I built a similar Mini-ITX system several years ago and it works fine,
with a few reservations. The onboard graphics is weak, so it won't
play the newer games. And the CPU is not Intel, so drivers can be a
bit hard to come by.

It does live up to the low power claims. Mine is quite happy to run
fanless unless the CPU is pegged at 100%. I think I determined mine
stays under 20 Watts most of the time.

One thing I don't like about your particular unit is the small case.
If this is exactly the configuration you want, that's OK. But the
larger cases (mine is about the size of a notebook) allow for two
standard cards, so you could add a TV receiver and video, or whatever.

As for price, $500 is about right for "smart car case," 1 Gig
motherboard, 512 meg, CDRW-DVD, 40 Gig drive. So if this is exactly
the unit you're after, it may be a good deal since it comes tested
with software. However, if you like to build your own, check out
caselogic.com. Go to barebones, mini-itx, or car-pc, if you like the
special power supply. I used a C137 case. There are other vendors
that will be cheaper on specific items.

BTW, the bigger problem is what to do for a screen. Lilliput makes
touchscreens that would be nice at the helm, but they aren't really
waterproof, and they're $200+ for a small screen. Since I never
solved that problem, I'm just as happy to take a standard notebook
onboard and leave it down below. The mini-itx system now lives beside
the rowing machine where it logs distance rowed and plays mp3's for a
living.



* wrote, On 3/13/2007 5:15 AM:
I'm considering the Lilliput for use onboard.

They are selling these on Ebay:



http://cgi.ebay.com/Lilliput-Car-PC-...QQcmdZViewItem



http://cgi.ebay.com/Lilliput-Car-PC-...D-MP3-GPS-USB-...


It's designed as a mobile pc with a 40 gig HD and 1 ghz CPU. The
power consumption is around 30 watts (but no more than 48 watts), and
has some nice features. Around US$500. Any use this model or
thinking about using one I'd like your opinions.

Cheers, Jim