Tom's Hardware > All Reviews > Solutions > Desktops > No More Penny-Pinching: Seven Mini-PCs On The Catwalk

No More Penny-Pinching: Seven Mini-PCs On The Catwalk

06:00 - Wednesday 7 January 2004 by Frank Völkel

1. No More Penny-pinching: Bare-bones Models From Biostar, Shuttle And Soltek
2. No More Penny-pinching: Bare-bones Models From Biostar, Shuttle And Solt...
3. Sales Figures: Shuttle Leads
4. Trends 2004: High Quality, Mega-features And Performance In Compact Format
5. Trends 2004, Continued
6. Aopen XC Cube EZ65309: New Elegance With Finely-tuned Technology
7. Aopen XC Cube EZ65309, Continued
8. Aopen XC Cube EZ65309, Continued
9. Aopen XC Cube EZ65309, Continued
10. Biostar IDEQ 200A: P4 Basis With 9100IGP Graphics
11. Biostar IDEQ 200A, Continued
12. Biostar IDEQ 200A, Continued
13. Biostar IDEQ 200A, Continued

No more penny-pinching! At least not for buyers who know better than to keep an eye out for a would-be bargain at some discount chain. Two words go round and round in the naive buyer's head: Megahertz Gigabyte- and it still is not the performance you wanted? In no time, the customer understands - a $1000 (900 Euro) PC from the grocery store is not the best choice. And who would settle for an ugly metal box that, on top of everything else, has been optimized down to the last budget cent - with "price point" as the key concept? THG has warned against buying this kind of cash-and-carry item often enough in the past few years. Anyone who has trouble warming up to a $1000 budget-box will find a broad selection of mini-PCs that offer top-rate performance and are nice to look at.