Damion Chaplin
08-01-2006, 12:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1990603,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530' target='_blank'>http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1990603,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The wonderfully designed WinBook Jiv Mini ($1,200 direct, without monitor) Media Center PC is the perfect home-theater PC—not just because of its small size, but because it's powerful and has all the ports you need. If you've got a hankering for a modern, multimedia-savvy computer, but don't want the extra clutter associated with a tower desktop, today's your lucky day. The Jiv Mini is one of the new "mini PCs" made possible by sophisticated, low-powered dual-core processors like the Intel Core Duo T2300. Supreme multitaskers, dual-core CPUs let you listen to music or surf the Web while performing CPU-intensive tasks such as recording TV programming or encoding video... With its compact, quiet mini PC case, the WinBook Jiv Mini is supremely qualified for the bedroom. And if you don't already have a DVR from your cable or satellite company, or even a TiVo, the Jiv Mini can record your TV programming while letting you surf the Internet from your bed. The best mini MCE computer I've seen yet, the WinBook Jiv makes sharing and enjoying your digital life around the house a joy."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/WinBookJivMini.jpg" /> <br /><br />PC Magazine gives the WinBook Jiv Mini a 4.5 out of 5 rating and an Editor's Choice Award as the best mini PC Media Center. Without ever having used it, I tend to agree. It's smaller and more powerful than most laptops people carry, and it's wireless in almost every way. This is about as portable a MCE can get without being a PMC. They ding it for the Microsoft MCE keyboard, but given the severe lack of MCE keyboards out there on the market, I can't hold it against them; they chose the best one they could. For $1200, it seems like a good deal to me, though I still prefer building my own machines. Unfortunately, you just can't build a machine like this. :?