Foxconn Nano PC nT-i1500 Barebone Review

Others/All-in-one PC by stefan @ 2012-04-02

Foxconn has brought us to the table the latest generation of Intel Atom CPUs, by using the small Nano PC chassis which features about the same layout inside as the barebones we have tested from them in the past. The system power consumption is very low, temperatures are good in load and the noise generated is decent. Only thing that needs to be fixed to make this product fully functional is the VGA driver which in its current state offers low performance in both 2D and 3D environments, and Intel does not offer any support for x64 OSes.

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Introduction

 

At first I would like to thank Foxconn for offering their Nano PC nT-i1500 for testing and reviewing.

 

 

About Foxconn:

“Guided by a belief that the electronics products would be an integral part of everyday life in every office and in every home, Terry Gou founded Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd, the anchor company of Foxconn Technology Group in 1974 with US$7,500, a devotion in integrating expertise for mechanical and electrical parts and an uncommon concept to provide the lowest "total cost" solution to increase the affordability of electronics products for all mankind.

Today, Foxconn Technology Group is the most dependable partner for joint-design, joint-development, manufacturing, assembly and after-sales services to global Computer, Communication and Consumer-electronics ("3C") leaders. Aided by its legendary green manufacturing execution, uncompromising customer devotion and its award-winning proprietary business model, eCMMS, Foxconn has been the most trusted name in contract manufacturing services (including CEM, EMS, ODM and CMMS) in the world.

Focusing on fields of nanotechnology, heat transfer, wireless connectivity, material sciences, and green manufacturing process, besides from cooperating with the establishment of the research institution for nanotech, new material, and optical electric, Foxconn also sets up several research centers and testing laboratories for mechanism, material, electronics to conduct the services of science research and technology development worldwide.

Furthermore, Foxconn’s devotion to develop nanotech, thermal treatment, nano measure, wireless network, environmental protection, CAD/CAE, optical plating technique, precision/nano processing, SMT, and network CMOS chips, in terms, allows Foxconn to accumulate over 25,000 patents granted worldwide by 2010. This made Foxconn a recognized leader of innovation and technical know-how in rankings such as MIT's or IPIQ’s patent scorecard.

Aside from hardware related technology research and development investment, Foxconn also relentlessly seeks to provide customers ever fuller menu of end-to-end services to choose from. Logistic planning and e-supplying system adopted for the global supply chain management, computer software development and computer programming, sales channel solutions are just some of the latest investment and involvement that have continued to gain appreciation from the worldwide customers.

Foxconn's commitment to continual education, investing in its people long term and localization globally not only leads to the deep collaborating relationships with leading institutions of higher learning, but also helps to make this Fortune Global 500 group's global operations including the largest exporter in Greater China and the second largest exporter in Czech Republic.”

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Comment from KingKong75 @ 2012/12/23
I really like the design of this nano-pc.
It is really small and the perf is correct.
I install Windows Server 2012 as a backup server

Foxconn is pretty new in the pc market (with their own brand).
Currently they don't support 64 bit OS (no 64 bit drivers available).
It seems they support only Windows 7 32bit
Hopefully, Windows Server 2012 recognize almost all the devices (not the soundcard, nor the wifi device).
Intel does not support the GPU (gma 3600). What a shame.

I downloaded their last firmware, but there is no information about the firmware (only flash file).
I did hardly the flash (yes, you must create your own dos bootable usb device to flash).

Anyway, hopefully as a server, it works pretty well (i don't need the soundcard nor the wifi). I regret only there is no sleep mode on Windows Server 2012 (Microsoft think it is a nonsense to have sleep mode on a server ).

My verdict is :

hardware : 9/10
software/drivers : 1/10

 

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