Portwell ships Atom-based nano-ITX motherboard

With all these nettops, netbooks and plain ole motherboards flying every which-away, it's hard to say if Portwell's Atom-based nano-ITX board really is the first, but it's close enough to count in our book. Utilizing all sorts of legerdemain and black magic, the engineers at Portwell were able to craft a Linux-friendly mobo that measures just 4.72- x 4.72- x 0.65-inches and supports Intel's Silverthorne Atom while including six USB 2.0 ports, embedded audio and a gigabit Ethernet jack. The Nano-8044 can be ordered in two flavors -- the Z530, which packs a 1.6GHz CPU, or the Z510, which clocks in at 1.1GHz. As you could likely guess, this one's aimed primarily at point-of-sale machines, digital signage devices and other commercial applications, and the sub-10-watt power draw should keep energy costs to a minimum. Oh, and it should totally play Doom in a pinch.

[Via LinuxDevices]

[Nick K. @ Oct 10th 2008 10:55PM]

But, does it... p-play... *sniff*
:,[

[who? @ Oct 11th 2008 1:48AM]

Everyone, start spamming each other.

[nerdtalker @ Oct 11th 2008 1:50AM]

@specialsyco, you must be new here. Posting links doesn't earn you e-peen, just low rank.

BTW, that forum of yours has 12 posts total. Fail.

[lawyer bird @ Oct 12th 2008 8:41AM]

@ nerdtalker

You must be new here, you don't know how to reply.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Oct 10th 2008 11:22PM]

If you could buy atom processors on their own then I would buy. I've just been looking to by a small pc like the eee box and the Shuttle N27 that I can watch freeview TV on so I can get rid of my freeview box and an old Hi-Fi and hook it up to my LCD TV. They're cheap but if you can build you're own they would be even cheaper. It's just so that I can spend more on a bigger pc in the future once the world hasn't ended. BTW if you know any alternatives to the eee Box or the Shuttle N27 then that use an atom or uses similar power requirements then I'd love any suggestions. I live in the UK so Alternatives need to be in the UK and cost around £200 Like the eee Box and the Shuttle.

[ArcticFox @ Oct 11th 2008 3:43AM]

Build your own.

Novatech.co.uk do the Dual Core Atom motherboard for £64, or Single Core for £51, £40-50 case with psu, £20 for 2Gb Ram, £25 for 160Gb HDD, £15 for Optical Drive. Sure it doesnt look as pretty as the all in one machines but it gets the job done.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Oct 11th 2008 9:07AM]

Cheers Arctic fox.

I love Novatech and have visited them many times and was where I found the shuttle. I guess I should look carefully more often. Novatech is were I was going to buy my next big computer anyway and I recommend Novatech to any one.

[SimonRichards @ Oct 10th 2008 11:24PM]

IS IT DUAL CORE?

NO?

SORRY, NO DEAL.

[Reader @ Oct 11th 2008 1:51AM]

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE TARGET MARKET?

NO?

SORRY, GO BACK TO SCHOOL PLEASE

[SimonRichards @ Oct 11th 2008 11:37AM]

YES I DO. I WANT AN ATOM BASED NANO-ITX BOARD. BUT I WANT IT TO BE AS GOOD AS IT CAN BE.

[ishism @ Oct 11th 2008 2:03PM]

Yeah, I'm looking for the sub $400, dualcore netbooks to come out. Then we're talking.

[SimonRichards @ Oct 11th 2008 2:22PM]

Why the hell would you all low rank me for wanting an improved product? Sheesh

[SimonRichards @ Oct 11th 2008 8:05PM]

Heres another one just for the hell of it. I hope you all get carpal tunnel.

[J. Evans Turner @ Oct 12th 2008 8:24AM]

The person/people ranking you "low" probably don't know that THERE ARE DUAL-CORE ATOM CPUS IN SOME NETBOOKS ALREADY.

[michas_pi @ Oct 10th 2008 11:25PM]

Dayum, that's small.

[Nick K. @ Oct 10th 2008 11:31PM]

Is that what she said?

[Apple @ Oct 11th 2008 2:41AM]

Only if she's saying it to you.

[Ian @ Oct 10th 2008 11:42PM]

His mom is rather blunt.

[David @ Oct 11th 2008 3:39AM]

"Legerdemain"? Someone subscribes to dictionary.com's WoD. :)

[Wizzard1 @ Oct 10th 2008 11:49PM]

Even on the website, no pics of the backside. What gives?

But I do like that it has a PCIe... That means one could attach a video card if they were so inclined!! Thats the best feature of the SBC boards I have, they pair well with the FX5200 256MB PCI for halfway decent performance. I know I should get the HD 2400's, but I just cant afford them yet :-P

[Aquify @ Oct 11th 2008 1:32AM]

I'm sure 1x PCI-E will handle a video card nicely.

[gonintendo @ Oct 11th 2008 11:28AM]

correct me if i'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that py 1x pci-e it meant one pci-e slot, or it would have been pci-e 1x. pci-e 1x slots are usually alot smaller than that

[Ryan454 @ Oct 11th 2008 3:49PM]

that's a 1x pci-e slot. a 16x pci-e slot would be about the size of the entire board ;)

[gonintendo @ Oct 11th 2008 6:34PM]

sorry, i was looking at that white thing, hadn't noticed ,the black 1x slot.

[Evan @ Oct 10th 2008 11:49PM]

What are we looking at as far as heatsink is concerned, nothing?

[Joshua Walters @ Oct 11th 2008 12:09AM]

Im so tempted to buy like five or so of these and start using them for appliance type computers (can you say home theater PCs?).

I do like the PCI-e slots. Makes it seem like media center PCs where almost the calling for these tiny guys.

[Michael @ Oct 11th 2008 12:15AM]

Does the LVDS connector mean I can plug a laptop screen into it?

[adam @ Oct 11th 2008 1:43AM]

Let me know if you find out about this, if that's the case I'm definately interrested!

[feffrey @ Oct 11th 2008 12:15AM]

Where is the cpu on this thing? Are Atom's that small that the cpu is no longer the "biggest" chip anymore?

[web2.oh @ Oct 11th 2008 12:48AM]

Yep! The Atom is absolutely tiny. Do a Google Image Search for "Intel Atom" and you'll find a few photos of the chip next to a penny. It's slightly smaller than the coin!

Also check out the Intel D945GCLF motherboard (a mini-ITX board with a 1.6GHz Atom): http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/D945GCLF/D945GCLF-overview.htm
See the larger heatsink with the fan on it? That's for the CHIPSET! The Atom uses the much smaller, passive heatsink. Pretty neat stuff.

[Bandit5317 @ Oct 11th 2008 1:12AM]

The CPU is mounted to the other side of the board.

[Dustin Howett @ Oct 11th 2008 2:06PM]

I'm not sure why everybody says they're smaller than a penny.
I've ripped apart many an atom netbook and the Atom is larger than a quarter.
Atom my eye.
They're lying to all of us.

[adam @ Oct 11th 2008 12:49AM]

I could really see using one of these to put together some nice digital picture frames. Now, just find me a cheap, thin lcd say a 15" for the display, and I would crank out a linux packing flicker sharing digital frame. Adam

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 11th 2008 1:10AM]

I'd love to have this, but I NEED H.264 and VC-1 decoding hardware on the board. And Intel's graphics chips (GMA950 and GMA3000) don't do it.

Come on Intel, I'm not asking to play Crysis, I just want to be able to play 1080p video fullscreen.

Get with the program.

[x3qt0r @ Oct 11th 2008 3:58AM]

6 USB ports!!

[Magallanes @ Oct 12th 2008 7:41AM]

Four more than my Macbook Pro. U_U.

[iKurt @ Oct 11th 2008 4:45AM]

mac mini!!

[noyp @ Oct 11th 2008 11:40AM]

Anything Else!

[eric @ Oct 12th 2008 9:59PM]

It really does help solving energy crisis! For those who doesn't need a fast computer, it is a good news!

[Wolfticket @ Oct 11th 2008 1:24PM]

First reasonably priced nano board for modding random object into working computers?
Probably not :(

[Str1ker @ Oct 11th 2008 7:30PM]

I want one!!

How can I buy it?...how much is it?
They're website doesn't help

[ark_v2 @ Oct 11th 2008 11:47PM]

I've been wanting to turn my broken ps2 into a pc without a lot of cutting...

[dghughes @ Oct 12th 2008 12:03AM]

All the different connectors look so huge and out of place, we really need a new type of universal connector that is small but not so small it's impossible to plug in or it breaks, even USB connectors is huge on that thing, maybe wireless USB?