Introduction

Not everyone has a need for an extremely high powered PC. A good of example of someone like this would be my grandpa. The only thing he uses his computer for is checking email, some light web browsing, and to transfer pictures from his camera. I could say the exact same thing about my wife. The only added extra that she does is college work with Microsoft Office and some chatting on instant messengers. If she does any type of gaming, it's solitaire, or something on Yahoo games, like Literati. People like that can suffice with much less than an enthusiast like me. What I have is overkill in comparison.

This is where the netbook and mini PC market comes into play. They are all in one solutions, at a reasonable price, for the light use computer user. They have just enough juice to power just about everything but extreme applications and high textured 3D gaming. Sapphire has caught wind of that technology and improved it a bit for the user that needs just a little bit more, like an HTPC or media user. They condensed everything into a tiny package that packs a nice punch. This was dubbed the Edge HD and we caught a glimpse of it at CES this year.

The Sapphire Edge HD2 is an improvement over the original Edge HD. The Edge HD2 adds a little extra for a user that needs a bit more juice. With the HD2 we get an improved processor, the Intel Atom D525. This processor features dual cores, 1.8GHz in speed, and hyperthreading technology. Another addition to the HD2 is the optional bundled operating system. If chosen, Windows 7 Ultimate will be pre-installed and ready to go. The previous Edge HD came completely bare and required an OS purchase. The rest of the features included are 2GB of 800MHz DDR3 memory, a 320GB SATA 2.5" HDD, both wired and wireless networking capability, and the Nvidia ION 2 graphics processor. A complete system crammed into a case no bigger then an outstretched hand. All you need to supply is the monitor, mouse, and keyboard.