Multimedia-Center from Lan-Plus: The Integra — THG.RU

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The Integra» —>

The Integra — A Total Multi-Media Solution

Today’s possibilities are infinite -that’s at least what the commercials from a large IT company suggest. Indeed the computer can easily be turned into a total multimedia center including TV, radio, DVD and 3D gaming station, audio or video jukebox, communication and information system and of course more.

There have been several attempts to include almost every feature into one single machine. Unfortunately, those attempts failed due to the fact that the degree of fitness for everyday use was quite low. Such devices were either too big (the size of a standard computer is usually considered oversized) or too expensive.

LAN-Plus is now trying to establish a new product on the market which could possibly fit many users’ dreams. How do you feel about a computer of the size of a CRT, made of a 15″ TFT display and standard components to retain modularity?

That’s what the ‘INTEGRA’ looks like. Pretty much like a television, don’t you think?

The recipe is quite simple: Just take a standard 15″ TFT display, a MicroATX motherboard plus standard SDRAM and a Pentium III CPU, an AGP graphics card (that’s right — no on-board stuff!), a standard hard drive, DVD ROM and floppy drive and of course a power supply unit. Packed smartly into a nice case, the whole bunch of hardware is sold for $ 1,699. Of course we wanted to know what’s behind the hype.

LAN-Plus

LAN-Plus, Inc. was founded in 1991, providing network solutions. Today, it is one of the bigger computer manufacturers in the United States and also known for their high reputation in terms of customer services.

On their ‘about us’ page you can find more basic information about the company, including one of their main principles: They only use quality components. A statement that we confirm after the first look inside the INTEGRA. There we found a MSI motherboard, ATI graphics card, Western Digital hard drive and a Samsung DVD drive.

For more information about LAN-Plus or the Integra system, please use the following links:

• Lan-Plus Homepage
• Integra

The Integra

I took these two images from the Lan-Plus homepage. Basically I prefer pictures taken by us, but the graphics are suitable very well to show the basic features.

I did not mention every hardware feature in the introduction. As there are three PCI slots ready to be equipped, Lan-Plus added a PCI modem and a TV tuner card. Sound and network controller are integrated into the motherboard, making add-on cards obsolete.

The Integra, Continued

The first picture shows the front which consists of the 15″ TFT display and the control elements such as the power and reset button, a mode button plus up and down buttons to adjust each setting.

Be careful with the reset button! Some users will love its position, which makes it easy to actuate it. In my opinion it’s too easy; I pressed the button twice by mistake and reset my working Windows…

At the very bottom you can see the floppy drive. The speakers are placed at the left and the right side.

Here you can see what’s behind the bluish cover: A 15″ flat panel, the power supply and a metal casing which includes the system components. This metal case is required for shielding.

That’s a closer look onto the case and the power supply. If you are familiar with hardware you should now have noticed how the motherboard is installed: It is placed at the very bottom.

The Integra, Continued

I pulled off the metal cover and turned it down towards the front. You can clearly see the motherboard, including I/O connectors, the processor cooler and the add-on cards.

When I first opened the case I was impressed by the great design of this computer. Thanks to the use of standard components, the MicroATX motherboard in particular, it is absolutely easy to exchange every piece of hardware. The ATI Rage 128 Pro is no real 3D-gaming card, but it can be replaced by a fast 3D-card. I would have preferred to find at least something like a GeForce2 MX in the Integra. You can use any other MicroATX motherboard (for example an Athlon model) plus a faster CPU as long as it fits inside the case. Of course you should keep an eye on power consumption, since the power supply will not be able to run an Athlon 1333.

This picture shows the connectors at the back of the INTEGRA. As you can see the motherboard features on-board LAN, graphics and sound. Fortunately, Lan-Plus decided against the onboard 3D-decelerator and used at least an AGP graphics card from ATI (Rage 128 Pro w/ 32 MB).

System and Test Setup

Benchmark Comparison — BAPCo SYSmark 2000 — Windows 98 SE

It is pretty obvious that the Integra PC cannot keep pace with my reference system. The difference of 13 points is based in the slower hard drive and the slow FSB speed of the Integra CPU: The Pentium III 850 works at only 100 MHz FSB, while the Pentium III 866 runs at 133 MHz. Since the main memory runs at this clock as well, both the CPU interface and the memory bandwidth are considerably faster with our reference machine.

The Western Digital hard drive stores 20 GB and works at 5,400 rpm. In contrast, we have been using the IBM DTLA drive for many months now, as it provides both quick access times and fast data transfer rates thanks to 7,200 revolutions per minute. In terms of this benchmark, the WD drive will cut the benchmark score by 2-3 points (I did not include that in the chart).

The 2D-graphics performance, however, is not affected by the ‘older’ ATI graphics card. Even after equipping our reference system with the Rage 128 Pro card, which Lan-Plus integrates into the Integra, the SYSmark result remains the same.

SiSoft Sandra 2000 — Synthetic Memory Benchmark

Many of our readers like this benchmark, since it gives you a good basis for comparisons between the theory (the Sandra 2000 memory benchmark) and the real world (other benchmarks). As expected, the Integra cannot keep pace with the faster memory transfer speeds — no matter if the operation affects the integer or the FPU unit.

Mercedes Benz Truck Racing

Although the ATI Rage 128 Pro graphics card is equipped with 32 MB SDRAM, the chip is definitely outdated today. Still the system is fast enough to run MBTR at up to 1024×768. Higher resolutions cannot be displayed since the display does not support it.

Quake III Arena

Quake III shows the real difference between the ATI Rage 128 Pro and nVIDIA’s GeForce2 MX. At 640×480 the MX is ‘only’ twice as fast as the ATI, while it is almost three times at 1024×768. Friends of 3D shooters should get another graphics card for their Integra quickly.

The Display

As I already mentioned, the 15″ TFT display is designed for 1024×768 and a maximum of 16.7 million colors. It’s commendable to stay with this resolution, as it perfectly fits the display size. Due to the static pixels, every smaller resolution has to be displayed by accepting big offsets and blurred display of text (so-called scaling). Everybody who ever saw a notebook booting should know what I mean.

Unfortunately I could not find any information about the display’s response time. I tried several DVD movies to check the response time during heavily moving scenes. Good news from this point; there is no reason to be worried — the display is quite fast. I was also playing Unreal Tournament for some minutes. Personally I would not use the Integra for playing 3D games since I still prefer a (faster) CRT monitor. However, the response time should be fast enough for most players.

Brightness and contrast also did not cause any reason to complain. I was not satisfied with the viewing angle which is good both from the left and the right side, but not from the top. Looking down to the display, the information is quite dark.

Finally I would have preferred to get a flat panel, which runs via DVI — even if I lose the option to use any kind of graphics card this way.

Motherboard and RAM

The MSI board comes with Intel’s 815E chipset (ICH2 with UltraATA/100), three PCI, two DIMM and one AGP slot. I’m sorry to say that Lan-Plus decided to go for a processor with the highest clock speed instead of building a smarter configuration. A Pentium III 800/133 with PC133 SDRAM would have been at least as fast and no more expensive than the Pentium III 850 with PC100 memory. Due to this 100 MHz processor, there was obviously no reason for the designers to use PC133 memory. That’s sad, as you will have to either exchange the memory in order to run a FSB133 CPU, or you will lose at least some performance.

The maximum setup is a Pentium III 1 GHz with 512 MB PC133 SDRAM, which is quite a lot for a compact computer. You can also freely use every graphics card you want, as long as the power supply is able to supply your components!

Conclusion

The price of $ 1,600 is certainly no exceptional offer, considered that you will ‘only’ get a Pentium III 850 with 128 MB and a 20 GB hard drive. Let us summarize the most important benefits of the INTEGRA:

• Modular Design
  You can freely exchange almost every component (motherboard, CPU, hard drive, graphics card, DVD drive…) as long as the power supply is able to supply them.
• Gaming Station!
  By exchanging the graphics card with a fast GeForce2 or GeForce3 model, you can turn the INTEGRA into a gaming monster within minutes.
• Solid Hardware
  A MicroATX motherboard with Intel’s 815E chipset is certainly the best platform for the Pentium III. VIA’s new Apollo Pro 266 plus DDR SDRAM is definitely not worth the investment, since it is not able to beat common SDRAM chipsets.
  The ATI Rage 128 Pro and the Western Digital 20 GB hard drive are nothing to write home about, but still quality hardware.
• Good Display
  Even if the viewing angle could not convince completely, the display comes with a short response time, good illumination uniformity, brightness and contrast. The maximum resolution of 1024×768 is enough for a 15″ display.

In contrast, it is not possible to attach more than one hard drive and one CD/DVD drive. Due to the TV-like design, which is definitely close cut, there is hardly any space for additional hardware except a second memory module and another PCI add-on card.

So far, I personally did not support compact computers, but after testing the INTEGRA I have to admit that I’m slowly changing my opinion. It can be put up practically everywhere; particularly at places where computers with tower case and monitor are not wanted — e.g. in the living room.

People who do not have much housing space but still want a TV and a computer should consider the INTEGRA. With prices for TFT displays dropping, we can hopefully expect to see more interesting systems like this system.