2011/4/28 Jim Hart <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jhart@bates.edu">jhart@bates.edu</a>></span><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
I'd like to weigh in here, if I may. The Intel designs have one very major drawback...heat. Which implies noise! I've been working off and on for over a year to locate inexpensive parts to build the functional (but hardly aesthetic) equivalent of my beloved G4 Cube. The fan-less CPU cooler, alone, weighs nearly as much and is nearly as large as the Cube, and cost $75 on e-Bay. The cost of the rest of the parts that I've found is still over $1600, which I can 't afford. So, yes, cheap Intel-based systems are available. But they aren't quiet, never mind silent. (I recommend that anyone spends some time in a soundproof room and notice what happens physically and emotionally. The constant noise in our world causes stress and tension that we don't recognize because it's always there.)<br>
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So, anything that will keep my Cube(s) going is welcome.<br>
....snip....<br>
Regards to all,<font color="#888888"></font><br></blockquote></div><br>The heat you complain of is inevitable as chips generally get more complex and is
not an intel problem exclusively. <br>
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However, there are low power alternatives - I think that you can get a relatively quiet intel system that
would probably be probably give you about the same oomph or more than
your G4 cube. Have you looked at Atoms? They aren't top of the line performance-wise but I'm guessing they would be good enough if you're happy with the G4.<br><br>Or for more $$$ perhaps a macbook air. I hear they are quiet and run cool too.<br>
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Aesthetics? Can't argue with that. Keep your cube, it'll be a
collector's item if not so already. <br>
<br>Don't get me wrong, I don't advocate intel/x86. It's just that at this point in time, there is very little else. Maybe if more people embrace ARM - this could happen given recent news. I wait but somehow not too hopefully ;).<br>
<br>Robert<br>-- <br>chown -R us ./base<br>