Taking on Intel in the microprocessor space is a monumental task, a point that's underscored by IHS iSuppli's latest market share data. But if there's on area in which Intel can ill afford to blink, it's in mobile. Tablets are taking over, netbooks aren't as sexy as they once were, and ARM is in position to dominate the field. Can Intel's Atom processor line turn things around?

Habey USA opted to pair a dual-core Intel Atom processor with Nvidia's Ion 2 GT218 GPU to give its latest nettop that old-school one-two punch. We say "old-school" because all-in-one processors like AMD's Llano platform and Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture have emerged as the popular solution for HTPCs and other embedded applications, but by going with a low power Atom chip, Habey was able to ditch the fan and use dual-heatpipes to build a noiseless, compact system.

We like our desktops big, bad, and full of attitude. This is Maximum PC after all, and you won't catch any of us wielding our full towers in our palms. That's a disaster waiting happen. But not all PCs are supposed to big and burly. Zotac understands as well as anyone that the nettop is one category in which size matters, and not in the way that's befitting of the adult film industry. Underscoring this point is Zotac's new Zbox nano AD10 series, palm size mini-PCs that purportedly pack a punch.

It's been a long, long time since we had to type Load"*",8,1 to fire up a game or any other program, a command that will instantly and always be familiar to anyone who grew up in the Commodore 64 era. Commodore USA LLC is hoping to cash in on that nostalgia with a line of modern day nettops shoved into replica C64 keyboard cases, and if you've been anxiously awaiting for these replica machines to ship, we have good news for you.