Tiny PC, relatively tiny price (but the exchange rate's killing us)

Sharp and Tappin's PicoPC, shown next to a coffee mug for size (and no it's not a gigantic prop mug, either -- the computer is really, really small).

I'm always on the lookout for ultra-small PCs that are also a) fanless and b) not super-expensive. I've found a good candidate, via this link on Linux Devices, called the PicoPC, from Devon, England's Sharp and Tappin Technology. They use the pico-ITX boards from VIA, and they look great, are really small ... and don't cost an arm and a leg. Well, maybe an arm, but you can keep (at least half of) your leg.

They run a version of Gentoo Linux, and I imagine they can run just about whatever you throw at them, though you probably need a USB-connected CD or DVD drive to get a Linux distro on there. There are two models, with one of them including space for a 2.5-inch hard drive. Options also include built-in wireless.

The PDF price list is in British pounds, and it looks like 286 pounds for the fully assembled Pico PC10 with 1 GB of RAM, and 289 pounds for the PC20 (with the hard-drive bay). I guess if you convert that to dollars, it's more expensive than I thought, but for something this cool, small and powerful, it might be worth it.

There are also optional flash drives, regular hard drives and the wireless card, and the PicoPC comes in many different colors of anodized aluminum.

For some reason, right now they're shipping PicoPCs without an OS, but I'm sure they can help you figure out what to put on there and how to do it. They don't say whether or not they will provide a 120-volt U.S.-compatible power brick, but I hope that's something they can work out.

You can also order the case only if you want to get your own Pico-ITX board. ... but you need to be able to remove the CPU heat sink and fan to put the whole thing together.

OK already ... because I'm so damn lazy, I used Google to figure out what 289 British pounds is in U.S. dollars, and it turns out it's $572. I still want one.

Buzz-killing note: I had questions for the makers of the PicoPC, but e-mails to two different addresses I found on their Web site bounced back ...