Jonzee.com

After writing about the Eee Box, I took a really good look at what you get, and what I want out of a device like that. I would use the Eeebox as a permanent media player, in the living room. I would want to be able to connect it to my TV and use it to view online streaming video, and any video/audio that would be on the harddrive or my network. For that use, the Eeebox is perfect. But I want more power. I want to be able to add a Bluray drive, and display High def content beyond 720P (which is the said limit of the Eeebox).

Dell has something that seem to be perfect, but at a higher cost. The Dell Studio Hybrid.

Starting at $499, you get a bit of a performance upgrade when compared to the Eeebox, but to really flesh this thing out, you’ll need to spend a bit more money.

The system I priced, I upgraded the processor, OS, and added a Bluray drive (with plans to upgrade the ram outside of dell as better prices can be found elsewhere). For the starting price of $499, the specs are as follows…

• Intel® Pentium™ Dual Core T2390 (1.86GHz/533Mhz FSB/1MB cache)

• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic Service Pack 1

• No Monitor (System includes DVI and HDMI ports. VGA is not supported)

• 1GB Shared DDR2 at 667MHz (1 DIMM)

• 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)

• Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive)

• Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

• Integrated Stereo Audio with 5.1ch digital output (S/P DIF)

• Dell USB Multimedia Keyboard & Optical Mouse

• No Modem Included