Peak Cape 7 Ion
Review The Cape 7 Ion combines a single-core Intel Atom 230 processor with a Nvidia Ion graphics chipset in a tiny PC that measures 173 x 154 x 20mm - approximately the same size as a paperback book.
Inside the casing there is a Fujitsu 2.5in laptop hard drive that was 80GB in the test sample but will be 160GB in production versions. The memory is 667MHz DDR 2, 1GB on the motherboard and 1GB in the Dimm slot, so there’s scope to upgrade the overall capacity to 3GB.
You can sit the Cape 7 Ion flat on the table, mount it vertically on the supplied stand or use the supplied Vesa mount to attach the PC to the back of your display.
I like the way that you squeeze the corner of the case to activate the machine, but I could happily live without the piercing blue LED strip that tells you the system is running.
While the review sample had a native HDMI port, production models have a DVI-I output and come with a DVI-to-HDMI adaptor in the box.
The Ion's graphics core is perfectly capable of decoding HD movies. However, the single-core Atom 230, despite its use of Hyper Threading to make it look like a two-core part, is feeble and barely up to the job of running full Windows 7. On the bright sid, it means that the Cape 7 Ion is amazingly cool and quiet in operation.
If you’re considering this PC you may do well to look at the £240 version that comes without an OS and install Linux instead of Windows 7 Home Premium.
Verdict
The Cape 7 Ion has the potential to be a nifty PC despite its tiny size, but Windows 7 demands too much from the Atom 230 CPU.
Next: Shuttle XPC SG41J1
COMMENTS
Finally.. NO OS option!.. But audio...?
About time they started releasing a NO-OS option of cheap net-tops like this. I have an MSDN license, so I'd be greatful to receive this little critter with NO-OS and save a fair few bob! Not sure about the DVI-D however.. not quite sure how that'll deal with audio :-(
@ Bob
That's a very good point bob, although my TV has the option to manually select a sound input also (LG - model number escapes me!)
good idea but stupid implementation
This is daft. If you connect to an LCD TV with DVI converted to HDMI the TV will expect to find video and sound on the HDMI connector. It won't find sound (cos DVI is video only) and it won't look for sound on the other inputs. You'll have great pix but no sound.
Zino HD
I have had the Zino HD for a few months. The ati4330 graphics score a 5.9 on windows 7. While I am not a gamer the lowest powered ati dual core cpu is faster than I thought. I bought it on sale for $349.00, a real barging in my mind. I wish I had bought 2.Looks nice, quiet and the only thing I think should have been different is audio. In truth it's not a big deal to me. I dumped pay tv 2 years ago and can find a lot of content on the internet. Zino a 90(out of 100) Many nettops don;t have a dvd player. Personally I wouldn't buy one without the dvd player.
