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Hardware

World's Smallest Desktop Pentium4? 242

Posted by CmdrTaco from the and-they-say-size-doesn't-matter dept.
Valour writes "The Jem Report has just published an in-depth review and installation guide for the new Iwill ZPC, a cool little Pentium4 ultra small formfactor PC. There have been similar designs in the past, but nothing with this kind of power."
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World's Smallest Desktop Pentium4? More

World's Smallest Desktop Pentium4?

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  • Add a bread slot and it will double as a toaster!

  • Deflated specs! (Score:5, Funny)

    by dave_mcmillen ( 250780 ) * on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:20PM (#6304777)
    If you look carefully, you'll note that they use inches and millimeters that are specifically optimized for the Iwill, thus making it appear smaller and lighter than it really is. When will the manufacturers learn that this kind of "cheating" in mass and volume benchmarks isn't really fooling anyone.

  • Nifty. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Kai_MH ( 632216 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:20PM (#6304781) Homepage Journal
    The small form factor Pentium 4 is a great idea, but think about: Are the really able to fit all the goods into it? It may make a nice portable system, but when it comes down to it, an Mini-ITX board will be just as function(mostly), and be MUCH cheaper.
    Anyways, I'm an Athlon kind of guy.
    • Gee, and to think you can buy a similar system, the Latte [thinkgeek.com], from Think Geek! Slow news day, I guess.
    • If you want a truly small P4 computer, buy a small laptop, toss away the keyboard, display and battery, and put the rest in a custom made box.

      These case fads come and go (isn't that the definition of a fad?). Two years ago it was aluminum cases, then there was cases with windows, then there was cold cathode lights, then there was watercooling for the masses, and now tiny boxes and old-fashioned horizontal boxes seem to be in.
      Next year I predict you'll see leather-skinned computers, followed by wall-mounte

  • tiny (Score:2, Interesting)

    by dirvish ( 574948 )
    Wow! How does it fit all of that? Especially three drive bays?
    Drive Bay(s)
    1 x Internal bay for 2.5 in hard disk drive (notebook type
    1 x Internal bay for slim-type optical drive (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD/CD-RW combo drive)
    DVD/CD-RW combo not included with barebone; available as an optional accessory

  • slashdotted in 3.2 seconds... (Score:3, Funny)

    by mess31173 ( 462954 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:21PM (#6304794) Homepage
    They were obviously using them as webservers too...

  • Worlds smallest eh? (Score:3, Funny)

    by spinlocked ( 462072 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:22PM (#6304802)
    Is that a desktop or a workstation?

  • Depressing (Score:5, Funny)

    by Davak ( 526912 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:22PM (#6304803) Homepage
    Man, is this depressing...

    Quake 3 Arena demo 1 FPS: 104.7

    The thing is the size of my hand and will do Quake3 twice as fast as my box that take up my whole desktop.

    Shheeettt... I must be getting old to have let my box go this long without an overhaul.

    Davak

    • Re:Depressing (Score:3, Insightful)

      by vasqzr ( 619165 )

      Tom's Hardware [tomshardware.com] has the latest and greatest Pentium 4 3.2GHz running Quake III at 450 FPS. So this computer is almost 5 times slower than the top of the line, at least as for as OpenGL/Quake/games go.

      • Like this is going to help his self esteam.

        In all likelyhood all this will do is force him to reconsider the decision about bigger being better as noted in all the spam he is ignoring.

        -Rusty
        • In all likelyhood all this will do is force him to reconsider the decision about bigger being better as noted in all the spam he is ignoring

          I think I would rather have a larger penis than a smaller computer.
          Besides, if my penis were larger I think my computer would look smaller.
    • Your hands are 7"x10"x2"? Can you like palm a beachball or something?!!

  • Heh heh. And heat. And power. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ToadMan8 ( 521480 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:22PM (#6304805)
    First of all, heh heh, we broke the Access database web engine. Already

    Next order of business, since I can't see the damned article, since we broke it, how are they handling cooling? That's been the big limitation with full (read: AMD or INTEL) scale desktop platforms in a ultra small form factor. Also how will the power supply be rigged? Is this a no PCI low voltage your USB gear better have batteries type thing, or what?

    And does anybody know of a mirror ;)

    • Re:Heh heh. And heat. And power. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by MoOsEb0y ( 2177 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:39PM (#6304981)
      Reading from the review, (which hasnt yet been slashdotted) they did the same thing I did when I made a briefcase computer. That is, make a hole right above the CPU fan and have it blow out. The powersupply looks incredibly wimpy so it is doubtful that it would generate that much heat. Also, from the looks of it, the AC to DC conversion doesnt take place on the actual powersupply. There's probably a separated power brick for it. Thus, the only heat-producing component in there of any relevance would be the CPU.
      • The system comes with a power brick, just like most printers and laptops. Thus, most of the heat will be generated outside of the case. All they have to cool is the CPU, and in something that small, all that requires in a nice grill overtop of the CPU to vent the hot air directly to the outside world.

  • Heating (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jmaatta ( 550428 )
    I wonder how hot it gets. I didn't find any information about that.
    • Yeah. I was wondering too, because Dell and Apple and all the other PC manufacturers have a bullet point on the spec sheet called "How hot it gets".
  • I don't get it with these PC makers. All this legacy baggage. At least no parallel port. I'm building a box with the abit-K7-MAX2, no serial/parallel and 6 USB on the back!

    • Re:Still, a serial port, and PS/2! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by toddestan ( 632714 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:57PM (#6305141)
      The reason they carry it on is that people want it and need it. Serial is hardly useless, it is needed for older (but not that old) devices like Palms and HP Calculators. Also, the best modems generally are external that use serial ports.

      Older printers (and some new ones) still use parallel ports.

      PS/2 is hardly dead either. PS/2 keyboards just work. They have ironed out most of the bugs with USB keyboards, but you still have minor issues with Linux, old dos stuff, etc. Besides, all the good keyboards are either PS/2 or even the old AT style plug. USB keyboards are crap. Bottom line is, I better be able to hook up my Model M's to any computer I buy.

  • eh? (Score:4, Funny)

    by EMH_Mark3 ( 305983 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:25PM (#6304831)

    A cool Pentium 4?
    I really doubt that.

  • Chilling (Score:5, Funny)

    by Davak ( 526912 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:25PM (#6304836) Homepage
    The nice thing about a computer this size is that you can just place it in a small refrigator... and then overclock the heck of it.

    Plus, you have a nice place to keep your sodas/beer chilled as well.

    "Honey, can you take out those leftovers? They are making my computer smell like an italian restaurant!"

    Davak
    • You laugh but imagine putting it in a cooler with some dry ice for lan parties.

    • Re:Chilling (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TheViffer ( 128272 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:53PM (#6305639)
      This is marked as funny, but is it?

      Look at today, we air blast our cases for cooling. Some of the daring will use water, even others liquid nitrogen.

      But think about it, we are clearly in the stone ages when it comes to effective computer cooling. This not only is in how we cool the equipment, but in how that equipment is designed.

      Don't laugh when in five years, some company like "Coleman" is making the worlds most advanced "desktop and workstation" cases employing refrigeration and insulation.

      • Re:Chilling (Score:2, Informative)

        by antimuon ( 677853 )

        You mean like these Ice Station [icestations.com] enclosures? They are nice if you have the money...

        -antim

      • Re:Chilling (Score:3, Informative)

        by egghat ( 73643 )
        I'd rather say, taht we're in the stone age regarding effective energy consumption. There are Mobile CPUs that take less than a half of normal energy. From the technical point it's possible to build a very fast PC that uses less than half of what a normal computer needs. There are mobile CPU, high efficiency PSU, etc.

        Look at Silent PC Review [silentpcreview.com] to get an idea.

        Bye egghat
    • The nice thing about a computer this size is that you can just place it in a small refrigator... and then overclock the heck of it.


      Condensation becomes a real issue if you try that.

      • Most refrigerators are practically dehumidifiers. Condensation will only happen when you open the door ane let humid air in. Besides, you could also just exchange the air in the fridge with some dry CO2 you can get really really cheap.

  • Useful? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by blackmonday ( 607916 )
    Set these up in cubicles outfitted with mouse, keyboard and displays. People can work at any desk at any time, even in a conference room. And take it home and keep working! An exec's dream come true. I would say it could use some type of built-in display, maybe one of those new foldable displays we heard about yesterday.

    • You are on to something! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Prince_Ali ( 614163 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:32PM (#6304912) Journal
      They could make it flatter and wider so that they could build the keyboard into it. They probably wouldn't want a mouse dangling so they could add a touch pad below the keyboard. A foldable LCD would be nice, but they could settle for an LCD that is attached to the computer by a hinge, that would fold over the case like a clamshell type thing. Then they could add a battery and really have a winner!
      • And they could make it out of Aluminum or Titanium! And then they could put a PPC 970 processor in it! Hey, then it could run....OS X! And ... and ...

        Oh, never mind. I hear Apple just beat me too it. :(

  • Slashdotted... (Score:1, Funny)

    by pnix ( 682520 )
    I really doubt those P4's are running cool right now since they can't hold up to being slashdotted...

    Sure makes me want to buy one!

  • article text (Score:5, Informative)

    by umthie10 ( 562200 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:28PM (#6304869)
    Home Articles Software Hardware
    Reviews Community
    Forum Guides
    and Help Credits

    Manufacturer Iwill USA
    Model ZPC
    Chipset Intel 845GV
    Formfactor Mini ITX/proprietary
    Market Portable workstation/fashionable desktop. This machine is primarily marketed to system integrators who will use it to create systems for targeted niche markets like those mentioned above.
    CPU support 400mhz and 533mhz FSB Pentium4 processors up to 2.53ghz.
    RAM PC2700 is recommended, but PC2100 and PC1600 will also work. ECC memory is not supported. Maximum RAM capacity is 512MB using one 512MB module.
    Iwill ZPC

    Graphics capabilities Onboard Intel Extreme Graphics
    IDE ATA100 (through a conversion daughter board) supports one notebook 2.5" hard drive and one slimline notebook optical drive
    Firewire Yes (2) (VIA chipset)
    USB Hi-speed USB 2.0 (4)
    LAN Realtek 8100B 10/100
    Sound ALC650 stereo
    Power External 90W DC19V power supply
    Dimensions Height: 54mm (2.13 inches)
    Width: 184mm (7.24 inches)
    Depth: 263mm (10.35 inches)
    Weight 1.95kg (4.3 pounds) net weight
    3.75kg (8.27 pounds) with hard drive, RAM, CPU, optical drive and power supply
    9-pin serial One
    Available colors Silver (aluminum) and black
    Warranty One year through Iwill

    The Iwill ZPC is the world's smallest Pentium4 desktop computer supporting the 533FSB. The initial material that Iwill sent me months ago made it look really cool -- there were a variety of different colors and the design was quite attractive. Unfortunately Iwill scrapped all of the colors except black and silver, and those two represent two different models of the ZPC. The black model is designed for slot-loading optical drives and the silver model supports tray-loading optical drives, but other than that they are identical as far as technical specifications are concerned. For my testing I was given one of the silver models. Here's what the front looks like when fully assembled, and here is the rear of the unit.

    The ZPC can be purchased with or without the CDRW/DVD combo drive but considering the fact that you can't buy a comparable optical drive for the difference in price, I would suggest getting the full package including the combo drive unless you're running totally from the network or otherwise have no need for a CD drive. The only extra software that it comes with is Nero Express (version 5.5.10.13)

    Assembly was surprisingly easy -- almost too easy, and in fact I suspected it was a trap. I was expecting something at least as complex and delicate as a notebook computer but it was actually more like a mini-PC. I have compiled a complete installation guide (including photos!) which can be found here.

    The ZPC is rather expensive; unless you're buying in quantity or directly from the manufacturer you won't find one of these under $450 (no hard drive, CPU, or RAM included) but considering what you're getting, that's not all that bad. As far as price for performance is concerned there are a few things to consider. First of all the ZPC is not versatile; it can never be a good gaming machine and since there is no TV-out or DVI connector you're limited to a VGA display, so there's no video editing possibilities. That means that the ZPC is not a replacement (or even competition) for a mini-PC like the Iwill XP4-G or for VIA's ultra-cheap and somewhat expandable Epia C3 integrated CPU solutions. If you're looking for a portable gaming machine, a low-cost, low-performance low-profile desktop system or a TiVo device, the ZPC cannot meet your needs.

    So what is the ZPC good for? A lot of things: as an Internet device or appliance, as a stackable node for a cluster, as a small formfactor workstation for cramped or limited spaces (dorm rooms, RVs, yachts, or even cars and airplanes). Being as it does not have a screen with it, the ZPC is not exactly a laptop replacement although it is smaller, lighter, and more durable. If you need a portable machine to take on special jobs (engineers and technicians often need good

  • Does anyone have pics/specs?

  • Should I? (Score:3, Funny)

    by A_Non_Moose ( 413034 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:32PM (#6304909) Homepage Journal
    Intel:
    Imagine a BW cluster of these to make the Intraweb go faster.

    Slashdot: /snicker
    yeah, right.

    The thing is the size of my hand {snip}


    Take care you don't burn your...uhhhh....nevermind.
  • People have done this for years. You get a real smart midget (like Michael J. Fox) to sit inside the empty box. He's the one actually doing the "computing".

  • Slashdotted (Score:2, Interesting)

    by pmz ( 462998 )
    One possible reason why Microsoft has a bad reputation (from the IWILL website):

    "The Microsoft Jet database engine stopped the process because you and another user are attempting to change the same data at the same time."

    I'm glad Jet is at least honest about why it isn't a real database.

  • Sorry to be negative, but ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mostly a lurker ( 634878 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:36PM (#6304953)
    ... I really do not understand what the niche for this might be. Notebook class performance, notebook level pricing, less portable than a notebook (when you consider the need for a monitor also) and no more configurable.

    I own a Shuttle. It is more expensive than the cheapest desktops and less portable than a notebook, but it has real desktop performance in a reasonably portable form factor. That makes sense to me.

    • A friend of mine has something like this. It is a great thing to take to a LAN since it is so portable and can hold a ton of data. He has a 240 GB drive in it and he shares games, movies, etc. But you are probably right, this won't take over the market...though it may be time for desktops to get smaller.
    • At my last job, this computer would have been perfect - not for workstations, but for a project we worked on.

      We wrote content management/distrobution software for advertising companies, and got pulled into doing work with the hardware as well. A 1U rack mount computer was hooked to the back of a plasma screen, and plugged into a modem or a network, then we could update on the fly and run any kind of media that the computer could display. We added touch screen overlays to make them interactive. It was a

    • Re:Sorry to be negative, but ... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by heli0 ( 659560 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:19PM (#6305304)
      ". I really do not understand what the niche for this might be."

      How about people who regard aesthetics in as high a regard as engineering specs?

    • Re:Sorry to be negative, but ... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:59PM (#6305682) Homepage
      One of the saving graces of these newer "teeny" PC's is the fact that they use 1/5th the power a regular clone uses. If you take last years' PC and 21 inch monitor... you are gobbling up arounf 650 to 700 watts of power ... today, a 17 inch flat panel, and a small- low power consumption pc will use a maximum of 100-120 watts. a MAJOR savings in power.

      now this may mean nothing to you and your $100.00+ a month electrical bill, but to people trying to live off grid on solar and wind power or simply trying to be as efficient as possible... these things are a godsend.

      and I think a middle ground is needed. we need decent speed, low power computers that will take a Geforce 4ti in it for decent gaming.... the shuttle boxes give me that and if you do it right, you can get in under 290 watts with one.

      It's interesting what happens when using another 900 watts in your entire household can cost you an extra $6000.00 in storage, inverter and solar elements... you watch very closely what kind of power consumption versus useability your electronics have.

      I just wisk shuttle would make a low-power version... that uses the Pentium4M processor or an AMD that doesnt double as the toaster-oven heating element.
      • Yes, I can well understand the concern about power consumption if reliant on wind power or something. But, in that case, maybe a notebook computer is the way to go.

        For my Shuttle, I elected to go with an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro. It is definitely not a gamer's choice, but it draws relatively little power and needs no active cooling. When not using the DVD drive, I draw less than 200 watts (including LCD monitor).

    • People with large pockets?

  • Pics (Score:4, Informative)

    by sublimusasterisk ( 539187 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:38PM (#6304971)

    For those who just want to see it, check out this pic [thejemreport.com] among many others at the actual review, instead of the IWILL site. Also check out the installation guide [thejemreport.com]

  • Alternate Links (Score:3, Informative)

    by sparkhead ( 589134 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:40PM (#6304986)
    1 [iwill.net] 2 [armari.com] 3 [riksdata.se]
  • /ProductDetail.asp?vID=179

    1. ASP
    2. Hammering a database

    My guess is there's no caching or anything enabled either.

    You know what would be nice, is if /. automatically tracked hits to articles.

    It could do this easily by automatically inserting something like:
    http://www.slashdot.org/countHits.pl?
    bef o re everything linked in a submission.
    Not highly useful, I know... but don't you wonder sometimes just how many hits it takes before it stops responding all together?

  • Power comsumption? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by toddestan ( 632714 )
    I noticed that it only comes with a 90W power supply. I don't think that is going to work very well, with a P4 consuming upwards of 70W or more of power. How will there be anything left to run the disk drives, video, etc.?

  • price? (Score:5, Informative)

    by sootman ( 158191 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:47PM (#6305058) Homepage Journal
    this thing is super-sweet. in case of slashdotting, here are the two coolest [pixelcity.com] pics [pixelcity.com]. anyone know what these things cost? I didn't see it mentioned in the review and iwillusa.com is also down.
    • OK, one more cool pic [pixelcity.com]--one of the inside to answer all the "how do they fit all that $#!+ in there?" posts. :-)
    • top 3 google matches for 'iwill zpc'--japanese, sweedish, and russian pages. then I saw that google has a 'would you prefer to search for english results only?" they never cease to amaze me. :-)

    • Re:price? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Stigmata669 ( 517894 )
      Well you can put one together for yourself.

      The Case [computergate.com] is a mini itx case with a fan blow hole drilled and a low profile (probably U1) heatsink for the chip.

      A motherboard that supports P4s in the mini-itx form can be found here [commell-sys.com], however I don't know any resellers... google it.

      The rest is just laptop parts, but I really don't trust a 55W powersuply on a P4 so you might want to replace it with one here. [ituner.com] My guess is that it will end up being $600-700 in parts so think about $1000 retail.

  • It may be a little larger, but the Pundit [asus.com] case from ASUS is a heck of a lot more stylish and is still smaller than most of the other small form factor cases.

  • You know, you could probably fit a whole Beowulf cluster of these inside my now-seemingly-cavernous Shuttle SN41G2 XPC [shuttle.com] case!

  • Windows 2000/XP (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Zog The Undeniable ( 632031 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @02:59PM (#6305152)
    From the article: if you must use Windows I would recommend Windows 2000 over XP as it has a slightly thinner GUI and tends to manage resources a bit better.

    This is true enough, but running an old OS just so you can have a shoe box-sized PC seems like a rather arse-about-face logic to me.

    By the way, I'd love one of the PCs :-)

  • Great Something else to lose... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mustangsal66 ( 580843 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:00PM (#6305164)
    Ok for the past 10 years, things have been getting smaller and smaller.

    I've lost my cell phone, my PDA, my laptop, and god knows what else.

    Now I have to worry about losing my desktop???

  • Valour = The Jem Report = Not-so-stealthy (Score:5, Informative)

    by HardcoreGamer ( 672845 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:02PM (#6305181)

    Valour writes "The Jem Report has just published an in-depth review....

    Valour/Jem, I don't understand why you are hiding the fact that YOU ARE Valour, and YOU ARE the OWNER and writer of TheJemReport.

    It doesn't take a genius to figure out that valour@herotale.com [mailto] is the same person as valour@thejemreport.com [mailto] - it's on the front page of your site.

    If it's karma-whoring, go ahead, because that's not uncommon on Slashdot, but why pretend that you aren't submitting your own review by writing the submission in the third person?

    Now let's re-write that first line:

    Valour [THAT'S ME!!!!!!] writes "The Jem Report [THAT'S MY SITE!!!!!!] has just published an in-depth review and installation guide for the new Iwill ZPC, a cool little Pentium4 ultra small formfactor PC. There have been similar designs in the past, but nothing with this kind of power."

    :)

  • How Loud is it? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by -tji ( 139690 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:06PM (#6305206) Journal
    With a P4 in that little case, they have to push a lot of air, so this thing will be loud. What they need is:

    - Add a second ethernet port, so this can be used as a home gateway/firewall/proxy/etc.

    - Use a cooler CPU, such as a Pentium-M (used in the Centrino chipset), VIA C3, Transmeta. Depending on the CPU, it could potentially be fanless.
    • A little deflection of moving air and the first hover computer..

    • Re:How Loud is it? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by lucifuge31337 ( 529072 ) * <daryl@intros[ ]t.net ['pec' in gap]> on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:22PM (#6305322) Homepage
      With a P4 in that little case, they have to push a lot of air, so this thing will be loud. What they need is:

      Not if all the CPU heat is dissapated directly out of the case....like if they drilled a hole right above the CPU. Which they did.

      - Add a second ethernet port, so this can be used as a home gateway/firewall/proxy/etc.

      Why the hell do you need a P4 as a proxy/firewall? You trying to run MS Proxy server or something? Try Linux with IPChanins if you must run a software firewall. Or Smoothwall [smoothwall.org]. Runs just fine on a 486.
      • Okay, but a 486 isn't this size. Perhaps you missed the significance of this article...
        • Okay, but a 486 isn't this size. Perhaps you missed the significance of this article...

          Hmmm... how about a 486 laptop with 2 PCMCIA ethernet cards?

          Assuming that's possible, of course. My old 486 laptop/webserver only has 1 pcmcia slot (with 1 ethernet card in it), and I admit that I've never seen a 486 laptop with 2. A pentium laptop, on the other hand...
        • Okay, but a 486 isn't this size. Perhaps you missed the significance of this article..

          Sin you've obviousl suffered some loss of higher brain function, I'm not going to take the time to find the links. It will be a good exercise for you to google forthem yourself. But there haver been both 486 and Pentium/Celeron, and probably PII and III class machines of this size. No, nt by the same company, no, not looking exactly the same. But nearly the same size, and some even smaller.

          No, I did not miss the sig
      • Why the hell do you need a P4 as a proxy/firewall? You trying to run MS Proxy server or something? Try Linux with IPChanins if you must run a software firewall. Or Smoothwall. Runs just fine on a 486.

        Who runs a dedicated proxy/firewall? I want it to be my gateway, and my mail/spam-assasin/web/PHP/MySQL/FTP/samba/NFS/VPN / firewall/ server, as well as being a general host I can always SSH into, for a Linux command prompt.

        So, a 486 is fine for packet forwarding. But, to be my "Linux Home DSL Gateway", I
        • Who runs a dedicated proxy/firewall?

          Perhaps people who are interested in more than a passing glance at a secure network setup.

          But what would I know. I only engineer network solutions for companies with global presences, with literally hunderds of network egresses, all of which need to be secured.

          But that's for businesses....I mean...hackers only go after THOSE IP addresses...not your cable modem IPs, so why bother with the same level of security, even if it can be accomplished with some old boat anch
  • in your pocket, or are you just trying to Slashdot me?

  • Pentium M? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bedizened ( 620271 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:09PM (#6305229)
    I'm surprised at what appears to be a complete lack of small/quiet desktop systems using the new Pentium M, or even the entire Centrino chipset.

    It seems like the Pentium M, even on a laptop motherboard, would be the ideal way to make an extremely small, fanless (at least for the 7W version of the chip) pc.

    Has anyone seen something like this? Would it be difficult to make one?

  • Why is this? As more and more people are putting in home networks, having at least the option to put in a second Ethernet port become more important.

    I want to put in a small form factor, quiet machine running OpenBSD as a firewall, but I can't find what I'm looking for. Anybody got any suggestions?

  • Similar in concept: CappuccinoPC Mocha P4 (Score:4, Informative)

    by KMSelf ( 361 ) <karsten@linuxmafia.com> on Thursday June 26, 2003 @03:46PM (#6305566) Homepage

    Dimensions are about the same -- the Mocha's slightly taller, but shorter in depth and width, 2.4 lb. Max RAM is 1GB, and current CPUs run to 2.4 GHz. It's loud unless placed behind other HW. Tons of ports (serial, parallel, 4x USB, firewire, audio in & out, S/video, 2xPS2, PCMCIA).

    And it runs Debian GNU/Linux [iwethey.org]. Well.

    Why, you ask? Portable desktop, fewer parts to break than a laptop. Fits in my book bag. $1300 as configured (1.7GHz, 512MB, 20 GB).

  • No video editing possibilities? (wrong!) (Score:4, Informative)

    by FearUncertaintyDoubt ( 578295 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @04:00PM (#6305689)
    First of all the ZPC is not versatile; it can never be a good gaming machine and since there is no TV-out or DVI connector you're limited to a VGA display, so there's no video editing possibilities.

    Obviously this guy doesn't know much about video editing. The firewire on this makes it very video-editing capable. Disk space is more likely to hamper serious video work, but an external firewire drive could be used to gain space.

  • Have any of you seen the Motorola MW800. It's smaller. http://ruggedpower.motorola.com Not only that but it's completly ruggedized. It's completly water proof, has a thick aluminum case. I drove my sisters Jeep over an eval I had. The mother boards only about 4inches by 6inches, with an integraded power. They told me it was the worlds smallest P4 motherboard. It has a 3D shock mounted HD with a heater to heat the HD during extreme cold. P4 1.7Ghz, 2.4 coming. Includes the following integraded. 1 gi

  • I'll stick with my Micro ATX thank you very much (Score:3, Interesting)

    by onelin ( 116589 ) on Thursday June 26, 2003 @06:27PM (#6306955)
    I'm sick of these small yet proprietary mini ITX boxes. Yes, they're small, but you can't put much in them. Read the review, he couldn't even put in a corsair 512MB DIMM because the heat spreader made contact with the chassis?space? That's CRAMPED.

    My box is 5.5" by 11.5" by 11.5", houses a 300W power supply INSIDE IT (not externally, ala ZPC), can handle any standard micro atx formfactor motherboard, as much RAM as I want, a full size AGP videocard, etc. It will hold whatever hard drive and CDROM I want...Oh, and it weighs less than the ZPC since it's aluminum. I have expandability and as much power as I want. Did I mention the geargrip for small PCs works beautifully with this?

  • Power (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jmu1 ( 183541 ) <jmullman&gasou,edu> on Thursday June 26, 2003 @10:13PM (#6308129) Journal
    I want to know why it is these super-small units can operate on 90W PSUs.

    Intel and AMD swear up and down that I MUST use some 350-400W PSUs that generate heat like they were mini fission plants and sound like a 747 sitting under my desk. Bah.

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