Subscribe RSS

Archive for the Category "PC Stuff"

Building a GP7A-HD Media Centre – Hardware Assembly Author: Jan 26

Well the processor arrived from Amazon for my new Aopen GP7A-HD Nettop, so time to put it all together. A quick summary of the parts:

Aopen GP7A-HD

Part Supplier Cost
Aopen GP7A-HD BIC Camera 40000yen
Weston Digital WD5000BEVT 500gb Sata 5400rmp T-Zone DIY 7800yen
2 x Century PC3-8500/FDDR3-1066 SO-DIMM 2GB (7800 each) T-Zone DIY 15600 yen
イ ンテル Boxed Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53GHz BX80576T9400 Amazon Japan 35000 yen

As you may have noticed some of this was not cheap.  I could have shaved some money off the processor, but it was quite a big improvement for the extra $50 dollars.  (100 yen is approx 1usd).

The assembly was actually a total breeze todo.  the instructions in the box are all in english.  Which strikes me as really odd given that this product was a Japan release only to start with.  Still I’m not complaining and the instructions had lost of good quality photos and clear steps to pull the unit apart and install your goodies.

more…

Category: PC Stuff  | Tags: , , , ,  | Comments off
My first GP7A-HD Author: Jan 25

I’ve been looking at getting a small PC to run the new big TV and basically take care of the media stuff.  The big system does a very good job of driving the TV, but me being me another PC would be better.

I looked at a few options and landed upon the AOpen products, and then found the new GP7A-HD which is currently only available in Japan, and maybe a few other counries now.

There is a very new product and not alot of info is available about it so I thought I would share my experience so far.

The flashy promostuff can be found here on the global AOpen site.

And the different model specs are here:

Finding the actual parts in Tokyo proved to be alot more complex that I expected.  Even Akihabara failed me here!  The ever increasing ordering online is slowly killing off Akihabara.

I printed out the shopping list of parts (from the AOpen site) which proved to a be damn good idea.  The japanese site gave a list of shops that stocked the unit.  One was Bic Camera in Ginza which is just up the train line from me so confidence was high.

more…

Category: PC Stuff  | Tags: , , ,  | One Comment