While
barebones PCs are nothing new, and neither are
all-in-one form factors, it's seldom that we see the two ideas meet.
MSI's new 17-inch Crystal 945 barebones PC, however, does just that, allowing you to build a family-friendly PC with the heart of a hacker. Well, almost the heart of a hacker. The 945G chipset running this thing only supports up to a Pentium D processor, so you're not going to get a lot of power no matter how well you spec the rest. Most everything else looks pretty snazzy otherwise, including a 7-in-1 card reader, a PCI Express x16 slot (and integrated graphics if you don't want to spring for a full-on GPU), a mini-PCI slot for WiFi action, gigabit Ethernet and a bunch of other perks. With all that expandability, the Crystal is a bit on the bulky side for an all-in-one, measuring a full 3.8-inches thick, but there's really a lot to love here if you can overlook the processor limitations -- and if you've got the DIY spark to build your own PC in the first place. No word on price or availability.
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posted Oct 3rd 2006 12:10PM
THis was announced back in June. I think it is AWESOME! I would love to see what the cooling solution is like in this puppy. It is already on sale at NewEgg. THey have some pics of parts of the cooling solution, but I wand to see some nekked pics of this thing with the back panel off. It would be great to show up at a LAN Party with one of these things, and a decent single slot gaming grade PCIe gaming graphics card in it.
LAN Party: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAN_Party
New Egg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856167002
MSI's Web Site: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/slim_pc/slm/pro_slm_detail.php?UID=615
PS: Engadtet crew, if you read this. I just weant to tell you that I love you guys! You need to have another meet up in San Francisco! I may be able to secure a location even!
- Kiteless
are you sure you don't want to rename the title "Keep it real fake XXX"?
Neither MSI or Newegg mention ANYTHING about a PCI Express x16 slot.
True or False? I'm gonna go with false (MSI would own up to it having one) until someone proves it.
Engadget still rules though. I would enjoy one of these Crystal 945s if it had touch screen so I could wall mount my Windows MCE server.
It is the full UK press release after the jump from MSI, so I'm going to believe them and say it does support x16.