Digital Home Thoughts: Think Small. Think Brazos.

"It wasn’t too long ago that we were shocked by $699 desktop PCs, but to now be able to get a fully functioning portable PC with display at below $300 is impressive. In order for the profit equation to work out however, you can’t simply scale down a larger chip - you need an architecture targeted specifically at the type of very light workloads you expect to encounter in these segments."

The Mini-ITX form factor has never really been given much love. When most people buy desktop computers, many tended to favor bigger, boxier sizes. Maybe it is the availability, upgradibility or price of the bigger brothers that make them more attractive, but Mini-ITX is still alive and well, and with advances in tech, still your likely best solution for that tiny HTPC you have been dreaming about.

So far though, it does not look like you will get any significant jump by going AMD, but any improvement is welcome. And HTPCs are not the only use for these wee boards. People have taken to trying to cram the Mini-ITX into as many creative spaces as possible from old clocks to power supply cases. Computers do not have to come in boring boxes!