Lostgallifreyan wrote:

The only role I see mini-ITX playing is in the home-theater /
set-top box situation, where you want really small size. But
expect to pay $120 to $180 (plus cpu) for a mini-itx board with
decent multimedia performance.

No. Don't. Unless you want to buy from some shyster who over-inflates
the price. I did mention that, in some detail. Perhaps you missed it.

Go and find a mini-ITX motherboard that has an HDMI port (or at least a
DVI port) and SATA controller and is well regarded in HTPC circles as
being acceptible for hi-def video playback.

Post links to retail product examples.

First of all, I wouldn't even look at mini-ITX. I'd be looking at
micro-atx (some of which are practically the same size as mini-ITX but
usually a few cm larger).

And sometimes the same board is called micro-atx and mini-ITX at the
same time. Like this:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...086&CatId=6977

SUS P8H67-M Pro REV3 Motherboard
Micro ATX, Intel H67, LGA1155, 1333MHz DDR3,
HDMI, Gigabit LAN, 8-Channel Audio, SATA 6.0, USB 3.0
$120

I know you think I talk too much, but actually, it is you
who reads too little. Put some effort into it.

I wouldn't make any generalizations if I were you.

Mini ITX (or any small board with standard connectors made for
industry) is a good spend if you look around, because the support
is far better than for consumer boards.

Wrong.

There are fewer ITX / micro-atx boards made, and they cost more because
of their high-density integration.

These are all consumer boards. If you want to talk about industrial
boards, that's a whole other ballgame and it's not on-topic for this
thread.

As for support - what are we talking about here? Do you want to take
this conversation beyond win-98 support?

Also, I was specifically answering a guy who is likely not
after top end multimedia. Or did you igonre his context
(AGAIN) as well as mine?

He needs a computer that can run the latest flash player. He's not
going to get that with your ancient 8-year-old ITX board suggestion.