The world of nettops is a strange one, my friends. What are they for? Where do they go? Where do they come from? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but the fact is there are computers out there that are just as at home in the kitchen as in the office. And now one of them is from Lenovo. Obviously they’re loving that Intel sauce, because this IdeaCentre C300 is filled with Atom-y goodness — and so is the S12 12-inch laptop, which sports an Ion setup inside.
Here’s what you get for the low, low price of $450:
- 20″ 16:9 display
- Atom 230 processor
- Intel 945GC chipset
- Integrated graphics (boo)
- 1-2 GB DDR2 667
- 1 2.5″ HDD slot
- “Tray in RAMBO (1 slot)” – not sure what to make of that
- 1.3 megapixel webcam
- Memory card reader
- Built-in speakers
Not a bad deal for five bills. It’s even pretty nice-looking. Although for a kitchen PC, a touchscreen might be nice. Or of course, you could put together your own barebones PC for under $150…
Are optical drives really necessary today? I think it’s a waste of components, takes up space, etc. It’s the only rotating part left in computers apart from the hard drive, which will eventually be in an SSD form.
I don’t need an optical drive very often – just when I format my computer and maybe install something large that I couldn’t download.
They’re still necessary, for now, but probably not much longer.
Things I’ve used an optical drive for in the past month:
- Installing old game on my wife’s PC
- Burning audio CD’s for road trip in a 2002 car (no line-in/USB hookup)
- Burning Divx videos to a DVD for a friend (no worries about getting back a thumb drive)
- Playing certain PC games that refuse to play w/out original disc in drive (daemon tools won’t work. Also, 95% of users have no idea what an iso is, or how to load one up.)
You’re right – some of those things will take a while to be out of use.
I’ve dealt with the game problem you talk about, and it’s really a hassle.
I guess it’ll probably be something more like 5-10 years before we get rid of optical media entirely. Blu-ray movies have nice quality, but it’s still a rotating part that we could do without, at least once internet connections are faster for everyone and we can just stream everything we need.
Especially for a unit like this that is aimed at being a sort of appliance rather than a computer, it’s good to have legacy stuff.
These machines are all about design and have a poor price performance ratio. They are meant either for the receptions desks of corporations of for the PC fan who wish he was a Mac fan.
Lame attempt at a joke. The price to performance ratio is absolutely reasonable for you are actually getting for $500. It is not meant to be a desktop replacement – reception desk w/ kiosk purposes, yes. Mac alternative, well another $800 of hardware is needed. This product is primarily meant for single task purposes – checking email, composing a document, playing music, instant messaging and surfing the web. Essentially 80% of what users out there solely do. 20″ monitor, too, not bad.
Aren’t these known as AIOs or All-in-one PCs rather than nettops?
Actually lenovo’s are some of the most reliable notebooks made… probably better that its Chinese i mean look at dell..