Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Cutting the cord


Want to cut your TV bill?  Looking for a home theatre PC (HTPC) to add to your living room?  As you may know, most of the major television stations publish their shows for free online and also in HD over the air (OTA) for free!   Invest in a computer to view this free content on your television.


Value
Regular
Superior 3D

Intel Celeron
2.4Ghz Dual Core
2GB RAM

BYOHD – Bring your own hard drive


Intel Pentium
2.6Ghz Dual Core
2GB RAM

BYOHD – Bring your own hard drive

Coming soon...
$350
$380


This HTPC computer is compact, sleek and packed with enough horsepower to view high definition streams and movie files.  Windows7 is already equipped with a family friendly way of viewing your content.  The computer measures 5.1" x 8.7" x 11.8", runs at a cool 40 degrees celsius, is whisper quiet, and uses only 40 watts when powered on.  It fits perfectly on your TV stand!

Customizations:
  1. +$120 add a 1.5TB hard drive for media storage
  2. +$120 add Windows 7 Home Premium
  3. +$270 add both (1) and (2), plus configuration of system
  4. +$100 add configuration of system (bring your own HDD and Win7)
  5. +$140 add dual TV tuner for watching HD feed from antenna
  6. +$140 add Blu-Ray disc reader
  7. Coming soon... Over the Air Antenna Installation
All computers are made with brand new parts.  I take a small fee for assembly and configuration.


Looking for a cheaper option?

Give nettop PC’s a try or the Apple TV 2.  You can probably find one for $250 to $300, plus tax.  These are good affordable options and are generally good for viewing most files.  However they lack versatility.  Most nettop PC’s are based off of the Intel Atom processor and the Nvidia Ion graphics processor, which has had very poor reviews, especially for Flash and Netflix video.  If you can get your hands on the Apple TV 2, it can be jailbroken with XBMC on it.  However, web browsing is not an option yet and there is very little hard drive space to store media.  It’s also unfortunate that the Apple TV 2 is no longer sold in stores, and the Apple TV 3 has not been jail broken yet.

Apple A4
1Ghz Single Core
256MB RAM
8GB Storage



Intel Atom
1.8Ghz Dual Core
2GB RAM
320GB Storage


$250 to $300, plus tax

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