Mini-Barebones Systems Pack In Plenty Of Power

However, there is a move toward considerably smaller PCs, thanks to smaller, integrated motherboards. One of the trends VARs can expect to see this year is a push toward mini-barebones systems that simply require memory and a hard drive to get up and running, yet are small and light enough to carry with one hand.

The movement began with Shuttle Computer Group, which introduced its family of XPC mini-barebones systems in December 2001. Since then, many vendors, including Micro-Star International (MSI), Soltek Computer, VIA Technologies and other Asian PC-makers, have entered the field.

Mini-barebones systems are about the size of a lunchbox, measuring a mere 12 inches deep, 8 inches wide and 6 inches tall, and weighing roughly 5 pounds, considerably smaller and lighter than a standard ATX case. All of that makes the minisystem ideal for cramped or crowded areas.

"A lot of people use it as a point-of-sales machine, like a cash register," says George Lai, sales manager for KRI Computers, which resells VIA's line of minisystems in City of Industry, Calif. "The small platform works great in areas where there's not a lot of room."

The other major attraction of these systems is they are very quiet. The power supplies are much lower than a minitower, around 150 watts to 180 watts, compared with 300 watts to 400 watts in a regular PC. That makes the case lighter and the system much quieter than a standard desktop.

"A lot of people find that very useful," says Chris Pham, account manager for Ajump.com, an online systems builder based in Fremont, Calif. "They don't want to sit in front of this thing blaring at them all day."

More important, all functions that had previously been on add-in cards are on the motherboard, like video, sound and, more significantly, a 10/100 Megabit Ethernet adapter built into the board.

"A lot of features that required add-in cards can now be done on the motherboard itself," says Steve Hsai, product manager for personal and PC products at MSI. "Because of this, it allows machines to be built smaller without losing performance. By having everything on the motherboard, there is a reduction in cost. You don't need an extra card for that feature."

The Price Is Right

Some mini-barebones systems have every bit as much CPU horsepower as a standard desktop, while others are meant to be less powerful systems. Shuttle and MSI, for example, have mini-barebones systems that include a socket for Intel and AMD CPUs, while VIA uses its own C3 and Eden CPUs, which are slower, but in some cases don't require a fan, just a heat sink. By using midrange to lower-end CPUs, these systems can run coolly, don't require lots of fans and, therefore, are also quieter.

One thing mini-barebones systems are not is expandable. These systems have, at best, one PCI slot and one AGP slot. In some cases, they don't even have an AGP slot, leaving you stuck with the on-board video, which is far from top-of-the-line. There's usually room for one 5.25-inch drive and two 3.5-inch drives,and that's it.

But they do have Ultra ATA-100 and 133-MHz hard-disk controllers supporting fast hard drives, and memory speeds ranging from 100 MHz all the way up to 400-MHz dual data rate SDRAM. While the VIA systems use the C3 and Eden processors, Shuttle and MSI support Intel and AMD chips, right up to the top-of-performance lines.

The best part about a mini-barebones system is the price, ranging from $149 to $300. Adding the extras, like a CPU, hard disk and memory, can mean another $100 to $300,giving your customers a complete PC that will fit in their desk drawers for roughly $500.

MSI, Shuttle and other mini-barebones systems with Intel support use the Flex ATA motherboard design from Intel, a very small form factor designed for miniature boxes that eliminates all legacy ports (i.e., serial, parallel, PS/2) in favor of USB and 1394 FireWire. For AMD support, the vendors use a small form factor of their own design.

The VIA system comes with everything built in because it makes all the parts. It makes chipsets for Intel and AMD motherboards, has its own CPU from the acquisition of Cyrix several years back, and has its own video chipset from S3, which it licensed in 2000.

The integrated motherboard was part of a plan "to bring all of these products together to make it easier to sell," says Jeffrey Lee, director of business development for VIA's platform solutions division. "That opened up this whole notion of a class of products that enable you to assemble a thin client, or something quite different from a normal PC."

The advantage to the business user is cost efficiency, because almost everything comes from a single vendor, particularly the device drivers.

"So the IT department can roll out the same driver set concurrently because all the components are the same," Lee says. "They can go to one place and get driver updates."

It's also a little less assembly for the VAR to deal with. Installing the motherboard in the case is where things are most likely to go wrong. Getting the system preinstalled from the manufacturer makes life a little easier, Pham says.

Pros And Cons

Pham does point out one drawback to these integrated systems. "With any device with that many components built in, the chance is greater of it failing due to one piece going bad, but that hasn't been the case with these units," says Pham, who, overall, praises their quality. "We don't hear too many people complaining about it or returning it because it failed."

"A lot of corporate users are coming to determine that megahertz is not key anymore," Lee says. "This particular box has the ability to do anything in a corporate environment other than graphics."

So it's no wonder why mini-barebones systems are growing in popularity. Shuttle, for example, estimates its sales will double this year over last, from 250,000 units to 500,000. MSI and VIA are also predicting sales growth.

That bodes well for solution providers, as well. According to KRI Computers' Lai, mini-barebones systems are becoming a bigger part of his business as customers discover them. "I see sales increasing through the end of the year based on my experience, and a lot of people are still discovering it," he says.