The "Apple TV 2nd Generation Teardown" by iFixit, indicates that the second generation Apple TV media device has the same processor and many of the same electronic components as the Apple iPad. This provides the interesting possibility of using the device as a low cost, low power desktop computer.
There have been attempts at low cost, low power desktop computers before, but these "net-top" and thin clients have never been popular, being perceived as limited compared with "real" computers. However, someone used to a smart phone or a tablet computer (such as an iPhone or iPad) a desktop equivalent with a big screen would seem natural.
At about 6W the AppleTV consumes little power and costs about $US99. It can be plugged into a large LCD screen, keyboard and mouse and a network connection. There is an empty slot in the unit to expand the Flash memory. There is no disk drive, but this could be seen as a feature for a web appliance, using storage in "the cloud".
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