AOpen Mini PC MP945-VX Ultra Small Formfactor PC Review AOpen has employed an unorthodox method of building its super small, super compact, super quiet miniPC MP945-VX small formfactor system.  89% Rating:    Table of Contents Filed under: Computer / SFF PCs Published:  Author:  External Mfg. Website: AOpen Jan 23 2007   Max Page   Home > Reviews > Computer / SFF PCs > AOpen Mini PC MP945-VX

The inside of the Mini PC MP945-VX system is separated into two parts - the upper half which supports the optical and hard drives, and the lower half which has the motherboard, CPU, memory and the like. To get at these parts, the upper blue shell of the Mini PC MP945-VX is removed, and the metal shield unscrewed from the chassis.

The plastic top lifts off, and this metal shield is then removed before we have access to the components inside the Aopen Mp945-VX.

The metal shield, optical drive, air vent and serial ATA hard drive are all connected to one electrical interface card. Devices are packed in tightly, so it is nice that everything arrives out of the box installed.

The eject button for the slot loading DVD burner is hidden behind a much nicer button integrated into the solid aluminum chassis of the Aopen Mp945-VX. The optical drive here is a standard notebook-style slot loading device. I could be upgraded in the future with a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD unit, so long as they are slot loading as well. The 2.5" hard drive can also be upgraded at a later date.

The card edge electrical connector mates with a slot set onto the surface of the custom microITX motherboard within the Aopen Mp945-VX. This single slot handles all I/O traffic for the slot loading DVD burner and 2.5" SATA hard drive. The white plastic air scoop is seen at left.

The card edge slot located in the upper corner here is what connects the drive portion of the Aopen Mp945-VX computer to the rest of the system. This method is much easier than relying upon a cable or some other bulky interface to connect the HDD and ODD to the system.

The Mini PC MP945-VX system chassis frame is made from one single piece of extruded aluminum for strength. The antenna for the 802.11 b/g wireless lan card connects through the chassis bulkhead just to the right in the photo above. Now let's take a look at the ultra quiet thermal solution which cools both the Intel Core Duo processor and 945GM chipset in this system...

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