Reviews Of Desktop PCs, DIY PC Builds, All-In-Ones, And Small Form Factor PCs
In-depth product reviews and news of Computer Desktops, DIY PC Builds, All-In-One PCs, and Small Form Factor PCs. If it crunches numbers, pushes pixels, throws down the frag or provides a digital canvass for content creation, you'll find it there.
Apple's Mac mini hadn't seen a substantial update for about a year, but with Intel's second generation Core processor family arriving in 2011, it was only a matter of time before one of those chips found favor with Apple's tiniest desktop. The Mac mini design really hasn't changed in the year or so it took the folks in Cupertino...
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Boutique, ultra high-end, desktop and laptop gaming systems are sexy, but they aren't where OEMs make the majority of their money. More modest systems, like the one we'll show you here, drive bulk purchases; today we're reviewing Asus' ET2400IGTS. It's one of the nicer all-in-one systems Asus manufactures and it ships with a number of...
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Although Home Theater PCs have been around for quite some time, they are still somewhat tough to define. For some, the term HTPC conjures up images of an ultra small form factor, low-power system that will be used for nothing more than accessing multimedia files. But for others an HTPC is more akin to a hardcore piece of A/V and entertainment...
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We have been hearing about AMD’s Fusion initiative for what seems like an eternity. In fact, some of the very first posts regarding Fusion hit this site of ours way back in 2006. Many things have happened within AMD since those early announcements and rumors began swirling, most notably AMD’s acquisition of ATI. However,...
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Asus is out to prove that big things really do come in small packages with its EeeBox PC EB1501P. This nettop offers an array of I/O ports as well as a slot-load optical disc drive and the ability to play content from your own media library in Full HD. Thanks to USB 3.0, the EeeBox PC EB1501P also supports fast transfers of high definition...
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In early September, Steve Jobs took to the stage and unveiled the new-and-improved Apple TV. What was once considered a “hobby” device was reworked, streamlined, made more affordable, and aimed squarely at the masses. It enters an increasingly crowded market of devices that offer near-instant access to libraries of recent movies...
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Let's face the facts; unless you have an automatic backup configured, you probably don't back up the information on your computer as often as you should. Even though we would hate to lose critical financial documents, personal photos, music, and movies, we don't often take the time to ensure that these files are safely and securely stored...
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The Asus Eee Top ET2002 is an all-in-one desktop computer that provides the basics for everyday computing as well as multimedia entertainment in a space-saving design. It features a large, 20-inch 16:9 widescreen display and a 1.6GHz dual core Intel Atom 330 processor. Perhaps one of the coolest new features of the ET2002 is the fact that...
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Computer hardware enthusiasts are a unique group. Its true that some enthusiasts may spend hours, days, or weeks tweaking their BIOS and other settings to achieve optimal performance, while others might spend an entire evening painstakingly routing wires for proper cable management. Fortunate ones find themselves eagerly awaiting...
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We know it can be difficult to keep up with all of the latest and greatest hardware. After months of saving up every spare penny, you finally have enough money for that new upgrade that you've been yearning for since its debut. All the reviews are in agreement and you have to own what many are calling the component of the year. Those...
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When building or buying a desktop gaming system, enthusiasts don't normally put much thought into how much it's going to weigh, or how hard it will be to carry around when attending a LAN party. Notebook and netbook end users are much more weight-conscious consumers than are folks looking at desktops, obviously. ...
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We have been talking about NVIDIA's Ion since late last year when news first broke of the ultra small form factor platform. At the time, NVIDIA's tiny Atom-powered prototype system wasn't even called Ion yet, but images of the miniscule motherboard that would eventually be used in the reference platform had already surfaced and the community...
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Synopsis: The Eee Top ET1602 builds upon Asus' popular line of Eee-branded products by introducing an all-in-one desktop form factor, complete with a 15.6" touch screen. Like the Eee PC netbooks that preceded it, the Eee Top ET1602 is built around Intel's low-power Atom platform, with the 945 GSE chipset. Other features include an integrated...
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Synopsis: AMD's "Maui" home theater PC platform consists of a combination of AMD hardware and software. Systems built around the platform feature an energy efficient Phenom or Athlon processor, ATI Radeon graphics, ATI TV tuners, and AMD LIVE! software elements. The current foundation of the platform is MSI's somewhat unique...
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Asus certainly made a splash this year with their line of ultra-light, ultra-affordable Eee PC notebooks and they've been fleshing out the product line ever since with a wealth of new offerings, as the company continues to milk the product's successful brand name recognition for all it's worth. Since their initial release we've...
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Synopsis: In some respects, when we think about what the capabilities of a $349 desktop system should be like, we can't help but be impressed what Asus has achieved and the overall value of the Eee Box. What's more impressive though is the Eee Box's absolutely tiny form-factor and completely miserly power consumption. ...
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It was back in January of this year at the Consumer Electronics Show that AMD first revealed their plans for the DTX open industry standard for small form factor computers. The focus of those early briefings was to explain AMD’s vision for interoperable small form factor systems. As it stands today, most SFF systems from large...
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If you are a regular here at HotHardware.com, you have most likely heard of Alienware, one of the companies that helped establish the market for high-performance, gaming PCs. Since hitting the scene in 1996, Alienware has become a leader not only in gaming PCs but also in high-performance desktop, notebook, media center, and professional...
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Whether you are contemplating building a standard desktop, multimedia PC or that killer gaming rig you've always wanted, one of the biggest things to consider today is noise. There is a major shift in thinking lately, as a growing number of users, and companies alike, are tackling the problem of ambient noise in the quest for a quieter...
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With the advent of the mini-PC, a completely new industry has been born. Well, maybe it isn't so new anymore, but what started out almost as a novelty has matured into a major craze in the enthusiast market. Today's mini-PCs come in a broad range of flavors with a wide variety of features. Sitting high atop the list of unique...
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The AOpen EZ65 & Biostar iDEQ 200T Shuttle Isn't the Only OEM Making SFF Systems... By, Marco Chiappetta December 16, 2003 With all of the buzz surrounding Shuttle's popular XPC line of small form factor systems, you'd think they were the only company producing these diminutive machines, which obviously...
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asetek Vapochill Extreme Edition How can cooling be such a hot topic? Written by: Robert Maloney September 29, 2003 What a better way to end the summer season then to write a review about CPU cooling, in this case about the latest Vapochill unit from asetek, the Vapochill XE. For the uninitiated, asetek, based out of Denmark, has been...
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