April 4, 2009 at 17:42Overview of a new class of devices: nettops
Some time ago, a new class of devices appeared that revolutionized the laptop market. The blow inflicted by netbooks, a comparing to a bomb blast. Budget devices of small size, therefore not particularly powerful, but for everyday work they are enough with the head, found a huge number of adherents. Speaking in numbers, the share of netbooks in the laptop market reaches 10%, which is quite a lot. And now, after more than a year, a new class of device desktop-options for netbooks - nettops - appeared on the IT market .
Following the logic of the word "nettop"was formed as a result of the merger of the concepts of "netbook" and "desktop". Although the power of these devices is enough for everyday routine work, such as Internet surfing, watching movies, working with documents, they are not suitable for solving more complex tasks that require a sufficient amount of system resources, for example, processing photos in Photoshop or watching HD video. That is why replace the standard desktop computer, at the moment they are not able to.
In favor of nettops, the price certainly plays, which so far fluctuates in the range of 300 $ -700 $. But here it is worth noting the fact that in this price category there are quite powerful personal computers. But even despite this acquisition of a nettop, it can be considered completely advisable.
If the user is faced with the choice of which is better to purchase, then you should understand the purpose of using the device. Netbooks are good because they are mobile, have several wireless interfaces, so there is always the opportunity to go online, nowadays in large cities wi-fi is present in almost every cafe / restaurant. But the problem with netbooks is also their small size. The keyboard on them is not very convenient, although to me, as a netbook user, the keyboard seemed quite decent, as for this class of devices, but a full keyboard is much more convenient than a netbook. The second drawback of netbooks is the size of the display. Small screens make it painful to analyze small details on the screen. Nettops, in turn, are equipped with sufficiently capacious hard drives, sometimes even DVD recorders, but the whole point is
Nettops have advantages over PCs, since almost everyone has a reasonable question: why take a computer that is less efficient for the same money. The answer is simple - nettops are superior to PCs in that they are quieter and sometimes do not make noise at all, consume less power, and, most importantly, take up less space. A nettop can easily be placed on a table or behind a monitor; moreover, designers have worked hard on the appearance and most of these devices can easily become a good addition to the interior.
There are currently several models. I will consider the most popular nettop - Asus EeeBox B202 and MSI Wind CS 110 .
You don’t have to go far in history to remember how popular Asus brought the release of the EeePc netbook. For the company, this was a big step forward. The fate of the nettop from Asus, most likely, expects the same fate.
The EeeBox is equipped with an Intel Atom N270 processor with a clock frequency of 1.6 GHz, the same as in netbooks. This nettop is good primarily because its price is $ 370 and has very compact dimensions (only 223x178x26 mm), and also has a very good design.
The nettop hard drive has a capacity of 160 gigabytes and is made in a 2.5-inch form factor. The amount of RAM is not very much, but it is enough to perform routine tasks, and is 1 gigabyte. Pre-installed OS - Windows XP. There are 4 USB ports, 802.11n WLAN, gigabyte Ethernet, card reader, inputs and outputs for sound, and there is even a DVI port. Such an abundance of plugs is unlikely to boast of another nettop. During operation, the power consumption of the nettop does not exceed 15 watts , moreover, the device is absolutely silent . This little box is the leader of nettops and is out of competition so far.
However, there is another nettop model that I would like to consider in more detail. This is MSI Wind CS 110 . It is enough to recall the fact that netbooks of the MSI Wind series have gained great popularity because of their performance and maximum proximity to full-fledged laptops.
MSI Wind CS110 can be called the most budgetary nettop, as its price is really the lowest among other devices of this class and is $ 310. The size of this device is also not large: 300x65x240 mm. The model has a 320 GB hard drive and a DVD recorder. However, power consumption is 2 times higher than that of Asus EeeBox and amounts to approximately 32 W, but this is due to the use of drives that are used in PCs and the Intel 945GC chipset. The processor is also from Intel - Atom N230. When idle, it shows power consumption of 29 watts. I note that this device is still quite noisy, the noise level alone MSI Wind CS 110 showed 1.3 sleep. But even despite this, the nettop pleases with its hard drive capacity and price.
In conclusion, I will say that these devices will certainly occupy their niche in the market and will be popular, however, the demand for such devices is lower than that of netbooks. In my opinion, on the basis of such a device, it is possible to organize a " smart home " system with not so much cost.
Following the logic of the word "nettop"was formed as a result of the merger of the concepts of "netbook" and "desktop". Although the power of these devices is enough for everyday routine work, such as Internet surfing, watching movies, working with documents, they are not suitable for solving more complex tasks that require a sufficient amount of system resources, for example, processing photos in Photoshop or watching HD video. That is why replace the standard desktop computer, at the moment they are not able to.
In favor of nettops, the price certainly plays, which so far fluctuates in the range of 300 $ -700 $. But here it is worth noting the fact that in this price category there are quite powerful personal computers. But even despite this acquisition of a nettop, it can be considered completely advisable.
Problem of choice
If the user is faced with the choice of which is better to purchase, then you should understand the purpose of using the device. Netbooks are good because they are mobile, have several wireless interfaces, so there is always the opportunity to go online, nowadays in large cities wi-fi is present in almost every cafe / restaurant. But the problem with netbooks is also their small size. The keyboard on them is not very convenient, although to me, as a netbook user, the keyboard seemed quite decent, as for this class of devices, but a full keyboard is much more convenient than a netbook. The second drawback of netbooks is the size of the display. Small screens make it painful to analyze small details on the screen. Nettops, in turn, are equipped with sufficiently capacious hard drives, sometimes even DVD recorders, but the whole point is
The benefits of nettops over desktop PCs
Nettops have advantages over PCs, since almost everyone has a reasonable question: why take a computer that is less efficient for the same money. The answer is simple - nettops are superior to PCs in that they are quieter and sometimes do not make noise at all, consume less power, and, most importantly, take up less space. A nettop can easily be placed on a table or behind a monitor; moreover, designers have worked hard on the appearance and most of these devices can easily become a good addition to the interior.
Nettop Leaders
There are currently several models. I will consider the most popular nettop - Asus EeeBox B202 and MSI Wind CS 110 .
Nettop from Asus: EeeBox
You don’t have to go far in history to remember how popular Asus brought the release of the EeePc netbook. For the company, this was a big step forward. The fate of the nettop from Asus, most likely, expects the same fate. The EeeBox is equipped with an Intel Atom N270 processor with a clock frequency of 1.6 GHz, the same as in netbooks. This nettop is good primarily because its price is $ 370 and has very compact dimensions (only 223x178x26 mm), and also has a very good design.
The nettop hard drive has a capacity of 160 gigabytes and is made in a 2.5-inch form factor. The amount of RAM is not very much, but it is enough to perform routine tasks, and is 1 gigabyte. Pre-installed OS - Windows XP. There are 4 USB ports, 802.11n WLAN, gigabyte Ethernet, card reader, inputs and outputs for sound, and there is even a DVI port. Such an abundance of plugs is unlikely to boast of another nettop. During operation, the power consumption of the nettop does not exceed 15 watts , moreover, the device is absolutely silent . This little box is the leader of nettops and is out of competition so far.
Nettop from MSI
However, there is another nettop model that I would like to consider in more detail. This is MSI Wind CS 110 . It is enough to recall the fact that netbooks of the MSI Wind series have gained great popularity because of their performance and maximum proximity to full-fledged laptops. MSI Wind CS110 can be called the most budgetary nettop, as its price is really the lowest among other devices of this class and is $ 310. The size of this device is also not large: 300x65x240 mm. The model has a 320 GB hard drive and a DVD recorder. However, power consumption is 2 times higher than that of Asus EeeBox and amounts to approximately 32 W, but this is due to the use of drives that are used in PCs and the Intel 945GC chipset. The processor is also from Intel - Atom N230. When idle, it shows power consumption of 29 watts. I note that this device is still quite noisy, the noise level alone MSI Wind CS 110 showed 1.3 sleep. But even despite this, the nettop pleases with its hard drive capacity and price.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I will say that these devices will certainly occupy their niche in the market and will be popular, however, the demand for such devices is lower than that of netbooks. In my opinion, on the basis of such a device, it is possible to organize a " smart home " system with not so much cost.