Filed under: Desktops

While barebones PCs are nothing new, and neither are all-in-one form factors, it’s seldom that we see the two ideas meet. MSI’s new 17-inch Crystal 945 barebones PC, however, does just that, allowing you to build a family-friendly PC with the heart of a hacker. Well, almost the heart of a hacker. The 945G chipset running this thing only supports up to a Pentium D processor, so you’re not going to get a lot of power no matter how well you spec the rest. Most everything else looks pretty snazzy otherwise, including a 7-in-1 card reader, a PCI Express x16 slot (and integrated graphics if you don’t want to spring for a full-on GPU), a mini-PCI slot for WiFi action, gigabit Ethernet and a bunch of other perks. With all that expandability, the Crystal is a bit on the bulky side for an all-in-one, measuring a full 3.8-inches thick, but there’s really a lot to love here if you can overlook the processor limitations — and if you’ve got the DIY spark to build your own PC in the first place. No word on price or availability.

[Via Randomly Accessed]

 

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Filed under: Desktops

Japanese consumers looking for yet another Mac mini-style PC will soon be able to pick up the LF800 from miniPC, which won't run as silently as the ED612E we recently saw from this same company, but delivers a much more impressive set of specs. Instead of that pokey 1.2GHz VIA Eden processor powering the last offering, this model throws down a Core Duo T2300, while also doubling the RAM to 512MB and jacking up the hard drive capacity from 40GB to 250GB. If that particular configuration doesn't suit your needs then you're in luck, because you can also pick up a bare bones model that includes integrated Intel graphics, a PCI-Express x16 slot, and CF reader, along with Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, USB 2.0, S/PDIF, and S-video ports. Both the fully assembled rig as well as the DIY version will be available sometime this month, with the former going for around $1,080 and the latter priced just under $600.

[Via Impress]

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