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New PCs getting smaller (and bigger)

New PCs getting smaller (and bigger)

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Dan Ackerman
We see some pretty out-there PC designs on an almost daily basis, but there are a couple floating around the Web today that nicely bookend themselves into the really big/really small categories.

Just when we thought Shuttle systems couldn't get any smaller, The Register and Engadget point us to the Shuttle XPC X100. It looks to be about the size of an external optical drive, and one blog commenter compared its size and shape to the vapory Nintendo Revolution. Current buzz says it has a Core Duo CPU and upgradable ATI Mobility Radeon graphics, along with DVI and S-Video outs for home theater use. Pricing? Who knows, but it should be officially announced at CeBit next month, so you won't have long to wait.

We do, however, know the price of the Powerdesk, a PC literally built into a large, but mod-looking, office desk. Two grand and up will snag you one of these custom-made systems from the UK. The company takes all the components from pretty much any PC you choose and hides them inside a glass-and-steel desk for a clean, clutter-free look.

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