That's quite a bit of energy savings even when it's on compared to the dual core athlon. You can have it run without worrying that your electric bill is going to go through the roof for it being on 24/7... It still doesn't beat the 2.5W of the newer atom core architects

Efros where is the motherboard case PSU and prices? I do not think you can pull this off $500 much less $400.

Efros where is the motherboard case PSU and prices? I do not think you can pull this off $500 mush less $400.

I think the point of using an Atom CPU + ION is to minimize energy consumption.

Efros, the PC you listed would probably consume more at idle than the EEE PC would consume at full load.

I'm fairly certain that Blu-ray is destined to be the new vide standard. Why do we have a DVD drive in there?

ION should normally be able to handle a 1080p HDCP output. Else it's just not made for the current and future markets.

frankly, Atom PCs are too limited in what they can do, and too similar, to be very interesting.

Why don't you dig a little in the direction of the Dell Zino HD ? It's a kind of PC Mini (as opposed Mac Mini), with a real CPU (some kind of Athlon II or II x2), a semi-real GPU (780 IGP or 4330), 3"1/2 HD, 2 RAM sockets (up to 2x4gigs). A couple of mini-PCIE slots.

All of that in a 20cm x 20cm box, and kinda cheaper than the usual DIY mini-ITX stuff.

Sounds good to me, but for some reason there are no reviews, which is kinda weird and makes me wonder if there's a catch.

Let me see, Dual core athlon 2.9GHZ, 4GB DDR2800, 512MB Radeon HD4350,DVDRW, 500GB HD, W7 64 bit Home Premium, gaming keyboard and mouse all for less than $400. Will eat this eedesktop for brekky.