My new sff

[m_cozzy]

I have a sunray thin client downstairs that my girlfriend uses mostly, fine for web & basic office apps but she was starting to complain about lack of admin rights on the terminal server & poor multimedia capabilities. Women hey

Any way I am also starting a new job soon & will have to return the thin client so I started looking round for a replacement unit. A thin client was out this time so I wanted an ultra small pc. Considered a minimac briefly but I have never used one & don't really have the time to learn how to use one.

A search on the usual place turned up a new aopen MP945-VXR minipc complete with dvd rw & mce remote for the tidy sum of £155.
I added to this:-
2gb of ddr2 ram for £30
T5500 1.66ghz core 2 duo for £35
I already had a 2.5" 80gb hard drive spare.

So a new(except for the cpu) sff pc for £220 !!

I didn't take many pictures unfortunately but the build was a doddle once I worked out how it came apart.

And next to the thin client it is replacing. This thing is seriously small & makes my shuttle and sugo SG03 'sff' look like giants
Pictures dont really do justice to these pc's. It looks so much nicer in the flesh compared to any pictures I have seen on the web.

 

[m_cozzy]

Yes I believe they were well over £250 new and for that money I would not have considered it. But a seller has quite a few of them brand new on the bay for a very reasonable £155
I had not seen this model before & was quite impressed with the spec for the money

• gigabit lan
• dvi out
• built in slot loading dvd rw
• mce remote
• tv out
• core 2 duo support
• g945 chipset
• sata drive support

Will make a reasonable media pc in few years when I cycle all my kit around and throw the oldest out (SB75g2 p4 shuttle)

Noise... well its audible, I am however coming from a silent thin client & the skybox 4 metres away used to annoy me, its not really worse than my similar spec'ed work laptop though.
Plus the gf is well chuffed as it plays the msn games that she couldn't when on the terminal server. As a bonus I gave it to her for her birthday so it also saves me from having to go shopping to buy a proper girly present