Gigabyte's Mini-PC Devices Under Development
With Intel pushing the new mini-STX form factor hard, we are seeing new motherboards and cases from OEMs to support the standard. For its entry into this new market, Gigabyte has partnered with Silverstone to create a new barebones PC. The company also showed off an even smaller motherboard with an Apollo Lake SoC.
The motherboard, like all other currently announced mini-STX boards, will use the H110 chipset and support dual-channel DDR4 SO-DIMM memory. Gigabyte opted to include just a wired Internet connection on the motherboard, but there is an mPCI-E slot that can be used to install a Wi-Fi module. For storage connectivity there is an M.2 Key M slot and two SATA-III ports.
The case is still under development, so we can’t be sure how close this is to the finished product, but we managed to get a glimpse at the chassis being developed by Silverstone, as well. Gigabyte wasn’t able to give us any specs on the case, however, so we can’t compare it to other mini-STX chassis.
Another project Gigabyte is working on is its GA-SBC motherboard. This device will likely not surface on the market for several months, as it uses Intel’s unreleased Apollo Lake Atom processor. The key feature on this device is a cellular antenna. This may be highly advantageous in areas where a cellular data plan offers more practical service than a wired connection into your home.
All of these devices are still under development; Gigabyte was not able to tell us when we would see any of them on the market.
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mavikt hmm, First time I hear about the mini-STX form factor. I wonder if it will get any traction? I thought the DTX form factor sounded great when that was news. Have been running Shuttle boxes for many years, but my next build will prolly be a std micro-ATX. Are the NUC's really that anemic? By the time mini-STX get traction you'll probably have enough juice from a NUC since the mini-STX seem to have very limited expansion capabilities (too alike the NUC)?!Reply -
photonboy Small, inexpensive PC's are very useful for certain businesses where they do mainly database entry so there are use cases for every level of performance from database, basic word processing, light media PC etc.Reply -
thebigt42 "Gigabyte opted to include just a wired Internet connection on the motherboard"Reply
What wonderful magic it this??? A Direct Connection to the Internet!! Cool I don't have to pay Charter any more! -
photonboy Reply18059213 said:"Gigabyte opted to include just a wired Internet connection on the motherboard"
What wonderful magic it this??? A Direct Connection to the Internet!! Cool I don't have to pay Charter any more!
That's taken out of context. They said there was a wired connection with no WI-FI included, hence the "just a wired...".