As the PC market
continues to show its age, many manufacturers are changing focus and research
to reflect niche markets – with or without the help of the channel
partners. AOpen received much fanfare for the original MiniPC; a small
desktop PC running on Intel’s Dothan
and Yonah CPUs. The MiniPC is strikingly reminiscent of the
Apple Mac Mini, but in reality the two are quite the opposite.
At Cebit 2006, AOpen
will announce the next generation MiniPC. DailyTech was able to get an
exclusive look at the unannounced unit inside AOpen’s Research and Development
offices.
The next MiniPC has an
even smaller form factor than the original MiniPC. A proprietary
motherboard design houses a Pentium M socket, Intel 945GT core logic,
DDR2-SODIMM memory banks and mini-PCI expansion slot. The majority of
these MiniPCs sold in the US
will ship as barebones systems, but there are plans to build fully furnished
systems in Taiwan
for a little under $1000 USD.
Like the original
MiniPC, our evaluation unit will feature infrared sensors for remote control
functions (an MCE certified remote ships with every unit), Gigabit Ethernet,
DVI, Firewire and USB 2.0. The PCI expansion bus will support a Wi-Fi
adaptor or a combination Wi-Fi adaptor with Bluetooth support. A SATA
riser allows the 2.5” hard drive and slot-loading DVD player to easily detach
and reattach to the motherboard.While the feature set of
the MiniPC is quite tame for Intel 945G motherboards, the fact that the entire
unit consumes a 6” by 6” footprint and weighs less than five pounds speaks
volumes for AOpen’s design team. Expect to see more news of the MiniPC
within the next few weeks during the Intel Developer Forum and Cebit 2006.