Cheap, Small Computers

Shuttle KPC - $199 Desktop Cube With Linux

Vendor: Shuttle Computer Group, Inc. - us.shuttle.com
Name / Model: KPC - us.shuttle.com/kpc
Overall type of computer: Small desktop (cube form factor)
Approximate list price, quantity one: US $199
(no graphic - all graphics on Shuttle's site are in Flash)

Why I Started Cheap, Small Computers

Welcome to Cheap, Small Computers!

I've always been fascinated by Single Board Computers (SBCs), which have mostly been used to embed computing power into dedicated devices that don't work as traditional, general purpose computers. SBCs used to be "lightweight" - low power (both electrical consumption and Central Processing Unit [CPU] horsepower), using "embedded" processors (typically having a lot of Input/Output [I/O] capability. SBCs are physically small, and are typically programmed using special "embedded" operating systems.

But an interesting thing happened along the way - SBCs became "real computers" because CPU horsepower increased but cost didn't, memory increased, but again, cost didn't, and embedded systems became complex enough that it was desireable to use desktop operating systems such as Windows and Linux.

Starting last year, I started to see new generations of cheap, small computers that were fully functional computers.