VIA Artigo A2000 - Storage-Oriented Compact Barebone PC

The VIA Artigo A2000 (US$299) is a storage-oriented compact barebone PC which features low power consumption, low noise, and compact form factor.

Features:

• 1.5GHz VIA C7-D processor
• VIA VX800 Unified Digital Media IGP chipset
• 1 x DDR2 SO-DIMM Socket (up to 2 GB)
• 2 x 3.5" SATA-II HDD support
• 1 x CompactFlash socket (supports DMA mode) bootable SSD
• 3 x USB 2.0 ports (1 on the front panel)
• 1 x Gigabit RJ-45 LAN port with LED
• Built-in high definition audio controller
• 1 x MIC/Line-in + 1 x Line-out audio ports
• 1 x VGA port
• 8 cm low-noise ball-bearing fan
• 100~240 V AC/DC adapter
• dimensions: 135 x 115 x 259 mm

The Artigo A2000 was tested to work with the following operating systems:

• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Ubuntu 8.04
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 with Service Pack 2

Just install some RAM, 1 or 2 SATA HDDs, connect it to your home network, and you will already have a compact, power-efficient home media storage mini-server.

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1TB Hard Disk Drives Tested

Looking to put a TByte hard drive in your system? X-bit Labs tested 6 TByte HDDs from Hitachi, Samsung, Seagate, and Western Digital. The drives tested were:

• Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000
• Hitachi Ultrastar A7K1000
• Samsung SpinPoint F1
• Seagate Barracuda 7100.11
• Seagate Barracuda ES.2
• Western Digital Caviar GP

"So, these are the highs and lows of the tested drives but the most important point about them is the price factor. The price of a 1-terabyte drive has lowered by a half since the moment they hit the market - all thanks to the competition. With four manufacturers elbowing each other aside in this market sector, we are up to more price cuts!" [X-bit labs | 1TB Hard Disk Drives Roundup]

Any of the above-mentioned HDDs will do, especially if you just need one for honest-to-goodness large capacity storage.

Technorati : drive, hard, storage, tb