Via launches £150 micro-PC kit

Via has launched a kit for building a PC small enough to fit into a PC drive bay.

The Artigo builder kit uses a Via Epia PX1000 Pico-ITX motherboard with a 1GHz C7-M processor, and comes with a specially design power unit and a 15x11x4cm black casing.

It includes four USB2 ports, one Ethernet port, a VGA port, and audio in and out jacks.

The kit costs $300 (about £150) without the operating system, Ram (up to 1GB of DDR2 533 SO-DIMM supported), or a hard disk. The mainboard draws a maximum 20 watts under full load, Via says.

Daniel Wu, assistant vice-president of Via's embedded platform division, said the company had been overwhelmed by the positive reponse from end users to Pico-ITX boards. "We are delighted to now make it easy for enthusiasts to build their own ultra small personal computer,” he said.

The boards will be available from Friday 14 December from LinITX.com and Mini-ITX.com.