What Are Nettops?

Nettops are basically very small and cheap desktop PCs, similar to how netbooks are slimmed down, cheap versions of laptops. Nettop computers use low-wattage and are designed for basic computer tasks such as accessing web-based applications, surfing the web, word document processing, and listening to music and watching videos (either from the hard-drive or streamed via the internet).

The word nettop is a portmanteau of Internet and desktop, similar to the portmanteau netbook (Internet + notebook) Compared to ordinary desktop computers, nettops are not only smaller, lighter and cheaper, they also consume much less power. For example, CompuLab’s fit-PC2 consumes no more than 8 watts of power whereas a typical desktop would easily consume more than 100 watts of power.

Consequently, nettops are often fanless with an external power supply. Some do not have an optical disk drive and use a solid state disk, making them completely silent. The trade off is that the hardware specifications and processing power are usually reduced and hence make nettops less appropriate for running complex or resource intensive applications.