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Computers

Lenovo IdeaCentre Q190 review: Call it a full-figured micro PC

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Compared with Intel’s diminutive NUC and Sapphire’s slim and sexy Edge VS8, you might think of Lenovo’s IdeaCentre Q190 as a full-figured micro PC. It’s not the smallest such model, but it boasts a ton of ports, it has enough interior space to move air over its components, and it has a Blu-ray drive option. If you’re looking for a home-theater PC, those are important features.

Design and ports

The Q190 is a small monolith measuring 6.10 by 7.55 inches. It’s 0.86 inch thick (expanding to 1.5 inches thick with its piggyback slot-feed optical drive attached). A stand that stabilizes the unit when upright adds about another half-inch of height, but Lenovo also provides a VESA mounting bracket so you can mount the Q190 on the back of a display.

Robert Cardin
A drop-down panel (lowered here) hides the Q190’s front ports.

Mic and headphone jacks, two USB 3.0 ports, and a six-in-one media-card reader are hidden behind a door on the front of the unit. On the back you’ll find HDMI and VGA video outputs, three USB 2.0 ports, ethernet, an optical S/PDIF port, and the power jack for the AC adapter. The computer and the optical drive both have Kensington lock points. The Q190 also has a built-in 802.11b/g/n wireless network adapter. The bundled keyboard and mouse are middle-of-the-road units, but Lenovo’s palm-sized Enhanced Multimedia Remote, which combines a backlit QWERTY keyboard and fingertip mouse and costs $80, is worth a look if you plan to use the system from your sofa.

The Q190 is not quite as quiet as the nearly noiseless NUC, or the Edge with its super-quiet fan, but we didn’t find its noise signature to be bothersome.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Computers

Intel vs. AMD: Battle of the world's smallest PCs

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The desktop PC isn’t dead, it’s just shrinking. There’s a new breed of miniature marvels on the market, and they boast a nonexistent footprint when attached to the back of a display. Unlike some micro-size, micro-priced computers—the $35 Raspberry Pi, for example—these incredibly small machines provide more than enough processing power for all but the most strenuous computing chores.

New generations of powerful but cool-running CPUs are largely responsible for this sudden onset of wee-ness, so it makes sense that AMD and Intel would both conjure tiny PCs to demonstrate what’s possible within the confines of an ultra-small size. Intel has christened its concept the Next Unit of Computing (NUC), while AMD’s primary manufacturing partner, Sapphire Technology, has dubbed its effort the Edge VS8.

Alas, neither the NUC nor the Edge VS8 Is cheap.

Intel’s Next Unit of Computing

What the heck is a Next Unit of Computing? It’s Intel’s vision of a miniature-size computer. It measures four inches square by two inches high, and it’s available in three kits: The $300 DC3217BY features a Core i3 3217-U processor, an HDMI audio-video port, and a Thunderbolt port (supporting DisplayPort 1.1a); the DC3217IYE (also $300) has the same CPU and dual HDMI ports; and the $175 DCCP847DYE is outfitted with a Celeron 847 processor and dual HDMI ports. (Video resolution through HDMI maxes out at 1920 by 1200 pixels for all three models).

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Computers

Intel exits the desktop motherboard business to focus on new form factors

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After some 20 years of selling branded desktop motherboards, Intel will begin exiting this portion of its business, Intel spokesman Dan Snyder has told PCWorld. The Santa Clara chip giant will begin the retreat from desktop motherboards as soon as its next-generation Haswell CPU ships, and plans to dissolve its Desktop Motherboard Business unit over the next three years.

Intel’s move responds to market pressures from two directions. On one side, the world simply doesn’t need as many desktop motherboards as it has in the past. Demand is shifting to laptops and tablets, so Intel is responding to changing times. On the other side, companies like Asus, Gigabyte and Asrock are meeting existing demand with a wide variety of motherboard products with innovative features. 

NUC moboLoyd Case
Intel will shift resources to designing innovative form factor motherboards like the NUC board here.

Even worse, the feature sets offered by Intel motherboards often haven’t kept pace with the offerings from Asian companies, begging the question, Why even buy an Intel board in the first place?

Intel says it will shift resources from desktop motherboards to boards for emerging form factors, such as the company’s recently released NUC (Next Unit of Computing), a tiny, 4-by-4-inch, self-contained PC. Intel will also focus on improving Ultrabook and all-in-one systems designs. Manufacturers will be able to license entire designs, or just parts of Intel designs to integrate into their own products. This type of integration can already be be found in Gigabyte’s recently launched Thin ITX motherboard for white-box and DIY all-in-one PCs.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld