ASRock Nettop

In Sydney there is a row of computer and electronic stores behind the Queen Victoria Building which is always worth a visit. Yesterday in Adelong Computers I noticed a small black box with a DVD drive on the front. This turned out to be a ASRock ION 330 Nettop. This is at the upper end of the range of desktop computers derived from Netbook components. It has the Intel Dual Core Atom 330 processor and an NVIDIA ION graphics processor. It is in a metal case, made much like a conventional desktop PC, but only large enough to hold a DVD drive, 3.5 inch hard disk (optional) and some RAM (optional). The unit comes with six USB sockets. The metal case looks very much more robust for a classroom environment than the average flimsy plastic nettop case. One serious omission is a security cable slot (nettops are small and so easy to steal). The ASRock comes with an operating system, which is advantage for low cost installations using Linux.