Compact, energy-efficient and inexpensive HTPC or media client can be built using Foxconn nettop NetBox-nT330i. It has Intel Atom Dual Core 330 1.60GHZ processor and nVidia Ion graphics which should be enough for 1080p video playback. The nettop includes gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and DVI outputs, 6 USB ports, cardreader and supports 2.5″ HDD and up to 4GB DDR2 RAM.
The price of barebone model NetBox-nT330i is about €160.
According to information from Fudzilla the second generation of popular nVidia graphic platform Ion will ship at the end this year. It’s amazing news! Unfortunately there is no any word about exact release date and specification. It’s known that Ion 2 will have more than double the number of shaders to improve performance. Also additionally to Atom it’ll support Celeron, Core 2 and VIA Nano.
Well, regardless the Fudzilla’s information is true or not it’d better to wait a few weeks and do not buy Ion stuff. Personally I’m going to do like that. I already choose the motherboard Zotac GF9300-D-E ITX for the my new noiseless LinuxMCE core/hybrid. But didn’t buy it yet. So, the news from Fudzilla came very opportunely.
