There has been very few out-of-the-box type of home theater PCs available in the markets until recently. Finally, large computer manufacturers are offering computers designed for living room usage. This article will introduce the next generation of mini desktop computers that are the best buys to your home theater.
Apple Mac Mini
This beautiful desktop computer was not originally designed as living room computer according to the Apple’s strategy, but as a small desktop computer. However, Mac Mini HTPC quickly became very popular among technology enthusiastic and found it’s place into the living room. Still today, Apple is one of the best choice as home theater PC due to its small and elegant appearance, silent operation and excellent Mac OS X operating system.
Dell Inspiron Zino HD
The Dell Zino HD is a challenger to Mac Mini with Windows 7 operating system. It is a general purpose mini desktop computer with a small footprint. It has enough performance to handle all the media center activities including 720P HD video playback. The big advantage over Mac Mini is that you can have a Blu-Ray optical drive as an optional accessory.
Asus Eee Box
Asus Eee Box is attractively priced entry level type of home theater PC. It is very slim and small in size, but does not deliver much in performance. Due to the lower performance, it is also very silent and energy efficient. Asus Eee Box does not include optical drive at all. So if you are not planning to play any HD video content (or CDs and DVDs), this computer can be the right choice particularly for a low budget.
Acer Aspire Revo
Acer Revo is a ultra-light mini desktop computer. Due to its small size and low price, it can be on the limits when handling high performance demanding tasks such as HD video playback. However, users of Revo HTPC report that it can playback even 1080P video. It has probably the best value for money as it costs around $300. It does not include a remote control IR receiver, so you either need to find a third party accessory or use iPod Touch or mouse as a controller.
ViewSonic VOT120 Mini Desktop PC
ViewSonic VOT120 is a budget mini desktop computer with an average performance. It is very small, so it can be easily hidden into the TV cabinet. It is not designed to do any CPU intensive tasks, but for a basic activities it’s performance is sufficient. ViewSonic VOT120 does not quite match the competitors with its features, but with attractive price it can be a good alternative depending on your needs.
Zotac MAG Intel Atom N330
Zotac MAG allows you to select which operating system you want to install, so it does not come with any OS pre-installed. This can be a good option for HTPC users who want to have Linux media center such as MythTV or Element HTPC. Zotac does not come with an optical CD/DVD drive, so you need to install the operating system using a USB-stick. Thanks to Nvidia ION board, it has a good performance and is an excellent choice as HTPC for more advanced users who wish to install their own operating system.
CompuLab Fit-PC2
Fit-PC2 is an amazingly small and energy efficient mini desktop computer. There are no fans in this computer, so you need to be careful where to place to computer, so that it wont overheat. Fit-PC2 is good for listening to music and viewing photos, but for more demanding tasks it has too low performance. It is also rather expensive compared to some other competitors such as Acer Revo.
Did you find the optimal mini desktop computer for your needs? If you need more information on comparing nettops and custom built computers, continue reading our guide in finding the HTPC on the cheap.
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