When Linux Mint 15 Olivia was released, CompuLab changed their homepage on http://www.fit-pc.com to include this banner:
We’ve always had a fantastic relationship with the staff at CompuLab and we’re working hard on the new MintBox, but this was a surprise and I wanted to thank them for doing this. There’s a lot of respect and admiration going both ways and we’re very proud of what we’re doing together.
Talking about which, I can already share some exciting news about the MintBox 2..
- Both CompuLab and Linux Mint reduced their margins (in our case we went from 10% to 5%)
- CompuLab is working to enable European customers to order via Amazon.de (which means no more duty/customs tax and shipping costs included in the price)
- The MintBox 2 will be based on the Intel i5 and feature more than 4 times the performance of the MintBox Pro, for roughly the same price
Here’s a quick comparison of the MintBox basic, the MintBox pro and the MintBox 2:
| MintBox Basic | MintBox Pro | MintBox 2 | |
| CPU | AMD T40 | AMD T56 | Intel i5 |
| RAM | 4GB | 8GB | 4GB |
| HDD | 250GB | 250GB | 500GB |
| Ethernet | Gigabit | Gigabit | Dual Gigabit |
| Warranty | 1 year | 1 year | 5 years |
| Geekbench score | 1077* | 1615** | 7541 |
| Price | $476*** + shipping, VAT, duty | $549 + shipping, VAT, duty | $599**** |
* Tested with 8GB RAM (the score on the official MintBox Basic should be slightly lower)
** Tested with 4GB RAM (the score on the official MintBox Pro should be slightly higher)
*** Original price (the MintBox Basic is now on sale at $379)
**** Amazon price (including shipping and fees).
The i5 CPU is a great compromise between performance and price, giving us 4 times the performance of the MintBox pro at roughly the same price. The i7 processor, in comparison, would have pushed the cost above $800 and only gave an additional 5% performance gain (8GB RAM + i7 CPU scored 7919 with the same benchmark).
The MintBox 2 will also feature dual Gigabit Ethernet, an upgraded 500GB HDD and a 5 years warranty.
A great little box, if we had more cash we would grab a box to review a few games on to test performance, great work both groups!
Ooooh hopefully the price will be around the same for the UK 🙂
Nowadays I can’t buy a PC if it doesn’t have a SSD. I’d better have 64 GB in SSD than 1TB in HDD.
Soon in Brazil, 2030…or now paying the double
what are the input device can it take like screen and graphics do like the size off it
Edit by Clem: HDMI 1.4a up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz and DisplayPort up to 2560 x 1600 at 60Hz, dual mode support
hi together,
I just looked at the details of these Mintboxes.
But: to be honest: my Notebook (Toshiba Satellite C850-1LQ can beat them out!!
My specifications:
CPU: Intel i3
HDD: 750 GB
RAm: 8 GB
Ethernet: 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 05)
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000
Then I have 2 usb 2.0-ports, 1 usb 3.0-port, VGA-port, HDMI-port, Multic-Cardreader, Multi-DVD-burner!!
So you see: my Notebook can easily beat these Mintboxes out… 😀
Greetings
Mintkatze
Sure, your upgraded laptop can beat them out, nearly, but only with Linux installed and SURPRISE!!!!!!!!! they aren’t half as cheap.
Sometimes I think these ‘weekend nerds’ only want to talk about their personal system specs. Lol. Your laptop doesn’t even compare.
@Mintkatze:
I can’t see any benefits of your notebook:
CPU & Graphics: The only intel core i3 with hd3000 i know is the “Intel Core i3 2125”
which has sandy-bridge architecture. This thing has far less power than a intel core i5 3rd generation (although the mintbox 2 hopefully has a 4th generation i5 which is even more powerful)
HDD: 500GB is more than enough, for more memory you should use an external harddrive.
RAM: Yeah okay, you have more ram, but the board should be capable of 8GB RAM and those rigs don’t cost very much.
IO: I don’t know the specs of the mint box 2, but the old one had:
2 USB3.0, 6USB 2.0, 2 eSATA Ports, Wifi b/g/n, gigabit ethernet, HDMI and some more i can’t remember.
I don’t want to say you should go and buy a Mintbox, but that your system beats it is not true, your system has been beaten
Greez
Mani
Great. These kind of mini, silent computers I believe are somewhat the way of the future. Just take it with you, hook it up to a television (and audio) system, and impress your friends.
It would be nice if the MintBox Pro was offered with a 20% discount don’t you think?
But can it run KDE? 😛
Looks like a nice little system. A bit out of my price-range, but I’d snap it up in a second otherwise. MUST have the mints overflowing, at least on the side in a nice bag or something. 🙂
You forgot a * at “** Original price” : has to be *** instead of **
Edit by Clem: Thanks.
Sorry, but the price are too high !
I made a core i7 with 16GB of ram and 128 of SSD with less of 550 € !!!
For that price, a true mint box (filled with mints) like the one rendered above should be delivered with the miniPC. 😛
Price and specs look good to me.
What display outputs does the MintBox 2 have??? I would love triple digital display outputs 🙂 but I could settle for dual monitors.
Thanks!
Edit by Clem: HDMI 1.4a up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz and DisplayPort up to 2560 x 1600 at 60Hz, dual mode support
Should we expect to see a haswell processor in this box or an ivy bridge?
Edit by Clem: Intel Core i5 3337 Ivy Bridge 1.8 GHz
A version with the AMD kabini SOC (A4-5000 or A6-5200) would be great!
I hope you guys don’t use Realtek and Ralink for the NICs. They often have issues under Linux.
You know, I was looking for a new computer…
@Mintkatze:
I gotta add this, that it’s not a notebook, it’s essentially a mini-desktop with Linux Mint or any distribution of Linux in mind. You also gotta think that the form factor is of some value here. Your laptop is probably either a 15 or 17 inch screen one. Not very “portable” in my mind. The MintBox on the other hand, is. It probably weighs half of what your oh so great notebook weighs.
But, yeah. This looks awesome, and once I get the scratch for one, I’m ordering!
The case design is very good.
But we need a version of this with room for a 3.5″ drive.
2.5″ drives are just too limiting for some of the best uses of this type of computer.
Is that a solid state drive?
Edit by Clem: No, the 500GB isn’t SSD, although it’s accessible by a bay underneath the box if you want to fit an SSD in there instead.
All is well, only the hard drive should be at least 1TB – then immediately book! $ 599 – this is a 1TB drive, 6 GB of RAM
will this be available in Germany?
Edit by Clem: Yes.
and while I have your attention: I really think this will be my first non-notebook computer since the mid-Nineties. have been using 28 Thinkpads in a row ever since.
can anybody recommend a fitting keyboard mith no special keys? my last one was a IBM AT-03 keyboard with 102 mechanical keys. something very much like this one – but preferrably in black – would be apprechiated.
kind regards.
What sort of GPU does it have?
Edit by Clem: Intel HD Graphics
Where can I order? I can’t find it on Amazon (.com, .co.uk, or .de)
Edit by Clem: It’s not available yet. We’re finalizing stocks and packaging.
Ahh, if only it had an audio out jack. 🙁
Edit by Clem: It has both microphone-in and audio-out 3.5mm jacks.
Clem,
These devices look really cool, and I haven’t yet convinced my company to try a few. I think price point is a concern, but that is not to say that you should change that. As you have clearly stated, you aren’t in the business of selling PC’s.
I’m almost certain you have considered this, but have you looked at a
Cubieboard option, or Raspberry even? Not as a primary offering but as something that could be included in the line-up as a tiny, yet full featured option. Should enter a much lower price point as well, even after all the configuration you might choose to. Just curious.
To Mintkatze
You are comparing apples and oranges. Not to mention that the MintBox2 is way more easily a router/server/PC/WAP/–you name it, it will do it straight out of the box, with just a small amount of technical knowledge. If you want to be “geeky” about your hardware, and what you can do with your laptop, the MintBox2 has way more tricks up it’s sleeve than your laptop–just with the inclusion of 2 network ports. You must understand that hardware specs means nothing if you don’t know how to make it work for you in the first place. I have no idea what your technical level is, nor am I implying that it is sub-par. Surely you must understand the point of my post.
For that price, why not get a Mac mini and install Mint on it? Granted that won’t be dual GbE, but you get Thunderbolt, and can connect extra NIC (among others) to that.
I hope MB2 will use an Ethernet chip supported by VMware ESXi though.
Yes, please no Realtek Ethernet and Ralink WiFi chips please. Ralink WiFi NICs aren’t very stable especially with 802.11n and I’ve always had issues with Realtek gigabit NICs like not supporting 9k jumbo frames and also stability issues.
Did you try to run Steam with something like TF or Portal?
I am curious how it performs as a game console.
Interesting, kind of reminds me of the Mac Mini. I don’t have a use for it, but I’m sure some people will. I would like to see a cheap laptop/netbook running Mint though. I think it would sell. Linux is a great OS on the go, and a full distro can do so much more than the popular Chromebook.
If i had 800 cash to lay out i would consider it and a monitor of about 24 inches
Not really worth it for me until it has an SSD, but I love the concept.
Well, looking at Fit-PC’s Intense Box specs, it looks good that at least one of the GbE will not be Realtek. One is the RTL8111D but the other is an Intel 82579. HDMI1.4a + DisplayPort, 7x GPIO and LVDS (FACE Module) = Me very interested.
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/intense-pc-more/#Specifications
Looks fantastic…
May I ask if there is a more detailed specification anywhere please? As in:
1. Does the unit use active [fan] cooling or is it passive/silent?
2. What’s the display output situation? Will it support 2 monitors?
3. Any idea on availability for EU customers please?
It looks like a cracking piece of kit – I hope it’s a massive success for you!
Edit by Clem: There are no fans at all, the metal casing acts as a heat-sink. The only noise you might notice is from the HDD. It will be available to EU customers via Amazon.de sometime during the summer. We’ll make an announcement when it’s ready to ship. In terms of displays, it comes with DisplayPort up to 2560 x 1600 at 60Hz, dual mode support and HDMI 1.4a up to 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz.
I agree with everyone else who voiced the SSD issue. For me a solid state drive would be mandatory for me to even consider buying a small device like this- you need something that has no moving parts except a fan.
Edit by Clem: I use one of the mintbBoxes I have here as a NAS. The form factor makes it ideal to carry with me and so I value storage more than complete silence or extra performance personally. But that’s just me. All you need is a screwdriver, there’s a single screwn holding the HDD bay and you can replace the HDD with an SSD if you want. Also, there are no fans in the mintBox.
Ever think that there might be a bare bones model for sale? No ram and no HDD so I can add my own. Fantastic idea though.
Edit by Clem: There is a barebone IntensePC, http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/intense-pc-more/#models
600 for an i5 without screen and a poor man’s 4G ??? Beg pardon, that’s rather off the wall when 200 more would easily buy a new i7 lap – including the screen and likely double the RAM…
Intel i5 is a bit vague specification for CPU in MintBox 2. Which generation is the CPU gonna be 3rd or 4th ?
Also will it have a GPU ?
Edit by Clem: 3rd gen Intel Core i5 3337 Ivy Bridge 1.8 GHz with Intel HD Graphics.
Sudros in the exact same form factor I do not know but go to a newegg type place and look up barebones/mini and you can make one like this. As with any DIY a 2nd gen i3 and 4 gig ran will run yo much less than the fully assembled ones like the MB2. With a DIY and active cooling you can probaby rock a 3rd gen i5 and a ssd and keep it around $600 or less
I am looking for either a new PC, or to upgrade my current pc.
The price for the Mintbox2 is almost same as upgrade costs.
But can it be delivered to Norway without to much cost?
And with a SSD it would perform better also.
(and then I would have a silent office) 😉
Edit by Clem: It would ship to Norway from Amazon.de, but I’m not sure what the situation is between Norway and the EU in terms of customs tax.
Hi.
Is the 5 year warranty referring to hardware as well or only to software updates?
ThanKs
Edit by Clem: It’s for the mintBox, in case something went wrong with the hardware itself. The updates relate to what release you run on it. By default it comes with Mint 15 (which will get updates until 2014). You can change the OS to Mint 13 LTS to get updates all the way to 2017.
Hi Clem,
in contrast to the first Mintbox this Device is what I looking for. If I need a new PC I will buy it.
And I buy an SSHD for it(Seagate Laptop SSHD 1000GB) so I have an fast system and enough Storage-Space.
So the only wish I had (maybe for Mintbox3), is the option to choose between an HDD, an SSD or an SSHD. So the Mintbox can used in more scenarios. With HDD for Office, NAS and Multimedia, with SSD for (fast) Office, Multimedia, Silent-PC, HTPC, with SSHD for (faster) Office, Multimedia with some storage.
Thanks for your work Clem!
Hope I save enough and I would love to buy this. Ideal to connect to my TV with HDMI and for general desktop purposes. But, what are the warranty terms (can see it as 5 years, which is really good). International warranty is covered ( I live in India and can get it ordered through my friends in States), any tie-ups to service in other countries?. Plus, I hope there is some kind of active support / service for consumers as well.
Edit by Clem: Hi Anand, I’d say it will be similar to the terms CompuLab provides for the IntensePC models already: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/intensepc/
Sure, it looks cute but it’s still severely overpriced. No monitor, no hard drive, no keyboard, no camera, no microphone, and no way to work on it yourself. I can build my own box, slap a little green “Linux Mint” sticker on it, and have a much better computer for a fraction of the cost. I guess this is something for rich nerds with money to burn who just want something cool on their desk to show their friends. Otherwise, it’s pretty useless isn’t it?
I’m sorry, but geesh. Build your own and save a ton of cash.
Edit by Clem: I’ll tell you how “I” use them. I’m going to France for 6 weeks this summer. I’m bringing 6 computers with me (5 mintboxes, one of which is basically my LAN/NAS/MediaCenter and 1 laptop). I’m also bringing 2 keyboards, 2 mice, 1 console, 2 magazines and 1 book. I’ll be able to work, play and relax. Guess what takes the most space? The console. Then it’s the keyboards (I do like big keyboards) and the laptop. I’ve got my entire office with me, and it all fits in a single carton. One mintBox is the size of a book. Anywhere I land (and I’m planning to land in 4 different places this summer) I’ve got 3 PCs running concurrently. Now, you might wonder why I bring the laptop… and there’s only two reasons, it runs on batteries (solely for testing purpose that’s important to test the power management in Cinnamon, I can’t wait for Virtualbox emulates that) and it has a screen (so it’s a good plan B for when I’m not sat down somewhere with access to a TV or a monitor). The laptop is handy as a planB and tedious for any amount of real work. The mintBox is neither a laptop nor a desktop. It’s not as powerful as a desktop computer and it’s not as versatile/mobile as a laptop, it’s a formidable compromise between the two though… I used to bring two desktops with me and they used to fill half of the boot… I could bring laptops of course but then I’d get nothing done. If you don’t need to move or if you’re perfectly happy with your productivity on a laptop, then you might not see my point. But take my word for it, I love these units. And that’s just me. I’ve seen others love them for different reasons, low-power-consumption and silence in companies/cybercafes for instance.
I am wondering if an AMD APU was considered for the MintBox 2. I would have thought this option would be cheaper without sacrificing much in the way of performance.
any chance to get hand on one of these in the country of the closed source lovers –> Japan (e.g. amazon.co.jp)?
Edit by Clem: Not via Amazon (CompuLab said they’re working on having stock on Amazon.com and Amazon.de).
Looks like the Intel specs for the i5 3337 are here:
http://ark.intel.com/products/72055
I got this link from Wikipedia’s i5 page. But, of course, get the official product specs from fit-pc.com as listed above (a few times).
Oh, and “me” (currently comment #47): Do you really think you can build a 7.5 inch (19cm) fanless pc with all those connections and a 5 year warranty yourself? Good luck! (I know, he’s just a troll; I should ignore him…)
me@47
expensive? maybe. useless? that’s totally unfair, and totally false.
keep it real folks. if you don’t want to spend the money, then don’t. i feel it is cost prohibitive myself, therefore, i will not be purchasing one any time soon. however, that in itself changes nothing in regard to what this device actually do for you. it is indeed, highly useful, but only for those who engage their minds just a little.
Would be nice to have a nice product brochure for Mint Box.
http://www.apple.com/mac-mini/ – Could be a starting point. 😉
Just noticed that Mac Mini is also priced at $599. I guess Mint would exceed in performance with i5. If someone (like Phoronix) were to publish a comparison, would be very helpful for users.
I think the Mintbox2 is a great device. Just what I am looking for. It’s even greater to hear that CompuLab is working to enable European customers to order via Amazon.de
I will order one if they are available at Amazon.de. When can we expect the Mintbox2 at Amazon.de?
Thanks…
Edit by Clem: I can’t say for sure, but it’s a matter of weeks.
So, you tested basic model shipped with 4GB ram with installed 8GB, and advanced shipped with 8GB installed with 4GB … http://www.leer-leren.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/wtf-mem-jackie-chan-1024×819.jpeg
Edit by Clem: I asked CompuLab to push the mintBox Pro to 8GB RAM, when their fitPC SKU only had 4GB (and this is what was tested there). Similarly the mintBox Basic didn’t correspond in price and RAM to the fitPC T40n model. Your illustration is spot on, it’s definitely a facepalm situation 🙂 With that said, you can appreciate the figures here and I’ve seen a breakdown of the scores with other SKUs, the amount of memory matters but it’s not significant when comparing the fitPC with the Intense PC (bases used for the mintBox and mintBox 2). CompuLab insisted on using the i5 with 4GB RAM and their primary concern was to boost as much power as possible at under $600. You could push for an i7 for an extra 5% in performance or to 8GB RAM (I don’t have the figure but it was a marginal extra in perf as well) but the gain wasn’t interesting enough for the price increase. With shipping included and no customs tax (for EU customers), the mintBox 2 is cheaper than the mintBox Pro and comes with 4 times the performance.. my initial reaction was to be disappointed by the lack of i7 and 8GB RAM, but CompuLab made the right recommendation here and I’m fully on board with it, not to mention the increased 4 years in warranty and the HDD going from 250GB to 500GB.
I think this week’s note on ThinkPenguin in Distrowatch Weekly gives another compelling reason to put a bit extra money on one of these fantastic gadgets. http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20130701#qa
It’s like paying 3 or 4 more times for a coffee that you know is environment-friendly, grower-friendly and your-own-health-friendly! If they sold thousands of them monthly, the price would definitely go down, meanwhile they are taking a great financial risk to offer something they believe on, it’s up to those who believe in the same ideals to support them.
Wait! never mind, talking about different vendors here. Sorry!!
so why would I buy this instead of a NUC?
I was leaning between this and a new Gibson Les Paul(1399USD+Tax) but only 8gb of ram and an intel GPU….yea i’m going with the guitar. the intel gpu was probably the deal breaker I mean yea theyre getting better but intel still has a long way to go before they can catch up to Nividia or Ati. I think I’m gonna stick with mint 15 on my HP Envy m4-1015dx
No fans? You are absolutely wrong! We are a lot! 😉
I think there has to be also a version whit a celeron processor, my own mintpc is a celeron g540, 4gb ram, 120gb ssd en it fly’s like hell.
Because an i5 is for most of us not needed.
Edit by Clem: There is an intensePC using a Celeron CPU yes.
Hi Mint Developers,
You guys done a great job! A very stable system and easy to
install. Perhaps consider also these 2 points that might
open up many market for mints.
If Mint OS comes with a BUILD in current Andriod Emulator
that is connected to the login profile seemlessly and also
syncs with the external andriod tablets.
Gaming and desktop
It will open up new dimensions of application and also people
able to sync their tablets with the “tablets” within mint.
Other had done so on Windows and Mac OS.
http://www.bluestacks.com/technology.html
At the heart of BlueStacks is a multi-OS runtime with breakthrough virtualization technology. Apps developed for different operating systems can execute simultaneously, side-by-side, on the same computer.
BlueStacks employs a lightweight, optimized, soft hypervisor with deep enhancements to support “embedded virtualization”. End consumers can enjoy the full Android environment through BlueStacks, or just install Android app icons directly on the Windows desktop. As is the case with any advanced technology, the complexity is completely masked from the end consumer.
————–
Another cool thing that can be consider is like:
http://www.jolicloud.com/jolios
The support of JoliOS is right now very limited in hardware,
but the idea of the GUI and also seemless sync of desktop with
a “tablet” kind of feeling.
It is actually a very OLD idea from Sun Microsystem, SunRay thin client, which was ahead of its time. Now it seems like a good time
because of the hardware and network bandwidth.
There seem to be a couple of misconceptions here.
My reaction, base on owning and running a mintbox (1) for a year or more:
1. price: yes the mintboxes are pricey, but their build quality is exceptional.
2. fans: the mintboxes have no fans. They are virtually silent.
Building your own may be cheaper, but you will not end up with as robust a machine.
Very nice, and I’m actually considering one, but the choice of hard drive doesn’t make sense. It should either be a 128 SSD (especially since this is a fanless pc, the current HDD kinda ruins it), or a 1TB HDD if it’s storage you’re after. As it is now, you neither get the performance/silence nor the storage space.
Sure, you can replace it, but then what’s the point of buying something which is ready to go out of the box. Plus I don’t want to spend extra money on a hard drive and have the 500GB one laying ’round the house collecting dust.
Can’t you offer a choice of specs? Other than that, looks great.
There can be no comparisons between laptop and this small footprint desktop. The mintbox is only portable in that it is easy to take with you. No battery, no screen, no keyboard. I do not think that arguement should have been allowed in the replies. It is a waste of time and bandwidth. Keep to the subject people.
Bro this is good. talk about comparing oranges and apples. Sorry about your laptop Bro. But there is no comparison. This is fanless. It has two ethernet ports (and by coincidence I run wifi authentication server on a mint machine. The home output is ideal to build an entertainment system with xbmc. Man, your imagination is the limit to what you can do with this system. Your laptop is… Well… Your laptop.
Turbolento@65
Amen to that! Out of the box, with NO additional hardware, people just don’t appreciate what this device is or can be. Yes you can get on the Internet with it and check email, but really folks? Is that all you can think of? You said about the same thing I did in comment 29.
By the way, are you running a WPA2 enterprise server? Either way, very cool! This little gadget is a perfect fit for that, plus a ton of other things. But alas, only a few people understand that, and continually say there laptops are this or that, and way better.
We’re talking two different planets folks. Wake up!
Clem,
I actually took a little time to explore the Compulab site pretty good, want to spend a little more even.
I must say, they have some awesome devices, and components. It only furthers my curiosity as to how far you and the team will go in your partnership with Compulab.
I personally like the uSVR–that is really something else. On the other hand, I can see the thought process involved in the particular devices you’ve chosen to work with right now. Very cool!
All that said, if anyone hasn’t taken just a few minutes to scour the Compulab site, please do! You won’t regret it. It may not convince you to buy in to anything in particular, but you will have a greater appreciation for what they represent, and the devices the offer.
This is hi-tech stuff that you CAN NOT just get anywhere.
Congratulations, Clem and all Linux Mint Community out there.
I liked the Mint Box One, but this second editions is really awesome. Linux Mint is the best OS out there, and your are doing brilliant work. Because of that I think your inroad in hardware jungle is a brave and great decision that all the free software backers appreciate very much.
So there’s no doubt my new computer will be a Mint Box.
Finally, congratulations to ComuLab, too. They do really stunning.
By the way, the price is very nice.
I wonder if it will be possible to order with LMDE installed, either initially or later?
I ask as I have developed a recent fondness for LMDE for all sorts of sensible and boring reasons.
All good wishes, lim
Edit by Clem: It won’t be. It’s easy to install LMDE on it though if you have a USB stick.
great box! but if only there was an ssd..
An HTPC that’s ready to go! I don’t know about the graphics of the Mintbox 2 with the intel chip, but still should be just fine for HTPC needs. And come on guys, get yourself an ssd if you want it a small one for next to nothing install that for the os, the use the other for whatever you want. Use the Mintbox for your HTPC, then you could always use another pc located elsewhere for your server. That’s what I’m doing at the moment except I don’t have a mintbox. If I had the dough, I’d sping for the Pro or the 2 and use it for my HTPC. Add the 64GB minimum SSD for cheap and BAM instant HTPC. Sure it won’t have a TV tuner, but I don’t use a TV tuner in my HTPC anyway. I don’t use cable or satelite. Screw those 60-100 a month bills for cable or satelite TV, as for the latter, every time it clouded up, I lost signal anyway, and It was lined up properly.
To the laptop guy, really man, The 2 would smoke your system. I don’t know why you felt the need to publish the specs of your pre-built lappy when the specs aren’t even that great. I have an old Xeon from work, and an AMD X2, The Xeon has a cheapo graphics card and does all I need it to. The X2 has the ancient 6150 onboard graphics.. LOL.. yeah I’m a bit lacking on that one. But it still runs Mint KDE just fine.
If this device came to New Zealand I would seriously think about getting one. especially if they were similar price. usually here things cost more than overseas.
One thing I keep (unsuccessfully) trying to do is find a TV decoder that actually works well with Linux. There are some WinTV versions that have DVB-T, -S and -C built in (I need DVB-C for cable but having all three would be just useful for anyone).
If you folks could find a TV board that works reliably with Mint and include that you will have a box you can sell to everyone on the planet (even non-Linux folks). The perfect set-top box/DVR.
Just a thought. Carry on the good work. Thanks for a fantastic OS.
Ooh, I would love to have 4 or 5 of these at home, they would be a perfect replacement for aging notebooks that are constantly hooked up to my televisions.
just a few questions. Do they use a “power brick” similar to that of a laptop charger or an integrated PSU that like that of a typical desktop? Also, this may have been answered already (sorry, didn’t read ALL the previous posts) but does it use Intel HD3000, 4000, or 5000 graphics? Most importantly, when will I be able to purchase one in America?
Edit by Clem: A power brick similar to the ones used by laptops. I can’t say about the ETA, but probably this summer.
Compulab and Linux Mint has now entered the situation that Google and Samsung found themselves in with ChromeOS and the Chromebook. Mintbox is too expensive because better can be had for less: i.e. I’m currently using Linux Mint on an Acer 5749 laptop! The mini PC market is also saturated so there is a lot of competition out there. Personally I see the mintbox as a novelty buy and I won’t be buying at the current prices.
Anthony Thornton@75
Your understanding of this partnership is wrong on so many levels.
Firstly, Compulab/LM partnership similar to Google/Samsung?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Hardly!!!!!!! The key problem with the Google/Samsung partnership is not hardware related as much, although it is a SMALL factor. Rather, the main problem is the fact that ChromeOS also introduces serious limitations, and those limitations are present no matter what hardware it is installed on. It relies almost exclusively on Internet connectivity–this being the overwhelming weak link.
Secondly, Clem is has no intention of cornering the market with these devices. He has been very clear on the goals of this project. He is not into electronic device retail.
Thirdly, again, you, like so many others, are comparing apples and oranges.
Fourthly, (related to point three) your lack of knowledge of hardware in general is glaring. Further, your imagination is limited by what you personally may be able to construct, or buy off a shelf somewhere for a certain dollar figure.
Fifthly, (related to point 1) any device that runs Linux Mint, or any other viable Linux based full desktop solution is far beyond the scope of ChromeOS.
and on and on it goes……………
To All,
I’m sure Clem appreciates constructive criticism. He gives evidence of that on a continual basis. But I highlight, that it is CONSTRUCTIVE criticism that proves helpful, and not sorely misguided opinions that have no basis, and don’t educate anyone.
WOW. And now i can say – this a good nettop. But if i want – i can mount in this Mintbox cooler (fan)inside?
Just if console will be become very hot.
i install linuxmint 15 completly and there are not error messages. but, when i loads eric from menu, it no active. i don’t know what happen.
I’m not too sure that I can make ANY criticism of Clem, constructive or otherwise, PB! 🙂
This little box seems to be exactly what I’m looking for:-
– Replace my big box with a very small device, NO fans, NO noise!
– All I’ve seen previously is built down to a price. This is obviously built up to a standard.
– Processing power may well be modest as far as modern desktops/gaming machines are concerned, but it’s twice as powerful as what I’ll be replacing, and more than adequate for what I want. The most strenuous thing I do is watch BBC iplayer! The rest is “serious stuff”.
– I’m absolutely guaranteed that it runs Linux – it comes with Mint!
– I’m not obsessive about “not paying the Microsoft tax”, but I clearly don’t here. They list the MS OS price separately, and (to add insult to injury?) they donate £20 to Clem. Great stuff!
– As for the price, forget it. Not only is this high quality kit, it also comes free, in all senses of the word.
My current very modest tower consumes 75w. This saves about 60w of that.
At U.K. energy prices, that’s close to £80 a year saved if its left on all the time. That’s £400 over the 5 YEAR(!) warranty period!
O.K. allowing for VAT and the fact that it’s switched of at night, not quite gratis, but getting close.
Not only will I be getting one, I’ll probably buy another to replace my wife’s aging laptop, and think of yet another to attach to the main T.V.
This would also make a nice little server, good quality, light on power, to have a go at running my web sites from home, and saving the hosting costs.
Many thanks, Clem. Great news, and I look forward to being able to buy one/some. Please keep us posted? 🙂
We are interested in the Mint Box, as there are many People out there who could have a Practical Application for such a Device.
Your Mark-up is completely reasonable, given that the reduction of Price due to mass Production should off-set this, and Your R&D. Should be re-cooped.
(We also like to support Open-Source Projects, where possible.).
However, I got as far as Reply 33, only to lose interest in reading Posts from People who this isn’t aimed at.
So, forgive Me if I’m repeating Someone else, but is there any Documentation about this Device?
Maybe as a PDF or Something?
Or did I miss a Link to such a Resource, on this very Site?
Many thanks.
Sincerely,
Edit by Clem: Other than the branding and different SKU, the unit is similar to CompuLab’s IntensePC, which documentation you can access at http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/intense-pc-more/#resources
Great Idea:
But the SSD is Required! (mobile stuff =, car, rv, boat, etc. etc. all of these operations like the no moving parts of the ssd. That is just how it is)
? on the unregulated 12volt was that spec for real????
if there is an ssd option I may be able to talk the wife into it for the boat. Oh yes I know I could add one but (I should not need to) Please look to the #’s asking for the ssd above.
Apparently it will be an Ivy Bridge I5. I hope they will also add options to change the HDD to an SSD and Ivy Bridge to Haswell.
I agree with #3. I’d rather have a 64 gb or 128 gb SSD than a 1 tb hard drive.
since I’m Mint(linux) fan this is my next buying target 🙂 amazing little box for my linux experience. Great job everybody!!!
I like it. Even with half the RAM of the “Pro,” I like MintBox 2 better, due to the i5 CPU and double the hard drive space. The five year warranty is really nice, you don’t see a lot of those standard on anything. Usually, you have to get an extended warranty to get that much coverage.
Now, if only I had $600 just laying around…. 😉
Any plans for a barebones model without the HD and memory? I like the i5 instead of i7 price/performance tradeoff so the IntensePC doesn’t fit my needs. Forced to choose, I’d pick the MintBox 2 and add the included options to my spare parts pile, likely to never be used.
Smaller HD’s, under 2 TB, I’d generally rather have a SSD, no matter the application, and memory is so cheap these days, that there’s really no point to me to not use 8 GB sticks.
can the mint box run windows 7 or windows 8. Did any body try this ?
What about an Debian WHEEZY (STABLE) release featuring MATE 1.6 desktop?
Hi, this is the latest news, so Clem might be there 🙂
I just want to tell, that speed of the downloading packages in the LMDE 2013 awful. Average – 1-2 kb per sec.
When i want to get chromium and clementine, i downloaded their packages all night.
my sources.list
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia testing main non-free