Hasta La Gadget!

We caught up with ASRock’s new entrant into the netbook world yesterday, but today it was all about the nettop. On display at the company’s CeBIT booth was this gem, the NetTop S330. Showcased in white and some strange, unusual other hue, the box was powered by an Intel Atom 330 processor and supports up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM. Other specs include a Super Multi DVD burner, gigabit Ethernet, 160GB 2.5-inch hard drive, audio in / out, VGA output and GMA950 graphics. We have to say, the design here is about as unimaginative as a nettop can get, but ASRock representatives informed us that it’ll be aiming at a lower-end market as the box should list for $399 or less depending on options. Anywho, feel free to poke around in the gallery below, and if you dig what you’re seeing, you can pick one up in America this April (or May if you’re in Europe).

Filed under: Desktops

ASRock debuts Atom 330-powered NetTop S330: eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready for more MSI? Good. Just in case the flurry of other new gear from the company has yet to tickle your fancy, how’s about a smattering of all-in-one PCs? The Wind NetOn AP1900 was on hand in Germany, as was the Wind Top AE1900, AE2010, AE2200. Straight up, we weren’t particularly fond of any of ’em, with the enclosures looking downright shoddy from a few feet away. Maybe the design team has been too wrapped up in the X-Slim family to care about these guys, huh? On the plus side, the touchscreen on the Wind Top AE1900 was super responsive, but we know you’ll only use it for the first ten or so seconds of ownership before reverting back to the tried-and-true mouse / keyboard tandem. The whole lot is shoved down there in the gallery!

Filed under: Desktops

MSI Wind NetOn AP1900, Wind Top AE line eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI hasn’t made a big fuss about it, but the Wind Box DE200 is new for CeBIT 2009. The unit seems to be the bigger brother of its Wind Box DC100, and while we’re stoked about the optional Blu-ray player, we’re seriously doubting that the listed Celeron M 550 (2GHz) is the only CPU available. The unit also comes loaded with NVIDIA’s GeForce 9400M GPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard drive, 802.11n WiFi, HDMI and DVI outputs, Windows Vista Home edition, a multicard reader, audio in / out, Ethernet, a few USB 2.0 ports and an overly glossy enclosure. We’ve no pricing or release information to share just yet, but you can peek a few more angles down in the gallery below.

Filed under: Desktops

MSI showcases new Blu-ray-equipped Wind Box DE200, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s pretty clear NVIDIA already has some big plans for its new nettop / netbook-specific Ion platform, and it looks like its reach is about to get broader still, with company president Jen-Hsun Huang reportedly confirming that the platform will also support VIA’s Nano processor by the end of the year. As you may recall, the two companies had been in off and on talks about a partnership last year before things finally fell though in November, and there was even a point where it seemed like NVIDIA might actually acquire VIA. No word from Intel on this latest development, although it doesn’t seem like it’ll be affecting the Atom’s status as the go-to processor in the short term. There’s also unfortunately no indication as to exactly what sort of VIA-powered, Ion-based systems we can expect to see, although it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if they followed the Ion / Atom combo and went with a nettop first.

[Via GadgetMix.com]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA Ion platform to support VIA Nano processors this year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is true art, friend. The amazing “brotato” (rhymes with potato, in a perfect world) has hacked together netbook components, an ancient keyboard and a 14.2-inch LCD into this classy case, dubbing the project “The Poor Man’s Netbook.” The box is running Windows XP, but he tested it out with Windows 7 and Mac OS X and it performed beautifully, except for the Bluetooth 2.1 module. The box is based on a Mini-ITX Intel D945GCLF2 Dual Core 1.6Ghz Atom motherboard, with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD and 802.11n WiFi — though you’ll have to hunt down an outlet, there’s no battery power here. The best news is that he’s selling the whole conglomeration on eBay, perfect for completing that piece of horrible cyberpunk fiction you’ve been slaving over on your boringtop.

[Thanks, Ryan]

Filed under: Desktops

Netbook in a suitcase: all the shortcomings of a subnote in a large, inconvenient package originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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