AsRock Starts Selling Intel Q77 Chipset-Based Q77M vPro Motherboard Before Chipset Is Released

Intel’s Q77 chipset, aimed at “professional” business applications is due to be formally launched in a week or so. However, this hasn’t stopped AsRock from starting to sell their Q77M vPro mATX motherboard that’s based on it.

Looking at the feature set, the board is clearly oriented for business use, since it comes with things like vPro for remote control by an administrator, a TPM module and a DisplayPort connector instead of HDMI, although it does support SLI & CrossFireX, which is usually something that gamers would use. It also has a gigabit network port and a Realtek AC662 audio chip delivering 5.1 channel audio and a UEFI BIOS, as well as 100% all solid capacitors, which should help with reliability. It comes bundled with Intel’s Small Business Advantage software, which is designed to reduce the amount of IT staff needed to manage the computer.

It has five main features, with three aimed at increasing security: a software monitor that helps keep critical security software running by monitoring it at the hardware level and alerting the business if there has been an attack; data backup and restore, which provides reliable after-hours backup of critical data using the local maintenance timer to remotely power on the PC and a USB blocker, which lets businesses control access to their infrastructure, preventing unauthorized USB devices or file imports or exports on company PCs.

It also has two productivity related features: PC health center, which can schedule and perform PC maintenance tasks after hours so as not to interrupt employees’ work. It works even if the computer is powered down, as long as it is plugged in and an energy saver so that businesses can save energy by scheduling PCs to power-down at the end of the day and turn on before the work day beginsready for employees as they arrive in the morning. The motherboard is already on sale at around US$125 (S$160) which is quite expensive for a product in this class, especially as boards with better features are priced rather lower.