Microsoft has announced its plans for Windows Media Center in Windows 8. Media Center is a full-screen interface for accessing media on a Windows computer. It includes built-in tools for watching and recording live TV broadcasts, assuming your PC has a TV tuner, as well as menus for watching videos, viewing pictures, listening to music, and even watching Netflix videos…
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Looking for a small, cheap, low-power media center for your living room? Soon you may be able to pick up a $35 Raspberry Pi computer and install a custom version of the popular XBMC media center application with minimal fuss. The Raspberry Pi is a tiny computer with an ARM-based processor designed for educational institutions, hobbyists, or anyone else looking…
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The Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive computer a low-power ARM-based processor and virtually everything you need to run a Linux-based operating system on a system board that’s around the size of a pack of cards. Oh yeah, and the goal is to eventually sell it for as little as $25. While the developers behind the project are hoping to see…
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Don’t feel like spending $900 on a tiny desktop computer with a low power Intel Atom processor? No problem, because when it comes to nettop computers, expensive is the exception rather than the rule. Case in point: Habey’s new EPC-6568S is a mini-desktop PC with a dual core Atom processor, NVIDIA ION graphics, and a $250 price tag. That price…
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The popular XBMC media player application may have started its life as Xbox Media Center, running on the original Xbox game console with an Intel Pentium II chip. But today XBMC can run on a wide range of systems, with builds to run as an app on Windows, Mac, or Linux computers or on the Apple TV. So it should…
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The Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150 is a tiny desktop computer with a low power Intel Atom processor and optional NVIDIA ION graphics which turn this little machine into something of a multimedia powerhouse — almost. The computer isn’t much larger than an optical disc drive, and as such there’s no room for an internal disk drive, which means that you’ll need…
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I’ve been both baffled and intrigued by nettops for a while. Sure, it’s cool to stuff a fully functional computer into a box about the size of DVD drive. But the only reason I can see for needing your computer to be that small (often while packing high performance graphics and a low power processor) is that the nettops are…
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Norco’s BIS-6620 line of miniature computers have been around for a little while. The BIS-6620 I has an Intel Atom Z5xx processor, GMA 500 graphics, and VGA output. The second model upped the game with the addition of a DVI output. And now Norco has introduced the BIS-6620 III (PDF link) which goes a step further by offering an HDMI…
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There was a time when Home Theater PCs, or HTPCs had to be big, pwoerful systems with fast processors, enormous hard drives, and room for a couple of TV tuners to record live TV broadcasts. And while there’s still definitely room for those systems, a few developments have led to a surge in low power nettops that are about hte…
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Giada has a pretty strong showing at CeBIT this week. In addition to the slim nettop models I spotted earlier this year at CES, the company is showing off a new model with a dual core Intel Atom D510 Pine Trail processor and next-generation ION graphics. What’s really remarkable about the new Giada Cube-N7DT though is that it has a…
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The ASRock ION 330 is a small desktop PC with a low power Atom processor and NVIDIA ION graphics. The other day I published a fairly detailed review of this nettop, looking at its capabilities as a gaming computer and as a PC for everday use. But as several people pointed out, I didn’t delve extensively into its capabilities as…
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Okoro Media Systems has a long track record of putting out excellent Home Theater PC hardware. The company’s products aren’t particularly cheap, but they tend to come with fast processors, large hard drives, and fancy media doohickeys like Blu-Ray discs, TV tuners, and 7.1 channel audio. And then there’s the new OMS-Q200. This machine is basically a souped up nettop…
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