Habey launches HTPC with dual-core Atom, Ion 2

Folks dying to pull the trigger on a new HTPC have another candidate to ponder: Habey's ENT-6564. The company's latest compact desktop wants a seat in your living room, packing Intel's 1.66GHz dual-core D510 processor along with Nvidia's Ion 2 discrete graphics. Together, the duo can deliver up to 2040×1152 video over HDMI, meaning it should make quick work of your 1080p content. In a demo, Habey showed the system running three Hulu videos simultaneously.

Both chips are mounted on a mini-ITX mainboard (the MITX-6564), which can also hold up to two sticks of DDR2 RAM (the ENT-6564 ships with 2GB and supports up to 4GB). I/O includes two SATA ports, two external plus four internal USB 2.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, one COM port, VGA and S/PDIF-out, as well as two mini-PCIe slots for optional Wi-Fi and TV tuner cards.


The system supports Linux and Windows XP through 7, but it doesn't seem to ship with anything preinstalled on its 250GB HDD. A Wi-Fi-equipped model is currently on Amazon for $330 with broader availability expected soon. Habey also plans to sell just the MITX-6564 motherboard with Intel and Nvidia chips for DIYers, but there's no pricing on that yet.