Shuttle D10 desktop features built-in touchscreen, little else

Posts with tag small form factor

Considering the recent onslaught of Pico-ITX and other diminutive motherboards hitting the scene, it's not too surprising to hear that Shuttle could end up shipping standalone mobos for its widely recognized XPC series of small form factor PCs. According to an interview with DigiTimes, a Shuttle spokesperson purportedly revealed that the company was "planning to start shipping standalone motherboards for its XPC line" of computers, which would allow current XPC barebone kit owners to upgrade just their mainboard in the future rather than having to buy an entirely new setup. Moreover, this decision would enable owners to mix and match current motherboard offerings with the variety of chassis options, and while there were no hints as to when Shuttle would make the final call on this reported decision, we can't imagine it hanging around for too much longer while competitors eat away at SFF market share.
Although it wasn't too awfully long ago that AMD unveiled what it hoped would become an accepted standard for small form factor PCs, it looks like Via is already trying to one-up DTX. The forthcoming Epia PX media-oriented motherboard will clock in at just 3.9- x 2.8-inches, which provides "half the surface area of its already-tiny 4.7- x 4.7-inch Nano-ITX" standard and looks utterly dwarfed beside the 6.7- x 6.7-inch mini-ITX. Via's boards have become commonplace in applications which can sacrifice raw horsepower for low-power requirements and cool operation, such as being housed in Mini-Box's VoomPC-2. Consequently, the the Epia PX will purportedly tout just a 1GHz C7 processor (at least initially), and there's speculation that some flavors might actually support HDTV resolutions and video-in, but most of the expansion will be done through pin headers. Via hasn't opened its mouth to divulge details surrounding price nor availability, but it's assumed that this wee motherboard will run folks between $250 and $350 whenever it finally lands.









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