Appropriately, a tiny Intel system board has debuted to match the tiny Atom processor. This could yield more portable desktop PC designs like the Eee Box.
The ultra-compact VoomPC rugged car PC enclosure can take a Mini-ITX board with Atom processor.
(Credit: Voom)The Intel-made motherboard is based on the Mini-ITX standard, which was originally developed by Via Technologies.
Diminutive desktops based on these motherboards can get as small as a typical notebook PC--a design small enough and light enough to be portable.
Intel is calling this category of desktops that sport an Atom 230 or N270 processor Nettops.
Nettops are designed for basic computing tasks like browsing the Web and sending e-mail and are generally cheap, usually less than $300. They typically offer more expansion options, more ports, and greater flexibility than Atom-based Netbooks, which are essentially small notebook PCs.
(Watch an Intel Nettop motherboard video here.)
Intel Nettops contain tiny desktop motherboards.
(Credit: Intel)Mini-ITX designs are synonymous with low power and low cost. Intel is adopting the design because of its relative popularity in low-cost markets.
The Intel D945GCLF board includes the 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor, an Intel 945GC Express chipset with GMA 950 graphics, and Serial ATA (SATA) and USB 2.0 connectors for about $80.
Instead of building a box, there are, of course, pre-built systems coming like the Eee Box. It packs an Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz), 1GB of memory, an 80GB hard disk drive, and Windows XP for $299.
If there was any doubt about the state of solid-state drives, Computex seems to be putting it to rest.
SanDisk, TDK, and Intel, among others, are announcing new solid-state drives while Asus is launching the Eee PC 1000 with a larger-capacity drive.
SanDisk pSSD solid-state drive
(Credit: SanDisk)Solid-state drives (SSDs) are used increasingly instead of hard disk drives in small computers like the Asus Eee PC and devices like the Apple iPhone because SSDs use less power and are generally more rugged--due to the fact that they have no moving parts.
The Asus Eee PC 1000, for example, will be offered with SSDs up to 40GB in capacity, beating the 20GB SSD offered in the Eee PC 901.
With this market segment in mind, SanDisk introduced a line of solid-state drives that are designed for "netbooks"--a category of compact, low-cost notebook PCs best exemplified by the Eee PC.
The SanDisk "pSSD" (Parallel ATA solid state drive) is available in 4-, 8-, and 16-GB capacities. The device can achieve a "streaming read" speed of 39 megabytes per second and a streaming write (record) of 17MBps, according to SanDisk. These speeds compare favorably with the low-performance 1.8-inch hard disk drives used in small notebooks.
The pSSD solid-state drives are expected to be available starting in August when pricing will be announced.
TDK also launched new solid-state drives. The "HS1" series is a line of 1.8-inch solid-state drives with the Micro Serial-ATA (SATA) interface. The Micro SATA specification provides for a smaller connector for the high-speed SATA interface used widely in PCs today.
The HS1 series offers capacities of 16, 32, and 64 gigabytes, respectively. The product uses SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash memory. SLC-based solid-state drives are used widely, today but many SSD manufacturers are planning to move to more advanced multilevel cell (MLC) technology later this year.
Burst performance is 100MBps for reading data and 50MBps for writing data. These speeds compare favorably with 2.5-inch hard disk drives.
TDK's SSDs are now available for volume shipment at sample prices of about $1,900 for a 64GB model and about $1,400 for the 32GB model.
On Tuesday, Intel will introduce the Z-P230 Parallel ATA (PATA) series of solid-state drives. The Z-P230 "is a cost-effective storage solution designed to replace traditional hard disk drives in netbook and nettop systems, yet is four times smaller and lighter than a standard 1.8-inch hard disk drive," Intel said. The drives come in 4GB and 8GB capacities.
The Intel SSDs are being launched along with low-power Atom processors that include the N270 for netbooks and the 230 for low-cost desktops--what Intel calls nettops. The chips run at up to 1.6 GHz with an average power consumption of 2.5 watts.
Intel will also announce high-capacity solid-state drives in the second half of this year that have capacities of 80GB and 160GB.
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