The Lini PC is a small desktop computer with an Intel Haswell processor. The system is designed to run either Xubuntu 13.10 (Linux) or Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro.
Base pricing begins at $400 for a system equipped with 3 GHz Intel Pentium G3220 dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive and Xubuntu.
Next is the 2.3 GHz Core i5-4670T quad-core processor model, which includes up to 16GB of RAM and a solid state drive (SSD) with 120GB-480GB of storage.
As Liliputing’s Brad Linder notes, the top price for a Linux model is $1129, although an additional $300 can be added for Windows and Office software.
“Aside from official support for Linux, what sets this PC apart from many computers on the market is its compact size: it measures 9″ x 8″ x 2.25″ and has room for two memory slots, HDMI, DVI, and VGA ports, analog and optical audio ports, an eSATA port, and 4 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports. The computer weighs about 4 pounds,” Linder explained.
“You could probably build your own system with similar specs for around the same price or less — the Lini PC is assembled using off-the-shelf hardware. But it’s nice to have the option of not doing everything yourself.”
The folks at Phoronix recently reviewed the Lini and had this to say:
“The Haswell-based G3220 managed to deliver very decent performance on both the processor and graphics sides. Additional G3220 Linux tests and other performance benchmarks from this system will be published in the coming days that were carried out prior to returning this review sample to Lini PC,” wrote Michael Larabel of Phoronix.
“As a whole this $500 Lini PC (or $400 for the base model) is quite decent. While the system is using all off-the-shelf hardware, if you don’t want to assemble a Linux desktop PC yourself and are willing to pay a small premium for that, I would recommend going to check out LiniPC.com. Aside from the system not being too overpriced, compared to other very low-volume Linux PC builders, it’s great to see Lini PC using latest-generation Intel Haswell processors over some older couple-year-old processor models (commonly with the Linux Atom systems) and other outdated specs found semi-commonly on other shipped Linux PCs.”
