Next-gen AOpen MiniPC unveiled

It seems that the engineers over at PC manufacturer AOpen have been studiously reading the reviews of the first generation of their Mac mini ripoff homage, the miniPC, as the latest version is promising to eliminate the loud whine that made its predecessor almost unusable. The company has just formally announced the Core Duo-powered version of what is now called the MiniPC (with the capital "M" presumably meant to further differentiate the box from its Apple counterpart), which is essentially the same machine that was being shown off at CeBIT 2006, except with a black case that makes it look less like an external DVD burner. Besides Yonah CPU support and a slight bump in RAM speed, the MiniPC model MP945-VXR sports nearly identical specs to the MP-915 (version one), although you do get a built-in mic and the Media Center Edition version of Windows XP. The price this time around, however, is decidedly less "mini," with AOpen claiming a MSRP of $955 -- compared to only $500 for the 915 -- whenever the new model hits stores.

[Via Reg Hardware]

[bob @ May 30th 2006 10:58AM]

and 799 for the real thing with a real operating system

[PEZ @ May 30th 2006 11:06AM]

Does it really matter at this point if you get a Mac? Even Apple is giving away their boot loader for free. So who gives a shit.

[Lemmi @ May 30th 2006 11:18AM]

Here's what the guts of the CeBIT version looked like:

http://mini-itx.com/10720997

[joe @ May 30th 2006 11:20AM]

That is - FAR - better looking than the mac mini which looks like tupperware IMO.

I'd like to buy one once Vista ships in January !!!

[dzieci @ May 30th 2006 11:21AM]

looks nice but nothing much

[Joey @ May 30th 2006 11:35AM]

One of the biggest issues with the original MP915 was the cooling of the graphics and cpu chip from thier custom hsf. The graphics chips sits lower on the motherboard because of the ZIF socket.

AOpen hsf takes this into consideration and the HSF is offset lower on one side however the amount is not enough to make full contact with the graphic chip which then overheats after a few hours of being powered on. This causes an entire system freeze forcing a hard reboot.

There is a mod to fix this situation developed by one of the MP915 members but looking at the other MP945 and this current one it looks this problem has not been addressed and will still continue to be an issue even though they went with a newer chipset.

The original review of the MP915 linked to SSFTech article that noted no S/PDIF output. This might be because the service techs at AOpen have no idea about the unit. All the units regarless of specs have S/PDIF output.

They are all using the Realteck 850 and pin 48 is enabled. You will have to inspect the motherboard but near the HDD connector the solder pad for the S/PDIF in/out is there. While unsported by AOpen you just need to solder in a 4 pin header and connect a S/PDIF output to it then set your OS for passthrough.

The interal USB is also unsupported by AOpen but it is there and fully functional.

AOpen support is next to zero. I wouldnt recommend this to anyone I knew who isnt into tinkering with computers, if you want turn key you buy a Dell.

There are just way to many issues that AOpen has failed to address with the inital MP915 and MP945 release.

[Sean @ May 30th 2006 11:46AM]

I guess all those Apple bashers ain't gonna jump on this one considering it's MORE expensive than Apple's mini, given they share almost identical specs, except this one lacks optical audio out, Bluetooth, and all the software which makes this thing useful as a Home Theatre PC.

/sarcasm on/
This things kicks the mini's ass! Mac's are overpriced!
/sarcasm off/

[diulei @ May 30th 2006 11:49AM]

So, uh, wouldn't you save money and get a better looking package if you bought a Mac Mini and loaded Windows through Boot Camp?

[LD @ May 30th 2006 12:07PM]

Buy a Mac, dual boot into a legit copy of MCE and you still save money and get an all around better machine.

The round top isn't good either IMHO.

[Steve @ May 30th 2006 12:13PM]

To continue what Sean stated. Not only does the Mac mini have Optical audio but it also has optical audio IN, and a remote. I was surprised this actually had DVI, Firewire (though I doubt it's he type that will power a device), and Gigabit Ethernet.

Diulei had a good idea, just buy a Mac mini and install Windows if that is what you really wanted.

I wonder what the VC is for the MiniPC?

[wackybit @ May 30th 2006 12:24PM]

Mac mini + Boot Camp is better than MiniPC with only Windows and with a lot less I/O

[sdsdv10 @ May 30th 2006 12:56PM]

$955... $955... $955...?!?!

Heck, that is getting up into iMac range.
($1299 for the 17" version)

[jcpb @ May 30th 2006 2:29PM]

$950 for THAT POS? It doesn't even say what CPU, RAM, and hard drive it has FFS.

Honestly, who's gonna pay that price for something that has worse specs than the Mac mini and provide as good a level of tech support as Asus? $1000 bets that shops won't sell a lot of these without dropping the pre-configured MSRP below $700, and even that is a wild guess.

To top it all off, this is no MCE system unless you spring up extra bucks for the VXR version, as the default VX gives you a different color and NO REMOTE. What a ripoff.