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

It's about time!

[bigtallmofo]

I've attended the Seattle Folk Festival many times and often wondered, "When are they going to get mobile processors here?"

Golly, I WONDER where they got that idea!

[Cr0w T. Trollbot]

How on earth has the Wintel world decided that now is the right time for a quiet, small-form factor computer? I have no idea! *coughcoughMAC MINIcoughcough*

Crow T. Trollbot

Re:Golly, I WONDER where they got that idea!

[Mattintosh]

Actually, from what I can tell, most people want something that doesn't "break when you click it" like Windows XP does. That would be MacOS X. They all have a sob story about how they double-clicked the megabyte and now their hard drive won't download. It's usually because Windows is a fucked up piece of shit that nobody can seem to figure out how to run, much less configure so a newbie can run it without trouble.

People want to "run the internet", send and receive email, and sometimes type a report for school. Some of them are advanced enough to know they want to play music or store/email/print pictures. Let's see... that's Safari, Mail, Pages, and for those "advanced" newbies, iTunes and iPhoto.

All of that is included on a system that isn't as susceptible to "viruses" (or malware of other sorts) and "just works" without needing to worry about pressing [random key on keyboard that they're sure was the one] and the DVD-Floppy-Modem quit working.

There are also about 2759023845908750923854 (as of last week) versions of solitaire available for the Mac, and they're ALL better than MS's version, though none of them are as ubiquitous. They usually cost $20 and come with 8 trillion variations, along with an editor to make your own types of solitaire. And don't forget Bejeweled and Alchemy to keep them addicted (and thus out of your way) for a good long time.

For someone who's already "broken" their Dell and thus has the keyboard, mouse, monitor, printer/scanner/fax/copier, and USB-enabled kitchen sink, the Mac Mini is perfect. It's also perfect for those of us who don't want to fix relatives' computers anymore.

I had that once...

[AthenianGadfly]

I had a processor make exactly the same sound once. Usually after they go 'sfff' they're pretty much dead.

Pentium M?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Pentium One Thousand!!!! We'll sell you the whole processor, but you'll only need the edge.

So the difference?

[Dark Paladin]

I'm looking at the pictures, and so far I see a system with more beef than a Mac Mini (2 DIMM slots instead of 1, etc), maybe a little bigger and more expensive. But quieter and less powerful than a loaded Shuttle.

So somewhere in between the two, then.

PS/2?

[chudik]

Interesting that they are still bothering with PS/2 for keyboard and mouse. I just got a new Dell at work. No PS/2, just 8 USB 2.0 ports.

Paint two black slots on the top ...

[operagost]

And it will look just like a toaster. But I guess if you really wanted to make toast, you'd have to use the Prescott instead of the M.

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?

Re:Goes to show...

[ciroknight]

The problem is the Pentium M is not a Pentium III, but is based off of P6 (the same core archetecture dating all the way back to the Pentium Pro).

They didn't really underhype the Pentium M, the M is for mobile, and that's exactly where it was aimed and designed for. They hyped it as the "Centrino platform", and it has sold like hotcakes in most modern laptops.

The real issue is why it took so damned long for Intel to move Pentium M to *desktop* use. The minute they cancelled Itanium's whole branch, they should have moved Pentium 4/Xeon up to its role as the server processor, and moved the Pentium M to the desktop; instead they waited and let AMD get the competitive edge on them with the Athlon 64.

I commend AMD for their forcing the market to keep moving, but I also hope Intel becomes more responsive and keeps its wheels spinning so that we can see technology keep moving, and not stagnate as it has the past two years.

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?