Remember the CUTi n30 we spotted at the Sparkle booth back at Computex in June 2009?
Back then, we described the stackable HTPC concept as both interesting and unique. Fast forward some seven months, and Sparkle has finally launched the product in a notably toned-down guise.
Gone is the cool-looking aluminium finish and stackable multi-component design to be replaced by what's essentially just another plastic-shelled nettop. To see just how drastic the change actually is, take a look at Sparkle's original design.
Get past the disappointment of what could have been, however, and you may conclude that the CUTi n30 is pretty useful as a compact HTPC solution. Sparkle has opted to equip the system with a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom 330 processor, sitting atop of NVIDIA's ION chipset and GeForce 9-series graphics.
What's useful for the HTPC crowd is that Sparkle reckons the system creates just 26 dB of noise when under load, and that drops right down to 3 dB when idle. Power consumption, too, will remain low at between 14-30W.
There's still no mention of price, but Sparkle's complete specification now looks like this:
CPU | Atom N330 1.60Gz 533MHz (FSB) |
---|---|
Chipset |
NVIDIA MCP7A-Ion |
VGA |
Intergrate NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GPU |
DX10 , Full HD support HDMI 1080p |
|
Pure Video HD technology for GPU H/W decoding
Blu-ray/HD DVD H.264 video without CPU usage |
|
Memory |
Up to 4 GB of DDR2 800 ( Support Dual Channel ) Optional |
Storage |
Up to 500G SATA 2.5" HDD or SSD |
LAN |
Supports 10M/100M/1000M |
Audio |
Supports high-performance 7.1 Channel by S.PDIF Out |
Optical S/PDIF-In/Out
(mini audio jack connector, Coaxial & Optical combo) |
|
Card Reader |
Supports SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/MMC |
Wireless/Bluetooth |
Wifi 802.11 b.g.n + Bluetooth 2.0+EDR ( Optional ) |
AC Adapter |
19V , 3.42A, 65W |
I/O Ports |
6 x USB 2.0 ,
1 x DVI-I ,
1 x HDMI ,
1 x RJ45 ,
1 x Headphone ,
1 x Mic-In ( Support SPD-IF ) |
1 x Line-out ( Support SPDIF-Out ) ,
1 x SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/MMC card slot ,
1 x DC in |
|
Support OS |
Linux / Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 ( Optional ) |
Dimension |
210mm x 135mm x 36mm |