I was pretty miffed and decided to write a complaint email.
It was obvious that someone had opened the bag that contained the power cable too. There were very greasy finger prints on and around the power button and DVD drive button. Upon opening it, I realized that someone else had already owned this thing. I received this package a day earlier than expected. Other than that, I have no complaints with this machine. It's worth the effort!Ĭons: At least one front USB port would be nice. If you don't know linux, there are plenty of forums and how-tos to get this up and running. I installed Ubuntu + XBMC and couldn't be happier! HD videos play with 5% or less CPU utilization (thanks ION). Pros: Small, quiet, low power consumption, HDMI, lots of USB connections, enough RAM and hard drive space to keep me satisfied for quite some time. Tested briefly with Windows 7 (RC) x86 with default included hardware (2GB/320GB) and it runs beautifully well.
* Note: You must install updated nVidia Linux drivers for proper VDPAU support to get GPU H.264 & VC-1 off-loading.
Audio over HDMI works great with my Yamaha RX-V765 (also purchased from Newegg) with PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS passthrough working perfectly. Currently running the Dual-Core Intel Atom 330 2.0 GHz with Aeon as the skin for XBMC.
CUDA/VDPAU under Linux works great on playback of full-bandwidth (Blu-Ray) 1080P H.264 & VC-1 content with minimal CPU usage. This setup works great with proper Wake-On-USB so you can wake and sleep the box with a USB-to-IR receiver and a remote control. Overall Review: I'm primarily using this with XBMC for Linux using Ubuntu. Newegg raised the price by $20 over the past month. Pricing (Biggest Con right now) Borderline pricing vs. Availability, but only because it's so new + Intel Dual-Core Atom 330 w/64-bit OS Support + Runs Windows 7 (RC) & Ubuntu 9.04 perfectly + Up to 4GB RAM with nVidia ION Chipset (2x2GB) + nVidia ION Chipset allowing shared memory with GPU up to 512MB + External PSU (AC-DC Adapter) to reduce heat inside. + Don't have to hunt down a miniITX case + PSU. Pros: So much power in such a little package: