The LP-170 uses Via Technologies' tiny 3.9 x 2.8 inch (10 x 7.2cm) pico-ITX format, which first broke cover at the beginning of January 2007. The form factor has approximately half the surface area of Via's already small 4.7 x 4.7-inch (12 x 12cm) Nano-ITX standard, and is considerably smaller than the original 6.7-inch square (17 x 17cm) mini-ITX standard.


Via's shrinking motherboard designs
(Click for details)
Pico-ITX boards seen to date have, not surprisingly, mostly sported Via processors (such as the Nano U2500-equipped Epia-P820 introduced in January). In 2008, however, Via transferred ownership of the spec to the Small Form Factor SIG (special interest group), which now maintains it as an open, vendor-neutral standard supporting the SUMIT stackable board interface. Later the same year, Axiomtek's PICO820 appeared, claimed to be the first Atom-powered pico-ITX device (it used Z5xx CPUs).

Now, Commell is offering a pico-ITX board with any of the three "Pineview" Atom processors introduced by Intel in December. Listed in the table below, these CPUs include on-chip graphics and are designed to be accompanied by the NM10 or ICH8M I/O chips (the latter is employed by Commell).

	Clockspeed	Cores	Second-levelcache	Memory(DDR2)	TDP
N450	1.66GHz	1	512KB	667MHz	5.5Watts
D410	1.66GHz	1	512KB	667/800MHz	10 Watts
D510	1.66GHz	2	1MB	667/800MHz	13 Watts

The Pineview CPUs offered with Commell's LP-170

According to Commell, N450 and D410 versions of the LP-170 can accept up to 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory via a single SODIMM slot. The D510 version accepts up to 4GB of 667/800MHz memory, the company adds.

Commell says the LP-170, pictured below, has a SATA II port plus a Type II CompactFlash socket. The board is also said to have a PCI Express Mini Card slot, which would no doubt be one way to add wireless networking capabilities if desired.

Commell's LP-170

Real-word ports on the edge of the board include a RJ45 connector for gigabit Ethernet, a PS/2 port, and a VGA output, according to Commell. Other interfaces are supplied via pin headers, and include audio, LVDS, four USB 2.0 ports, two RS232 ports, and LPC, the company adds.

Features and specifications listed for the LP-170 by Commell include:

• Processor -- Intel Atom N450, D410, or D510 (all clocked at 1.66Ghz)
  
• Memory -- Single SODIMM slot supports 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM on N450 and D410 models, 4GB of 667/800MHz DDR2 RAM on D510 model
• Storage -- SATA port, plus CompactFlash slot
  
• Display -- CRT displays via VGA port, and LCD displays via LVDS pin header
• Networking -- 1 x gigabit Ethernet
  
• Other I/O:
  • 1 x VGA port
    
  • 1 x PS/2
    
  • 1 x LVDS (pin header)
    
  • 4 x USB 2.0 (pin headers)
    
  • 2 x RS232 (pin headers)
  • 12VDC power input connector
    
  • 1 x LPC (pin header)
    
  • audio -- line out/line in/mic in (pin header)
• Operating temperature -- 32 to 140 deg. F (0 to 60 deg. C)
• Dimensions -- 3.9 x 2.8 inches (100mm x 72mm)

Further information

Commell did not detail pricing, availability, or operating system support, but the LP-170 appears to be available now. More information may be found on the company's website, here.

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