Company:
Hewlett-Packard Co., www.hp.com
Price:
$2,876 direct ($5,048 with 23-inch HD monitor)
Spec Data:
Intel Pentium 4 560 (3.6 GHz), 1GB DDR 400 SDRAM, 250GB SATA hard drive, 160GB Personal Media removable drive, ATI Radeon X600 graphics, DVD drive, DVD-ROM drive, Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card, Klipsch ProMedia THX 5.1 speakers, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004.

Sub-ratings (out of 100):
Music: 100 Photo: 100 Video: 99 Gaming: 97

Pros:
Innovative removable 160GB Personal Media Drive gives you endless storage for photos, music, and videos. Card slots and space for a camera dock ideal for digital photo enthusiasts. Quiet fans and good TV quality make this suitable for the living room. Optional 23-inch widescreen HDTV-compatible monitor is dazzling.
Cons:
Low starting price climbs quickly as you add the options you want. Media Center OS still can't work with HD. Tower case still looks like a PC, not a piece of home-entertainment equipment.
Bottom Line:
The HP Media Center PC m1050y raises the bar on what a media-centric PC should be. The clever removable hard drive means unlimited storage, and lets you store precious photo and home-video files off-site to secure against theft, fire, or other calamity. With the 3.6-GHz processor we tested, it will satisfy both enthusiasts who want a Media Center PC that is fast enough to keep up with all their computing needs, and the computer neophyte who wants to buy a Media Center PC that is powerful enough to last them for the next five or more years.

Review
If you've been holding off committing to the Media Center platform to see what makers would come up with next, it's time to revisit... click here for full review