MSI Wind Nettop 120 - USFF - Atom 230 1.6 GHz - 1 GB - 160 GB overview and full product specs on CNET. Nettop(1) BSD General Commands Manual nettop(1) NAME nettop -Display updated information about the network SYNOPSIS nettop -nc -m DESCRIPTION The nettop program displays a list of sockets or routes. The counts for network structures are updated periodically.
Below are hardware details of an outdated compact computer that had sincebecome available for low price on second-hand market. I bought mine for $15(in March 2020).
This post is inspired by ParkyTowers Thin ClientDatabase - many thanks to DavidParkinson for gathering and sharing all that knowledge!
Pegatron Cape 7 was announced in early 2009 (marketing bookletis dated by 2009-04-13). It is based on Intel Atom 230 series CPU along withSiS 968/672 (models A, B, C, D) or nVidia Ion chipset (models E, F). The unitI have is model D, all further photos and description apply to that model.
The hardware is similar to DellFX160 but is packaged into asignificantly more compact case and uses external power supply. Pegatron is anODM manufacturer which means the units were sold to end users under avariety of brand names. Mine was sold in Russia as Depo Sky 153. I've alsoseen mentions of it being sold as Pegasus CutePC in Indonesia, as unknownmodel under iClient brand in Brazil, and under some local brand in Poland.
Cape 7 is capable of running mainstream operating systems (mine came withWindows XP preinstalled), general purpose Linux distributions are alsosupported.
Specifications
- Motherboard: Pegatron IPP71-CP with SiS 672 northbridge and SiS 968 southbridge
- Processor: Intel Atom 230 (1.6GHz, single core, two threads)
- RAM: DDR2 SO-DIMM, 1GB by default (mine came with 2GB preinstalled by seller)
- Video: SiS Mirage 3
- Storage: 2.5' SATA HDD
- Ports:
- Network: Realtek 8111EL 10/100/1000
- USB: 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 back)
- Video: 1 DVI output (other Cape 7 models may use D-Sub or HDMI)
- Audio: 3.5mm audio out, 3.5mm microphone in - Realtek ALC662
- Serial: none
- Parallel: none
- PS/2: none
- Other: 1 unknown port (next to DCIN), probably for Wi-Fi antenna
- Power: External power supply - 19V DC, 2.1A, 5.5mm x 2.5mm connector (same as in many ASUS laptops)
- Cooling: passive, completely silent. One removable aluminum heatsink for CPU, several thermal pads to transfer heat from northbridge/southbridge to metal case frame. My device runs pretty hot even after changing the thermal paste - I'll need to monitor how stable it is under workload.
- Dimensions: approx. 173 x 154 x 20mm, the bottom of the case is slightly wider (26mm).
Processor
Click to view /proc/cpuinfo
PCI
Click to view lspci -nn
Disassembly
The case can be opened without any tools. All visible screws are holdinginternal components, not the cover. Bottom corners of the cover are easy toget a grip of - pull gently on those and expand the opening until plasticlocks click open one by one.
Expansion
RAM: The unit accepts a single DDR2 SO-DIMM. Default module can be easilyreplaced with a larger one. I did not test with 4GB (DDR2 SO-DIMM of that sizeis expensive!), but I've seen multiple reports of 2GB working fine. My unituses Kingston KVR800D2S6/2G module.
Storage: Cape 7 provides conventional SATA slot with enough space to fit alaptop HDD or SATA SSD. Thick 12.5mm drives fit only when HDD bracket isremoved, but just barely - cover will be slightly bulged. Using SSD might notprovide the expected performance benefit because SATA bus appears to belimited at 300 Mbps (37.6 MB/s) - numbers are from block diagram (page 15 ofthe booklet).
BIOS
BIOS is a standard AMI BIOS. Pressing Del at startup opens setup screen,F8 shows a shorter boot menu to select a device for one-off boot.
BIOS supports booting from USB devices and network boot. There are alsoseveral configurable options for power management:
- Power On by PCI Devices
- Power On by RTC Alarm
- Restore on AC Power Loss
See also: screenshots from BIOS setup.
Pictures
See the gallery or download individual images in high resolution:
The Acer AspireRevo nettop
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A nettop (or miniature PC, Mini PC or Smart Micro PC) is a small-sized, inexpensive, low-power, legacy-freedesktop computer designed for basic tasks such as web browsing, accessing web-based applications, document processing, and audio/video playback.[1][2][3][4] The word nettop Vuescan 9 4 26 – scanner software with advanced features. is a portmanteau of network and desktop. It is the desktop counterpart of the netbook. Modern (c.2020) Mini PCs or Small form factor PCs can be much more powerful, being equipped with high-end laptop components or mid-range desktop components. [5][6]
Compared to ordinary desktop computers, nettops are not only smaller and cheaper,[7] but they also consume much less power. For example, CompuLab's fit-PC2 consumes no more than 8 watts of power[8] whereas a typical desktop would easily consume more than 100 watts of power; consequently, nettops require significantly less cooling and may even be completely fanless. Some do not have an optical disk drive and use a solid state drive, making them completely silent. The tradeoff is that the hardware specifications and processing power are usually reduced[9] and hence make nettops less appropriate for running complex or resource-intensive applications.
History[edit]
Nettops and Mini PCs have what could be considered an unusual history. The 'first wave' of such devices, which occurred in the mid to late 2000s, were commonly referred to as 'nettops'. These included devices such as the Acer AspireRevo seen above, and were commonly considered to be a kind of 'temporary substitute' PC of a lower cost for users needing a second PC or for use in developing countries. Another commonly held view at the time was their use as a stepping stone towards a Thin Client-based always online computer that would 'replace inefficient PCs'.
Development of netbooks and the cannibalisation of laptop sales[edit]
As demand for these devices quickly waned, the industry responded by addressing the chief complaint that these devices would be better as portable devices such as a new form of laptop. The result was the netbook, a device which was considered the true future of the nettop. However, prevailing attitudes and economic issues in 2008 onward made these popular due to their low cost and portability along with the then-expanding feature-set. In August 2009, reports from reviewers were that a netbook of the time and a traditional laptop of the same price were otherwise identical.[citation needed] The implications that the price of standard notebooks should be dropped was a financial liability, due to huge unsold inventories of standard laptops in retail chains and an unfavorable market in which to unload them meant that cannibalisation of laptop sales by netbooks would be financially undesirable for the industry. A clearance sale was also not an option under these conditions, especially among multiple retail chains and online shopping sites. These factors, along with a desire to keep netbook sales going to recoup R&D, design and manufacturing costs, were all likely contributing factors of an industry-wide effort to sabotage netbooks through purposefully limited devices that could be sold cheaply while acting as a form of social engineering towards discrediting netbook devices.
The direct lineage between nettops and netbooks meant that the concept of a 'net-' prefix was considered a failed idea.[citation needed] Devices such as Chromebooks, Tablet PCs, Ultrabooks and other devices responded by branding themselves as a different type of device such as Chrome OS being exclusively a pure web client or the proposal that the ultrabook succeeded by compensating for its lighter weight and otherwise equal-performance parts with a higher price tag.
In 2015, a revival of the concept came about from a likely unrelated source, a technological form of convergent evolution. Via the likely-observed success of the stick PC, the idea of combining a System on a chip with a Single-board computer has led to a continuation of the nettop's original product goals. The foundry nuke studio 12 0v1 for mac free download. Mini PCs such as the MINIX Z83-4 or the Azulle Access Plus are exclusively referred to as 'Mini PCs', despite being identical or near-identical on paper to the nettop architecture.
Hardware[edit]
There are three platforms that are primarily intended for nettops and netbooks:
- Intel's Centrino Atom platform[10]
- Nvidia's Ion platform[11]
- VIA's Trinity Platform[12]
Some nettops have also adopted system-on-a-chip designs. Although many major parts such as chipsets, video cards and storage devices can also be found on desktops, the CPUs that are put inside nettops are the fundamental component that differentiate them from normal desktops. The list below contains a range of hardware components that a typical nettop may be assembled from.
- CPU
- Intel Atom, Core i3 (x86)
- VIA Nano and VIA C7 processors (x86)
- AMD Fusion (x86)
- AMD Geode (x86)
- ARM Cortex-based CPU (ARM)
- Loongson (MIPS)
- GPU
- Intel GMA 950
- S3 Graphics Chrome
- GeForce 9400M G (integrated into MCP79MX; Nvidia ION platform)
- AMD Radeon HD 6310
- ATI HD4530
- PowerVR
- Chipset
- 945GSE and 945GC Express chipsets
- MCP79MX (integrated GeForce 9400M G GPU; Nvidia ION platform)
- VIA VX800 IGP Chipset
- RAM
- typically 512 MB to 2 GB SDRAM, DDR or DDR2 memory
- Storage devices
- at least 1 GB flash memory
- 2.5' hard disk drive or solid-state drive (SSD)
- Network
- Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi
- I/O ports
- LAN, USB 2.0, video out, audio out
Intel's Atom processor has been adopted by several hardware manufacturers, such as ASUS, MSI, and Sony, for nettops. Nvidia has also released its first generation ION platform, which puts GeForce 9400M Motherboard GPU alongside the Atom processor to provide better high definition video playback ability and lower power consumption.[13] In addition, Nvidia has announced that it will support VIA's CPUs this year.[14] To further reduce the manufacturing cost and improve power efficiency, many manufacturers and start-up companies have chosen to use CPUs that were originally targeted at embedded computing devices such as AMD's Geode and ARM Cortex-based CPUs.
Operating systems[edit]
Many net-top models are x86-processor-based and as such are capable of running standard PC OSes. There are also operating systems designed specifically for nettops and other machines in the same performance class. Some high-end nettops are capable of running Windows 10.[15] Google's Android Linux distribution is another option. Although Google's Android was originally designed for smartphones, it has also taken a seat in the nettop market.[16] Another Linux distribution suitable for nettops is Ubuntu.[citation needed]
Market[edit]
Nettops fell into Intel's category of 'Basic PC', which usually cost from $100 to $299.[17] Intel described nettops as a large potential market at that time. Nettops were said to be able serve as an affordable first computer for people in developing countries, or as an environmentally friendly choice as a secondary computer for people in developed countries.[18]
However, as stated above, the primary flaw to the average consumer was that it was far more useful as a portable system. This led then to the development of netbooks. When in the midst of an economic crisis netbooks were seen to be hurting sales of traditional laptops there was likely a collaborative effort to destroy demand for them. Hence the original source of this computer class died off in the marketplace.[citation needed]
As a result of successes with Stick PCs and Linux Mint-based Nettop-like computers, as well as continued success of the Mac Mini, the idea was possibly unintentionally revived as Mini PCs, which continue to be sold through online retailers as of August, 2017.[citation needed]
Nettop 1 1/2
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^http://techreport.com/articles.x/21556 Zotac's Zbox Nano AD10 Plus nettop - Zacate in the palm of your hand
- ^'Netbooks,' 'Nettops' target secondary PC usersArchived 2008-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^hexus.net: What is a nettop
- ^whatis.com: Entry for nettop
- ^https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-mini-desktop-pcs/
- ^https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-windows-mini-pcs
- ^Intel Nettop is all about cost cutting
- ^Fit-PC2 Specifications
- ^Is a Nettop Right for You?
- ^[1]Archived January 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^'Next-Generation NVIDIA ION Graphics Processors'. Nvidia.com. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^'News Release VIA Trinity Platform Brings Hi-Def to Small Spaces - VIA Technologies, Inc'. Via.com.tw. 2008-12-18. Archived from the original on 2010-10-29. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^'Nvidia's Ion platform - The Tech Report - Page 1'. The Tech Report. 2009-02-03. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^'NVIDIA Ion platform to support VIA Nano processors this year'. Engadget. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^'The 9 Best Mini PCs to Buy in 2018'. lifewire. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
- ^'Asustek to Make Google Android Netbook, Says Report'. PCWorld. 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^CNet article
- ^Netbooks and Nettops New category of emerging Internet Devices
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nettops. |
Nettop 1 1/5
- 'Touch-enabled net-top boots Linux fast'. Archived from the original on 2013-01-27.
- Russian portal of nettops
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