Posted 09/18/09 at 08:05:09 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Mainboard maker DFI has a rather interesting product on the way. The upcoming Hybrid P45-ION-T2A2 motherboard is capable of running two computers on a single board. It supports both a high performanceP45/LGA775 based systems, and a low power Atom/Ion based system.

They include a small external button assembly that can be used to switch on the fly between platforms. The two platforms can both be run at the same time, or you can shut down the one you aren’t using. The back panel is a bit confusing. There are some shared ports as well as dedicated ports. It has a block of four shared USB ports that are available to both systems. The audio and DVI ports are also shared.  Each system has a dedicated set of USB ports and an Ethernet jack as well. The Ion chipset on the Atom side has its own dedicated HDMI port for some low-wattage HD video action.

Overall, this is a terribly impressive feat of engineering. Watch the video at the link to get the full effect. The possibilities for true multitasking are a bit staggering. Imagine encoding video on the LGA775 platform while outputting HD video with the Ion from the same box. There’s no firm release date or price as of yet. Would you consider getting one?

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Posted 09/08/08 at 07:04:16 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

In the PDF archive of the August 2008 issue, you can find:

• PC vs. MacBook Notebook Battle!
• Ultimate Guide to Firefox 3
• Nvidia's Next-Gen GTX 280 GPU Unveiled!
• How To: Create your own Internet TV Show!
• Awesome Product Reviews, including MSI's new P35 Combo Platinum mobo!
• Ask the Doctor
• Rig of the Month
• The Watchdog
• And a whole lot more!

Click the big giant cover image to the right to download the PDF archive today!

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