The Windows Home Server Team Blog reports that ASUS will soon be releasing their first Windows Home Server product – the TS Mini Home Server. Powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom processor, the TS Mini will come in two flavors – a 500GB system with one empty hard drive bay for $349 and a 1 terabyte system with one empty hard drive bay for$529.

Key unique features of the TS MIni (outside of what you’d get from Windows Home Server) include:

• One year of free 500GB online storage. Backup and synchronize data from  home server to ASUS Web Storage for redundant security
• ASUS exclusive Xtor Manager allows you to directly backup, synchronize, and manage files and folders between external USB and eSATA storage devices and the TS Mini.
• 6 USB ports and 2 eSATA ports
• ASWM Management provides real-time system health monitoring including fans, temperature, disks, drives, network, memory, and processors
• Energy Star 5.0 certified

Specs include:

• Intel Atom N280 processor clocked at 1.66GHz
• 1 memory slot for up to 2GB of memory – comes with 1 GB
• 2 hard drive bays
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Measures 245 x 96 x 204mm and weighs 2.7Kg
• 90W power supply

The TS Mini is available for pre-order now at Amazon.com and at Newegg.com.

[Check it out via Windows Home Server Team Blog, PC Magazine]

Technorati Tags: ASUS TS Mini, Windows Home Server

As we mentioned earlier this morning, Lenovo will be introducing several new products tomorrow in what amounts to their first entry into the digital home space. First up is Lenovo’s first ever home theater PC – the IdeaCentre Q700 – with features such as 1080p playback, digital surround sound, and connectivity straight to an HDTV set. Secondly, to complement the HTPC product, Lenovo will be rolling out their first ever Windows Home Server product –the IdeaCentre D400. The D400 provides a central storage solution for all of your digital content as well as providing an easy means to backup all of your networked PCs. Finally, Lenovo will be rolling out the world’s thinnest nettops in the form of the IdeaCentre Q100 and Q110 series.

Oh and one more item – Lenovo will also be updating their IdeaPad U series of notebooks with the new IdeaPad U450p laptop – a new 14 inch thin and light notebook.

Let’s jump right to it shall we?

First up, there’s Lenovo’s first ever home theater PC – the IdeaCentre Q700.

Features and specs to the Q700 include:

• About the size of a consumer DVD player
• Can be placed vertically or horizontally
• Supports 1080p full HD playback
• 7.1 digital surround sound
• Your choice of fast Intel Core 2 Duo processors
• Support for up to 1TB of disk space
• Eight USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA port
• HDMI and VGA connector

Lenovo currently has one model’s specs up on their website (Q700-3015). This system features the following:

• Intel dual core Pentium Processor E5200
• 4GB PC2-5300 DDR2 RAM
• Intel GMA X4500 graphics
• One VGA, One HDMI with HDCP support
• Choice of 320GB, 500GB, or 640GB 7200RPM SATA drive
• Multi-format DVD burner
• 4 in 1 media card reader
• Intel G43 Express Chipset
• Eight USB 2.0 ports
• microphone
• headphone
• FireWire 400 connector
• Realtek ALC888s HD audio
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Optional NTSC/ATSC tuner
• Black color bezel
• Measures 2.36 x 7.87 x 9.84 inches and weighs 5.69 pounds
• Available in August according to the PDF

The Q700 will be available through business partners and www.lenovo.com with a starting price of around $499 (yes.. I’m lining up for one of these bad boys I think..)

Moving onto storage now, as we mentioned earlier this morning, Lenovo’s first ever Windows Home Server product will be the IdeaCentre D400.

Features of the D400 include:

• Support for up to 8 terabytes of total disk space
• Hot swap different brands and capacities of hard drives
• Five USB ports including a front mounted port with one-touch data copy function
• eSATA port for high-speed data transfer
• The D400 will have a starting price of $499

Next up, Lenovo has these down-right super-sexy, super-thin nettops – the IdeaCentre Q100 and Q110.

Featuring a new stylish black patterned design, the nettops measure a mere 0.7 inches thin making them about the size of a book! Features include:

• Intel Atom processor
• The Q110 model will be equipped with NVIDIA ION graphics which means this box will be able to support HD video and provide accelerated media conversation etc
• Measures 6 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Q100 runs on just 14 watts when idle and 40 watts at full operation
• Q100 supports VGA output while Q110 supports 1080p HD video with DirectX 10 graphics along with NVIDIA CUDA technology
• The Q100 will have a starting price of $249
• The Q110 will have a starting price of $349

Finally, here’s information on the newly announced IdeaPad U450p notebook/laptop.

• Intel Pentium SU2700 processor or Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 processor
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Intel Integrated Graphics X4500
• 3-4GB RAM
• 14 inch HD antiglare display with 1366 x 768 resolution
• Touchpad
• 250 – 320GB 5400 RPM HDD
• DVD burner
• 6 cell lithium ion battery
• Wi-Fi
• Prices starting at $799

Have to admit – the IdeaPad U450p looks pretty sweet in terms of portability. These inexpensive thin and lights are certainly making heads turn if you ask me.

Technorati Tags: Lenovo, IdeaCentre Q700 HTPC, IdeaCentre D400 WHS, IdeaCentre Q100/Q110 Nettops, IdeaPad U450p Laptop

Oh man.. I can’t stand teasers.. and Lenovo is totally being a tease by releasing sneak peaks (or pictures at this point) of two sets of upcoming products – the D400 Windows Home Server and the Q100/Q110 nettop systems.

Not much is really known about either product but according to this tweet from the official Lenovo Twitter account, the Q100/Q110 nettop is supposedly “some of the thinnest nettops in the world”. Heck.. it’s definitely one of the sexiest nettops out there if you ask me. Expect this to be an Atom-based system – would love to have this in the kitchen coupled with a nice wall-mounted display.

As for the D400, this is Lenovo’s first Windows Home Server product featuring four hot swappable hot drives, 4 USB ports, and a single eSATA port. In many ways it resembles the Acer Aspire easyStore Windows Home Server. You’ll be able to find more info at WeGotServed.com.

Expect Lenovo to release information on these two product lines this week. Exciting stuff.

[Check it out via Akihabara News]

Technorati Tags: Lenovo, Lenovo Q100/Q110 Nettop, Lenovo D400 Windows Home Server

Didn’t get a chance to post about this last week but Acer announced their entry into the Windows Home Server market with the introduction of the Aspire easyStore Home Server. What makes this home server box so interesting is the bang for the buck feature. For a mere $399.99, you get a system with 2GB of RAM, built-in 1TB of disk space, and more importantly, three available hard drive bays. This is by far a more interesting proposition for the consumer/home market than the recently introduced HP MediaSmart LX195.

The full specs for the Acer Aspire easyStore AH340-UA230N Home Server are as follows:

• Intel Atom Processor N230
• Windows Home Server OS
• 2GB RAM
• 1TB Hard Drive
• Three Empty Hot Swappable Hard Drive Bays
• Five USB 2.0 ports
• One eSATA port
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 200 Watt Power Supply

As with the aforementioned LX195, the easyStore Home Server has an Atom processor on the inside – something we think you’ll see more often in network attached servers and home server products down the road. The processor is just fast enough for file serving capabilities, is power-efficient, and, most importantly for consumers, is cheap.

You can pre-order the Acer Aspire easyStore AH340-UA230N Home Server at Amazon.com for $399.99.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Acer Aspire AH340-UA230N Home Server, Windows Home Server

Just wanted to mention a great deal that is now available over at Costco.com. The vendor is now offering the HP EX485 750GB MediaSmart Windows Home Server box for $547.99 after a $50 dollar manufacturer discount which will be automatically deducted at checkout. In addition, Costco will also package a free Western Digital 500GB Caviar Blue SATA hard drive (WD5000AAKS). Not a bad deal at all – I might have to consider it since my current HP EX470 box is nearly out of space.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: HP EX485 MediaSmart Server, Costco deal

Well, we never did see a press release from HP about their new MediaSmart Server LX195 Windows Home Server product but guess what? It’s in-stock and available for purchase at HPshopping.com for $399.99.

As eHomeUpgrade discovered last week, the LX195 is an Atom-powered Windows Home Server box in a chassis that’s notably different (and smaller) than HP’s previous WHS product offerings.

The only question we had at the time was – exactly how many internal drive bays were there for the LX195? Unfortunately we got the answer – ONE. Yes ONE. Boo. However, you do get 4 USB 2.0 ports (though no eSATA ports unfortunately).

But then again, it’s pretty easy to see that HP intends to market the LX195 has a starter Windows Home Server box. It’s fairly inexpensive; it’s ideal for families that need a good backup solution but don’t need terabytes of disk space; it’s easy to setup, and it’s good looking too! And the bonus? If you do need extra capacity – you could always add external USB drives. Not ideal but definitely a way to upgrade.

Now with that said, here are the major specs for the LX195:

• Intel 1.6 GHz Atom Processor 230
• 1GB RAM
• 640GB SATA 7200 RPM drive
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• Measures 4 x 8 x 8 inches
• 3.5 watt power consumption
• 28 W power consumption for a single active drive
• < 25 dba at one meter

[Check it out]

Read this in Arabic, Chinese Simplified, French, and in Spanish

Technorati Tags: HP MediaSmart LX195, Windows Home Server

For some reason, I find this absolutely exciting. Thanks to this awesome tidbit from our good friend Alex over at eHomeUpgrade, it looks like HP will be releasing a new Windows Home Server box.. well.. later today (waiting for the press release right now). The new box, called the MediaSmart LX195, features an Intel Atom 1.6GHz 230 processor on the inside, 1GB of RAM, and 640GB of storage space. The best part about this? The price – sub $400 dollars thanks to the use of the low-power Atom processor.

I just took a quick peek at the HP website and noticed that the LX195 support page is now up including user’s guide. First off – the user guide is huge (it appears there’s a lot to like in the LX195). Secondly, here are the hardware specs:

• 640GB internal drive storage
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• Max storage space – supposedly unlimited
• Measures 8.1 x 8.2 x 3.9 inches
• Weighs 5.14 lbs
• Gigabit Ethernet support
• Power consumption – 3.5 watts in sleep mode and 28 watts in active mode

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: HP MediaSmart LX195, Windows Home Server, HP

Nice! Microsoft has decided to make Windows Home Server available to subscribers of MSDN and TechNet. This means hundreds of thousands of Windows developers with access to these subscription programs can now potentially build their own WHS boxes. I’ve been thinking about building my own WHS box for some time (I already have an HP MediaSmart Server EX470 at home which happens to be maxed out right now) – now I’ve got one more reason to do so!

Kudos to Microsoft for changing their minds about making WHS available via MSDN/TechNet.

[Check it out via The Digital Lifestyle]

Read this in Chinese Simplified and in French

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows Home Server, MSDN, TechNet

Those of you looking for a svelte Windows Home Server box will want to check out the new Epson SV120h Endeavor box. This Mac mini wanna-be measures a mere 75 x 185 x 195mm and comes packed with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor (or a slower Celeron 575 processor), up to 1TB of HDD (via 2×500GB drives), 1GB of RAM, an Intel GM45 Express chipset, and a SuperMulti DVD slot drive. External ports allow you to add more storage capacity should the need arises. According to Akihabara News, the Celeron version will have a price of 65,000 Yen.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Epson SV120h Endeavor Windows Home Server box, Windows Home Server

I had a brief opportunity to drop by the HP booth at CES 2009 to check out the latest HP Windows Home Server product – the MediaSmart Server EX485/487. On the outside, the new server looks very much like the first generation EX470/475 server, but things are definitely a bit different on the inside.

First up, the hardware has been upgraded on the EX485. Gone is the AMD Sempron processor and in is the Intel Celeron 2 GHz 64 bit processor. Other upgrades include 2GB of DDR2 RAM, and upgrades to hard drive capacities. The EX485 comes with a single 750GB SATA 7200RPM HDD while the EX487 comes with dual 750GB SATA 7200RPM HDDs. The unit still has four drive bays and you still get four USB 2.0 ports and a single eSATA port (would have been nice if they expanded this option). Form factor wise, the system still has the same measurements as the first generation model.

Now on the software side, the key feature list now includes:

• HP Media Collector – services that schedules the MediaSmart server to copy and centralize digital files and libraries from networked PCs
• Media Streaming – remotely stream photos and music to any Internet-connected PC or Mac
• iTunes Server – centralize iTunes music libraries on the server for playback to any networked Mac or PC running iTunes
• HP Photo Publisher – upload photos to Facebook, Picasa, and Snapfish
• HP Photo Viewer – allows easy sharing of photos with friends and family
• Backup both PCs and Macs. Now supports Apple’s Time Machine software
• Server backup – duplicates designated shared folders to a separate hard disk drive
• Online backup – duplicates designated folders to Amazon’s S3 online backup service for additional layer of protection
• Smart Power Management can schedule time for server to go to “sleep” or “wake up” to save on energy costs
• Max of 9 TB

Here’s a picture of a Mac desktop running Time Machine against the Home Server.

The EX485 with 750GB of disk space will be available for $599 while the EX487 with 1.5TB will be available for $749.

My take – get the EX485 and then add hard drives as you need them. Getting a 1TB disk drive from a third party vendor is cheaper than buying the 1.5TB system from HP.

If you’re like me – you’re probably wondering whether some of these new software features will be backported to the EX470/475 line – the answer is for the most part no. The Apple Mac Backup support will be coming to the EX470/475 but the Media Collector and Remote Media Streaming support will not be available.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: HP, MediaSmart Server EX485, EX487, Windows Home Server, CES 2009