This month PCW and
Shuttle,
the leading design and manufacturer of SFF (small form factor) PCs, have teamed
up to give away one complete multimedia home theatre PC worth £1,095.
The prize, a Shuttle XPC G5 6801M, comes with a next-generation Blu-ray/HD
DVD combo drive to deliver the crystal clear images of high definition movies.
The Shuttle XPC G5 6801M is built around the Shuttle XPC Barebone SN68SG2
dressed up with a PF27 media centre front. Its elegant black chassis provides
excellent connectivity on both the front and back panel.
A range of connectors sit behind the flip-down front doors, including USB2,
Firewire, a multiformat card reader and, of course, the Blu-ray/HD DVD combo
drive. A Wifi interface means you can easily connect the PC to the internet and
a home network wirelessly.
Inside, an AMD AM2 X2 4200+ processor and 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 Ram run the
show. There's also a large 320GB Sata hard drive providing plenty of space for
your digital needs.
Graphics are provided by a silent, passively cooled ATI Radeon HD 3450
graphics card, which accelerates HD decoding so movies look silky smooth. You'll
get crisp audio with the smooth video too, thanks to a digital SPDIF output.
A remote control for accessing this home entertainment PC, plus keyboard and
mouse mean this multimedia package will conquer any living room with ease.
Windows Vista Home Premium, Power DVD 7.3 Ultra and a dual DVB-T (Freeview) TV
tuner card completes the package.