Wintel vs. MacMini: NetBox

[chaosfire]

There's another mac mini look-alike at Computex from Foxconn, called the NetBox: http://www.tomshardware.com/business/20050601/computex_day_2-05.html (scroll down a little)

It seems to be a little thinner than a mini, but longer. I kinda like the form factor, it looks nice. It doesn't have any networking options, wired or wireless, so it has to be USB. Also, it doesn't have DVI out, just VGA, so expect a little quality loss on your flat panels. Its hard-drive is a 2.5", not 3.5", so its probably a little slower with less capacity. From the picture, I didn't see an optical drive, so it would be USB as well. No firewire,
The processor is a 500Mhz AMD Geode, which I'd not heard of, but its for pda's, set top boxes, and the like. Its really low voltage, and only 1 watt. I don't expect anything too fast from it. http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/ProductInformation/0,,50_2330_9863,00.html
I don't know what kind of memory it takes, or how fast. At 500Mhz, the memory could be running at a 1:1 ratio with the CPU! It probably takes so-dimms, and its probably DDR.

Its estimated to be about $300, so $200 cheaper than the mini.

 

[kgarner]

Its estimated to be about $300, so $200 cheaper than the mini.

Yeah but with less than half the functionality. No Optical drive? No Networking? Can they even call it a NetBox if it doesn't network?

 

[Tech^salvager]

reminds me of AMD's 50 by 15 idea which was to get atleast 50 percent of teh world online by 2015 by usign cheap boxes like these, cept the ones they showed had network ports on them.

found some info

"The LX800@0.9W variant actually has a clock speed of 500Mhz: AMD use a performance-power rating system that doesn't directly represent clock speed. The LX has been benchmarked as 50% faster than a previous Geode CPU, the 400Mhz GX533, which in turn was benchmarked by AMD as equivalent to a (presumably circa 2002) VIA C3 processor running at 533Mhz... The 0.9W figure reflects current draw at around 80% load, though this figure does not include supporting chips."

source www.mini-itx.com

thinking since that computer uses a 500mhz geode then is this it.

 

[Abstract]

Half the price, with one-tenth the functionality.

Greeeeat. For once, I'd go for the better option.....a Dell for $300. At least I have a CD drive.