Sorry if it confused your brain-grapes, but that slim, diamond-shaped thing in front of the keyboard isn’t an oddly-shaped flatscreen display. It’s a whole nettop PC by eMachines, actually. Called the Mini-e, this is the first system sold in the US to rock AMD’s new low-power Athlon II Neo processor. Probably not the most powerful nettop around (which should be fine, since if you’re buying a nettop, power shouldn’t be one of your top concerns), but it does look cool, considering what they managed to pack into it.

That’s not an external optical drive you’re looking at. It’s actually Shuttle’s upcoming Windows-based nettop that runs on Intel’s Atom D510 dual core processor. The fact that it measures only 3.3cm? That’s not what makes it awesome (although the size does add to its overall awesome-factor)—it’s that this small desktop kit comes with Nvidia’s ION2 graphics, making for a really compact desktop kit that can handle HD videos and streaming 3D.

MSI has announced that they will be showing off several new desktops on the CES showroom floor in January. Three models have been announced: the Wind Top AP1920, an All-in-one PC built around an 18.5-inch touchscreen display, and two Wind Box Mini PCs, the DE220 and DC500.

Intel has just officially announced new Atom processors that should be seen running next year’s batch of netbooks. Codenamed “Pine Trail”, the new processors are based on a 45nm process that’s listed to offer 20% less power consumption than the previous generation of Atom CPUs, which translates to less heat (and a reduced need for cooling) in a smaller package.









