Viiv-based Desktop PCs Coming in February

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=25426' target='_blank'>http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=25426</a><br /><br /></div><i>"SFF PCs based around Intel's Viiv technology will make an appearance next month with shipments occuring in Februrary from major manufacturers. Viiv is Intel's latest buzzword that denotes a PC dedicated to being a media center: Intel's Viiv platform will consist of the dual-core Pentium D 800/900 CPU line, 945 and 955 chipsets with ICH7 DH southbridge chip and Intel Pro/100 PM/PL/VE/VM network cards, indicated the sources. The new platform will be capable of Intel's Audio Codec 5.1/5.1-channel connector with 2.1 SPDIF digital output, NCQ-enabled SATA drive and only support the Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) operating system, the sources added."</i><br /><br />When I read this news, I looked around the web to see if others are reporting on this little juicy nugget of information and it looks like small form factor (SFF) PC manufacturers -- AOpen and Shuttle and own-brand PC companies Acer, Gigabyte Technology, and Micro-Star International (MSI) -- are gearing up to introduce new desktop PCs based on the Intel Viiv platform in January 2006, with mass production slated for early February. It will be interesting to see what the benchmarks will say once Viiv is actually released. Can't wait! :)

[Felix Torres]

"...only support the Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) operating system, the sources added."

Hmm, I wonder how firm that is, and not just for anti-trust reasons.
(If ViiV is a true Wintel partnership it would be allowable, though. )
It would, at a minimum, preclude Apple from leveraging the ViiV brand in short-cutting their way into media centers if they ever intended to.

And if they do intend to, they'd better not wait much longer, cause withh MCE PCs making up 40% of the retail market already, without any mass-market hype, the ViiV marketing machine should easily raise that to over 50%. I'm guessing they have to announce by May at the latest to have any chance of being a long-term player. And they'd better have more to show than just Front Row and a mini or a larger iMac. Cause they need a comprehensive home media network strategy at a minimum; something more than just diverting desktop speaker audio through Wi-Fi.

Of course, Microsoft and Intel's real goal here isn't the hypothetical Mac-based competitor but the very real Linux-based and proprietary solutions from Sony and elsewhere that could threaten the PC platform as a whole.
Better to get there "firstest with the mostest" than to let the PSX'es and Moxies of the world get even a foothold in this last mass computing market.

Now to see if ViiV is more than just a branding exercise...