AOpen

Infobox Company
company_name = AOpen Co., Ltd
company_
company_slogan =
vector_
company_type = Public (TSE|3046)
foundation = 1996
founder =
location_city = flagicon|Taiwan Taipei
location_country = Taiwan
key_people = Hsien-ming Lin (Chairman of the Board)
industry = Computer
products = [Small Form Factor Bare System, Motherboards, cases
market c
US$ 1.81 billion ("2008")
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent = Acer
subsid =
owner =
homepage = [http://www.aopen.com/ www.aopen.com]
footnotes =

AOpen (TSE|3046) is a major electronics manufacturer from Taiwan that makes computers and parts for computers, including motherboards, optical disk drives, and input devices as a subsidiary of Acer. They are perhaps most well known for their "Mobile on Desktop" (MoDT) [ [http://modt.aopen.com/ MoDT official site by AOpen ] ] solutions, which implements Intel's Pentium M platform on desktop motherboards. Because the Pentium 4 and other Netburst CPUs proved less energy efficient than the Pentium M, in late 2004 [cite web | title=Quick and Quiet: Pentium M Desktop Boards by AOpen and DFI | work=Patrick Schmid, Achim Roos | url=http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/12/24/quick_and_quiet/ | accessmonthday=June 18 | accessyear=2006] and early 2005, [cite web | title=Dothan Over Netburst: Is The Pentium 4 A Dead End? | work=Patrick Schmid, Bert Töpelt, Frank Völkel, Uwe Scheffel | url=http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/25/dothan_over_netburst/ | accessmonthday=June 18 | accessyear=2006] many manufacturers introduced desktop motherboards for the mobile Pentium M, AOpen being one of the first to offer such solutions.

One of their more well known MoDT solutions is the AOpen miniPC, a Mac mini look-alike. [ [http://minipc.aopen.com/europe/spec.htm AOpen MiniPC ] ] Critics have called the miniPC's design unoriginal, some have even gone as far as calling the miniPC a blatant rip-off of the Mac mini, especially since the miniPC was announced after the Mac mini (Mac mini: early 2005, miniPC: late 2005 [cite web | title=Engadget: AOpen's miniPC will ship this month | work=Thomas Ricker | url=http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/01/aopens-minipc-will-ship-this-month/ | accessmonthday=June 18 | accessyear=2006] ). However, AOpen's technical support staff claims, as of a 2005 November posting on AOpen's support forum, "AOpen has spent almost 2 years developing and marketing the miniPC. The [miniPC] concept came much earlier than the Mac mini" (translated from the original Chinese). [cite web | title=AOpen technical support staff respond to users' accusations of industrial plagiarism (Traditional Chinese) | work=AOpen Technical Support Forums | url=http://club.aopen.com.tw/forum_Big5/viewmessage.asp?forumID=62&MessageID=5480 | accessmonthday=June 18 | accessyear=2006] Though it is unknown if the miniPC's design was based on that of the Mac mini's, or vice versa, it is interesting to note that:
* Apple has not sued AOpen over the miniPC design, as many critics predicted.
* AOpen's miniPC product page [ [http://minipc.aopen.com AOpen MiniPC ] ] is very similar in both design and layout to Apple's product pages [ [http://www.apple.com/macmini/ Apple - Mac mini ] ] .
* As of 2006 March, AOpen has released a redesigned second-generation miniPC. [cite web | title=AOpen Joins Intel Developer Forum (IDF) with release of the latest miniPC MP945-VX based on MoDT Technologies | work=AOpen Press Release | url=http://club.aopen.com.tw/news/News_ShowAnswer.aspx?RecNo=9000 | accessmonthday=June 18 | accessyear=2006] See Also:
*List of Taiwanese companies

References

External links

* [http://www.aopen.com/ AOpen global website]
* [http://usa.aopen.com/about_AboutAopen.aspx Corporate Profile]