Evesham's latest Windows Media Center PC - the e-box3, due May - is based around an Athlon 64 CPU and designed to fit in among other standard-size boxes that live under a TV set. Prices start at £699, including VAT and Evesham's three-year Gold warranty.
The e-box3 is said to "combine PC, TV, DVD and hi-fi capabilities into one simple system" and be "ultra quiet". Its case is black, has a brushed aluminium fascia and measures 430(w) x 288(d) x98(h)mm - a similar size to standard hi-fi components.
Personal video recorder functionality is provided by a single hybrid digital/analogue TV tuner but there's a £100 option of choosing twin tuners - two digital or two analogue - that allow one channel to be recorded while watching another or the recording of two while watching a pre-recorded programme.
As standard, the system is intended for use with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and that comes installed. However, to be more future-proof, there's a £50 option for the system to be "Windows Vista capable" but, supplied, of course, with MCE installed. We'll update this story when we find out how the hardware differs from the XP version.
To make life easier if the system is racked, five sockets are fitted to the front - headphone, mic, two USB 2.0 and one FireWire (six-pin). Standard hard disk is a 160GB model with 8MB cache size but other sizes are available up to a 400GB (with 16MB cache) for £185. All are 7,200rpm SATAs, including the base drive.
The base model's CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ but there are options for a faster processor, up to a 4800+X2 - prices not yet known. All versions come with a Microsoft MCE-certified remote control, along with a Microsoft keyboard and optical tilt mouse - both wireless.
Preliminary specifications of £699 system
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 processor 3000+
HDD - 160GB SATA 7200spm hard drive
Graphics - ATI Radeon Xpress 200 series
RAM - 512MB DDR 333MHz
Optical - DVD writer
I/O - Microsoft keyboard and optical wheel mouse and Media Center remote control
TV tuner - Hybrid digital/analogue
PCI modem
OS and software
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Microsoft Works 8
Roxio Easy Media Creator 7
Warranty
Gold three-year parts and labour - first and second years in-home; third year return-to-base. Plus, national-rate telephone support and BigFix pre-emptive support.
Fancy discussing this system or need more info? Well, dive over to HEXUS.community and get posting.
