The "little brother" of the Raspberry Pi micro-PC family, the Model A, is now available in Europe-- ideal for customers wanting the credit card-sized computer at an even lower price.

Just like its popular Model B brother, the Model A board carries a 700MHz ARM-based Broadcom CPU, but has just 1 USB port, 256GB of RAM and lacks an ethernet connector. It also cheaper ($25, down from $35) and uses even less power than the Model B.

"It’s what we said we’d do all along, and we can’t wait to see wh Continue reading...

The Arctic MC001 PC gets an update-- the MC001-XBMC, a Home Theatre PC (HTPC) created in partnership with XMBC developers OpenELEC.

As a result the MC001-XBMC carries the latest version of the XBMC platform, 12.0 aka "Frodo".

It carries a dual-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom CPU, ATI Radeon HD 5430 graphics, 2GB RAM, 1TB HDD and supports AirPlay and DLNA streaming. Connectivity includes wifi and ethernet together with VGA, SPDIF, HDMI, USB and 3.5mm audio.

Control comes through either bundled IR remote Continue reading...

AMD takes on both x86-based embedded system development and Raspberry Pi-style micro-PCs with with the Gizmo board-- a 25cm-square development board running Android, Linux and Windows.

The package includes a dual-core 1GHz G-T40E CPU, Radeon HD 6250 GPU and 1GB of soldered-on RAM, giving it the performance capacity of 52 gigaFLOPS (GFLOPS) according to AMD.

It also includes a number of connectivity options-- VGA, x2 USB, ethernet and x2 custom I/O connectors.

While chiefly aimed for embedded Continue reading...

Intel makes what perhaps is an expected announcement-- no doubt due to continual PC sale declines Intel is phasing out the desktop motherboard business in order to focus on mobile products.

In other words, the company will still supply desktop chipsets to 3rd party motherboard makers, but will stop making own motherboards (such as all ATX boards, including Mini-ATX and Micro ATX models) after a final Haswell-based series set for a Q3 2013 launch.

"Intel's Desktop Motherboard Business will begin Continue reading...

The EMEA PC market sees 2 consecutive quarters of decline during H2 2012-- Q4 2012 shipments drop by -9.6% Y-o-Y to reach 28.1 million units as the market continues to "face many headwinds."

As a result overall 2012 EMEA PC shipments drop by 2.8% from 2011. W. Europe remains the Achilles heel of the region, while C. and E. Europe and MEA see Q-o-Q growth.

“The holiday season mostly saw retailers clearing Windows 7 notebook inventory or driving volume of low-end notebooks," Gartner remarks. "Furthermore, the increasing choice of tablets at decreasing price points no doubt became a favorite Christmas present ahead of PCs.” In other words Windows 8 had zero impact on the holiday season due to Ultramobile products being both high in price and low in supply.

Half Life and online game merchant Steam developer Valve confirms its long rumoured "Steam Box" hardware plans with Piston, a home theatre PC (HTPC) from mini-PC maker Xi3.

Seen in prototype form at CES 2013, according to Xi3 the Valve-sponsored Piston is "designed specifically to support both Steam and its Big Picture mode for residential and LAN party computer gaming on larger HD screens.”

The PC itself is based on Xi3's high-end offering, the X7A, and packs up to a 3.2GHz quad-core processor, 8GB RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, with a full complement of x8 USB slots (four 2.0, four 3.0), x4 eSATA slots, x2 Mini DisplayPorts and HDMI port, all within a modular design.

The OS of choice is Linux, together with Valve's Steam games marketplace.

Lenovo's "portable" All-in-One (AIO) PCs grow to massive sizes at CES 2013 with the IdeaCentre Horizon-- a 27-inch battery-powered "table PC" based on the idea of multi-user input.

Similar to the Sony Vaio Tap 20 you might recall from IFA 2012, the Horizon 27 is slim (27mm) and designed to lie flat on any surface. Internals include Core i7 processors, discrete graphics (maxing out at Nvidia GeForce GT 620M) and up to 1TB of storage.

Windows 8 is the touch-friendly OS of choice, even if users can Continue reading...

Scan teams up with the BBC to produce a PC case set to delight your nerdier customers-- the TARDIS case, an official aluminium replica of iconic prop from the Doctor Who TV series.

Looking like a blue police box, the TARDIS (stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space) is actually a time machine and happens to be the preferred mode of transport for an immortal alien known only as "The Doctor."

According to the show, the TARDIS is supposed to be bigger on the insde than the outside. No such Continue reading...