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Polywell MiniBox2 939NP-MCE

review

By Joel Santo Domingo

The Polywell MiniBox2 939NP-MCE ($1,888 direct, $1,520 without monitor) is a compact, living-room-friendly Media Center PC. It is a relatively quiet system that can fit in either a home office or living room. With a dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processor for speed and performance (especially when doing multimedia multitasking), twin TV tuners, and a good amount of hard drive space, the MiniBox2 is a Media Center PC worth a look.

red arrow Read the Polywell MiniBox2 939NP-MCE full review

Company

Polywell Computers Inc

http://www.polywell.com

Spec Data
  • Price as Tested: $1,520.00 - $1,888.00 Direct
  • Type: General Purpose, Media, Digital Entertainment System
  • Processor Family: AMD Athlon 64 X2
  • RAM: 1 GB
  • Storage Capacity: 500 GB
  • RAID: Yes
  • Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 6150
  • Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
  • Monitor Type: LCD
  • Screen Size: 19 inches
  • Notes: $1888; $1520 without monitor

Bottom Line

It's not the prettiest or smallest of the compact MCE PCs out there, but if you don't want an ugly tower in your living room and you're hesitant to buy a horizontal PC that you can't expand or upgrade, the MiniBox2 may be a good compromise.

Pros

Compact form factor. Dual TV tuners. Dual-core processor. No noisy graphics card fan. Integrated graphics optimized for video. Lots of hard drive space.

Cons

Needs external IR receiver. A little unwieldy for a living-room PC.

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