I agree with araczynski in that the design of this box is somewhat lacking. The pizza box form factor is nothing new. Apple did it back in '91 with the MacLC. Granted, the current state of PC technology was then not at the same level it is today, but the overall idea for a small PC of these approximate dimensions has been done before. The Taiwanese may be able to build a cheap MB, but their industrial design is still and will continue to be very weak.
Good review, I like to read up on these types of machines. I think the major fault with this box is just how specialized it is. Sometimes this can be advantage - a system that does one thing very well. But it doesn't even seem like this one is up to par.
WHY IN THE WORLD DOES EVERYTHING THESE DAYS HAVE TO LOOK SO DAMN RETRO 70'S? DOESN'T ANYBODY HAVE ANY ORIGINAL IDEAS ANYMORE? just because the current "x-generation" is clueless and unoriginal doesn't mean all technology has to reflect that in appearance.
this stuff looks like all the 8tracks at goodwill.
I wish they would have gone into more detail about the actual operation of the multimedia features. I have a MSI Mega now and my g/f hates that you have to turn it on to play a DVD. Does DVD run from the alternate OS or do you have to start windows?
LOL, it's just wastefull to design a box big enough for RAID 0+1, and MPEG2 certainly does not need (even) modern HDD performance levels.
It was a nice review, but I'd have to disagree with one part- It is not desirable to decrease the size of the power supply. Make it too small and it's going to have high heat density, lower reserve capacity, and overall less quality in the design. It IS possible to use very high quality and more exotic parts to decrease size, at about 3X the cost.
I agree that it would be very nice if the remote had a touchpad on it, similar to that on a notebook.
One thing I wish Asus had done differently, is to find a way to make more of the front panel ports, or at least the DVD tray, accessible without opening that front hatch. I imagine my hatch would always stay open just so I didn't have to open/close for something as simple as loading a DVD.
I've been looking at SFF/HTPC like boxes, but my biggest gripe is that they only have 1 or 2 spots for a hard drive. When I build a HTPC, I'd want more than 2 HD spaces (preferably 4 SATA connectors w/ bays). That prolly wont make it a SFF box, but a Tivo-size box could provide for that. The idea is that 4x200GB in RAID 0+1 would provide enough for recording TV in HD/SD MPEG-2 as well as ripping DVDs and storing them, plus other misc stuff. None of the products on the market can suit me and look nice...
It's not a bad little box, but I prefer their new T2-P Deluxe. It has MOST of the features of the DigiMatrix, but uses the i865G chipset and has 8X AGP. It's also a lot cheaper.
It doesn't come with a hard drive, processor, or memory. It's a barebones system. And the 533 MHz refers to the FSB.
for $400 I actually think it's kind of a bargain. Nice case with a volume knob and case buttons and an LCD, motherboard, video capture card, radio tuner, tv tuner, gigabit ethernet, wireless ethernet, DVD/CD-RW, separately powered MP3 player, 7-in-1 card reader...
I'm seriously considering putting together a sub-$1000 system and trying to get it running as a personal Linux fileserver/media station. Wish me luck!
Am I reading this right? It doesn't come with a hard drive? Not even a tiny little 20 or 40 GB drive to get someone started using it as a Tivo type of thing? For $400 the least they can do is stick a little 20 GB 5400 RPM hard drive in there... sheesh. Call me crazy, but shouldn't you be able to passively cool a 533 Mhz Pentium 4? I mean... a Pentium 4 @ 533 Mhz is probably creating what... 10-15 watts of heat? I was shocked to see what looks like a heatpipe and two large fans in there... looks like a very poor cooling design to me.
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trikster2 - Saturday, February 14, 2004 - link
If you are getting it from ewiz use this link and save a few bucks:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB-DIGIMAX&c=...
rigelinoia - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link
I can only say:http://mini-itx.com/store/hush-atx.asp
Shalmanese - Friday, February 13, 2004 - link
"Keep in mind that a multimedia PC is like 10 times the cost of a DVD/MP3 player and TV tuner combination."Whats with the Valley girl speak?
3Suns - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
Yes, you have to turn it on to play DVDs. I believe only the CD/mp3 player is available in the alternate OS.Which is one reason I want to try getting all this working in linux... I can optimize the boot time!
bobbronco - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
I agree with araczynski in that the design of this box is somewhat lacking. The pizza box form factor is nothing new. Apple did it back in '91 with the MacLC. Granted, the current state of PC technology was then not at the same level it is today, but the overall idea for a small PC of these approximate dimensions has been done before. The Taiwanese may be able to build a cheap MB, but their industrial design is still and will continue to be very weak.bobbronco - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
WileCoyote - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
Good review, I like to read up on these types of machines. I think the major fault with this box is just how specialized it is. Sometimes this can be advantage - a system that does one thing very well. But it doesn't even seem like this one is up to par.araczynski - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
WHY IN THE WORLD DOES EVERYTHING THESE DAYS HAVE TO LOOK SO DAMN RETRO 70'S? DOESN'T ANYBODY HAVE ANY ORIGINAL IDEAS ANYMORE? just because the current "x-generation" is clueless and unoriginal doesn't mean all technology has to reflect that in appearance.this stuff looks like all the 8tracks at goodwill.
Wiseguy69 - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
... and the SPDIF is on the front! That may stop me from buying this. Who wants a big optical cable coming from the front of your DVD player?Wiseguy69 - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
I wish they would have gone into more detail about the actual operation of the multimedia features. I have a MSI Mega now and my g/f hates that you have to turn it on to play a DVD. Does DVD run from the alternate OS or do you have to start windows?mindless1 - Thursday, February 12, 2004 - link
LOL, it's just wastefull to design a box big enough for RAID 0+1, and MPEG2 certainly does not need (even) modern HDD performance levels.It was a nice review, but I'd have to disagree with one part- It is not desirable to decrease the size of the power supply. Make it too small and it's going to have high heat density, lower reserve capacity, and overall less quality in the design. It IS possible to use very high quality and more exotic parts to decrease size, at about 3X the cost.
I agree that it would be very nice if the remote had a touchpad on it, similar to that on a notebook.
One thing I wish Asus had done differently, is to find a way to make more of the front panel ports, or at least the DVD tray, accessible without opening that front hatch. I imagine my hatch would always stay open just so I didn't have to open/close for something as simple as loading a DVD.
Doormat - Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - link
I've been looking at SFF/HTPC like boxes, but my biggest gripe is that they only have 1 or 2 spots for a hard drive. When I build a HTPC, I'd want more than 2 HD spaces (preferably 4 SATA connectors w/ bays). That prolly wont make it a SFF box, but a Tivo-size box could provide for that. The idea is that 4x200GB in RAID 0+1 would provide enough for recording TV in HD/SD MPEG-2 as well as ripping DVDs and storing them, plus other misc stuff. None of the products on the market can suit me and look nice...AlabamaEnigma - Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - link
It's not a bad little box, but I prefer their new T2-P Deluxe. It has MOST of the features of the DigiMatrix, but uses the i865G chipset and has 8X AGP. It's also a lot cheaper.3Suns - Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - link
It doesn't come with a hard drive, processor, or memory. It's a barebones system. And the 533 MHz refers to the FSB.for $400 I actually think it's kind of a bargain. Nice case with a volume knob and case buttons and an LCD, motherboard, video capture card, radio tuner, tv tuner, gigabit ethernet, wireless ethernet, DVD/CD-RW, separately powered MP3 player, 7-in-1 card reader...
I'm seriously considering putting together a sub-$1000 system and trying to get it running as a personal Linux fileserver/media station. Wish me luck!
ChemMan - Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - link
I think by 533 Mhz they mean the fsb, not the clock speed of the processor.Jeff7181 - Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - link
Am I reading this right?It doesn't come with a hard drive? Not even a tiny little 20 or 40 GB drive to get someone started using it as a Tivo type of thing? For $400 the least they can do is stick a little 20 GB 5400 RPM hard drive in there... sheesh.
Call me crazy, but shouldn't you be able to passively cool a 533 Mhz Pentium 4? I mean... a Pentium 4 @ 533 Mhz is probably creating what... 10-15 watts of heat? I was shocked to see what looks like a heatpipe and two large fans in there... looks like a very poor cooling design to me.