Ah! The crux of modern entertainment technology, the Home Theater PC (HTPC). While the concept has been floating around for some years with DIY and commercial kits widely available, HTPCs are only beginning to gain some ground as a serious entertainment alternative for the living room. In a nutshell, one can probably turn almost any PC into a HTPC with an appropriate media center or playback software. However, we wanted a thoroughbred. Our HTPC must be a fully featured media hub for all of today's entertainment needs and be powerful enough to see us through when high definition (HD) content hits the mainstream next year.
What we were looking for next was a small, stylish and sexy chassis that can fit inconspicuously in the living room. Most importantly, the HTPC should be silent and power efficient under operation so as not to interfere with your movie experience. When was the last time you switched-on your DVD player and it whirred to life in a cadence of cooling fans and gaudy neon lights? That's right – Never, so our HTPC shouldn't do that either.
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Intel Pentium M 740 (1.73GHz) SRP: US$205
With the success of the Centrino mobile platform, Intel's Pentium M processors have become highly sought after for power-efficient, high-performance systems. For our HTPC, we recommend the services of a 1.73GHz Pentium M 740. Based on the revised Dothan core, the Pentium M 740 supports a 533MHz FSB with XD-bit technology and a 2MB L2 cache. This baby will use very little power and stay cool with a small 27W TDP. |
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