Aaaaggghhhh!
2007-08-24
I want one of these. It's not as easy to get hold of as I first thought.
Basically it's a very small, fanless computer, worth around $100. I could use one instead of the chunky machine in the living room whose sole purpose these days is to stream MP3s from a network drive, I could give one a couple of USB hard drives and make a cheap file/media/web server (at which point the chunky machine upstairs which runs as a router could be replaced with an actual router, albeit perhaps using something like this), and just generally downsize my home computing functions to make them quieter, less power-hungry and so on.
The thing is, finding the best deal on it is difficult. I accept that I won't get one for $100, but £100+shipping is a bit much and that's what the only UK distributor I can find is charging, partly because of their software that I don't want. To get it from Nohrtec - who brand it as the 'Microclient Jr.' - costs $120, but the shipping (from Thailand) is more or less prohibitive (+$57, for a total of ~£85 + whatever taxes might suddenly appear). Eway (Taiwan) are the ones responsible for the sub-$100 label, charging $99 but having a rather quaint ordering process involving wiring money and - from what I hear - being far too busy to respond to sales enquiries and other e-mails.
Perhaps most frustrating is WDL Systems, a US stockist with single units at $106, but who can't manage international shipping on their website. I've been in touch with them about this and they say I need to have an account with a carrier for them to charge the shipping to, but DHL have minimum use requirements on their accounts and the others are probably much the same. I'll try them again, see if they can't arrange shipping from their end, manually build an invoice and let me pay that, but I'm not all that hopeful.
It's bugging me. I may have to just get one from Netvoyager.
Basically it's a very small, fanless computer, worth around $100. I could use one instead of the chunky machine in the living room whose sole purpose these days is to stream MP3s from a network drive, I could give one a couple of USB hard drives and make a cheap file/media/web server (at which point the chunky machine upstairs which runs as a router could be replaced with an actual router, albeit perhaps using something like this), and just generally downsize my home computing functions to make them quieter, less power-hungry and so on.
The thing is, finding the best deal on it is difficult. I accept that I won't get one for $100, but £100+shipping is a bit much and that's what the only UK distributor I can find is charging, partly because of their software that I don't want. To get it from Nohrtec - who brand it as the 'Microclient Jr.' - costs $120, but the shipping (from Thailand) is more or less prohibitive (+$57, for a total of ~£85 + whatever taxes might suddenly appear). Eway (Taiwan) are the ones responsible for the sub-$100 label, charging $99 but having a rather quaint ordering process involving wiring money and - from what I hear - being far too busy to respond to sales enquiries and other e-mails.
Perhaps most frustrating is WDL Systems, a US stockist with single units at $106, but who can't manage international shipping on their website. I've been in touch with them about this and they say I need to have an account with a carrier for them to charge the shipping to, but DHL have minimum use requirements on their accounts and the others are probably much the same. I'll try them again, see if they can't arrange shipping from their end, manually build an invoice and let me pay that, but I'm not all that hopeful.
It's bugging me. I may have to just get one from Netvoyager.
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