Looking for a space-saving desktop PC?

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Looking for a space-saving desktop PC?

Rohan Naravane, Feb 09, 2010 1306 hrs IST

These PCs will unclutter your desk and help save on power bills too!

HD-capable mini PCs

These are similar to net-tops, but with one extra functionality. Instead of Intel's under-powered on-board graphics, they come with a more powerful GPU from either NVIDIA or ATI. They also have an HDMI port to connect to an LCD TV. These graphics chips aren't as powerful to handle heavy-duty games with ease, but powerful enough to play back hi-def movies smoothly. This combination of a low-power processor like the Atom, with moderately powerful graphics is dubbed as ION by NVIDIA, while ATI calls it VISION Premium. These machines have slightly powerful processors and double the RAM (2GB). If you want to suck the life out of your internet connection, downloading HD movies and watching them on your LCD TV all the time, then such a PC will do wonders for you.

Since these PCs have power-efficient internals, using them as a 24/7 download rig will be eco and wallet friendly. Games from a couple of years ago should work smoothly on low or medium detail settings, but don't expect to do hardcore gaming on this. Again, some of these HD-ready mini PCs won't come with an optical drive. If you don't care about this, then a Zotac MAG (without monitor) is available for Rs. 17,500, which is a sweet deal. A good alternative to the Zotac MAG is the Acer Aspire Revo. It is bundled with a comfortable wireless keyboard and mouse, webcam and stereo speakers; thus driving the price up to around Rs. 20,000.

Dell's Zino HD starts from Rs. 20,900 and comes with an optical drive. You can even get the Zino HD configured with a Blu-ray reader/DVD writer drive. With ATI's Radeon 4330 graphics and a blu-ray drive, it will cost you around Rs. 32,000. Again, like the Dell Zino, you have to compulsorily buy a Dell monitor with the Zino HD.

Another mention in this category is the Mac Mini. It comes with more powerful hardware than the ones mentioned above and runs Mac OS X. But no HDMI port, blu-ray support and a comparatively high price keep it from being recommended as a decent HTPC solution. But if you want the cheapest way to go Mac, then this is it.