Jetway JBC600C99-52W is a long name for a little nettop with Atom D525 power
ASUS has yet to make the EeeBox EB1501P official, with its new dual-core Atom D525 internals, and the price for being tarrying is being beaten to the punch. Jetway (who previously took a little inspiration from the Wii in its case designs), is launching the sensually titled JBC600C99-52W nettop, with a D525 processor running at 1.8GHz, ION2 graphics, gigabit Ethernet, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi. No memory whatsoever is included, so it's BYO DDR2 and storage, but a price of $270 should leave at least a little room in your budget to meet those needs.

























Looks like a wifi router
@Chas Percodani
i bet the wifi router could do more than this
@Chas Percodani. That's exactly what I thought.
@manofchao5
this thing is kick ass?! how could you say your router can do more? setup ubuntu with xmbc and this thing will fly! perfect for your television streaming torrents from another computer or watching web streams? what the hell kind of router do you have?!
@tricheboars
i was just being a smartass
its nice and compact but i would rather have something halfway between this and a regular huge desktop that does more
it does have hdmi though which is nice, just need a usb bluray player and it meets my standards
@tricheboars
oh and didnt mean my router could do more
i meant just a router like how the first commenter said
"looks like a wifi router"
@Chas Percodani I have been waiting for a box like this since the ION prototype was revealed.
Still doesn't have an optical drive like the EEEBox, though.
@paul34 Meh, who needs optical drives? I haven't used my PC's DVD drive in eons.
@paul34
At $270 vs $500+ I'd skip the DVD drive. For my Revo I set the Bluray drive on my networked primary PC to a shared drive. Problem solved.
@paul34
and thats why usb is a good friend
@Jay Evans - That's exactly what I do if I ever had to. It especially prevents any extraneous sounds the drive might make. Honestly I can't remember the last time I actually played a DVD. Usually I'll rip it to the drive and just hit that.
MAaaan, when will they QUIT with these stupid product names
this would be fine for most people i think.. no memory so use some ddr2 thats laying around (maybe im just a computer junkie but i have plenty of that laying around) or buy some for 50 bucks on newegg, and use an external hard drive.. most people have those around as well.
I think the idea of leaving it that way knowing most people have an external hard drive is a great option but to make it the only build is pretty lame.
@schultz
nvm... they didnt say this was just a barebones kit, i looked at the site and thats all these are. soooo i retract the last part of my comment lol.
@schultz
Wait, so no memory, no hard drive, and presumably no OS as well...for $270?
I bought an Acer 3610 Nettop about 6 months ago to serve as an HTPC...and for $329, I got an Ion-based dual core nettop with 2GB of RAM, 160 GB hard drive, and 64 bit Windows 7 Home. The box also has wireless b/g/n and Gigabit Ethernet...and comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse....and runs full screen MLB, Hulu, Netflix, and HBOGo content just fine...as well as streamed DVDs.
Fast forward to today and you can get the same box on newegg for the same price, but with a 250GB HD.
My family and I love this box so much we have been thinking of adding at least one more to the household...but I have been waiting to see what else is available in second gen Ion flavors...and have been sorely disappointed...and this product does nothing to stem that tide of disappointment.
$270...but you need to buy RAM, an HD, and an OS (if you want Windows...which we do for various DRM compatibility). I suspect that I am also not getting the wireless keyboard and mouse.
$300 is the magic price point in my house for an HTPC...and that's where we see these boxes being useful. The are too anemic for much else...and we can get a fairly powerful full desktop from HP for $500. In fact, we did just buy one of those as well.
Not interested...thanks.
@ScubaSteve Agreed. $270 with no hard drive or Ram = fail. This looks exactly like the Foxconn barebones which sells for $199. Drop the price ATLEAST $100 and they'd be in the game.
@ScubaSteve
I've got the same box, and it stutters like hell on HD, and lots of people report the same problem with this thing. Netflix is usually unwatchable, and Youtube cannot stream higher than 720p. IAnd as far as this box goes I've heard that Ion2 has problems with streaming also. From what I've seen, only a quad core will handle HD streaming.
@aiiee
And the Revo w/ 250gb Hdd cannot be returned for a refund, in case you change your mind, only replacement
@aiiee
And by 'same box' I mean the Acer Revo 3610
@aiiee
Well, setting aside your point for a moment, my point stands - the Acer 3610 is a heck of a better deal than this bare bones IMHO based on what is included...and I expect their since their performance will be fairly similar (1.8 vs 1.6 dual core...and Ion 2 seems a tad sketchy in this architecture)
Okay...back to your point. :)
Have you:
- Uninstalled all of the crapware
- Upgraded to Flash 10.1
- Upgraded to the latest beta Nvidia drivers for Ion?
- Ensured that you are using a decent connection...perhaps wired?
I have done the above (on Gig E) and we don't see stuttering. Of course, we are also not streaming BluRays. :)
Regardless, I still think the 3610 trounces this thing from a value pov.
@ScubaSteve
BTW, before upgrading the Flash to 10.1 beta (at the time) and associated NVidia drivers, the video did stutter. Even low-res Hulu stuttered when it was full screen.
After installing and de-crapwareizing, it is perfectly smooth. Perhaps a trained eye might see something, but we stream Netflix on this box almost daily...and it looks fluid and smooth. We also stream DVDs and other online content.
We have nothing else running on the box other than MS Sec Essentials...and are connected via Gig E.
@aiiee
Almost everyone that complains about the performance of these boxes are not using video acceleration of any kind.
The latest Adobe flash player allows for hardware acceleration. Make sure it is enabled. I have tested 1080P youtube footage, and it had no problem.
Likewise, when watching movies you don't want to be using VLC, its not video accelerated as far as I know. Get PowerDVD 10 or a codec pack for WMC that you know allows hardware acceleration, and in PowerDVD you still have to go into options and verify its enabled.
I posted a good review here recently where even on an old last gen single core Atom, w/ PowerDVD you could watch the processor go from 100% on 1080P down to 13% utilization w/ video acceleration enabled.
@Ducman69
Concur. Prior to upgrading to Flash10.1 and associated NVidia drivers, my CPU was at nearly 100% during full-screen playback. It's now at 40-70%...which, while still high at times, is acceptable...and the result is very watchable video. I was very disappointed with this box until those betas became available...and now they are final.
@Ducman69 VLC is hardware accelerated as of version 1.1.0, IIRC.
I wouldn't even bother designing a product with Intel's new chipset for the latest Atoms. ION2 through a PCIe 1.0 1X is just stupid. Intel needs to add more lanes to the PCIe bus NOW!
+1
intel is hosing itself
@warobert
Well WTF! It's not Intel's fault at all!!! Their spec for the NM10 chipset allows four 4 PCIe 1x lanes and their documentation clearly states that these 4 can be combined into one 4x lane.
"Optionally, PCI Express ports 1-4 can be configured as a single one x4 port identified as port 1. This is accomplished by placing external pull-up resistors on HDA_SDOUT and HDA_SYNC. When these signals are sampled high on PWROK assertion, this will be registered in the Port Configuration field of the Root Port Configuration Register and the corresponding ports will be configured as one x4 port."
I'll wait for Apple's new box in September with FaceTime support for Grandma and Grandpa talks with the kids. ;-)
Looks ok to me. Get a small ssd in it, running some light browser.
It says FSB 667/533mhz, so which is the front side bus.?
It's just that I'm using an old laptop as a benchmark for what I would exept in gaming capabilities. My laptop had a celeron 1.66ghz duel core, But with a 667 FSB. I know that makes a difference.
$270? What overpriced junk!. I can build one of these with Newegg parts for $25. Some companies just love to rip-off their customers.
/s
@Ed T Pshh, I can put one together for even less using just a crowbar to procure parts from my neighbors house. RIPOFF!
This thing is a complete ripoff. You can build your own for nearly half the price and with better specs or buy a laptop with better specs for the same price.