Everex gPC Mini Desktop Personal Computer System

Everex's gPC Mini is invariably going to be compared to Apple's Mac Mini product. Unfortunately for Everex, it pretty much falls short of Apple's offering in just about every area. It is larger, less powerful, not as well constructed and the OS isn't as polished as Mac OS X. At least it is less expensive.

9/4/08 - Everex's gPC Mini is designed to be an extremely small, affordable and green desktop computer system. In many respects, it does achieve these goals, but it is inevitably going to be compared to Apple's Mac Mini, and against that it falls short.

In terms of performance, the gPC Mini uses an older 32-bit Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor. This gives it a disadvantage compared to most other mini PCs on the market in terms of computing power. The 1GB of DDR2 memory isn't too much of an issue because of the gOS Linux operating system, but it would be nice to see this amount increased to be more competitive.

Storage for the gPC Mini is limited to a single drive option. The 120GB 5400rpm notebook hard drive is a bit small for a desktop and the slower spin rate means that it will take longer to read or write data from the system. Everex did supply the system with a dual layer DVD burner so it can playback or record DVD and CD media. There is also a SD media slot that is a step up from most mini PCs that don't have such a flash media drive.

Rather than using a Windows operating system, Everex includes the gOS Space Linux operating system and a variety of open source applications. This makes the system very functional out of the box, but the operating system isn't as well designed as some other versions of Linux available or even that of Windows or Mac OS X.

In terms of its overall dimensions, the gPC Mini is larger than the Apple Mac Mini and roughly the same dimensions as Dell's new Studio Hybrid. Unlike these two systems though, the gPC has a much more unrefined feel to it with its drab color scheme and all plastic exterior.

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