The Broadcom Crystal HD (BCM70012) is not exactly news, but we’ve not paid a whole lot of attention to it here because it’s taken so long for it to come out. Also, never mind that nVidia’s Ion solution is, well, pretty damn good. However, for those of you who have a netbook and would like to enjoy HD video on it and don’t have the good fortune of having a Ion chipset, you may be in luck because this $30 mini PCI-e card may breathe a little life back into your netbook.
It’s been a long time since we’ve looked at what Intel is up to these days and counted the Intel Pine Trail updates among those things. So, in honor of it being almost a year since talking about what Intel has been planning for their ever expanding netbook and nettop line, let’s look at what is finally on the verge of coming out in the near future to a netbook or nettop near you.
It’s not secret I’m a fan of low-power, high-utility computers, and while we’re waiting for the Asus EeeBox PC B208 to come out and fill the gaping void of a low-powered, low-cost computer that can serve as an HTPC, it looks like Acer is getting ready to hit the market with their own. While the specs don’t look to be fully decided yet, one thing is very clear: this is going to use the nVidia Ion solution that Intel should have adopted (or at least made their own sucky graphics card on par with) some time ago.
I missed this a week and a half ago, but for a little while there was a page or two on Asus’s site detailing the Asus EeeBox PC B208 nettop, though it seems to have magically disappeared now. I was actually looking for some more info on the Intel Atom 330 when I stumbled onto this discovery, but I think I may have finally found what I’m looking for in a TV computer: small, decent processor, non-crappy graphics, capable of playing HD video.
I’ve had a bit of a rough week with a variety of things going on, and the next will be the same, but here’s a worthwhile post for those who haven’t kept up on what Asus has been doing in the last week. If you’re familiar with the Asus Eee Box B202 nettop, then you’re pretty much going to be familiar with the Asus Eee Box B204 nettop and Asus Eee Box B206 nettop, only it’s even better than ever. No, seriously! (more…)