The world of nettops seems to be growing by the week, with the current crop of machines - many of them made by smaller manufacturers - now being joined by offerings from the very biggest global players.
The HP Compaq CQ2000AN is the latest system to join the fray. We haven't seen very many nettops come through the labs, so we were keen to put it through its paces.
The Compaq isn't an elegant one-box machine like the recent EeeTop 1602 - instead, you'll need to purchase a separate monitor, although the keyboard and mouse are supplied.
Even without those added components, however, the HP comes in at a tiny price of $566 and there's plenty of quality on offer.
The chassis is one of the most stylish efforts we've seen so far from a nettop: the glossy black finish and gently curving facade look far better than most. It's versatile too, with plenty of sockets and ports available: you get a pair of USB ports, a card reader and two audio jacks adorning the front of the machine. The rear offers two USB ports, a VGA output, two PS/2 connectors and a 10/100 Ethernet port.
The inside of the chassis even offers some upgrade potential. Unscrewing the back of the chassis and opening the front - which works on a hinge mechanism - allows access to every component that you could, in theory, upgrade: the optical drive, hard disk, RAM and single PCI Express x1 slot are all available for future expansion.
That expandability provides an added edge over all-in-one nettops and some of the tiny form-factor machines we've seen. The components themselves are typical nettop fare: Intel's desktop Atom processor, the 1.6GHz N230, drives the system with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard disk for company. One disappointment is the lack of wireless, which means you'll have to use the Ethernet port, or a Wi-Fi or 3G USB dongle, to get online.
Performance was mediocre. Our review sample came preinstalled with Windows Vista Home Premium, and in our 2D benchmarks the Compaq scored a disappointing 0.32 - lower than we expected given the specification.
However, we anticipate that the retail model, which will come with the less demanding Windows XP Home installed instead, will offer performance in line with every other Atom-based nettop we've reviewed.
Thankfully, there's a DVD writer to add versatility but it's a feature that's far from standard on nettop machines.
HP didn't provide a keyboard and mouse for our test machine - although a basic set will be supplied with the finished product. We can't say for sure what quality will be like, but from past experience they should be solid enough to use on an everyday basis. Should this prove wrong when the set arrives in the Labs, we'll publish an update.
The performance may be lower than we'd like, but the HP has several advantages over other similarly priced nettops that make it worth the extra money, such as the DVD-writer and upgrade potential, not to mention the overall style. True, you could lay your hands on a more powerful PC for this price if you shopped around budget retailers, but you'd be hard-pushed to find anything rivalling its neatness and small size.
If you're after a low-budget PC for basic everyday tasks and one that will fit into the smallest of spaces, the CQ2000 is now the one to buy.