Thread: VIA and Mini-box Announce First Sub-$300 Car PC Kit

This has made the rounds all over the internet today!!

Sorta bothers me since everyones making it into a huge deal when its absolutely nothing new. Its just a package of parts we've already had available for a long time

Originally Posted by kickercivic1

Man i like that 20pins power supply board.. Runs straight from the power supply to the motherboard.. I love that.

Ditto that ... and I don't see that little board available on the Mini-box site anywhere. It definitely isn't included with the M1-ATX nor the VOOMPC enclosure (both of which I already have).

Originally Posted by aoLhaTer

This has made the rounds all over the internet today!!

Sorta bothers me since everyones making it into a huge deal when its absolutely nothing new. Its just a package of parts we've already had available for a long time

Better price point though, or so it appears to me.

yeah. the price point seems to be the major kicker here. ive NEVER seen a cheap VIA motherboard let alone a whole system. this package brings the price down quite a bit to where it competes price-wise with a basic pre-built home system (depending on who you go through. one with just the basic computer hardware, no OS, monitor, keyboard, etc. will usually be under $400/$500)

heck, im seriously considering this as the basis of my carpc project instead of the microatx system i had in mind. even with already having the motherboard, the cost of a cpu, memory, psu, hard drive, etc. will easily bring it up above $300 unless i went specifically with ebay and was anal about comparing prices.

Originally Posted by Vchat20

yeah. the price point seems to be the major kicker here. ive NEVER seen a cheap VIA motherboard let alone a whole system. this package brings the price down quite a bit to where it competes price-wise with a basic pre-built home system (depending on who you go through. one with just the basic computer hardware, no OS, monitor, keyboard, etc. will usually be under $400/$500)

Whats with all this talk about a great price point??? The systems they are selling for $299 only includes the case, power supply, and motherboard! The price is nothing revolutionary. If you buy everything from mp3car, its only $12 more. This whole thing seems like a lot of PR BS.

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...products_id=59
http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...roducts_id=122
http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...products_id=67

Originally Posted by god_of_cpu

Whats with all this talk about a great price point??? The systems they are selling for $299 only includes the case, power supply, and motherboard! The price is nothing revolutionary. If you buy everything from mp3car, its only $12 more. This whole thing seems like a lot of PR BS.

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...products_id=59
http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...roducts_id=122
http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...products_id=67

Well, yeah it's PR BS, it's a press release after all.

Any other differrences between their barebones kit and those parts? Last time I looked at a mini system was probably over a year ago and it certainly seemed more expensive then.

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Well, yeah it's PR BS, it's a press release after all.

Any other differrences between their barebones kit and those parts? Last time I looked at a mini system was probably over a year ago and it certainly seemed more expensive then.

Bah. Opus and other places have been selling pre-built carPC kits for a while. They just never worked up a press release, nor did they get VIA involved.

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Bah. Opus and other places have been selling pre-built carPC kits for a while. They just never worked up a press release, nor did they get VIA involved.

I understand that it's not new. But when I was looking a couple years ago at kits that were mostly completed, the ones I saw were much more expensive. So maybe stating the obvious is a shrewd move on their part.

For people who think it's cool but too expensive or don't know were to start, $300 is probably a good price point to grab their attention.

Originally Posted by rando

Ditto that ... and I don't see that little board available on the Mini-box site anywhere. It definitely isn't included with the M1-ATX nor the VOOMPC enclosure (both of which I already have).

Andrei tells me that he is awaiting shipment of the first production batch of the PCB ATX extensions. I guess that means they'll be available from the mini-box site soon.