Is it the small size or the low power processor that makes a nettop a nettop? I’d argue it’s probably a bit of both, much as is the case with netbooks. So I’m not entirely convinced that throwing an Intel Atom 330 CPU in a desktop PC makes it a nettop. But I’m not sure it makes a whole heck of a lot of sense to call a PC with this low power CPU anything else, even if it does measure 16.7″ x 13.6″ x 3.9″, which happens to be the measurements of the Open-PC.

The Open-PC is packs a 1.6GHz dual core Atom 330 CPU, 3GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. It has a Mini ITX case, a 250 watt power supply and integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics. It runs open source software including a Linux-based operating system with a KDE interface.

The computer sells for 359 Euros, or about $500 US.

What’s probably most interesting about the Open-PC is that the company behind the computer relied pretty heavily on community input through a series of surveys to create the PC. Questions ranged from how much the finished product should cost to what desktop environment and default web browser it should use.

via Engadget