News - SFF Giada PCs combine Haswell CPUs and GeForce graphics

[HEXUS]

Highest spec model includes an i7-4500U and GTX 750.

Read more.

[sirtrouserpress]

I seem confused by the popularity of SFF PCs, on the one hand, the're ideal in, for example a conference room as they are small, quiet and can be moved about easily if need be. But I cant help but see them as a laptop that's had a lot cut off of it and still charged the same price. It cannot be moved from room to room whilst powered as it has no battery, It cannot be used on the train as it has no screen, you cannot just get it out of a bag and use it as it has no keyboard and mouse or equivalent... The list goes on...
And yet, they look kina stylish and I'm sure I've missed many home uses, but in my books a traditional laptop can do all the same things as this and offer more features, but just be a little larger. Anyway, rant over, I'm sure its still a great product

[shaithis]

People pay how much for an iMac? Why? "Form over function."

To some it's important....to some it's a necessity (the HTPC I recently built for my bedroom only had a very small area to fit in)....to some it's just nicer to have a smaller box.

[edzieba]

Sometimes luggability is important even if it's not battery powered. I'm moving my rig from a 550D to an Ncase M1 so I can easily put it and a DK2 into a suitcase for portable demos. Try carrying around a full size ATX tower and you'll see why SFF can be a benefit!

[sirtrouserpress]

Alas i do lug around a full ATX, keyboard mouse and monitor in my suitcase and occasionally have room for clothes too! But point taken never-the-less

[crossy]

I seem confused by the popularity of SFF PCs, on the one hand, the're ideal in, for example a conference room as they are small, quiet and can be moved about easily if need be. But I cant help but see them as a laptop that's had a lot cut off of it and still charged the same price. It cannot be moved from room to room whilst powered as it has no battery, It cannot be used on the train as it has no screen, you cannot just get it out of a bag and use it as it has no keyboard and mouse or equivalent... The list goes on...
And yet, they look kina stylish and I'm sure I've missed many home uses, but in my books a traditional laptop can do all the same things as this and offer more features, but just be a little larger. Anyway, rant over, I'm sure its still a great product

Laptops aren't any good as either home servers (although dammit I do actually use one as a server, so maybe I'm being just a wee bitty hypocritical) or HTPC's. On the other hand SFF's are useful for this, (along with uServer NAS type duties).

Stop thinking "laptop replacement", and start thinking "living room PC" instead. Hook that up to a TV (it's got HDMI) and a nice wireless keyboard/mouse (although Logitech and others now do keyboards with embedded trackpads) and it's living room computing time. The size is such that you can hide this behind the TV, and some of the current SFF's even mount behind the TV on the VESA mountings, thereby keeping things tidy and SWMBO happy.

Looking at some online ads from China, the D2308V appears to cost about £370 and the D2308U about £470. Outside of China, previous models of Giada mini-PCs have been sold on both Newegg and Amazon.

Good prices, I looked at these and thought two words ... "Steam" and "Box".

[tickedon]

I too have struggled to see the point of SFF pcs, except for HTPC duties until recently However, having just replaced some very small thin client PCs in our reception at work, with full-fat very functional USFF Dell Optiplex PCs (plus appropriate all-in-one stand and monitor) their worth has now been proven as far as I'm concerned!

If only they were a bit cheaper, then I could fit them everywhere! Makes for such tidier work surfaces when you can hide cables in the stand and only need to run a single power and network cable for the whole unit.

[Wozza63]

These make for a great little machine for a TV or something. Hooked up with a controller and would be great for SteamOS/big picture mode. Better than a XB1 or PS4 I guess

[Wozza63]

Its strange. They seemed to have so much trouble creating the consoles for low cost and mass production which is less powerful than this and yet this can be made from standard hardware (nothing specially made) for a similar price. Seems like they might as well have just bought the parts from Intel/Nvidia/AMD on mass scale and built regular PCs.