How accessible are the systems described in the article below? I can
see lots of benefits, but have doubts about accessibility.
With a PC's Power, That's Entertainment
By TIM GNATEK
ersonal computers increasingly fill home entertainment needs. And why
not? They are already the repositories for digital photos, music and
video collections. With an attached TV or radio tuner and digital video
recorder and encoder, they can replace nearly every entertainment device
in the house.
But the demands placed on machines to store large video files and
process them quickly can be too much for standard home computers.
To fill the need, a new breed of multimedia systems is entering the
market. Not only can they record, store and manage music, movies and
television shows, but they can also showcase them on high-definition
screens and in surround-sound audio, all with a click of the remote.
Most multimedia machines come with powerful Pentium or Athlon
processors, the latest graphics cards, FM radio and television tuners
(sometimes more than one, so users can watch one channel while recording
another), DVD recorders and enough memory and hard-drive space to store
and play back hours of high-quality programming. Many also incorporate
the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, which
adds specialized multimedia features to Windows XP.
Because the entertainment PC's are designed for living rooms, they come
with wireless keyboards, mice and hand-held remotes for controlling
functions far from the computer. Nearly every major computer maker is
now producing entertainment PC's as laptops and desktops, and even as
horizontally designed machines that resemble stereo components.
For the Desktop
One line of desktops, the Vaio RA series of digital studio PC's from
Sony (starting at $1,799), presents bulked-up computers in tall, black
cases that enclose Intel Pentium 4 processors, one gigabyte of
random-access memory, and at least 320 gigabytes of storage. A 5.1
surround-sound speaker system comes with the packages, providing
cinematic audio entertainment. To keep unwanted noise to a minimum, the
computers use a liquid cooling system, rather than a standard fan, to
carry heat away from the processors.
Though the media computers can be priced higher than average machines,
shoppers do not have to wait for less expensive models to come to
market. This month, Gateway began selling a $1,000 media computer, the
832GM Media Center PC, which includes a Pentium 4 processor, a gigabyte
of memory, a 250-gigabyte hard drive, TV and FM tuners, a DVD+/- RW
drive, a speaker package, a wireless keyboard, two-button mouse and
remote.
Laptops
Multimedia machines also come as laptops, and their thin profile may be
preferable in small apartments or dorm rooms, or for users who prefer
the small footprint of a portable device.
One such computer, the Toshiba Qosmio, balances the portability of a
laptop with the features one might expect from its larger cousins. Its
premier model, the G15 ($2,599), has a 17-inch TruBrite liquid-crystal
display, which offers a clear picture from peripheral angles as well as
head-on. Built-in Harmon Kardon speakers mimic surround sound to lend a
richer tone than is usually found in laptops. To get to the
entertainment faster, CD's, DVD's and television programming can start
in a powered-down mode without booting the whole operating system.
>From Dell, the Inspiron XPS Gen 2 ($2,349 with promotional discount),
intended more as a portable gaming station, has a similar 17-inch
display and, like the Qosmio, provides quick access to media content
when the computer is shut down. It is also the first laptop to come with
the new, powerful NVIDIA 256MB GeForce Go 6800 Ultra graphics card,
capable of processing feats like playing one high-definition program on
the laptop screen while simultaneously showing another on an external
monitor. For the Living Room
Hewlett-Packard was an early purveyor of computers running Windows
Media Center when it was released in 2002. Today, in addition to desktop
and laptop models, it markets a system designed for the living room.
The HP z545 digital entertainment center ($1,799 with rebate at
hpshopping.com) features a horizontal brushed-black aluminum case that
more resembles a stereo component than a PC. The system comes with a
wireless keyboard and integrated trackball. For storage, the computer
houses a 200-gigabyte internal hard drive as well as a 160-gigabyte
removable drive, an ATI Radeon X300 graphics card, a built-in FM tuner,
dual television tuners and 512 megabytes of RAM, expandable to 2
gigabytes. Users can even take their entertainment with them by
transferring media files onto an HP iPAQ rx3115 Mobile Media Companion
($349 at hpshopping.com), a hand-held for carrying photos, music and
video.
A similar unit from Alienware, the DHS5 ($1,758), is also aimed at the
digital living room. The slim computer comes with an AMD Athlon 64 3000+
processor,
