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VIRTUALISATION Azentek in-car PC, first with Vista but not first in Australia
VIRTUALISATION Azentek in-car PC, first with Vista but not first in Australia | Azentek in-car PC, first with Vista but not first in Australia |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 24 October 2008 | |
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Calling them the “world’s first fully integrated in-car PCs” to arrive in Australia, they were beaten by the Gizmosis Infill G4 in-car PC which came to Australia in early December, 2007 as I wrote about in an article entitled “Windows in-car computer boots up down under”. There are, however, some differences between the two in-car PCs, although on the surface they look almost identical. The Gizmosis Infill G4 runs at 1.5GHz VIA single core processor, uses the less resource intensive Windows XP, has 1GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive, but otherwise performs all the same functions as Azentek’s PCs, and at AUD $4250 is $749 cheaper than top-end Azentek which retails for AUD $4999, with the second model price yet to be announced. The top-end Azentek was originally slated to sell for AUD $3999, but the sudden drop in the value of the Australian dollar made that original price point unviable, although things could change if the $AUD goes back up against the USD. Both can be connected to a 3.5G wireless broadband modem for Internet access on-the-go, Azentek have also released a “SmartMirror”. It’s a rear view mirror replacement with integrated GPS navigation on the right hand “third” of the mirror. Given that GPS units suction-capped into car windscreens are technically illegal, Westwell and Azentek say their SmartMirror is the only legal windscreen mounted GPS available, something they confirmed with Australian traffic authorities, despite the police not (as yet, anyway) fining anyone for having a GPS satnav on their windscreens. I've read that windscreen attached GPS satnavs are now illegal in California, so this might become a trend, but as yet it doesn't appear to be causing too many law-enforcement waves over here. More details on the SmartMirror on page 3. There are two Azentek models, the CPC-1100 and the CPC-1200. The 1100 model has a motorised 7-inch touch screen that pops out of a “standard” sized car radio style PC, while the 1200 is a “double height” model with an inbuilt, front facing 6.5-inch touch screen. Both models are powered by an Intel Core Duo (note, not a Core 2 Duo) T2300 1.66GHz processor, which is a dual core model and better suited to Windows Vista, also comes with 1GB of memory (expandable to 2GB), a 120GB hard drive (expandable to 160GB) and a host of other features I’ll go into shortly. If I was interested in buying an in-car PC today, which one would be better, the Gizmosis or the Azentek? Please read on to page 2. |
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