Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler What do you think of this DT PC?

Also true. Hell, we've got $1200 HPs at work, and they suffer component failures.

You must not be using Monster Cable surge protectors or power supply regulators.

The trouble I'm having right now is with my HP Pavilion a1767C. I paid around $1200 new. I had to replace the hard drive a month after the warranty expired. I had to replace the video card shortly after that. Plus, they come loaded with all kinds of crap that I have not had much success in removing without affecting something else.

I was actually hoping you computer guys would look at the components that the ZT has stuffed in the box to let me know if they are any good or not. They are supposed to be your basic bare bones machines that run well with good parts at a reasonable price because they do not come with a bunch of fluff loaded onto them.

I'm partially inclined to just build something, but I know myself too well. I'd have a couple grand wrapped up it before long.

Get a Zotac ZBOX barebones. They have RAM, HD, BD-ROM drive all pre-installed, with HDMI+Sound output (you just need to buy the OS). I've built several machines based around their current and previous generation barebones, and their first Atom motherboards. Haven't had any problems with them yet.

If Dell and HP aren't recommended, what IS recommended for assembled systems?

Chris, I'm not sure whether to start a new thread or just crap on Mike's, but I'm intrigued by the Zotac boxes.

All I really do with the PC I have in the living room is web browsing and music streaming. I like separate devices for BD and DVR functions, but I do like the option of being able to stream internet content to the TV at 1080.

I know nothing about Ubuntu or other Linux systems, but buying another copy of Windows makes this kind of setup a different proposition.

Could I get some kind of decent music streaming and web browsing to work under Ubuntu on one of these machines?

That would allow me to repurpose the existing server/HTPC machine to another room.

I like places like NCIX. Great for the DIY or pre-assembled custom units.

I've not tried Ubuntu on the ZBOXes yet. I don't even have a spare one around right now, because they sell as quickly as I get them in.

I don't think there should be any hardware compatibility problems with the newest Ubuntu 10.10. Ubuntu ships with Firefox. I manually install the 64-bit Flash plugin, but that's not difficult. After that everything else is probably easier than Windows, albeit a little bit different.

Thanks, Chris. Recommendations for a particular model of the many ZBoxes for my application?

Is there another flavor of Linux I should be looking at instead?

Ubuntu has the widest adoption, by far. It has even infiltrated out Fedora/RedHat fortress at work.