Toradex's Robin stuffs Atom-based computer on credit card-sized module

You may scoff at netbooks for their perceived lack of horsepower, but what if that not-quite phenomenal cosmic power was itty-bitty enough to fit in your (necessarily oversized) wallet? Toradex has unveiled the credit card-sized Robin Z510 and Z530 computer modules, which manages to fit quite a bit in fairly small space. The two mainboards feature a 1.1GHz Intel Atom Z510 and 1.6GHz Atom Z530 (the same processor found in the Vaio P), respectively, as well as integrated GMA500 graphics card with HD capabilities, support for up to seven USB 2.0 ports, and on board microSD slot (pictured, bottom left), 512MB DDR2 RAM, and 2GB solid state flash disk. Enthusiasts can order it now for 129 € / 179€ ($164 / $227), but there's about a $20 discount if you're willing to buy in bulks of 10,000 or more.

[Via Slash Gear]

[theonlysmr Posted Feb 28th 2009 2:38PM]

Wow! Think about the PSP! this thing would change hanheld gaming forever!!!! That crap 400 Mhz in my psp replaced with this, OMG!!!!!
porn is going to even better!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 28th 2009 3:26PM]

And what the hell am I supposed to do with no I/O? This thing still needs to be plugged into a base board. I'd still rather have a 2W BeagleBoard with all the I/O there already. Just wait until the dual-core Cortex-A9 boards are here..

[ananimus Posted Feb 28th 2009 6:32PM]

I'm surprised people marvel over this. Given the hardware in, say, an HTC Touch Pro today which is fully operational, this seems pretty incremental. It's a nice step and all, and the openness is fun, but not much beyond expectation.

Maybe tech growth is jading me. :-/

[Tpebop Posted Mar 1st 2009 2:19PM]

Being able to put a full blown desktop OS on something the size of a credit card is pretty impressive. Not just some gimpy flavor of embedded linux. Also considering the fact the asus eee has the same power but at 10x the size is also amazing. with that being said, I believe via came out with the mobile itx form factor about a year ago and It has better specs, but this has a nice price. about $160 for the 1.1ghz model. I might have to pick one of these up for a project.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 28th 2009 9:49PM]

Yeah, the PSP and DS could become awesome with this kind of power.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 1st 2009 4:10PM]

If you could do dual NIC. Possible USB powered micro firewall w/ VPN. with something like pfSense embedded.

[RiDK Posted Mar 2nd 2009 12:16PM]

Anyone else wondering why nobody seems to have a spec on the height of this board? Or maybe I'm just missing it? I mean, great footprint, but if it's already 10mm thick then by the time you add I/O and add a case it's going to look... well, just like what I'd already expect the next generation of the fit-pc slim to look like