Hasta La Gadget!

We know we expend a lot of digital ink talking about oomph and va va voom, but sometimes you just need a computer you can give to your old grandpappy and let him go wild with the Reader’s Digest online edition. The Linutop 3, sporting a custom Linux OS atop a blistering 1GHz VIA C7 CPU, 1GB of RAM and a tremendously capacious 2GB SSD, is just that sort of machine. It asks for a mere €340 ($485) and 20 watts of power, and lets you expand storage by adding an internal hard drive or plugging a memory stick into one of six available USB ports. Sure, you’re unlikely to use it for more than the bundled Open Office and Firefox applications, but have you considered this thing’s potential after bumping that clock multiplier and dipping the whole thing in liquid nitrogen? Have you?

[Via The Register]

Filed under: Desktops

Linutop 3 out to seduce minimalists, cheapskates originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Sep 2009 06:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t get us wrong — we’re all in favor of purposeless, ostentatious, and classless displays of wealth — but we prefer it to be a little less… tacky? German manufacturer High End PCs have the high end part down pat — they’ll dip your desktop in all manners of gold (up to 24 karat!), cubic zirconia and of course, diamonds. Now, we don’t have any specs on these puppies — though we suspect performance is beside the point. Our only real qualm with the product is that it looks like a Kleenex box from Don Johnson’s bathroom in 1986. But, if you have a stack of money hanging around and you just can’t be bothered to think of really awesome things to do with it, Gaiser’s PCs start from about $8,000 and run up to around $33,000.

[Via Oh! Gizmo]

Filed under: Desktops

Gold, diamond-leafed Gaiser PCs might just bring Marie Antoinette back from the grave originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our Recession Antidote series has been firing on all cylinders for awhile now, but today we’re breaking things up a bit with an extra special giveaway. In case you couldn’t guess, we’ll be transferring ownership of our very own custom-built HTPC — which was featured yesterday in a ‘How to build an HTPC for under $1,000′ guide — and one lucky reader will be able to wrap their arms around a shiny new entertainment rig. We won’t bother breaking down the specs (just check out yesterday’s piece for that), but we will bother thanking the outfits who made this come together as well as point you to the fine print below for instructions on how to drop your name in the hat.

Huge thanks to nMEDIAPC, Intel, ASUS, OCZ, Hitachi, LG, Gigabyte, Auvio and Microsoft for providing the gear!

The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for “fixing” the world economy, that’d be sweet too.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winner will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one (1) custom-built HTPC. Approximate value is $1,000. That special Engadget Touch is provided gratis.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Wednesday, July 22nd, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Filed under: Desktops, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Engadget’s recession antidote: win our custom-built HTPC! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Averatec’s 25.5-inch D1200 a bit too large for your tastes (or your bantam desk)? Fret not, as the very same company is today issuing a 22-inch version with similar specs. Speaking of which, the admittedly stylish all-in-one machine packs a 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo E5200 processor, a WXGA panel, 3GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320GB SATA hard drive, slot-loading DVD burner, X4500HD graphics, WiFi, gigabit Ethernet and a 2 megapixel webcam. Vista Home Premium is the OS included, but the whole rig will only set you back $799. If you’re already sold, you can place your order today at a variety of non-shady e-tailers.

Filed under: Desktops

Averatec debuts 22-inch D1005 all-in-one PC for $799 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Budget PC manufacturer eMachines has released a new all-white budget desktop in a mini-tower form factor, priced from $299 to $449. The computers come with a matching white-trim keyboard and LCD monitor with a 1366×768 resolution. There are three models in the line, from the cheapest ET1810-01 to the most expensive ET1300-02. As for computing power in these sleek desktops, these are exactly the type of computers that eMachines is known for. Expect budget performance and affordable prices.

Specs after the jump.