A Barebones System even cuter than the Shuttle SV-24

[googly]

Greetings All,

I am writing for the first time on this forum. I'll start with a brief biographical note. Just moved house and decided my old PC (Pentium 166MMX with 64MB and 2.5 Gig running Win 95)was too stone age. Having read the various threads on all the chat lines here I decided to go with MSI KT133a Turbo Limited Edition and AMD Athlon 1 GHz (266 FSB). Despite all the warnings I'd read about MSI Boards, VIA Chipsets etc I've had no problems at all running Win NT 4.0 (Service pack 6).

Anyway, to the main point. Moseying around MicroCenter I found this absolutely adorable little box which is gonna be perfect as a 2nd machine. There doesn't seem to be a proper Maker's Name on it, it is advertised as an I-NET barebones system.

Based on a Flex ATX Intel 810 M/B; it has a Socket 370 (FC-PGA), 2 Dimm Slots (up to 512 MB total), FSB selectable 66/100/133 (Multiplier up to 8x). It includes a very slim 24x CD-ROM, Intel 810 Video with S-Video and RCA out for TV, AC97 sound, LAN, 56k Internal mini-PCI modem, and 4 USB 1.1 ports. You need add only One Hard drive, CPU and RAM. There are NO expansion slots and NO FLOPPY! Regular Retail $130, this was being offered at $100. Needless to say I jumped on it!

It's finished in a rather nice Burgundy plastic, weighs almost next to nothing and about the only thing it lacks compared to the Shuttle SV-24 is Fire-wire support (and of course the floppy). It looks so elegant that even 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' agreed that she would rather like it as her system

Will tell more in due course when I find a suitable CPU for it. Until then, thanks to all for the very informative chats I've read here.

 

[Daniel]

Ewww chat lines

You can take pictures of this mini super computer?

 

[googly]

Sadly I do not have a digital camera. I could try and scan the picture in the advertising brochure, but the scanner is still packed away.

The device is (quoting from the manual) 135mm (width), 240mm (depth) and 292mm (height)- lessee at 25.4mm to an inch that works out at...

The CD Rom is in a vertical slot, there's Audio in/out and 2 USB ports on the front. On rear are the other connectors, Mouse, K/B, Printer, Serial, Monitor, 2 USB, LAN, Modem, S-Video and RCA Video (for TV). 110V power supply means I'll be looking at a Celeron or a Cyrix, even though there's room for a a good-size heatsink-fan if one wanted to try a Pentium III.

 

[ChrisIsBored]

greeeeeeeeeaaat.... we can't commend you or say anything bad yet til we see some pics man!

 

[googly]

Heck, I couldn't even commend it (for performance) until I get the darned thing working I'm hot on the trail of a Celeron-II 800 CPU for $60, with any luck I'll have it working by Monday.

As for pictures - imagine the Monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey but much smaller and finished in Black and Burgundy. Plastic Shell front and sides and the back is regular industrial grey. This will not be sturdy enough for LAN parties, but will make the lady of the house smile...

I'll certainly let peeps here know how it actually works once I get a CPU. But rest assured it's the kind of elegant looks that both genders can agree on!!!! And that's a *rare* thing.

 

[TimeKeeper]

MicroCenter? Which state, I gotta check this one OUT!!!

 

[googly]

MicroCenter has stores in Cincinnati Cleveland and Columbus OH, Chicago IL, Atlanta GA, Dallas & Houston TX, Santa Clara (!) & Tustin CA, Denver CO, Minneapolis MN, Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, Long Island NY, Kansas City KS, and Boston (actually Cambridge) MA which is where I brought mine. They only had 10 in stock in Cambridge: this looks like the kind of thing that is popular in the Far Eastern Markets (Book and Box said made in Thailand) but clearly it is a Taiwanese product.

It seems to me there are probably a number of similar products out there that rarely make it to the US Market.

Perhaps people should start asking what we are being deprived of in the US Market. I will say for myself, I read the Shuttle SV-24 review and drooled at the thought of a small box that did most of what computers did barely 3 years ago.

 

[TimeKeeper]

Unfortunately, MicroCenter at Washington D.C. (Vienna, VA) only has "Micron-style" barebone system for $99.

Comes w/ KT133 mobo, 200 Watts PS, mini-micro ATX case, PC-tel modem, and FD.
They must have 30-40 on the floor. (you still need to buy video, CPU, RAM, CD-ROM,Nic- NOT a good deal at all)

I guess every store carry different Clearance barebone system.

 

[googly]

Time-keeper - yes, Cambridge had exactly what you described too. But only 4/5 of them on the floor. They described it as AMD Barebones...

What exactly is a soft-modem? ) (As they put it)

Bad deal indeed...

 

[googly]

Time-Keeper Get on MicroCenter's case (so to speak) and make them get you one, even if they have to order it from some other store. This way people can show a small degree of public demand over what is being foisted on us willy-nilly.

I confess, I am not so concerned about 'absolute performance' as what fits with my limited resources, and frankly I thought this was a great deal for a savvy consumer

 

[TimeKeeper]

I will tried to "demand".
And I for one, doesn't really need a powerful PC. 99.99 % of time, 486 w/ DSL connection is all I need.

 

[Marrkks]

nice clean little computer. theres a picture of one on fleabay. (search "I-NET barebones") I assume its the same one, its just as described.

for me it would wreck havoc on my filing system. ****looks at stacks of cd's, ref. manuals, and schtuff sittin on top of computer****

 

[TimeKeeper]

googly;


If the barebone system does looks like this, then it is actually very attractive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Colt45]

googly, a soft-modem is a software based modem, commonly refered to as a winmodem.
the modem requires software to operate, and changing things like com port is done by software, instead of moving a jumper, like on a hardware modem.