On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 04:35, Keith Bachman <kcbnac at gmail.com> wrote:

> If considering a Nettop, pay attention to the CPU & GPU in them.  Many
> (N270, N450) are single core but have Hyper-Threading (2 pipelines) -
> some, like the D510 - are dual-core and have HT on them.
>
> The Intel NM10 chipset is much newer than the 945 series - and at half
> the power draw.  Also has a (slightly) better IGP.
>
> I ended up grabbing one of these:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856167041 for a
> file server/shell box/backup machine. $173 shipped, add 1 or 2 sticks
> of DDR2 laptop RAM and HD or two of choice.  Ubuntu Server 10.04
> installed just fine, no hiccups on hardware at all.
>
> If you're going to be doing more graphics-heavy stuff, they now have
> one with an ATI GPU:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856167042
> Another $20 for a proper GPU, if you're doing web-stuff might be worth
> it.
>
> Adds HDMI and DVI to the VGA outputs, and a "capable" GPU.  (Radeon HD
> 4330 is a slightly beefier version of the HD4200 - AMD's IGP solution)
>  This will handle Youtube quite well, at least on Windows (Haven't
> tossed Linux on my desktop yet)  Also would allow dual displays.
> (Generally pick two outputs, might be VGA + 1, I'm not sure)
>
> No Windows Tax, lets you reuse laptop RAM castoffs from other machines
> (scavenged or remaining from upgrades), and whatever HD you want (or
> don't - I know someone else who has the previous machine booting off a
> CF or SD card - they removed the internal CF slot to add a second RAM
> slot)
>
> My only complaint is that the 50mm fan is a little noisy when I have
> it sitting out in the open, haven't found its permanent home yet.  If
> anyone knows of a quiet 50mm I'd be terribly interested... (I don't
> hear the air movement, I hear the high-pitched whine sometimes)



I haven't looked into all the different NetPC options yet.  But, I've looked
at the ASUS primarily because AFAIK it's fanless which is what I'm after.  I
hear the fans running in the current desktop PC and it's too loud IMO.
Also, I'm trying to drop power consumption and reduce space.  Thanks for the
additional links.



-- 
-Shawn
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