CTL releasing Atom-powered 2go nettop for $149
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 31st 2008 3:25PM
posted Aug 31st 2008 3:25PM
CTL, the same cats who brought us the 2go PC laptop, are apparently working up an equally cheap and not-exactly-flashy nettop PC. The 2go PC Nettop will reportedly range in price from $149 to $299 depending on specifications, and the baseline model will feature Intel's DG945GCLF motherboard, Intel's Atom 230 processor, 1GB of Kingston DDR2 RAM, a GMA 950 graphics accelerator, support for one HDD and one optical drive, six USB 2.0 ports and an Ethernet jack. The Essential Plus Edition ($199) adds in Ubuntu and an 80GB 7,200RPM hard drive (while slashing RAM to 512MB); the $299 Essential Performance Edition comes with Windows XP Home, a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of memory. There's no word just yet on when the 4.5-pound boxes will be released, but we'd expect 'em to surface pretty quietly.[Thanks, Nate]
This is great ! ! ! I I would love to put a few of these in my wife's classroom. The Atom is really ideal for the education market, and Ubuntu makes it an even sweeter deal.
You know Ubuntu is free, right?
Ubuntu may be free, but it does cost some time to uninstall a pre-loaded copy of Windows XP and install Ubuntu.
This is exactly what this computer is perfect for: a classroom setting. I'm sure my old high school computer science professor will like the idea of an affordable, capable desktop unit for the kids in elementary.
WHS: Please refrain from spamming about your own company. Have some dignity.
You can already get exactly the same thing for less:
case ($56)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154091
Intel Atom mini-ITX motherboard ($70)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342
I predict there'll be a lot of cookie-cutter "white boxes" like this using the Intel Atom board. Hopefully, some will see fit to add value-added solutions, like built-in WiFi or IR receiver. What would be great is if AMD release a mini-ITX board w/ their 780G chipset. Intel IGPs suck.
dang, thats not a bad deal.
My grandma needs to get connected so the one with xp would be the best choice for her.
I think I'l get one of these for her.
" ...For less" ?
1GB Kingston DDR2 667 $ 16.75 +$ 69.00 shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134045
Apex case $ 55.99+ $ 14.01 shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154091&Tpk=mi-008
Intel motherboard/atom processor $ 69.99 + $ 8.25 shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342
Total less shipping $ 142.99
Shipping $ 39.01
Total $ 182.00
The same CTL essential edition is $ 149.99 plus shipping and they do all the work and provide the warranty on the entire unit, not just the individual parts.
Well, my dad needs to upgrade his dinosaur of a system, so since I'm already looking at replacing the damn thing, I went ahead and bought the parts from Newegg. FYI, Newegg does reduce the shipping cost when you buy multiple parts. Here is how much I paid:
Apex MI-100 case & Intel Atom motherboard combo deal ($119)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154084
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342
1GB DDR2 667 Kingston memory ($17)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134045
UPS 3-day shipping $11
Total: $147 (all $ amounts rounded up)
me wants :) I'll take two!
low power drain, low heat, small size intel cpu
Although this computer is too weak for my needs I appreciate it's purpose. This will be a very nice buy for families of poorer living conditions that need a second computer in their home.
It will pay to wait until the next generation of the Atom line, which will certainly have some completely different succession of names. We haven't even seen the dual core Atom in action yet.
Eh, it's marginally cheaper, but for around $300 I can put together a decent rig with a full-fledged Athlon64 or even Core 2 processor. The advantage is size and power consumption, but is that really a dealmaker for that many people in the desktop market?
Since when was 50% "marginal"?
€100 pc - now that sounds like something my retired mother would consider buying...
thats a lot more. And the point of netops is to check email and surf the web, not anything that would really need that kind of power.
It wouldn't be nearly as small or quiet, and you WILL be using junk parts for that price. I'm not saying that this isn't using junk parts, but it shouldn't have to.
But I agree with another post, it would be smart to wait for dual core. That should help lessen the apparent effects of an in-order architecture, I think.
You would be surprised at just how well the atom runs, i have an Eee pc 1000H and i have yet to be disappointed in the processor. Nothing really lags, and its speedy considering its only 1.6ghz
That is a pretty crap user name.
But like a typical Apple fan you have no technical knowledge whatsoever, Atom has been everywhere for months.
I'm still waiting for a Nettop with Dualview-Capability....will this be the one?
You'll need a PCI gfx card:
Radeon 7000 64MB 64-bit DDR PCI ($30)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161011
Don't plan to play games or watch HD video on it, but it will let you connect to a TV, and get dual screen.
That'll be great for the CarPC market... Mount one of THOSE in your trunk.
You're better off building your own. The optical bay makes this thing twice the size of what a CarPC needs to be. You'll also need to replace whatever power source the 2go uses.
Years ahead, lol
I had a 3G phone in 2003
AND it could send and receive MMSes
He's a parody! Stay away!
I have an Atom 230 based system with the same Intel motherboard and Ubuntu. Everyone is totally floored at how well it works and how fast it is.
Mine draws about 40 watts at full load.
Cheers to CTL for offering these decent spec systems at a very reasonable price.
fix a screen to one side of the cabinet and its a complete PC.
Thats just my idea.
Wow, because you couldn't do that to any other PC ever?
Keyboard and mouse?
Intel Atom....energy efficient and small, I'm sure it performs well
How about we all use up as much power as humanly possible, buy a quad processor server motherboard (they got 'em), drop in 4 Quad core AMD Opterons at the highest speed possible, 128GB Ram, the latest graphics card that needs a 500 watt power supply or higher, 1,200 watt power supply and hook up it up to two 30 inch monitors......that sounds more like it!
btw, this is just to poke fun at the people who would "purely" buy this thing because it's energy efficient.
Why would you use AMD over Int... Ohh wait! I get it! Opterons are much more power hungry than Xeons!
Why and how would you hook two 30" monitors up to a 1200w power supply?
Hmm, is it just me, or for $149 do you not get a hard drive, yet for $200 you get half the RAM and a hard drive that costs like $35?
Sounds to me like I'd be buying the $149 deal... You can download Ubuntu on your own, and get the hard drive for less than that.
Maybe I'm wrong, and misunderstood what the deals are, but that sounds like the $150 is a better deal.
No, a 2.5" 80GB hard drive is $50+ at Newegg, and for the 7200RPM they're advertising, $78+. I'm just assuming it uses a 2.5" hard drive, but it would be logical to do so.
As for the cut in RAM size, while I wouldn't advise buying that configuration, don't forget that there's extra installation time on their part. Not only do they have to physically install the hard drive (and probably run a diagnostic on it to reduce returns), but also load an image of the OS. I'd say $50 is pretty damned reasonable, even if it is a 3.5" drive.
like I said I may have been misunderstanding the deals.
I would still think they would use a 3.5" drive- it's way cheaper than a 2.5" one and they're way more plentiful.
As for the installation.... I dunno, how hard is it to install RAM into a desktop? If you're paying the people that put the unit together and most RAM is like $20-25 a gig, you break even roughly. I dunno, I don't run a business that does that so I wouldn't know.
Yeah, seeing the exact case linked in another post, it looks like it does take a 3.5" hard drive. I'm sure that's what they're using.
Though, if one bought the barebones (or put one together themselves, without that awful blue logo on the front), they could easily get a 2.5" drive and suspend it in the 3.5" bay to make it even a little quieter yet.
slight typo to point out:
I meant to say if you're paying the people $10 an hour to put the thing together (we know they're not, but it's a bottom number) and the RAM is $20-25 and it takes say 1hr (kinda long isn't it?) to put everything together and check it out, you break even roughly on the 1GB/512MB thing.
I still see the $150 deal as better. For $50 I can get a 160GB HDD off newegg (prior to shipping costs) and install it myself. As for Ubuntu, that's easily installed. And it's also not a piece of crap for $200, it's at least respectable (somewhat) as a basic desktop.
If it has a gigabit Ethernet port, it could make a nice low power file server.
Of course, it would be even better if Intel would create a more suitable chipset for the Atom. My understanding is the 945 chipset actually uses more power than the CPU does.
I would love to see one of these with Component out. I want to hook up a small HTPC to our 32" SDTV.. it doesn't have VGA or DVI, but it has component. I would even be happy with S-video..
Meh, for frugal users like me it is a decent move from a P3 866, already have the monitor so $150 is a decent price.
The tranquil PC is £149.00 which is about $275. Hardly comparable to the 2go.
The education market could die right now for all I care.
But this thing ,if it's got wifi capability (possibly N), it's gonna find its way to those last of my tv monitors that still lack a media extender or direct wiring to my NAS.
Hey It´s even cheaper than any (decent) media extender.
Linksys, popcorn hour, Blue Tinum/Symantec, etc. just ceased to have any reason to exist.
The education market could die right now for all I care.
But this thing ,if it's got wifi capability (possibly N), it's gonna find its way to those last of my tv monitors that still lack a media extender or direct wiring to my NAS.
Hey It´s even cheaper than any (decent) media extender.
Linksys, popcorn hour, Blue Tinum/Symantec, etc. just ceased to have any reason to exist.
Two words: Home Server.
@ This is Apples Market Now
He wasn't quoting any specific features of the iPhone. He was debating your statement that the iPhone is years ahead of other phones when it is not. You really need to drop your arrogance and actually debate the facts, not the people.
You tart.
No Spam!
hey, you're right - but then again the T7 has 120GB / 512MB prefitted, it looks gorgeous and looks great for CAR PC - tiny and looks bomb proof !
Shame no DVD drive, but who uses those now ! - :)
It's actually pretty close, all things considered. You're getting a bigger hard drive than the base 2go model, but smaller than the higher end model. You're only getting the RAM of the base model, but you are paying about $25 less. Then consider the better case from a company with a long history in silent computing. I'd say it all evens itself out. There's no optical drive on the TranquilPC, but who cares?
I will definitely have to get one of these and run OS X86 on it for my media PC, by by mac mini!
Anyone know the release date???
BTW, if you are indeed interested in this solution, a better case is here,
iStarUSA S3 ($90)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811165041
It is much more compact than the above case, and looks better.
Disclaimer: This isn't an endorsement of Newegg. I'm using it simply for reference.