Asrock Intel Dual Core Atom Wireless LAN Barebone ION 330-HT (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this nettop with the intention of using the open-source XBMC software as the hub of my home theater. With one notable exception, this computer has worked very well for that purpose.
Installing XBMC to the hard drive using the 9.10 Live CD went very well - everything installed without a hitch, and connecting the 330HT to my flatscreen using the HDMI output on the back worked beautifully. All the drivers necessary to use this nettop with XBMC were included on the Live CD, including the VDPAU library that allows the GPU to handle hardware video decoding. Playing 1080p blu-ray rips over the gigabit network is flawless and hiccup free, and uses around 5% of the CPU power. The spdif optical output allows me to pass DTS audio tracks directly to my receiver, and I'm loving life.
The drawback:
The 330HT differs from the 330Pro in the inclusion of an infrared receiver and a Windows MCE compatible remote. The infrared receiver is not on the USB bus, and ASRock has been remiss in providing functional Linux drivers for the receiver. This may not be a problem for you if you intend to run a Windows OS on the nettop, but if you want to use the Ubuntu-based XBMC live CD, as I did, you'll find that the current iteration of drivers (version 1.0.1 as of 01/25/2010) provide functionality, but include a number of bugs. First, the receiver will not acknowledge the first command from the remote - it seems to "wake up" in response to a button press (e.g., play, stop, etc.), but not to accept the command. So you're forced to press the button twice to get the nettop to respond. Subsequent button presses, if done soon enough, are usually acknowledged (although it seems to miss a few here and there sometimes). After a few minutes without remote control input, however, the IR receiver seems to go back to "sleep" again.
Even more problematic is the inability of the system to properly initialize (right term?) the IR driver when resuming from a suspend state. You can successfully put the nettop into a suspended state using the remote, and can even wake it out of sleep using the remote, but once awakened using the remote, the IR receiver will not recognize any further remote control input until you restart the system (by plugging in a keyboard, for example, since your remote is now useless).
Many people that have experienced these problems have broken down and purchased a USB IR receiver (the kind Microsoft sells, for example), since the drivers for those receivers are far more polished and problem-free. Doing so negates the whole advantage of the 330HT over the 330 Pro, however, so bear in mind the incremental cost of the only-partially-functional IR receiver when deciding between the two models. You can get the IR-receiver-free ASRock 330Pro (Black) and a USB recevier / remote control combo like this one for about the same price, and guarantee yourself Linux compatibility.
If you want the cleaner look of an integrated IR receiver and plan to use a Microsoft Windows OS, or if you're optimistic about ASRock's development of Linux drivers (I don't know enough about the company to know if they'll respond to consumer demand for improved drivers or not), then go for the 330HT.

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Asrock ION 330-HT Intel Dual Core Atom 330/ 2DDR2-800/ Nvidia ION/ 320GB/ 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN Black Barebone

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StarTech.com 4PORT SERIAL ATA RAID 0.1 ( PCISATA4R1 ) Review

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(More customer reviews)Greetings. This is a technically-sophisticated product in both understanding it and its setup. That is why I believe it's received some bad raps: Many people just don't really understand what it's doing and how to do it. In fact, I had to ask a lot of pre-sales questions (after reading the online PDF manuals, which frankly I believe could use a rewrite, which I've offered to do); however, "Kirk Anger" at CSDTech@Startech.com truly came through for me and was very patient with both my pre-sale and post-sale questions (I'm talking 13 emails to him), until he got me understanding it and making it actually happen. So, it's not really for the novice nor the faint of heart, but for the "savvy" and experienced user, it is a very recommendable system -- and it gives you RAID capability whether your computer has it, or not. It can perform simple "mirroring" of your main [C:/Drive usually] to a 2nd equal or larger drive using RAID 0 (Striping), or RAID 1 (Mirroring), or the RAID 0+1 (Mirrored Sriping), or even the RAID 5 (Distributed Parity RAID) and JBOD ("Just a Bunch of Disks") -- and you can use up to 4 harddrives for your configurations -- and it can enhance speed, data integrity, or both. However, what Startech highlights in their ads is what I wanted it for: The RAID 1+S ("spare drive"). This is a feature wherein you actually (with the card and its included software) create a RAID 1 (mirrored) set, which requires 2 drives. But then you go a step further: Using a 3rd drive (again of equal or greater size), you create the actual "spare drive" option. What do these 3 drives set up in this manner do for you? It "Adds seamless disaster recovery to a RAID 1 configuration." What does that mean? If your main C:Drive fails (for whatever reason, soft or mechanical), not only do you have the "mirrored" RAID 1 2nd drive's data -- but if you're main drive crashes, and you have it set up as the RAID 1+S (and their GUI software loaded), the "spare" or 3rd drive will literally boot up your computer as if nothing has happened. I finally tired of all the backup schemes and software -- and Startech's blurb got the best of me -- and I am very pleased with this setup. You won't "see" the other two drives in things like Microsoft Explorer (except through Startech's software). Also, you won't be able to utilize those other two drives to get triple your harddrive space. However, you will get safety -- and with the 3rd or "spare drive" -- your machine should boot up as if you'd had no failure at all. Statistically, it is pretty low (I think) that you'd lose both the RAID 1 drives, so you have a much higher probability of not losing your programs and data -- but the best part of all is being able to reboot to your "spare" drive. Of course, once you do, you should replace that failed [once-named] C:Drive, rebuild the RAID 1 array and the +S spare component. However, you're not sitting there with an unbootable machine -- or worse, one with no or incomplete data -- to the point your computer has just become an expensive paper-weight or doorstop! Further, it appears the product is actually an Intel product marketed by Startech, of which we all put a lot of faith into Intel. So, if you've got the need -- and the computer "chops" to handle the technical complexity of installing the drives, the card and setting up their software -- for whichever purpose you're using it -- and you can afford the extra drives (I've got 3 1TB drives that cost me barely over $100 each) -- I think you are getting a good solution. Though I'm an engineer (and not a computer engineer), I've spent most of my career in the computer industry -- and dealing with them personally. If you come up with a better solution for accomplishing this same task and purpose: Please let me know. Best regards!

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Startech 4-Port Serial ATA RAID Controller PCISATA4R1 Hard Drive & RAID Controllers

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GIGABYTE GA-D525TUD Intel Atom D525@ 1.8GHz 1M L2 cache BGA559 Intel NM10 Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this more as an experiment to see if the new Atom dual-core motherboard with the GMA3150 IGP could handle everyday tasks as a nettop like surfing the net, watching Youtube videos, checking email and running productivity software. I really want to start scaling back the power requirements of the PCs in our house, especially given their usage as either nettops or file servers. The kids will be needing new PCs soon for homework and something "green" is my preference as long as it's powerful enough and this board seems to fit the bill. I also wanted to use some of the parts I had lying around like the HDD and ODD. With that, I am very happy with what I was able to build for under $200. It's definitely faster -- much faster -- than the Dell 9300 laptop it's going to replace as the family PC. The lowest WEI value was 2.0 for Gaming/Business graphics. That is a non-issue since that is not what this is going to be used for.
This is a very good value for a processor, motherboard and IGP combination. It's also very efficient which is going to help with the electricity bill and carbon footprint of the household. Surprisingly, it's very responsive and I have no trouble doing the tasks I expected to be able to do like surf the 'net, play music, upload/view photos and use OpenOffice under Windows 7 Home Premium.
However, for maybe $30 more upfront I could have purchased a more powerful CPU/ITX motherboard combination like an E3300/DG41AN that would have performed much better. Of course, the power draw would have been a lot higher. You definitely pay a premium for newer more efficient technology. The CPU is also not passively cooled and the little fan is definitely audible, especially in the cheap case I put it in. If it had been passively cooled or the CPU fan had been silent I would have given it 5 stars easily. So far it's done everything I've asked it to knowing though I am not going to be watching HD video on this. The upcoming Intel D525MW board looks to be passively cooled but it's not available yet. That one is worth watching and might be a better nettop board for a silent build. I can see using this one with the 4 SATA ports in a home server/NAS build instead. It looks like it would be perfect for that, especially with Gigabyte's "UD" construction.
Build:
Athenatech A1089HG.150 case
Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR 1066 KVR1066D3/2GR RAM
Western Digital 400GB WD4000AAKS HDD
Lite-On IDE DVD/CD burner
Rosewill RNX-N250PC 802.11 b/g/n PCI wireless adapter
Windows 7 Home Premium


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Gigabyte GA-M68MT-D3 NVIDIA MCP61/MCP68 Chipset Driver 15.56 for Vista Matherboard

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ASUS U43JC-X1 14-Inch Bamboo Laptop (10 Hours of Battery Life) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this as a replacement for a Dell 1720. As I study computer and electrical engineering, I'm very familiar with the internal components of electronics. This is a very well made notebook. Most of my friends and colleagues find the notebook very attractive and distinctively ideal. But, aesthetic taste differ from person-to-person and can only be merely objective. So, what is really important, are the numbers in between that motivated this to be my final choice. And, I'm glad I did 100%.
Processor Core i5 450M
This is currently the SECOND HIGHEST SCORING DUAL CORE MOBILE PROCESSOR, according to PassMark's website. The first being the Core i7 620M, which cost roughly twice as much and only provides a 10% improvement. Very smart on ASUS's behalf, because the majority of programs only utilize two cores. This means that most people buying a quad core will only use half of the potential of their CPU. Whereas, this processor doubles the amount of pathways for the dual cores to use. In short, the processor optimizes both cores by having twice as many streams and acts like a quad core ALL OF THE TIME. And, this doesn't even include the 12-way associative 3MB of L3 cache. GREAT NOTEBOOK PROCESSOR. PERIOD
RAM
Most people don't really understand RAM or How it woks. So, I'll keep this simple. Your CPU has a core speed. You RAM has a core speed rating. When both of these are the same speed, your computer is termed "synced." A very very important thing. If your computer is not synced, some of the data is lost in the transmission and has to be sent again. Making it slower than originally intended. This computer is synced perfect, so DO NOT GO OUT AND BUY FASTER RAM. It will be a waste of your money. The latency is 7-7-7-20 and as good as you can buy for 1333.
USB 3.0
I bought this with every intention of getting the most out of USB 3.0. I felt really disappointed in the performance for a few reasons. Some are my fault, and I'll explain. Intel has said they will not support USB 3.0 on their boards. They are waiting for LightPeak to replace all current standards. While this is a smart business move for Intel, the rest of us are left with the consequences. The only way USB 3.0 can be used with an Intel processor is through the use of third party controllers. These are not nearly up to the speeds of the AMD boards. I own a Super Talent Supercrypt 32GB that I planned on using for clean installs, but you need to install the drivers after installing the OS for USB 3.0 to work, $#!}. So, USB 3.0 can only be used for AMD board clean installs. And, to make matters worse, the drivers are slow. I can hit about 96MB/sec on the U43Jc, but on an AMD board I get about 230MB/sec. I should have researched a little more, but hopefully, I can save some of you time. DON'T LET THIS BE THE DECIDING FACTOR FOR BUYING THIS COMPUTER. All Intel based notebooks will suffer from the same problem, and AMD processors aren't nearly this good. If it's a problem, wait for LightPeak.
Switchable nvidia 310M
By knowing how to use this, you can increase you battery life. Just hit the button in the upper-left corner, and you will switch to the onboard graphics card, simple. This card is not made for extreme video games, but CASUAL games can be played with ease.
Display 1366x768
This is one of the brightest and clearest screens I've seen. Some people might complain about the resolution, not being high enough, but do you really need more resolution on a 14" screen?? NO
Bluetooth
Absent in this model. Have never used it before, so it wasn't a factor for my decision.
Keyboard
A chicklet style keyboard that is almost identical to a MacBook Pro. I like it.
DVD Drive
I guess people still use these things. Anyways, it contains one of the best made for notebooks, a Matshita UJ89A2S.
Bloatware
Almost all PC computers come with this nowadays. Just download Revo uninstaller and remove what you don't think you'll use. Search Google for Asus Bloatware guide for information.
Camera
I believe all computers come with, pretty much, the same camera. Until someone starts putting Carl Zeiss lenses on these things, there all the same to me.
Audio
Audio is on the low end, but most loud notebooks go loud and sound distorted. If audio is really important to you, you probably think all notebooks sound horrible. Cure: Buy a pair of Klipsch Image S4. Simple the best affordable headphones available.
Coupon
I'm mentioning this now, because this severely affected the final part of my review,but since it was part of the original price, I included this in the review. I purchased this for $999, and received a $150 Amazon gift card. This made all the difference in the world. I know computer speed "bottlenecks" in certain areas. The biggest area is the hard drive. While the U43Jc-X1 comes with a Seagate Momentus 5400rpm, the Crystal Disk Mark I scored was around 90MB/sec. Faster than most, but I wanted this notebook to fly. So, I used the coupon to order a 64GB Crucial RealSSD C300. Best upgrade for any computer in the world.
Battery Life
Most people are getting close to 6 hours, and I concur. After changing the hard drive, I was getting closer to 8 1/2. Huge improvement. Everything else increased immensely too. My cold boot time is around 13 sec. Microsoft Office Word 2010 opens in 1 sec. No exaggeration. Shutdown is between 3-5 sec. Everything else opens immediately, and I have a longer battery life.
Heat
The most important fact for determining notebook reliability, longevity, and build construction. This product is so well made that I RARELY HEAR THE FAN EVEN TURN ON. This means the computer doesn't get hot enough for it, although I am speaking after the SSD install. This is a sure sign of a solid build construction.
Overall
This is a quality computer with some of the best components on the market. Asus gives a 1 year accident warranty. Meaning you can drop it in the pool and get a new one. Hard to beat. You'll be hard pressed to find something of this caliber at this price, not to mention you'll stand out in the crowd. Just remember, sometimes, "It's what's on the inside that counts." ~proverb

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Inspired by Nature. Designed for Style. Drawing on the symbolism of bamboo as a durable renewable resource, the sophisticated U43Jc bamboo notebook with a 14-inch HD LED-backlit display combines distinguished aesthetics with premium technology. The stylish U43Jc-X1 bamboo shell reduces the use of plastic material by up to 15%, and enhances a brushed-aluminum interior. Sleek and user-friendly, this mobile phenom blends powerful yet energy-efficient technology to deliver an astounding 10 hours of battery life between charges.1 Its power-saving ability is due to the system-optimizing ASUS Super Hybrid Engine, and to NVIDIA Optimus Technology that switches between powerful discrete graphics and efficient embedded graphics, providing sufficient power for the task at hand. The U43Jc-X1 complements its power with convenience by incorporating SuperSpeed USB 3.0, for up to 10 times faster transfer speeds compared to USB 2.0.2 The U43Jc-X1 features the Intel Core i5 processor, 14-inch Slim-Type LED-backlit HD display, high-speed Wireless N connectivity, 4GB DDR3 system memory, 500GB hard drive, 2.0MP webcam with lens cover for added security, multi-touch trackpad, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Key Features
Distinguished bamboo texture cover for a unique style and touch that uses 15% less plastic (Learn more)
Up to 10 hours of battery1 life for all-day unplugged freedom (Learn more)
14-inch Slim-Type LED-backlit HD display with 1366 x 768 resolution for high-quality visuals
Intel Core i5 processor with Intel Turbo boost Technology for smart multitasking performance (Learn more)
NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics 1GB DDR3 VRAM for excellent HD-quality visuals for games, media, and more (Learn more)
NVIDIA Optimus Technology for automatic and seamless switching between powerful NVIDIA GeForce graphics and battery-saving integrated graphics engine (Learn more)
ASUS Super Hybrid Engine innovatively saves battery life and boosts performance (Learn more)
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 charges compatible devices faster and delivers up to 10 times faster transfer rates than previous generation USB 2.02 (Learn more)
Intel WiDi HD Wireless Display3 technology makes it easy to wirelessly stream HD content to your TV or external monitor (Learn more)

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Distinguished Bamboo Aesthetic, Comfortable Style
Optimize Your Visual Experience
Powered to Last
Enhanced Connectivity
The Most Reliable Windows OS
ASUS 360 – The Most Comprehensive Care Package
ASUS Accidental Damage Warranty (ADW)
F9 Key for Quick Recovery
What's in the Box The entire U43Jc-X1 package contains a warranty card, U43Jc-X1 Bamboo Notebook, and AC Adapter
U43Jc-X1 Bamboo Notebook
AC Adapter
Warranty Card
Specifications
Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
Display: 14-inch Slim-Type LED-backlit HD display (1366 x 768)
CPU: Intel Core i5-450M processor 2.4GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.53GHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 310M 1GB DDR3 VRAM + Intel HD graphics
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1066MHz (up to 4GB)
Wireless Data Network: 802.11 b/g/n (@ 2.4GHz), Intel WiDi HD Wireless Display technology
LAN: 10/100/1000 RJ-45
Storage: 500GB 5400RPM hard drive
Optical drive: Super Multi
Camera: 2.0Mp
Input/ Output: 1 x HDMI port 2 x Audio jack 1 x RJ-45 1 x VGA port 2 x USB 2.0 port 1 x USB 3.0 port
Battery: 8-cell 5600mAh (up to 10 hours1)
Dimensions: 13.54 x 9.4 x 1.2–inches (W x D x H)
Weight: 5.15 lbs (with 8 cell battery)
Color: Brown
All specifications and terms are subject to change without notice. Please check with your supplier for exact offers on selected models. Products may not be available in all markets. Product may not be exactly as shown in images. Products and corporate names appearing in this manual may or may not be registered trademarks or copyrights of their respective companies, and are used only for identification or explanation and to the owners\' benefit, without intent to infringe. 1 Operation lifetime subject to product model, normal usage conditions and configurations. The estimated maximum battery life in Windows XP Home is measured with MobileMark 2007. 2 All figures theoretical values compared to USB 2.0 benchmarks for reference purposes. Actual speed depends on device and system status. 3 Intel Wireless Display requires a compatible laptop, TV adapter, and a TV with HDMI or composite A/V input. 4 Your portable ASUS products contain hazardous materials. While they pose no risk to you during normal use, they should never be disposed with other wastes. ASUS provides a free take-back service for recycling your ASUS products. Our electronics recycler will provide competitive bids for recycling non-ASUS products as well. If you have products for recycling, visit http://www.metechrecycling.com/asus-business.htm for more information on this program. 5 Rated number 1 Windows-based PC maker in PCMag.com\'s Service & Reliability Report 2009. Rate number 1 PC brand according to SquareTrade, the leading direct-to-consumer warranty company (for more information visit http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109 ). 6 For notebooks purchased on or after Sept. 10, 2007. The ASUS 360 Notebook Service Program and Accidental Damage Warranty covers "ASUS" brand notebooks only, and does NOT extend to: "Built on ASUS," "ASMobile," "Powered by ASUS," the Eee PC, or some other models. These retailers are currently among the companies that do NOT participate in the ASUS 360 Notebook Service Program and Accidental Damage Warranty: Best Buy, MicroCenter, and The Source by Circuit City in Canada. Limit of one claim per notebook for Accidental Damage Warranty. ASUS reserves the right to discontinue this program and to modify the terms and conditions thereof at any time. ASUS Accidental Damage Warranty Program starts from the date of your ASUS notebook purchase, when all the requirements are met. One incident covered per notebook.

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