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By Andrew Gould 1 July 2008

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There are all sorts of reasons for wanting an eBox-4852S. For starters it’s very, very small (170 x123 x56 mm). The design is also very modern and minimalist. When you pick it up it looks and feels like a quality item.

The exterior casing is almost entirely made of aluminium, which is a very cunning design feature for a few reasons. The first being quite obvious, it’s very strong and durable. The second is that the entire casing is a heat sink that draws the heat out from the processor and motherboard. This, and the fact that the 4852S uses the VIA Eden processor, means that the computer is fanless. This makes it ideal for environments where there is a lot of dust or dirt as there are no moving parts to clog with sand. Using a silent PC for the first time is actually quite eerie, especially if you’re used to a loud fan droning away in the background. This PC is so quiet in fact that all we could hear when we tested it was the slight buzz from the screen we used. The 4852S comes with a VIA Eden 1.2GHz processor, built especially small form computers, and 512MB of RAM. Now it may not be the fastest gun in the West, but as long as you don’t fill it with tons of resource-intensive software, it will work a treat. It comes with Windows XP embedded, meaning that you don’t have to install it your- self and Windows doesn’t have to boot from a normal provided by a 4GB Compact Flash Card, but you can install a 2.5" hard disk if you want more space. The 4852S comes with 2x PS2 ports, 2x LAN ports, a serial port, 2x USB ports and a sound card.

It is available for R4657 (incl VAT) from CME on 012-666-9066 or www.cme.co.za.

PROS
It is strong and durable with an aluminium case, it is light and operates silently.
CONS
Only has 512MB of RAM and two USB ports.
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