive, laptop optical drive, a laptop heatsink, and a laptop CPU.

Still waiting for a good SFF..

[Ancil]

Still isn't what people are looking for. Wintel folks: look to the Mac Mini for inspiration.

• People don't need expansion slots. Everything is built into the motherboard. If they really need something which isn't there, it can be plugged into a USB port. Expansion slots are a huge waste of real estate, and screw up your airflow too.

• People want good video performance. That means no shared memory for video. The only reason people buy these huge AOpen and Shuttle SFF's is that the Mini-ITX boards are saddled with lousy graphics. Put an ATi Mobility X700 with 128 megs of video memory in there, and customers won't want or need an AGP or PCIE16 slot. Now you can get away with no expansion slots at all.

The solution is staring the industry in the face, but no one seems to sell it: SFF machines built using laptop motherboards. If Dell can sell this for $1,000 why can't they sell the same thing with no display, battery, or keyboard for $500?