ASRock unveils ION330HT-BD HTPC nettop with Blu-ray

Nettops are all fine and good and are very appealing as small HTPC systems to many users. The big catch is that the average nettop, like the AspireRevo from Acer, lacks an optical drive and even those with optical drive rarely cram Blu-ray inside. ASRock has announced a newly updated ION 330HT-BD nettop that crams a Blu-ray drive inside along with some updates.

The newly update model shares many of the same specs with its predecessor including a Blu-ray drive and NVIDIA Ion graphics. The new machine adds an included MCE remote control for controlling the HTPC from across the room. The machine also has 802.11n WiFi and adds support for more storage.



The computer ships with 320GB of storage, but unlike the older model, the 330HT-BD has a second slot for another 2.5-inch HDD offering support for up to 1TB of storage total. The CPU used in the machine is a Dual Core Atom 330 CPU and the machine supports RAID 0 and 1 when a second drive is installed. The new version also gets an eSATA port for external storage. DTS digital surround sound is featured along with 2GB of DDR2 800MHz RAM. Connectivity options include HDMI, VGA, six USB ports, one S/PDIF, and a powered eSATA/USB port. The computer measures 195mm W x 70mm H x 186mm L and weighs 1.7kg. Availability and pricing are unknown at this time -- but an existing model (Asrock S330 Barebones) costs just $260. The BluRay drive and all the other extras may double or triple this cost, though.