Low power computing = big power applications

Today we are going to look at some ultra low power PCs - would you believe this is a PC:

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Of course, but what about this:

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Yes this little guy is a PC as well. Marvell makes this little wall outlet PC called the Sheevaplug, while its not truelly a desktop PC as it has no video, it does have a 1.2ghz cpu, gigabit LAN, 512 RAM, 512 flash, and a USB port - which makes it a great fit for Linux driven embedded applications, and Linux 2.6 kernels are already supported. Rumor has it these will sell for around $99.

Back to the first pic which is the Nvidia ION, a dual core 1.6ghz Atom that sports every connection you would ever need including HDMI, DVI, and esata paired with a powerful Nvidia 9400m graphics engine which is capable of full 1080p HD video playback, making it a perfect fit for home  theater PCs (HTPC). ION still hasnt hit the streets, but you can find more pics and info here. -------------------------------------------------------------

On to the next amazing computing device:

This is another board roughly larger than a card box called the Robin by Toradex, it sports Intels Z530 Atom which runs from 1.6ghz to 1.2 and as low as .65 watts power usage. These boards are fully loaded with an expansion board that has video out, Gig LAN, PCIe slot, onboard MicroSD slot, DVI, TV out, SATA port and much more, making it the perfect candidate for a small home NAS or low end HTPC or other appliance. They fully support Windows from XP to 7 as well as CE, and  many flavors of Linux.

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On to the final heavy hitter, the FIT (not the Honda):

This little demon sports an Intel Atom Z530 1.6ghz  and a hardware H.264 decoder which allows HD video playback while using just under 7 watts for the whole PC:

Support for all major operating systems could make this a low end desktop work horse, or even a HTPC. Below are the specs, or read more at their site:

• 1.6GHz x86 CPU
  
• 1GB RAM 
  
• SATA hard disk 
  
• DVI with graphics acceleration 
  
• High definition audio 
  
• LAN and WLAN 
  
• 6 USB ports