Month: October 2009

Lenovo IdeaCentre Q100: World’s Thinnest, Smallest Nettop

The Lenovo IdeaCentre Q100 has unimpressive specs: an Atom 1.6 GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. What stands out is its tiny size, fanless chassis and extremely quiet operation.

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ZEROtherm Nirvana CPU Cooler

The Nirvana is the successor to a fairly proficient CPU cooler, the ZEROtherm Zen. It retains much of the Zen’s core design elements but sports a new look with nickel-plating and a frameless fan.

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Winmate DD-24AX DC-DC Module for Silent, Efficient Power

Power solutions continue to evolve in this era of ubiquitous computing. Electrodacus offers the PC enthusiast a picoPSU alternate: A silent, 88% efficient DC-DC converter module with full regulation to 130W output… at a price made for ultra SFF hobbyists. A close look the Winmate DD-24AX under the SPCR power microscope.

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Atom energy efficiency champ: Intel D945GSEJT w/ Morex T1610 fanless case

The first Atom-embedded mini-ITX board from Intel to feature the mobile 945GSE Express Chipset. You can hear the cheers from minimalist, green, and silent PC enthusiasts. Along with the lower power profile, the physical profile has also been dramatically reduced, allowing fanless operation in the 1.2-liter Morex T1610 case.

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m-ITX Cases: SEED MA-280B and Cooler Master Elite 100

A pair of small form factor cases, from Cooler Master and a lesser known brand called SEED, are the latest to pass through SPCR’s test labs. Can either drive an ION-powered system without offending our sensitive hearing?

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X-650: Seasonic hits Gold

The X-series power supplies achieved 80 Plus Gold nearly a year ago, and they’re finally on the market now. Is Seasonic’s best also SPCR’s most highly recommended? Yes. Read all the details here.

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StoneWave Pro Studio i7 Workstation PC

The Pro Studio i7 is meant for use as a digital audio workstation in a recording studio, and has the distinction of being Energy Star certified. StoneWave, an audio computing specialist, says it is very quiet, so we took it for a spin in our anechoic chamber.

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5900rpm Seagate Hard Drives: Barracuda LP, Pipeline HD .2

Seagate’s Barracuda LP and Pipeline HD .2 series hard drives sport 500GB platters and a rotational speed of 5900rpm, giving them a slight edge in performance over Western Digital Caviar Green and Samsung EcoGreen lines: Is there a cost?

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Low Power Monitors from Samsung and Lenovo

Monitors are not our usual review subjects at SPCR. Ironically, the fact that they make very little noise (with a few exceptions) takes them off our radar; they’re usually quiet and we like that, but we don’t have too much more to say. That said, our interest in power efficiency (and some corresponding environmental concerns)

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