Most Impressive. I certainly see this as the trend for computing into this New Century as more applications, with stronger coding, become more efficient. The sub-notebook market is one example, where the technology allows the price/performance to stay current, while also relevant in the future.

It looks a lot more like a Shuttle system than a Mac Mini IMO.

Shuttle-esqe.

I bet that price is for a barebones kit (as in pic #1). No optical, no HDD.

@Step666:

I agree. Just like everyphone is iphonesque. Buzzwords, and bullshit comparrisons, is all the media wants to dish out - rather than actual facts.

They should have called it "nipple" instead. So cute you can just squeeze it!

@Stacky Botrus: the one I loved was someone over on Engadget described a phone with screens on both sides (like that hideous Samsung model, whatever it was) as an iPhone rip-off.

It's like the old joke about lawyers - 99% of Apple customers give the other 1% a bad name.

Seems kinda cool, but I haven't priced alternatives either.

Something like this with the additional parts to make a working system would be a cool weekend project for a kid or someone needing a basic system to surf the net or run office applications.

Perfect for someone who needs a PC and has a friend with a few spare bits laying around.

Hey, that picture says D201GLY, my favorite $60 motherboard. Toss in a $30 power supply and a cheap case and that seems like a reasonable deal to me.

It'd be Mac mini-esque if it was, oh, say, 1/3 the desk space and 1/3 as tall.
Still not a bad deal for a fairly good looking mini-ITX case with board and power supply.

So because it's silver, with a bit of white plastic, that makes it mini-esque?

Even though it's a totally different design, shape, port & button layout, and that the white plastic is on the front instead of on the top.

C'mon, really guys, stop saying mac all the time for page ranks, it's getting tired and lame.

@AlanJC:
Amen.

AlanJC & Keebler: Haroon was talking about the Mini Cooper. Do you two just look for things to bitch about?

Look at all that wasted space inside. It could have been mini....er.

To be honest it looks like the new Dell Inspiron line to me. I don't see Mac anywhere in terms of design with that case.

They get the Mac or the Mac Mini connotation because it's white and small_

-------------------
Shuttle - Mac Mini - what the fuck ever_ they are all in the same damn class_

Besides - for the $132 - it doesn't mention a hard drive or other storage - system allocation_ Without this included the price goes up_

Also - are the measurements correct - seeing as how the 1st one - 20mm - translates to 2cm or just over 3/4 of an inch_ And looking at the photos that doesn't look right_ So either bad photos or someone messed up the measurements_ The proportions don't look right in the pics_

@AlanJC: fuckin a! You can't go 5 posts in the last several weeks without hearing the M word. I'm not saying that Giz can't talk about mac, they are always churning out stuff that peoples like. but it's like Gizmodo sees a mac in everything.

Gizmodo, it's like you and mac had a long semi-serious relationship, but then mac decided that it needed some space and told you it wanted to start seeing other people. And now you're still not over mac. You need to go out and have sex with a PC. And not a PC that you want to meet your parents, but a real low-down, nasty PC. They you'll be able to report on Macs with a little less bias, and on other stuff without constantly comairing it to a Mac. Macs are good and PC's are good. But this is not a mac.

Um, this doesn't look much smaller than the Optiplex I use at work. It's not as wide, but telling by the optical drive, and the depth of the machine in the other picture, it's still fairly large, a great deal larger than any Shuttle or Mini.

@zenpoet: you're an idiot.
Haroon's article clearly states 'Mac mini-esque case' - how has that got anything to do with the Mini Cooper?

His girlfriend must be proud.

@uberfu: I think you misread or someone misquoted the specs. According to the manufacturer's page ([www.myripple.co.kr]) the dimensions are 130mm x 220mm x 300mm or roughly 5" tall X 8 1/2" wide x 11 3/4" deep.

I want to put this in my car.

Not install it or anything -- just put it in the back seat; let it hang out.

@Step666: Oh shit, really? I guess I completely missed that! Thanks for pointing it out man, I would have been completely lost without your help on that one.

Toolbox.

Wow, that's a pretty good deal. Considering I'm looking at 2 HDDs and 2 optical drives just sitting on my desk, I for one would be set.

Throw a wireless card in there...perfect 2nd/downstairs/auxiliary/HTPC computer.

That's cheaper than most nice NAS cases.

@ry_ry:
Seriously, anyone who works in IT probably has access to a wheelbarrow full of CDRW drives nobody wants in their computer but nobody wants to throw out "just yet."

That looks like a good option for a Windows Home Server box. Throw in a good-sized HD, maybe another gig of RAM, and you're off.

I'd buy that.

it's a iPC.. LOL

I'd buy it too,but by the time newegg or someone got their hands on it..it'd ballon up to $200+..

I have one of these motherboards. Just bought it, making a mini (as quiet and power efficient as possible) computer as a NAS, central mp3 PLAYER for the speakers through out my house (hooked up to volume controls)

It's a nice little efficient MoBo and pretty darn cheap. I got it from NCIX ([www.ncix.com])

Best part about it is that idle, it uses about 35W and never really exceeds 44W, even with my slimline DVDRW drive spinning.

@kinezo: I've found a new board that has made me fall in love:
[www.mini-box.com]
This puppy has a built-in power supply for roughly the same price as the Intel Little Valley boards. Grab some DDR2 and a hard drive and a power supply
[www.mini-box.com]
and away you go :)