PC cultist that I am, I have to admit that I had my eye on a Mac Mini until I went to see one in a store and was shocked by how heavy and burning hot it was. Meanwhile, a little known company called AOpen is planning a PC version it has code-named Pandora. Read on:
“No, it’s not a Mac Mini. It’s AOpen’s new Pentium-M based Mac Mini lookalike, codenamed Pandora. Unveiled at Computex 2005, this tiny product is yet another AOpen effort to take advantage of the powerful formerly mobile Intel CPU in the desktop space. A fully integrated system incorporating wireless LAN, the Pandora was brought to prototype form in just a month, according to Joseph Hsu, a Technical Manager at AOpen. It uses a single blower fan that turns on only when needed. The aluminum casing was warm but the fan was not running when these photos were taken in the hot tradeshow room. A pearl white enamel painted version was also shown at AOpen’s private suite display. Look for a Sept market release date.” Source: Silent PC Review
Why wait? Mini-Itx computers using EPIA boards have been available for several years, there’s a whole gaggle of Mini-Itx case modders out there who’ve been building humidor computers, lego computers, and other mini PC versions. Nano-itx (a bit less than 5″ x 5″) will be out in 2005 — the
Nanode was supposed to be here by now. (Via processor speed will soon jump to 2Ghz.)