minime ... oops, i mean, minipc!

[joecool]

after reading the tom's hardware article (here) about the new shuttle minipc, i really started getting excited about the concept. this spiffy little device looks like it has everything necessary to be the center of my home entertainment system - and a very powerful center at that! just add a tv tuner card w/timeshift capabilities and it should be able to replace my dvd player, cd player, and vcr; plus do fun stuff like be a huge mp3 jukebox, display my digital pix on my tv for slide shows, burn my home videos into mpegs, and even surf the web! however, as slick as the shuttle box is, it seems a little pricey for just a case, psu, and mobo (albeit an aluminum case). seems to me the mobo shouldn't cost more than $100, plus $100-$150 for the case, for a total of $250 - but shuttle is charging $100 on top of that!

so here's my question:

how does this system compare in performance the via itx board WITH c3 cpu? will the 800MHz c3 be able to handle dvd decoding and mpeg2 burning, and a little timeshifting to boot?
are there any other minipc's out there, & if so, does anyone have any first hand experience with them?

any input much appreciated!

thanks,

joe

 

[CrackRabbit]

I Hightly doubt a C-3 Will be able to do any of it, think of it this way C-3 = K6-2 level performance....
Wait a couple of months for the newest vesions of shuttles mini-pcs to come out, they have AGP slots as well as Geforce 4MX level Video.

CrackRabbit

 

[foofoo]

hi,
if you dont want to wait for the shutle, there is another minipc with an agp slot and 1 pci slot.
link
it's also got good reviews and looks pretty good. it's an intel processor board with ddr ram. and only a 400mhz fsb.
i've ordered one for pretty much the same reasons you have. (i'm going to pair mine with a wireless nic for lan fun too).
mine gets here in 2 days with a 1.8a northwood, check with me later if you want more info on how it turns out.

good luck