Nettops
ECS MD120 dual-core Atom/Ion nettop now available
Dec 29th
While OEMs have been a little sluggish in producing netbooks with NVidia’s Ion under the hood, they seem to be falling over themselves to release nettops sporting the gaming-friendly chipset.
This time, it’s ECS offering the tandem – inside the MD120. It’s a barebones similar to the Asrock Ion 330, with a dual-core Atom 330, 2x SODIMM slots with a max of 4GB memory, multi-format card reader, 6 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, DVI, and VGA outputs, and room for 2 mini PCIe expansion cards and a slimline SATA optical drive.
There’s also room for a full 3.5″ SATA hard drive, which means cramming 1TB or more into this baby is very doable.
The MD120 is selling on Newegg for $269. Throw in the missing bits – say, a 1TB HDD, 2GB SODIMM, and tray-load DVD-Burner, and you’re looking at about $190 more.
Don’t forget you’ll still need an OS, which pushes this little system up over the $550 mark. Is it worth it at that price? Seems a little on the high side to me.
Of course, if you’ve got some good pulls sitting around and can kit this out with repurposed parts, $269 for the shell isn’t a bad deal at all.
via Netbooked
Asrock Ion 330 dual core nettop gets reviewed, performs well
Dec 27th
My pal Brad got his hands on an Asrock Ion 330 nettop, and he’s posted a nice review of the unit over at Liliputing. It’s not the 330HT-BD (which includes a Blu-Ray combo drive), but the model NVidia shipped Brad did include 2Gb of DDR2 ram and a 320GB SATA hard drive to go with the Atom 330 CPU.
The Ion 330 posted a Windows Experience index of 3.3 – held back by the cpu. A 5.3 gaming graphics score is actually pretty respectable, and translated into decent gameplay on Battlefield Heroes and Portal.
At $422 on Amazon
Jetway JBC230 barebones packs NVidia Ion, weird mainboard
Dec 16th
Jetway’s JBC230 barebones nettop does have some things going for it – like three display connection options, six rear USB 2.0 ports (8 total) and a roomy interior that should stay nice and cool even while gaming.
One thing I’ve got to question is the use of desktop memory. As you can see in the video from Tweak Town (after the break), the two slots are nestled snugly below the unit’s slimline optical drive. I’m not questioning this choice because it feels like a misstep, only because it’s a change from what we typically see in nettops (most use laptop-style SODIMMs).
In the end, it’ll probably save you a couple bucks when you purchase parts to complete your system. You can pick up the barebones itself over at Newegg.com for $309 right now.
via Liliputing
Lenovo’s ridiculously thin, Ion-powered Q110 nettop gets unboxed
Dec 16th
This on-angle image doesn’t quite tell the story, so be sure to take the jump for a better visual and a look at Netbooked’s hands-on video. The Lenovo Q110 is about as razor-thin as nettops get, standing only a few slivers of an inch higher than the dual two-connector USB ports at the back of its chassis.
The bigger brother of the Q100 (which comes with Intel graphics and VGA output only), the Q110′s hind-end includes all the essential connectors for set-top Ion gaming: HDMI output, four USB 2.0 ports, and gigabit ethernet. There’s also room inside for a 2.5″ SATA HDD (up to 250GB).
Now, the Q110 does lack wifi – which we’ve just come to expect from anything powered by an Atom processor – but I don’t consider that a major omission. For streaming video and online gaming, I’d still rather use a speedier, more reliable hard-wired connection.
At about 6″x6.5″x0.8″ you should have no problem tucking the Q110 into your entertainment center. They’re up for sale for $399 from Lenovo. Read the rest of this entry »