Habey intros fanless, noiseless Atom Z510-based BIS-6620 mini PC: shh!
By Darren Murph 
posted February 22nd 2010 7:41AM
posted February 22nd 2010 7:41AM
Habey's no stranger to the diminutive PC arena, but the latest from the company just might be the one you've been scouting. If you've been scouting a mini PC that's dead-silent, that is. The BIS-6620 is described as "an ultra-compact fanless and noiseless PC platform based on the Intel Atom Z510 processor," measuring just 4.5- x 4.5- x 1.5-inches and offering up GMA 500 graphics, 1080p hardware decoding, a single DDR2 SODIMM memory slot, room for a 1.8-inch (iPod classic-sized), a few USB 2.0 sockets, integrated SD / CF card readers, gigabit Ethernet port, an optional WiFi module and your choice of OS (Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Linux). There's a fair chance this could double as a simplistic media player in your cramped studio apartment, and at just $299.99 at NewEgg, you won't be shattering the bank in the process. Video's after the break. 
We are to assume you mean a 1.8" hard drive right?
@EM1 they accidentally the spec.
Is it better than this one I found on newegg?
Habey BIS-6550HD w/ HDMI & Full HD H.264 Hardware Decoder
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859324002
1080p hardware decoding? nice. GMA500 by itself doesn't make for a very respectable media center.
@CRA1G
Add Ion and hopefully keep the price the same. I would definitely be all over this.
@CRA1G Not sure how can it claim 1080p decoding with this hardware? Unless it has got a broadcom accelerator to do that, but it is not mentioned in the specs, though!
@CRA1G For $30 more a HP Mini 210HD will get the job done, and much more.
Fanless 1080p decoding? Sounds like silent melting of your mini PC... :P
I don't get it. Fit-PC2 came out ever so long ago with better specs than this, and still cheaper.
Been there, done that.
@touchmygadget There's a variant with DVI output: BIS-6620-II.
I need something like this that's hackintosh-able. Want a "Mac Mini" just for iTunes serving and don't want to pay Mac Mini prices.
@seoulfully Get a refurb or 2nd-hand Mini...they're not hard to find.
I love these little systems!
It looks like four of these could fit inside my MSI Wind Barebones!
Pricey, but you're paying for the lack of a footprint here and the performance is very very nice.
@Yemble
Ah, THAT ONE makes more sense, but it's still N270...
Why can't these peeps add a Firewire port, so I can record from my Comcast box? :(
@ubercool my comment wasn't directed at you, btw ^_^
@pwnstr Hehe, no problem! It definitely looks a very nice box and the price is great! :)
Lots of people opening their mouths before watching the video.
@pwnstr Agreed. The video clearly shows it managing 1080p decoding whilst using less than 50% of the 1.1 GHz CPU, obviously hardware decoding.
@pwnstr I'm not convinced. Its just an internet trailer. Probably 4Mbps or so. Animation tends to look good at these bit rates, so you wouldn't be able to tell. The 1080p part doesn't tell you much. And the fact that this works doesn't tell you whether Blu-Ray rips, or higher bit rate playback (say 8Mbps Top Gear shows in Xvid) or even full screen "HD" flash playback would work. I'd bet not. And regardless, that 1.1GHz CPU? C'mon, have you ever been using your netbook and thought, wow I wish this CPU was even slower...
Needs gigabit Ethernet.
@BluechipJ According to NewEgg, its got it.
I might pick this up to replace the Eee 900 that's currently powering my mini-Mame arcade cabinet. I get a little worried about the heat being generated in there with the Celeron processor and no real air-flow to speak of inside the sealed cabinet.
@Chefgon drool
Here's the NewEgg link that I can't seem to find above:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16859324001&Tpk=BIS-6620
It lists the HD decoder as:
Hardware Decoder : Full hardware acceleration of H.264, MPEG2, MPEG4, VC1, and WMV up to 1080p
...But gives no mention of what the actual decoder is. If it's a Broadcom CrystalHD, that means Boxee & XBMC can use it out of the box.
Great. Just what I need: another computer.
I'll take 2 please.
Can anyone say carputer?
I have a bluetooth GPS dealy as well, and am definitely considering replacing my headunit w/ a touchscreen instead. This little box shouldn't be too hard to find a place for under the dash.
This would look so much better if they simply moved the audio connector to the back.
Claiming 1080p hardware decompression seems like a bunch of absurd marketing mumbo jumbo. As JerkeyChew mentioned above its the hardware support for certain codecs that give it the ability to decode 1080p. I still remain skeptical, as my video library is from ... various (and dubious) ... sources. As a hunch I seem to doubt that it would flawlessly play everything you can throw at it.
Great. You can watch HD content in stereo. Why not an SPDIF out? I could be wrong but Newegg didn't mention it so I figure it doesn't have it.
The intro credits say that the "setup" on the machine for the video is with 1gig of RAM, but the pan past the Control Panel / System panel shows that there's 2gig on board.
The Newegg page doesn't make it clear on what it'll ship with at the $300 price point.
Could be an entertaining little box...
I sent Habey an e-mail and this is what they told me.
---------------------
Thank you for the inquiry. Please see the follow for the answers about HD hardware decoding of our platform:
BIS-6550HD - Broadcom Crystal HD mini-PCIe hardware decoder
BIS-6620-I - Intel GMA500 Graphic
BIS-6561 - nVidia ION integrated GeForce 9400M graphics
BIS-9834 - Intel GMA4500MHD Graphic
It is a bit difficult to believe that this box only has a GMA500 GPU.
@diadumenianus Dang it, you beat me to it, I got the same thing from Habbey and was about to post! :-)
But can it Youtube 1080p though?, my sempron 140 gets boned when I play any flash web content above 480p..
@Oranuro Probably not. The GMA500 *can* do Flash decode offloading with Flash 10.1 beta, but with that anemic 1.1GHz CPU I wouldn't put any bets on this handling higher bit rate full screen "HD" flash content even then given the numbers I've seen. I'd assume it won't. And the models with the Broadcom part won't do any better either. You'd need an Ion to help with that part...
Why not an Aspire Revo -
1 x Atom 330 / 1.6 GHz - RAM 2 GB - HDD 1 x 160 GB - GF 9400 - Gigabit Ethernet - WLAN : 802.11b/g/n (draft) - Windows 7 Home Premium
Comes with HD, memory, operating system, and wifi. In stock at Frys for $329 when it goes on sale it's only $299.
I can deal with the fan. (This one has the N330 and Ion - not LE, full Ion).
@NorCal1953 The Revo 1600 is only $199 at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103228&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Desktop+PC-_-Acer+America-_-83103228
@JerkyChew
That's the one running Win XP, 1gb, N230 single chip instead of N330 dual, no wifi, LE Ion, wired instead of wireless keyboard/mouse. For $99 more (when it's on sale) the higher spec'd model is much more usable. Yeah, I ran to Fry's once for the $199 version took, until I found out what it was missing.