HTPC - SlashGear

MSI shows off all-in-one PC’s and more at Computex

Lindsey Caldwell | Jun 3, 2015

Alongside its cubic camera and gaming laptops, MSI also brought a range of options to the ever-growing AIO (all-in-one PC) market at the Computex trade show in Taiwan. AIO's like Microsoft's Surface series combine features of a laptop and a tablet in one. These AIO's from MSI are, of course, geared towards gaming and feature a choice of i7 or i5 processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M or GTX 970M graphics. Both the AG270 3K and Gaming 24GE models feature Nahimic sound which creates not only creates virtual surround sound, but has additional features like noise reduction and voice leveling when channeled through headphones.

Logitech illuminated K830 keyboard lets you control a HTPC in the dark

Shane McGlaun | Apr 9, 2014

Logitech has unveiled its latest keyboard and this one is aimed at the people sitting in the living room trying to control a HTPC from across the room. The keyboard is called the Logitech Illuminated Living-room Keyboard K830 and its big feature is backlit keys. Having backlit keys means that the keyboard is easy to use in a dark room while you watch a movie or your favorite TV show.

Arctic unveils new MC001-XBMC media center

Shane McGlaun | Feb 7, 2013

Hardware maker Arctic has announced a new media center set top box called the MC001-XBMC. This new set top box runs XBMC 12 Frodo as the operating system and Openelec. The machine promises to come out-of-the-box ready to plug into your TV and it is available for significant discount. The normal price of the device is $459, but it is now available for $229.

Giada i35v mini PC packs mSATA storage

Shane McGlaun | Aug 28, 2012

Giada has added a new mini PC to its lineup called the i35V. This new mini PC comes with solid-state storage inside rather than a hard drive making for quieter and quicker operation. The computer ships with a 32 GB mSATA SSD providing the user with faster boot speeds and lower power consumption. The new computer is aimed at home and small office users looking for a highly compact computer for small spaces.

Giada i53 aims at HTPCs with Ivy Bridge and USB 3.0

Ben Kersey | Jul 13, 2012

A manufacturer has finally decided to build a mini PC featuring silicon other than Intel’s Atom or AMD’s various APUs. In this case it's Giada, today announcing its new i53 “book sized” mini PC. The company has managed to cram in Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors into a 26mm thick chassis, saying that the whole package only consumes 35W. The other specs aren’t bad either.

Intel Next Unit of Computing packs palm-sized power

Chris Davies | Apr 30, 2012

Intel could take on Raspberry Pi and compact set-top boxes with a new, budget PC, the NUC or "Next Unit of Computing," set to launch in the second half of 2012. Dressed in a 10 x 10 cm demo box, the NUC is a full Core i3/i5 Sandy Bridge computer complete with Thunderbolt, HDMI and USB connectivity, Sweclockers reports, while inside there's a pair of laptop memory slots and a pair of mini PCIe headers.

Cheap Raspberry Pi media streamer will run special XBMC software

Shane McGlaun | Feb 2, 2012

We have talked about the tiny little Raspberry Pi media streamer several times in the past. This is a little mainboard you can buy for about $35 that hooks your TV and allows you to stream all sorts of content to the big-screen. In case you forget, the little board has an ARM processor integrated and ships with no case. It's more like a bare-bones computer than something along the lines of the Boxee Box that is a complete finished product.

Shuttle XPC SZ68R5 packs super-fast Core i7 into tiny footprint

Chris Davies | Jan 31, 2012

Compact PC manufacturer Shuttle has outed its latest barebones computer, the Shuttle XPC SZ68R5, featuring Intel's Z68 high-performance chipset along with SSD caching for super-fast boot times and app loading. The 33 x 21.5 x 19 cm chassis can accommodate up to 32GB of DDR3 memory, Core i3/i5/i7 processors and up to four add-on cards, since it has slots for PCIe-x16-2.0, PCIe-x4-2.0, Mini-PCIe-x1-2.0 and mSATA. HTPC duty is made easier thanks to both HDMI and DVI-I ports.

Tranquil MMC-12 puts HTPC into 1.5-inch fan-free enclosure

Chris Davies | Jan 2, 2012

PC manufacturer Tranquil has launched its latest HTPC, the super-skinny MMC-12, a mere 1.5-inches high so as to take up minimal space in your kit rack. Fashioned in satin finish aerospace-grade aluminum, the MMC-12 is fanless and packs an Intel Core i3-2100T processor, 4GB of RAM and an 80GB mSATA OS drive, as well as a spare bay for your primary data drive and a DVD burner.

Apple axes Front Row from OS X Lion

Chris Davies | Jul 22, 2011

Apple has quietly retired Front Row, its media center interface for Macs, which has disappeared as of OS X Lion's release earlier this week. Added back in October 2005, Front Row was arguably Apple's answer to Microsoft's Media Center builds of Windows; today, it seems the Cupertino company would rather you just bought an Apple TV since, as Macworld notes, hitting cmd + esc in Lion no longer brings up the familiar sofa-friendly interface.

The New Mac Mini is Still Best Choice for the Living Room

Don Reisinger | Jul 21, 2011

Over the years, I’ve tried to find the best device to connect to my television and enjoy entertainment. I’ve gone with the Apple TV, Roku set-top boxes, the TiVo, and countless other products. But when it was all said and done, I decided that Apple's Mac mini was the best option for me.

VIA Nano X2 E-Series dual-cores promise ultra-frugal HTPCs

Chris Davies | May 5, 2011

VIA has unveiled its latest Nano X2 E-Series dual-core processors, and they want to make your HTPC and other embedded gadgets faster. The new 64-bit chips run at either 1.2GHz or 1.6GHz, and play nicely with Windows Embedded Standard 7, the platform which could form the basis of Microsoft's upcoming push into Mediaroom-based IPTV.