Re: Low power customizable NAS?

>     I use a modified ASUS 1201N netbook running the N330 Atom Dual Core
>     and the nVidia Ion graphics.

>     I modified it to run with 4GB RAM and a 640HDD

>     It has become my mobile mini-entertainment server. I have it
>     partitioned with dual boot Ubuntu and Mythbuntu 10.04

>     When I go home I plug it in to a 42" HD TV and I have it grab my TV
>     via USB adapter, I can play Wow at 24 fps 1080p on the big screen
>     and while a movie is playing I can still get stuff done using
>     Twinview and terminal on the the netbook (love HDMI output).

>     It also has VGA output and I have used it to save my boss for
>     presentations at work.  While doing the presentation I showed how to
>     do a basic dualboot installation in Virtual Box so others could
>     follow along. My company is in the process of migrating to Linux so
>     everyone had to learn to dual boot.

>     It is 3.5 pounds and I get 3 hours battery life on gaming or HD tv
>     watching, streaming to my girlfriends work via https website so she
>     can watch Gordon Ramsey shows recorded on the Mythbuntu side of the
>     dual boot.

>     I get just over 4 hours on the intel graphics if I switch it in the
>     BIOS.  I normally leave it on nVidia though. I also run crossover
>     from codeweavers to run silverlight and use IE to watch netflix in
>     Ubuntu.

>     It is a trooper of a machine while I am looking at a quad core for
>     some specific tasks this machine has allowed me to be very versatile
>     at work and home in tackling technology issues in day-to-day stuff.

>     Hope this helps your decision,

>                 Now the question is at what level to settle on.  There's
>                 the SheevaPlug
>                 (and similar) that use up about 10 watts but need more
>                 storage and can't
>                 really handle any notable processing.  Moving up a
>                 notch, you can get a
>                 N270 Atom mini-itx system that also hovers between 10-15
>                 watts but is a
>                 bit faster and will typically have a much larger (up to
>                 1 TB) hard
>                 drive.  Then you can move up to an NVIDIA ION system
>                 with a dual-core
>                 Atom and now we're maybe in the 30 watt range but this
>                 can handle HD
>                 output, if necessary.

>                 Decisions, decisions.  That's why I was kind of hoping
>                 that some local
>                 folks would have used some of these systems and could
>                 comment on how
>                 well they work for them.

>     --
>     Brian Fields
>     arizona.rune@gmail.com <mailto:arizona.rune@gmail.com>

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