From their headquarters in Tucker, GA, a mere four months after the release of the highly successful Hornet line of small-form-factor PCs, Monarch announces the new Hornet Pro. The Hornet Pro represents significant improvements in practicality, power, and aesthetics over the original Hornet including better airflow, larger power supply options, and new colors.
In addition to a space-conscious design, the Hornet Pro sports an array of performance options, from Intel Pentium 4 (up to 3.2 GHz, 800 MHz FSB), AMD Athlon XP (up to 3200+, 400 MHz FSB) and the new AMD Athlon 64 processors to a complete selection of high-end gaming and CAD video cards from ATI, nVidia, and 3Dlabs. The wide selection of options and industry-standard Micro-ATX form-factor makes the Monarch Hornet Pro the most flexible, upgradable PC in the small-form-factor segment. With its support for all current and future processor platforms, the Hornet Pro is also the fastest SFF PC available today.
Hornet Pro retains the unique features of the original Hornet design
The linchpin of the original Monarch Hornet design is the custom-made, all-aluminum, Micro-ATX chassis. Despite its very small design, the Hornet chassis will accept any Micro-ATX motherboard. The Hornet has a tool-less design, removable motherboard tray for easy upgrades, two temperature monitors, front ports for USB, headphones and microphone, a built-in handle for portability, optional clear side panel, and it weighs only eight pounds. It also has room for two 3.5” hard drives, one 5.25” drive for DVDs, CD-RW, or DVD-RW, and one 3.5” floppy bay. The Hornet has an optional media card reader that supports seven different flash memory types.
Monarch listened to Hornet users when refining the Hornet Pro design
“The original Hornet was our first shot at the small form-factor market. With the feedback from our customers, critics, and industry experts we realized there was room for improvement. So in record time, we are proud to introduce the Hornet Pro,” stated Trey Harris of Monarch. “Without making it bulkier, we freed up more interior room, increased airflow, and put in larger watt power supplies so that the Hornet Pro would be able to handle the next generation video cards and processors. This machine is small, but it’s no toy. There’s nothing you can do with a full tower PC that you can’t do with the Hornet Pro, but the reverse is not true. Try carrying around your full-size PC with one hand.”
For the Hornet Pro, Monarch replaced the original Hornet’s 60mm intake fan with an 80mm ball-bearing whisper fan and increased the length of the motherboard tray. Monarch also made the new top panel removable, making the Hornet Pro significantly easier to upgrade. The back of the system was re- arranged to accept an SFX power supply instead of the original flex-ATX power supply allowing Monarch to offer a 250-watt Enermax Whisper supply for silent operation. Additionally, the new SFX power supplies can exhaust significant amounts of air from the system, allowing Monarch to remove the 80mm fan from the rear of the chassis. With these new power options, the Hornet Pro is currently the most powerful SFF PC available today.
The Hornet Pro enjoys some aesthetic improvements as well. The noise killer option was moved so that its light was visible from the clear side window, and a second window is now an option for the other side of the system. Also, in addition to the original matte black, Monarch now offers the Hornet Pro anodized with indigo. Finally, Monarch backlit the two temperature readouts on the front of the Hornet Pro, in addition to reducing their size, giving the front of the case a more subtle, elegant look. The Hornet Pro can be anything you want, from a portable workstation to the perfect LAN gaming rig. The Hornet Pro is even ideal as a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) for your home entertainment center.
Monarch Hornet Pro Availability
The Monarch Hornet Pro is available online starting today at www.monarchcomputer.com . Please call one of our trained sales engineers with any questions at (800) 611-0875 or e-mail sales@monarchcomputer.com for more information.
