regscotty12 wrote:my wife has very low vision and has never used a computer before i was considering this to hook up to a 32" hd tv to let her browse the internet in larger screen size. any feedback?

[MOD: Please use PMs. You shouldn't trust this crowd with your email. ]

you might be better off using Windows 7. It's "Desktop Presentation Manager" does a better job when you push the system fonts too large. Both Windows 7 and XP have high contrast mode. Windows 7 has a better screen magnifier tool. Have you hooked a PC to a 32 inch HDTV before? I hooked mine directly to a 34 inch HDTV CRT and it was worthless for computing -- although fine for just watching downloaded movies. If you find the your HDTV does not display "PC quality" then you might consider a 28 inch PC monitor. They are going for about <$350 and while the native resolution is the same as an HDTV, the display is far superior. However, I have never connected my video card to a LCD TV and have always wondered why a 32 inch LCD TV with a 1920x1080 wouldn't make a fine jumbo display.

weister42 wrote:Can anyone tell me if the HD, fans and the CPU be fine if I use it in a car and at a location with bad winter and hot summer? I'm thinking about a small touchscreen to use with this to serve as a headunit then get a line driver for amplifiers.

I got this same PC last time it was on here a few months ago. I am using it as a car PC running Centrafuse 3.1 works great. the interface is sluggish sometimes because of the CPU.

Here's what I did after i unboxed the unit.
removed hard drive. installed a 64GB SSD drive. Booted to BIOS setup and used easyflash to update the BIOS. afterwards I removed the 1 GB memory DIMM and installed a 2GB memory DIMM. Installed windows 7 off of USB key. Used the drivers that ASUS provides for this box for windows 7. works great.

I can play 720p and 1080p videos without any issues using windows media player built into windows 7. and also the media center built into it plays 1080p videos just fine as long as the media is local.

Streaming off of youtube, another story. it does 720p OK with flash 10.1 installed. will not play 1080p off of youtube.

have not tried hulu or other networks.

I moved the PC in the car. installed it in the back in the trunk.
ran a HDMI cable and USB cable and Audio cable to the front of the car. Using a 15" Touchscreen LCD monitor and using the HDMI to DVI adapter.

On the LCD screen. I can see video only after the windows driver is loaded. I cannot see the POST or windows loading screens. After driver is loaded the video shows up via the DVI interface. The monitor does not have a HDMI port otherwise I would have used straight HDMI.

Life in the car. Wverything works fine. There's a weird sound coming trough the speakers when this thing is powered up and audio driver is loaded. I can hear the engine RPM as a high pitch hissing sound. The more I rev the engine, the pitch changes in the speakers.

A friend told me to build a 12 volt voltage regulator and cleaner module which should get rid of any electrical noise. I have not had time to do that yet. I got the schematics and everything all the parts but have not had time to do it yet.

if you have any other questions please email me at lnxpro at google mail (gmail) dot com.
i shall respond whenever i get a chance. probably once or twice a day max.

have fun.

So a question for all of you tech geeks, can I hook this up to my home theater system? I have a sony DA3400es reciever hooked up to a sony 46" xbr bravia. Do I hook it up to my reciever or directly to my tv?

Bobeast3 wrote:So a question for all of you tech geeks, can I hook this up to my home theater system? I have a sony DA3400es reciever hooked up to a sony 46" xbr bravia. Do I hook it up to my reciever or directly to my tv?

if your receiver has a HDMI input for this. and also if your receiver has a HDMI output that goes to the TV. then you can hook up to your receiver.

goansongo wrote:Why does this even exist?

The same reason you do, somebody might like it.

regscotty12 wrote:my wife has very low vision and has never used a computer before i was considering this to hook up to a 32" hd tv to let her browse the internet in larger screen size. any feedback?

[MOD: Please use PMs. You shouldn't trust this crowd with your email. ]

Wow, someone else with low vision! I really want to email you or PM you or something and share some things that may very well help your wife out. I'm half blind myself and have a few things ot help with the computer. I'd like to help if I can. I've neve hooked a computer to a TV bfore, not one so big anyway, but i have played aorund with projectors adn things and it's relaly a lot easier but it also depends on how clsoe to the screen you sit.

Feel free to email me at blindbat84.lockerz@gmail.com Don't worry thi sisn't my main email address, it's a backup for things like this. :D I'll be able to send you my nromal one later on. PLease feel free to email!

BlackbeardBen wrote:Anyone know if the HDMI out is capable of transmitting an analog signal (i.e. VGA/component), given an adapter of course?

If it can, this might be the perfect Internet box for my grandmother.

You should have a look at the HDfury devices sold by Curtpalme. @ http://www.curtpalme.com/Products.shtm they have an adapter that converting HDMI to Component/VGA

Does this actually do the audio over the HDMI, while reading the description I interpreted it as just doing the video signal over the HDMI port, is it like Dell laptops that only do video or can I hook this directly up to my Panasonic Plasma TV via supplied HDMI cable and get both video and audio?

here is how to upgrade the ram on one of these

Bought this the last time this was on WOOT with the idea to use it to play movies to my TV. Added a 2 gig module of RAM and a 2 Terabyte external hard drive. Installed Ubuntu and after trimming back on some of the services a bit, works great. It's running at 1920x1080 using a HDMI cable to the TV. XBMC gives sound but no video, at least on some video so far, haven't taken too much time messing with it. When I first hooked it up and tried to play at that resolution, it was really hitchy. Made a huge difference to turn off some of the services that are not needed for what I'm using it for anyway. Surfing the web, it'll do just fine. Just my experience... And the sound can come through the HDMI or from the headphone jack, your choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7W7rsCkVJ8

Here's a nice little breakdown.

iSpoiler09 wrote:
Here's a nice little breakdown.

fixed, people here at woot like to click and go.

lilmaniac2 wrote:Does this actually do the audio over the HDMI, while reading the description I interpreted it as just doing the video signal over the HDMI port, is it like Dell laptops that only do video or can I hook this directly up to my Panasonic Plasma TV via supplied HDMI cable and get both video and audio?

Yes, Audio is transferred over the HDMI connector; that's how I have my living room unit connected to the monitor. One less cable to worry about!

sweh wrote:Yes, Audio is transferred over the HDMI connector; that's how I have my living room unit connected to the monitor. One less cable to worry about!

Thanks!

rocknrollohio wrote:No. This PC won’t play 720P or 1080p and wont stream 1080p; you need at about a 3 GHz single core processor or a 2 GHz dual core possessor to play Full 720p or 1080p smoothly. Some people modify videos or download modified HD videos on the internet and can play them on a single core 1.6 GHz but if you try to play a store bought blue ray disk on this PC it will not play smoothly. I have a 1.6 GHz dual core laptop with 2 gigs of ram and a decent videos card and it will not play 720p videos.

This is so not true. The Intel Atoms with Ion can play 720p just fine. This would be roughly equiv to what is being sold here.

kaush wrote:If I buy this, will it reach me in Bay Area, CA by 7/27?

Very slim. I wouldn't bet on it.

Still don't see the point of using this as a media center.

As a cheap secondary desktop for friends or old people, sure.

Media Center? Barf.

lilmaniac2 wrote:Does this actually do the audio over the HDMI, while reading the description I interpreted it as just doing the video signal over the HDMI port, is it like Dell laptops that only do video or can I hook this directly up to my Panasonic Plasma TV via supplied HDMI cable and get both video and audio?

yes, this "thing" does do audio and video via hdmi. it’s attached to a ati radeon hd 4530 w/ 256mb discrete memory.

edit: answered above this can be deleted

thuender wrote:I'm looking to use this for basic internet use at our cottage. I have a VGA/DVI Monitor. How can I make it work with this? IS there a DVI to HDMI converter? It states Video out: HDMI port x1 / DVI-D (through adapter).” Does the DVI-D adapter come with the unit or where would I pick that up? Any help would be greatly appreciated before I drop the Benjamin’s!

I got one of these during the last Woot. I hooked it up in our guest bedroom for access to my networked music and videos and for basic internet use. I am also considering one for my cabin, but first I need to upgrade the televisions there to accept the HDMI. This little box works great and would be perfect for the task. The keyboard and mouse are small and unobtrusive but look good and work well. An HDMI to DVI adapter is included in the box.

I have experimented with HTPCs over the years and currently have three media center set-ups, ranging in capability from this little box to a quad core screamer with high end graphics.

I am impressed with this unit because of its ease of use and how well suited it is for my particular need in that room. I am also impressed with the included utilities and ease of set up - I did not have any of the problems that others have mentioned. I use it instead of a second cable box. By accessing my slingbox, I have access to digital HD and my DVR recordings, saving me $10 a moonth. Because of its low power consumption and heat output, I can just leave it on, ready to go. Is it a replacement for your primary computer? No. Is it useful as a second or third computer in a highly networked home? Heck yes!

Ill stick with my WDTV's. I have one on each TV in my home and I have a pelican case stuffed with around 20 portable 500 Gig HD's that are full of movies, TV shows, documentaries etc.. I even have the new portable WDTV that I use when I travel. Just hook it into the HDTV in my hotel room and I am good to go. At this point in time I honestly think its the best system out there and it handles 720p and 1080p without so much as a hiccup.. Just download, transfer to a portable HD and you can watch it on any of your WDTV's.

atomizer wrote:Basically, low performance, but low price. Some of us find it useful.

I plan to get one for my mother-in-law, who is still stubbornly using the dinosaur her late husband left behind. She uses Windows 2000, for f*%#'s sake, and calls me with problems all the time.

I checked the AMD website to confirm that Ati radeon hd 4000 series cards can support Blu-Ray and resolutions beyond 1080p. So catch-up with the deal

For those who own this device, what's the input voltage on the AC Adapter ???

I'd like to send this overseas to a 220V country and not every AC Adapter is rated to 100-240v.
Thanks

I have an eee 900a netbook I got from Woot! awhile back. It came an Atom 1.6GHz processor, a 4 GB SSD, 1 GB of RAM, and Linux... After upgrading the SSD (to 16 GB) and RAM (to 2 GB), it runs Windows 7 Ultimate like a champ. I'm sure that the system for sale now could do the same if you were to upgrade the RAM. Newegg has the required module for cheap.

I too bought this exact same box when it was on Woot a few weeks ago.

I kept the default XP install and have been using it for XBMC for the last month. So far, I've been entirely pleased with it. A few notes:

- The ATI drivers that ship w/it (as well as the ones available on the Asus site) are ancient. Install the current ones from ATI's site (http://game.amd.com/it-it/drivers_catalyst.aspx) or video playback will be dreadful.

- Netflix streaming plays fine in a browser, as does Amazon VOD.

- Hulu playback is passable, but fullscreen is awful. So far as I can tell, there is no way to get Flash to offload video processing to the ATI card.

- HDMI cable carries audio & video, but you need to enable it in the settings manager for the sound card.

- Out of the box, there is no support for IR remotes. You'll need to buy a USB IR dongle. I eventually got XBMC working with a generic WMC remote via EventGhost, but it was a struggle. Your mileage may vary.

- Playback of 720p x.264-encoded video in XBMC is terrible, because XBMC can't offload to the ATI card. Playback of same in the VLC beta version (which supports hardware acceleration) is pretty good. I don't have any 1080p stuff, so can't speak to that, but you can probably extrapolate the answer.

There is a lot of discussion in the forum thread for the previous Woot, and many of the questions people are asking here are answered there. I'll try to dig up a link.

EDIT: http://www.woot.com/forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=3976673&PageIndex=8&ReplyCount=330 is the discussion of the earlier Woot of the same piece of equipment. Page 8 is where people start getting the machines and working through the issues.

goansongo wrote:...So what do you do with this?

I think the main point is to use this as a media center (thus the HDMI port, wireless KB and wireless mouse).

jbing1982 wrote:You should have a look at the HDfury devices sold by Curtpalme. @ http://www.curtpalme.com/Products.shtm they have an adapter that converting HDMI to Component/VGA

You're better off buying a new computer monitor instead of paying the price for a HDMI to VGA converter. You're trying to convert digital to analog which can be a problem.

Also, you'll lose the sound coming from this thing, because VGA and DVI don't carry sound.

Very few of those available. Search for HDFury2 - amazon sells them. They scale HDMI to analog RGB

jim

BlackbeardBen wrote:Anyone know if the HDMI out is capable of transmitting an analog signal (i.e. VGA/component), given an adapter of course?

If it can, this might be the perfect Internet box for my grandmother.

thuender wrote:I'm looking to use this for basic internet use at our cottage. I have a VGA/DVI Monitor. How can I make it work with this? IS there a DVI to HDMI converter? It states Video out: HDMI port x1 / DVI-D (through adapter).” Does the DVI-D adapter come with the unit or where would I pick that up? Any help would be greatly appreciated before I drop the Benjamin’s!

I have a 6' DVI to HDMI cable that I picked up from Walmart for under $20. The only thing to now is that it will not support audio on the cable, it is video only. Furthermore, though I wouldn't care to speculate, you might be able to also hook up a DVI to VGA "gender bender"to make your own Hdmi to vga cable. (Not sure if the digital signal needs to be converted or not so don't quote me on that one.)

I bought one of these the last time it was on woot! There have been pros and cons.

Pros:

1) I like the small keyboard and mouse and small USB controller for both. However, the keyboard doesn't have lights to tell you if you are in the CAPS or NUMLOCK mode--detectable for normal text, but not password entries.

2) The compact size attached great to a VESA mount on and LCD monitor or an LED-LCD TV (which I bought). The TV runs 1080p and up to 1920x1080, but 1440x1000 seems to work best for windows. It makes a nice tidy package with few wires.

3) Originally, I had it hooked up to an old monitor with the HDMI to DVI converter and used an RCA cable (not included) to get sound to the monitor. HDMI to the HD TV worked even better after switching the sound drivers to the HDMI output.

Cons:

1) Before I got the HDTV, I used the stand, which has a cheap base with a bottom cover screwed into the base. The screw receptors basically disintegrated, which made the rubber pad on the bottom useless.

2) Virtual memory is set very low and needs to be increased significantly.

3) When I set up different users, the default setup of the NumLock key varied by user--sometimes on and sometimes off. Since you can't easily tell which mode you are in, this could cause soime users problems.

4) It comes with an ASUS Update package, which I have never gotten to work.

5) Lately, when I turn the system on, it wants to do a system recovery, which warns me that it will wipe out everything that I've installed on it.

6) There have been a few other problems with programs crashing, etc.

In summary, I think the cons outweigh the pros. If I had to do it all over again, I would get an Acer mini-desktop.

puntadigital wrote:For those who own this device, what's the input voltage on the AC Adapter ???

I'd like to send this overseas to a 220V country and not every AC Adapter is rated to 100-240v.
Thanks

AC adapter included with this is rated fro 100-240V. so it should work in europe or anywhere else.

currently not using the adapter. I wired it directly to my power in the car at 12v. no need for the adapter.

HAVE A GOOD DAY!

not surprised this sold out.

Wow! I didn't realize there was such a thing as a nettop. Do these always sell out?

To all the Wooters who have bought nettops/laptops/netbooks/computers, do you recommend paying the extra money for the extended warranty?

I've been waiting for this thing to come on - but didn't have access to a PC (travelling), and just walked in the door. (8:31pm Central). i really wanted it, but after reading the comments on the last few pages from users who already own it...

Would love to have one, but need one that'll handle a USB-based Analog/ATSC/ClearQAM tuner. Only HTCP usage is intended and will boot directly to XMBC-type software. Would this machine handle it? Be it Linux or Windows...

Would this be worth waiting around for for the next time it comes around - OR - look for something w/ a bit more guts out of the box w/out having to upgrade.

k

goansongo wrote:But why would you ever want to use a computer that is made with "netbook" hardware. I really don't see how this would take up less space than a netbook. Most netbooks are small to begin with. Adding in a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers would take up more space than a netbook.

I suppose it is cheap since it's under $200, but I don't see why you can't just buy a netbook with HDMI for under $200. Am I missing something though? Like can this do something different from a netbook? I see it has a video card... So what do you do with this?

You do nothing with it, you let people that are smarter/more economical than you do things with it.

I really wish people would STOP saying this wont stream HD Flash. There is no such thing. There is only playing HD video via a flash video player.

Either way, this unit will display 720p video via a flash player or not.

I intend to use this for three things:

1. Web browsing.
2. Flash games.
3. MAME emulator in my living room used with my X-Arcade Joystick. OH YEAH!!!!

Has anyone received a notice that their order has "shipped'?

briddles wrote:Has anyone received a notice that their order has "shipped'?

Not me. Still waiting

I haven't gotten anything either :'(