AOpen Inc., an award-winning, global leader in PC component design and manufacturing, announced today that it has entered into distribution agreements with the Top 5 national distributors: Techdata US & Canada, Ingram Micro US, Synnex US & Canada, D&H and Hartco Canada., who will market and sell AOpen’s ultimate small form factor barebones computer, the AOpen XC Cube AV EA65-II to value-added resellers, system integrators, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) throughout the United States and Canada.
The AOpen XC Cube AV’s main feature is its Instant Mode, which AOpen gives resellers, distributors and system integrators a versatile solution for configuring PCs that can be used for both computing tasks and home entertainment.
The AOpen XC Cube AV’s Instant Mode clearly sets the XC Cube AV apart from other barebones PCs that usually only include a case, motherboard, and a power supply. Instant Mode lets users share digital music and video files between the Windows and Linux environments and easily move from the instant access, CE-like multimedia applications, to the Windows PC mode (which requires the full Windows load time and standard keyboard/mouse control). Without booting into Windows at all, users can use the XC Cube AV’s front control panel, which resembles that of a high-end stereo system, or a remote, to quickly choose from listening to radio broadcasts, music from audio CDs or MP3 files or watching TV programs, DVDs or VCD movies, making AOpen XC Cube AV EA65-II a fully functional media centre PC.
In Windows Mode, it provides DVD and VCD playback, TV viewing, Personal Digital Recording, FM radio, picture slideshows, and audio CD and MP3 playback. The XC Cube AV EA65-II’s processing power makes it a fantastic home computer and an ideal PC gaming Cube. The sleek, incredibly compact, and powerful personal computer converged with the ultimate home theater hub is appealing to urban style connoisseurs, students, women, avid computer enthusiasts, and even the most hardcore gamers by offering users a one-stop home entertainment experience.
The system comes in stately black, for a sleek consumer look and feel, and an attractive compact form that is just a quarter of the size of a regular PC. Set off against the black front control panel is a glowing blue power button surrounded by 2 silver-hued MODE buttons. The XC Cube also features a large vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) that shows the functionality in use.
The AOpen XC Cube AV EA65-II comes with a 7-in-1 flash memory card reader that enables users to read directly from the most popular memory cards used in today’s digital appliances. The two AV’s IEEE 1394 ports, 4 pins and 6 pins enable for instant playback of video footage on a digital camcorder. The system also offers 4 – 2.0 USB ports for additional expandability to CD or DVD burners, flash drives, digital audio recorders, and a range of USB peripherals. The S/PDIF OUT port on the front and the S/PDIF IN port on the back of the XC Cube AV enables users to connect their digital stereo equipment for ultra-realistic sonic quality. The generous expansion options and easy-installation design makes the XC Cube AV a snap to turn into a multi-function powerhouse PC or a gaming computer.
“This is an entirely new standard in small form factor computing. XC Cube AV is a powerful system equipped with a lot of options that appeal to the channel and to everyday PC users,” said Chris Liu, Senior Director of AOpen. “There is a growing demand for sophisticated PCs with a comprehensive range of impressive AV entertainment capabilities. AOpen is aggressively moving forward filling this niche with sleek, affordable solutions that appeal to a broad consumer base. You can now easily connect your entire home to a single PC and control your entire household entertainment functions, whether it be watching television or DVDs, to storing, downloading and playing music, which will provide all entertainment requirements.”
The AOpen XC Cube AV EA65-II includes the case, motherboard and power supply. Users can add their own CPU, drives and memory to complete their custom system. It’s motherboard is based around the Intel 865G chipset which allows for use of 400/533/800MHz FSB processors, 266/333/400MHz Dual Channel DDR, on board VGA, Sound, and NIC.
The AOpen XC Cube AV EA65-II includes an AGP 8x video card for snappy display performance. It also features ultra-silent operation; highly efficient thermal solutions to keep temperatures low for optimal performance; a comprehensive roundup of I/O ports; a power rating of 275 watts; and an advanced 4 phase power stabilizing technology providing long hour CPU operation.
