Adam John Trickett wrote: > Hi, > > I may have convinced a family member of the merits of a small box home > computer system. I'm no particular axe to grind regarding Shuttle boxes but > the requirement is a small, quiet box for a home office setting. Its be > running > a full weight Linux distro and probably Win7 in dual boot configuration. > > It will be mostly used for email, web browsing, home office applications, > looking at/printing pictures and possibly to view autocad files (on Window). > > What things should I be looking for? Obviously if it runs Windows then it > will > need more grunt, but my preference is for a case with a passively cooled CPU > and graphics system and a quite hard disk. > > It'll probably be driving a 4:3 ratio LCD at approx 1280x1024 and not used > for > games other than the solitaire type. I'm not expecting it to be used for > video, other than a bit of YouTube. > > As ever thanks in advance. >
I run my media centre on an ASRock ION-330: http://www.asrock.com/nettop/spec/ION%20330.asp It's a dual core ion-330. It's quite slow but adequate for day to day web browsing, open office etc. I run full blown Fedora 11 with KDE on it. It's a bit slow but very very quiet (not quite silent as it has a small fan). They are also very cheap, being available with DVD drive (as opposed to blu-ray) for about £250. So cheap too. I have mine in the lounge downstairs and don't notice the fan. Connected via HDMI into our 32inch TV. VDPAU gives hardware accelerated video so I can play high def content, and sound goes to the TV too. If money isn't an object and you want a passively cooled but fast machine then hush are great. They use huge heat sinks with heat pipes to give you a small box, with no fans and still a fast CPU: for example: http://www.hushtechnologies.net/?gclid=CJzF9uW5l58CFeZr4wodzVYzJw which you can get with a core duo 2 CPU. It's not quite as compact as the ION-330 but a lot faster! Of course it costs you - £1100. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
