Tag: Small Form Factor

Back in the 1970s, the idea of “pyramid power” was about as popular among crackpots as today’s flat earth theories. While the Egyptian pyramids and other pyramid-shaped structures possess no magical qualities, they are cool to look at and architecturally significant.

If you’re like me, you may have long wanted to have a home theater PC in your living room entertainment center. The problem that I have – that I bet a few of you suffer from as well – is that my wife already has the entertainment center stuffed with all manner of knick-knacks.

From some reason, I like small desktop computers, not that I have one, but I find the concept useful and want to have them everywhere so that I can slave them into some kind of personal mini-botnet.

While Apple’s been touting the wonders of the iPad and iPhone 4, the Mac mini product team was feverishly working in the background on a major revamp of the classic small form-factor Mac. The new Mac mini features a beautiful slim one-piece aluminum case, and measures just 1.4″ high x 7.7″ square.

Taking a page out of old school client/server tech architecture and updating it with modern hardware and software, Pano Logic’s mini clients are definitely one to check out if you’re running a corporate IT team. The miniature Pano Device sits at each person’s desk, and has just enough processing power to provide network access and a “dumb” terminal attached to a centralized server farm.

Even though the Mac Mini is slowly becoming less relevant, since the new iMacs are blending HDTVs and computers together in a great way, there is still a place for the HTPC (home theater PC). The main reason is that most homes now have HDTVs and need a way to play their media.

Lenovo’s new IdeaCentre Q100/Q110 PCs (how British of them) are the first of a new breed of ultra-compact “nettop” PCs from the computer maker. The Q100 has a really svelte design and fits neatly on any desktop.

Looking for a PC that won’t take up much space on your desktop? The new Ripple LOOK PC is definitely one of the nicer looking small form factor computers I’ve seen. The Korean-built compact Ripple LOOK PC measures in at just 215mm x 235mm x 69mm (appx.