Viewsonic VOT 132 Atom+Ion Nettop Review

Final Thoughts

While the VOT 132’s media capabilities are excellent and the dual core Atom processor makes multi-tasking a lot more realistic, there is a big flaw with the VOT 132 though: the amount of noise it makes. The slim line cooling fan mounted atop both the CPU and GPU, exhausts air out of the case, and spins up at bizarrely low temperatures considering Atom is rated to in excess of 100°C.

The result is a fan that annoyingly spins continually up and down with a system just sat idling on the desktop. Should you start to actually use any software the fan will spin up to the approximate noise level of a working optical drive. For a small, low power box that shouldn’t produce more than 25w of heat, this a little ridiculous, and very much spoils a lot of the VOT 132’s appeal, especially for use as a media player or out of sight, out of mind nettop tucked behind a monitor.

The price of nettops remains a little galling too, with the Viewsonic VOT 132 as no exception. Weighing in at £235 without an OS or £324 pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium, you’re paying more than you would for a low end dual core system that could easily surpass the performance of the limited atom processor, and boast superior upgradability too.


Of course, a full size system will be much, much larger and draw a whole lot more power too, but that’s the trade off you have to make for that significant extra slice of performance. Alternatively you could pick up a first generation Ion nettop like the Acer Aspire Revo R3600 for just £150 sans OS (so you can buy your own), but this ships with the single core Atom 230, less memory and less hard disk drive space than the VOT 132, worsening the overall desktop experience.

Alternatively Acer has also just released the Revo 3610, using the same Intel Atom 330 and Ion platform as the VOT 132 but equipped with 4GB of memory and a larger 500GB hard disk drive, as well as Windows 7 Home Premium. Selling for just £300, less than the VOT 132, despite it's superior specs! The Revo 3610 is clearly very enticing and Viewsonic will have to mark down the VOT 132 accordingly to compete.

Overall though we’re impressed with the quality of the user experience when using the Viewsonic VOT 132 with Windows 7. The addition of a second CPU core allows for a semblance of the multitasking you’d expect from traditional desktop system, closing the gap in user experience between a nettop and desktop PC. Of course, the Atom CPU can still show its diminutive capabilities when you’re viewing flash heavy content, but for the most part it’s a big improvement over the single core N230 line.

The addition of DXVA and numerous extra codec support to Windows 7 can’t be overstated either – it’s an easily overlooked addition to Microsoft’s latest OS yet one that unlocks a great deal more functionality from appropriately equipped systems. It’s the software that Nvidia’s ION has been crying out for and makes HD video playback simple, although needless to say that Ion still can’t handle most games at playable frame rates.

The end result is a big, big improvement for the nettop, offering a much improved user experience over the previous generation and a computer that brings a lot of desktop features and user experience to the nettop platform. The only thing spoiling the show for the VOT 132 is that annoyingly intrusive cooling fan which for many will be a deal breaker. For those able to look beyond it you’ll find a surprisingly capable and wonderfully compact bit of kit, but be aware of the Aspire Revo 3610, as it will give tough competition for Viewsonic in this market.

• Build Quality
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• x
• x
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• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
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• 6/10

• Features
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• x
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• x
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• x
• -
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• 7/10

• Ease of Use
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• x
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• -
• 9/10

• Performance
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• -
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• 8/10

• Value
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• -
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• 6/10

• Overall
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• -
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• 7/10

Score Guide