The Bar Mat Computer 🍺

This week’s launch of all things RTX Spark offered up a lot of high prices, some prices not as high as I was expecting, and one extremely weird desktop computer design.

That design comes to us from our friends at Microsoft, who announced the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box about three months ago but only priced it out on Wednesday. That design, sporting 128GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, goes for $5,999.99, which is just an insane amount of money for anything, even in the era of all things AI.

But the visual design, which looks to my eyes like a rubber bar mat, feels polarizing and not particularly desk-friendly. As Engadget’s Karissa Bell noted:

It may be relatively compact for its power, but it’s still a beast of a machine. It’s covered in air vents, which makes it look a bit like an oversized Lego brick. The box itself is relatively thin, but it’s long. And it sits on an elevated base, so it will take up a sizable footprint on most desks. It’s also surprisingly heavy. Microsoft hasn’t shared a weight but I had trouble grabbing it with one hand. It’s at least 5 to 6 lbs, possibly a bit heavier, and the base makes it awkward to hold.

Most other devices mining this emerging market of Nvidia-based mini PCs are aiming for something a little closer to the design of a traditional mini PC, with perhaps some updates for the extra cooling that these AI-focused chips are likely to need. Microsoft appears to have let its Xbox team lead the conversation with this device.

Overall, the pricing on the RTX Spark feels better and worse than what I was expecting. Microsoft’s entry-level Surface Ultra laptop is clearly intended to compete directly with the MacBook Pro at $2,599, while most other devices are in the $3,000 to $4,000 range for 32 gigs of RAM. They’re more expensive than comparable AMD and Intel machines, while also being competitive with the M5 Pro and Max models. The Surface Dev Unit appears to be in conversation with both the DGX Spark (which it is about $1,000 cheaper than) and the just-released M5 Ultra Mac Studio (which it is $500 more expensive than, though with more RAM on offer).

Are these even going to be within shouting distance of the enthusiast market, though? Probably not. But hopefully the attention to the high end of the market helps to put more attention on mini PC designs overall.

Hot-Plugging

The other 5070 you should know about

If the news about the RTX Spark above made you feel a little sad about the state of the low end of the computer market, worry not. There are always options out there if you look hard enough.

One of those options comes in the form of thin clients, such as the Dell Wyse 5070, a circa-2018 machine that is getting fresh enthusiast attention as a cheap option. It’s still perfectly suited for some low-end computing tasks of the kind you might run in a homelab. As Patrick Campanale on HowToGeek notes, they’ve improved in value as the Raspberry Pi has crept up in price:

The problem is, while the Raspberry Pi used to be priced well, it simply isn’t anymore. Back in 2016 and 2019, a 1GB computer for $35 was a pretty great price. In 2026, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Pi 4B for $45 in stock anywhere, let alone $35.

The memory crisis has priced the Raspberry Pi out of the area it once dominated—affordable computers. At this point, a Raspberry Pi with a decent amount of power is the same cost as a mini PC without many upsides for the homelab. That’s why I’m starting to tell people to just look at thin clients for their homelabs.

(Even though it’s a weaksauce performer for an Intel machine, it’s still way faster than a the BCM2711 that comes in a Raspberry Pi 4. Plus, it benefits from the transcoding capabilities of Intel machines.)

Look, not everyone’s going to want a thin client hanging out in their closet, but in some contexts they can make a ton of sense.

Mini-Links

» Nvidia-based machines aren’t the only thing ASUS has been working on. It just announced the ASUS NUC 14 Essential Fanless, which is aiming for the low-end market that wants a usable computer but would die if it heard a single fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzwCPSxzAn8

All computers should fit inside your wall.

» You heard of a Mini PC behind your VESA-mounted monitor, but how about one mounted in the wall, like a fancy power outlet? Michael MJD highlights the super-weird Jack PC.

» Speaking of VESA-mounting, the Euler MX2, a fanless mini-ITX case, is capable of being mounted behind a monitor, though it’s much larger than your average Intel NUC. But hey, if you need to fit a beefy CPU into your setup but you don’t actually want to see that setup, now you have an option. (BTW, did I mention that it’s apparently fanless?)

Jargon Clarifier

Chromebox

A variant of mini PC, which actually came out in 2012 around the time of the first Intel NUC, that is intended as a ChromeOS-centric version of a thin client. These machines, especially earlier models, generally have 2GB or 4GB of RAM, just enough to do the basics. Later models, however, bumped up the specs accordingly. Don’t want to be stuck with ChromeOS on a used mini PC? Good news: These can have other operating systems installed on them, notably GalliumOS, but expect to open up the device.

Deal Watch

» Acemagic’s retro-tinted X3 Mini, sporting a Ryzen 7 H 255, dual 2.5GB Ethernet ports, and 16GB of RAM, is going for $575 on Amazon. (Word of warning, though: The RAM is soldered.)

» Speaking of Acemagic, their secondary brand Kamrui is offering a 20% coupon on its eBay store that can be used on up to two machines, in case you’re in the market for multiples.

» Looking for a super-minimal option? There are a few sellers on eBay selling dirt-cheap Chromeboxes, which have minimal specs can run Linux if you so desire. This seller’s actually pre-installing AntiX Linux on the $54.99 models they’re offering, and you can even buy ’em in bulk. Don’t expect miracles, but if you’re creative, they might still be useful.

Mini PCs in History

That time Corel—yes, the WordPerfect company—made a tiny ARM-based Linux box

One frequent knock against the various ARM plays on Windows is that Microsoft has traditionally been terrible at supporting ARM architecture, which limited its appeal and reach.

On Linux, this has rarely been a problem, thanks to prolific open-source contributors and thoughtfully targeted hardware. The words “Raspberry Pi” come to mind when bringing this architecture up, but if you want to go earlier, you might want to read up on the Corel Computing Netwinder.

If you think of Corel, you may think of graphics software or the classic word processor WordPerfect, which Corel acquired in 1996. But the company was one of the first big companies to invest in the Linux ecosystem in the big way, launching Corel Linux in 1999 … and abandoning it in 2001.

As a part of this initiative, Corel created a hardware offshoot, called Corel Computer, that was so obscure that it’s not even mentioned on the company’s Wikipedia page. But there is a CNET article, fortunately, and that article notes that the NetWinder was actually an attempt to broaden its fortunes away from the Windows ecosystem:

The NetWinder computers began as the platform Corel needed to sell its videoconferencing system, Lipson said. The Linux version of the Unix operating system and the StrongARM RISC chip provided a good avenue to make powerful yet inexpensive computers.

The firm had done other things to improve its lot in life, most notably reprogramming much of its software in Java, but this was easily the most ambitious thing.

These devices were said to be powerful but power-sipping, thanks to that ARM architecture. But just because it ran ARM doesn’t mean Intel wasn’t involved; in fact, Intel acquired the StrongARM brand in 1997.

The device was an innovative idea, but Corel quickly lost interest; by early 1999, it sold the machine to a firm called Hardware Canada Computing, a name that screams “generic.” Fortunately for them, the domain Rebel.com was available, giving the firm an opportunity to promote its Linux-friendly with images of James Dean. (Talk about on the nose.)

While this unusual machine didn’t last long, plenty of information is still out there about it online, thanks in part to the open-source backed resource NetWinder.org. The resource hasn’t been updated in over 20 years, but hey, at least the URLs work.

OK, that’s it for this edition of Boxed News. Let’s hope the big news next week is not a computer that costs $6,000. Got any tips for us, anything we should be covering? Shoot me an email at ernie@tedium.co! Thanks!