Specifications

Remember the old saying
when playing Charades, "Is it
bigger than a breadbox?" In
the case of the AOpen XC
Cube MZ855-II, the answer is
NO. It's amazing what AOpen
can put in such a tiny box
that measures 4.2"x12.6"x8".
It may only weigh 6 pounds
but is a giant in performance
and wins our Best In Class
Award for functionality, size
and value.
When you combine this
desktop computer with an
affordable monitor we can
see the Cube being used in a
multi-cube environment with
each networked PC and
monitor costing under $900
per unit. In these days of high
ROI expectations this combi-
nation is very feasible.
The MZ855-II we tested had
a 1.6GHz Pentium M proces-
sor and 1GB of RAM
installed, although you can
upgrade the system to 2GB
of DDR SDRAM. The SATA
IDE hard drive interface will
allow you to use a multitude
of fast 7200-RPM SATA
drives on the market today.
The two 3.5" expansion bays
allow you to house two hard
drives or a hard drive/floppy
combination. There's a slot
for an AGP graphics card and
depending on how serious
you are about the display
there are a number of choic-
es that you can make.
Two standards of the comput-
er include an integrated
sound card with outputs for
both stereo and Dolby Digital
5.1 sound systems.
When we
hooked up
both types of
speaker systems we
were quite pleased with the
clarity and volume that was
produced. The MZ855-II has
an Ethernet
10/100/1000BaseT interface
(no Wi-Fi) for quick connec-
tion to your network. There
are additional ports two USB
high speed devices, head-
phone and microphone jacks,
VGA output and a 4 or 6-pin
FireWire interface.
We were worried that a com-
puter system in such a small
unit might cause some over-
heating problems. AOpen
must have took that into con-
sideration, although it does
have a warm feeling to the
case, there was no cause for
alarm in that area. The fan
was so quiet that you might
not have noticed that there
was one.
The MZ855-II comes as a
barebones unit, which means
you'll need to add items such
as the processor, hard drive,
floppy, optical drive and
graphics card. Single PCI
and AGP expansion card
slots are available
with one nec-
essary to fulfill
your graphics card
requirement.
The AOpen XC Cube MZ855-
II is about the size of a shoe-
box and is available in an
assortment of colors. Doing
some comparison shopping
on the internet, we were able
to locate the barebones unit
in the $300 range which is
quite competitive against
other manufacturers. To
receive more information or
configure a system visit
xc.aopen.com.tw.
REVIEWS
+
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VERDICT
BCM
xc.aopen.com.tw
MAIN FEATURES
One of the smallest bare-
bones computer systems
available that’s configurable
and very inexpensive.
OTHER INFO
The MZ855-II is about the
size of a shoebox and is
available in an assortment of
colors.
PRICE
$300 (bare-
bones)
It may be small but it's
a powerful little com-
puter.
Not much is known
about the company or
tech support.
EASE OF USE
100
100
97%
VALUE FOR MONEY
SUPPORT
9977%%
OVERALL PERCENTAGE
AOpen XC Cube MZ855-II
Desktops
Business Computing [57] September 2005 www.businesscomputingmagazine.com
Sony DCR-HC90 MiniDV Handycam
REVIEWS
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VERDICT
BCM
MAIN FEATURES
Resolutions of the camera run
between 2 megapixel for video
and 3 megapixel photography.
OTHER INFO
Also includes Carl Zeiss
designed Vario Tessar 3x opti-
cal zoom lens.
PRICE
$900
Very competitive price
for a 7.2-megapixel
digital camera.
A slightly larger LCD
display would have
made this camera
EASE OF USE
95%
95%
95%
VALUE FOR MONEY
SUPPORT
9955%%
OVERALL PERCENTAGE
Cameras
[57] Business Computing September 2005www.businesscomputingmagazine.com
The Sony DCR-HC90
Handycam is one of Sony's
latest video camera releases
and from what we can tell
works extremely well and cap-
tures vivid images even in low
lighting. This fact is important
because many of us use
video cameras in low light set-
tings and Sony's infrared
NightShot mode
is one of
the best we've
seen in that condition. We
have to admit that it even
does a better job outdoors
and in full light settings.
Measuring a petite 4.5 inches
long and 2.8 inches wide this
Sony Handycam weighs
slightly over a pound and the
unit can fit nicely and neatly
into any bag or coat pocket
without the slightest hint of a
bulge. Smaller cameras of
this type are sometimes hard
to operate but we found the
DCR-HC90 was easy to con-
trol once we got the hang of it
and you'll need the user guide
nearby to learn the 2.7" LCD
touch-screen interface.
The video camera features a
10x zoom that smoothly slid
into a scene avoiding the
herky-jerky zoom of some dig-
ital+optical zooms that we've
experienced with some cam-
eras. The Handycam has a
selectable 4:3 screen mode
as well as a 16:9 ratio which
replayed quite nicely on a
high definition television dur-
ing our test. Clarity of the
camera runs between an
effective 2 megapixel resolu-
tion for video and 3 megapixel
if you use the device for still
photography. Color represen-
tation was well within the
parameters we expect to find
with a video camera in this
price category although the
low-light conditions does skew
those readings somewhat.
Digital features of the camera
include your typical slow
motion effect and an interest-
ing old-style movie effect.
While the auto-focus feature
of the video camera was a bit
lethargic, a dash of patience
is needed in some instances
when waiting for the camera
to come to a settled focus.
What really surprised us in
the end was the audio. The
recorded sound was crisp,
clear and with a well modu-
lated level. Chances are that
in post production there will
probably be no need to do
any additional audio process-
ing (unless you need to add
something.)
Using your standard MiniDV
discs are generally $10 or less
(depending on the length of
the
disc) and the camera's battery
was capable of using that
entire recording time before
needing a recharge, although
we did power down the cam-
era when we weren't using it.
The general price on the
internet is around $1000 for
the Sony DCR-HC90
Handycam although we did
find a couple of retailers that
cut that price by $100. For
camera specifications and
information visit Sony's web
site at www.sonystyle.com.
www.sonystyle.com