Dell previews teeny (and green) PC
April 23, 2008 by Dave Haynes
Everybody and their sister seems to be using Aopen’s little digital engine box for digital signage installs where space is at a premium. There are a few other teeny boxes out there, but Aopen has been about the closest thing to a major manufacturer cranking something out that’s small enough to slap on the back of a big old flat panel.
Dell appears set to change that, though it is doubtful the teeny new PC they revealed Tuesday was purpose-built for our little world.
The press release was very light on detail, other than to say the box is about a fifth the size of a conventional desktop PC and is70 per cent more energy efficient. Because it was Earth Day, it was also green, though I saw another image in a bamboo-look wrapper, which was kinda cool and impractical for our evil needs.
No word on price, but tech bloggers are guessing $600-ish. It won’t be out until later this year.
This is an interesting move because small form factor is a necessity in the restricted spaces of many retail locations, as well as other places where ad network operators are stuffing screens. It will also catch some attention because Dell has the production and fulfillment capabilities to handle big orders, and the support and leasing facilities that will make the guys who write cheques a little more relaxed.
If you guys want to know a company that’s got the best form of green pc consciousness, it’s Userful. They can take a single existing PC and using their software, turn it into 10 workstations. I heard they were able to save about 29000 tons of C02 within a year. See for yourself – http://www.userful.com.