Media Centers in disguise

Updated October 24, 2005

Not all Media Center PCs come in horizontal rack-mount cases--despite what some of our recent reviews would have you believe. There are still plenty of traditional-looking systems that can record TV, play movies, and otherwise manage your out-of-control media collection, without having to sit in your living room next to the cable box and the PS2.

Some are standard desktop systems that are configured by default with Windows XP Media Center Edition. The Dell XPS 200 we reviewed came equipped with MCE, and its small size and dual-core CPU make it ideal for an entertainment PC, although you'll have to shell out extra for the optional TV tuner card.

While the Shuttle XPC G5 8300mc didn't really impress us with its middling performance, it's one of the only small-form-factor systems we've seen with Media Center and a TV tuner card.

Moving up to a larger midtower system, the HP Media Center m7070n is one of the more impressive desktop entertainment PCs we've seen recently. Along with HP's handy Personal Media Drive slot (for hot-swappable hard drives), it has a ton of A/V connections and offers solid performance for media tasks while remaining a very capable system for everyday computing. Also in the plain-Jane midtower category resides the budget eMachines T6524, which doesn't include a TV tuner (it supplies the room to add one later) but is otherwise a well-rounded PC for the price.

More resources

Editors' top desktops  Desktop buying guide

New desktop reviews  Desktops forum