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Pico-ITX - A Brief History |
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Written by Stew
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Thursday, 06 September 2007 |
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Page 2 of 2
ITX Everywhere
The Mini-ITX series of motherboards also became a big hit with Industrial PC designers. These are the kinds of computers that reside inside ATMs, cash registers, factory robots, digital signage machines, gaming machines, vending machines and a whole world of commercial PCs that are around us all the time, barely noticed day to day.
Nano-ITX Arrives
VIA didn't stop there however. In 2004 VIA gave us the Nano-ITX form factor. At 12 cm x 12 cm, this was exactly half the surface area of the Mini-ITX and proved also to be a big hit in industrial markets and small devices like entertainment centers, set-top boxes and small scale media PCs. The Nano-ITX was launched as the worlds smallest standard motherboard.
Pico-ITX
The Pico-ITX form factor was announced in January of this year and measures a mere 10 cm x 7.2 cm. Once again it is half the surface area of the Nano-ITX, claiming the title of ' world's smallest ever board' for itself. Despite its size - slightly larger than a playing card - the Pico-ITX motherboard supports most of the same functions as a regular motherboard. It includes the CPU, chipset, graphics, networking, USB, full audio and just about everything you would expect from a motherboard. In terms of power-efficiency and cooling the Pico-ITX manages to operate at 1.0GHz without needing a cooling fan for its CPU - literally a very cool CPU. This makes it perfect for miniature PCs that we should soon see more of; in our cars, kitchens, airplanes etc.
Miniaturization
Humans have endeavored to make devices smaller since ancient times. The miniaturization of electronic devices can only continue while we are able to reduce heat dissipation and create power efficient silicon. The point is not getting the highest levels of processing power, but processing power that can be taken to places where computers previously couldn't go. PCs that consume less fuel and create less noise. PCs that can enhance our environment, at work or at home, without compromising our productivity.
Small is Beautiful
As an example of how smaller, quieter PCs are conducive to a better working environment we created the 'Small is Beautiful' video which will be posted tomorrow. It's not entirely serious and in fact was a lot of fun to make, but I think it makes the right point.
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Thursday, 06 March 2008