Most of you would be aware that we have started supplying vouchers for upgrading to Windows 7 for the last week.  The vouchers allow end users who purchase Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate between now and 31 January 2010 to have the option of upgrading to Windows 7 at no extra charge by Compucon.  Microsoft advised that all redemption claims must be received by them by 1 March 2010.  Upgrade media will be shipped to customers after 22 October 2009.

This is a very small size computer.  It is a standard 1U rack mountable system with a depth of only 9.6”.  It looks like a tray or a drawer and is certainly portable if needed to be. 

It is based on an industrial grade motherboard and Intel 945GC chipset that we are very familiar with as it was used for Diamond for 2 years previously. It supports dual core E1000 or E2000 CPU, 2GB of memory, 1 HDD, 2 GbE ports, and 1 serial port.  It can also take a PCIE add-on card if we use a 2.5” HDD, or it can have 2x 2.5” HDD, or it can have 2 serial ports. This small machine is suitable for a variety of commercial and industrial applications such as digital signage, information kiosk, point of sale, and mobile / remote I/O terminal etc.  It is not a commodity PC.  

“Thank You” to peers who contributed names for replacing the arbitrary code of Carbonate for the new Mini-ITX computer systems that we launch this week. We have obtained suggestions such as Ruby, Opal, Quartz, Jade, Carbon, Caesium, Emerald, Sapphire, Topaz, Amethyst, Tungsten and Camelian etc.  The final selection is Onyx as it is not too difficult to pronounce and is entirely distinguishable from Jasper and Diamond. 

Our initial release will consist of 2 flavours: Onyx Commercial and Onyx Multimedia.  The commercial edition is based on Dual Core Atom 330, 1GB, 80GB HDD, Vista Business & NOD32.  It is suitable for entry level applications such as for accountants, secretaries and Point of Sale.  The multimedia edition is based on a high end Intel G45 chipset which provides the best ever integrated graphics from Intel.  We will talk more in the CPD seminar.

We have tested and confirmed direct relationships between case fan speed, airflow rate and noise level.  A reduction of fan speed improves quietness at the risk of reduced system longevity (electronics fail sooner in higher temperatures).  We understand that quietness is important for clients and most PC vendors do not mind shorter system longevity for the SOHO market.  This is a call on our technical and ethical judgements. 
For Jaspers, we have started shipping with the case fan disabled IF the machine does not have additional components on top of the base hardware configuration.  We will apply the same approach to Diamond as the default but you can ask for the fan to be connected and enabled when you place the order with us. Let us know of your views please, email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it