News - Sparkle introduces CUTI n30: the stackable NVIDIA ION-based HTPC

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We've seen a fair few ION-based systems at COMPUTEX, but nothing quite as unique as this.

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Oo, I want. Hopefully it'll be silent and hopefully it'll be affordable. I'm glad I held off buying a Popcorn Hour.

I'm guessing that if you open the top box with the TV tuner, there will be a lot of empty space and a DVB-T USB stick.

I don't see the point in the top box at all. Although, if it were to have two tuners and and a CI slot that would be different though.

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Originally Posted by Funkstar

I don't see the point in the top box at all. Although, if it were to have two tuners and and a CI slot that would be different though.

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I'd vote for a bluray drive, too... no mention of optical storage in the article, so I assume it's just *not there*...

needs the ability to hook up to a BD and DVD to be a fully working HTPC but fantastic concept

Impressive stuff, glad to see someone has done an ion system properly unlike the Acer Revo, i want to see Asus's offering though something tells me its going to be good.

Stackable would be great if it wasn't just USB-cables connecting everything. There's nothing unique in a box which can sit on another box. It needs something like the docks you can for decent laptops, with everything, plus the kitchen sink, available to be attached through whatever link is necessary. A PCIe graphics upgrade, an optical drive of any description, additional ports or not just a TV tuner, but 4 or 5 of them.

There's the opportunity to be unique - all of the technology exists for the above... and they've gone and shown off a lego set with a tiny circuit board inside.

That said, the PC itself looks decent.

What's with the unicorn on the top?! And once you start making a stack doesn't that defeat the size advantage of mini-itx?