Do you buy a Media Centre PC, or an Xbox 360?

Theinquirer have an interesting mini-article about the effects the Xbox 360's multi-media capabilities will have on PC OEMs, distributors and dealers attempting to sell full blown Media Centre PCs. The Xbox 360 is relatively cheap in comparison to these beastly PC's in excess of a grand, will this be the beginning of end for the Media Center PC ?


Forget blowing all your hard earned cash on a costly media center PC, for now the Xbox 360 is here to save all your media woes and will not cost you an arm and a leg as they say.

Those households are, in the words of CPU manufacturers, "CPU agnostic". They don't care if it's an AMD CPU nor do they care if it's Intel Inside. The question they will ask is, is it cheap? Can I run my videos on it? Will it be noisy? Will it be, er, cheap?

Unlike a Media Centre PC, an Xbox 360 won't set your household back an absolute fortune and if the machine performs according to the specifications Microsoft heralded yesterday, what need for a full blown Media Centre PC anyway?

The dilemma facing PC OEMs, dealers and distributors is that given the way interest rates are going, and the price of oil and the like, it could make perfect sense for homes to go Xbox 360, because it will satisfy many many demands.

Read More: theinquirer.net

if all I need is the MS Media Center OS and probably a wireless network adapter. Then heck yeah thats better then buying a media center PC.

I dont think it will - for a start people paying 2 grand for a media pc buy them for the snob value - you can buy a simple pc to do most media pc work for 150 pounds so why arnt they buying them? Coz they would look crummy next to a 2000 pound plasma tv and the rest of the not so cheap kit.

And against normal pc's well when the MegaDrive and later when the ps2 came out, both were offering much better 'gaming' for the price per buck, and the pc survived this.

A PC can evolve where a console cannot.

Just my opinion of course

I might be missing something here but isn't the whole point of a Media Center PC to act as a PVR like Sky Plus, Tivo etc? That said, the 360 is only any good as a Media Center Extender as it doesn't have a couple of TV tuners built in. If I'm right about the XBOx 360 not having 2+ TV tuners then that article is load of rubbish.

info from - xbox.com

If you're a serious gamer looking for the ultimate console, the search ends here. Fully loaded, it's the unsurpassed gaming and entertainment experience right out of the box.

We're talking a 20GB detachable hard drive for downloading content and saving games, plus a headset and a wireless controller for instant Xbox Live action. That's on top of the console itself, which not only plays games in high definition (HD) with 720p/1080i output and full surround sound, but can stream digital photos and music from your Windows® XP or Windows® Media Center Edition 2005 PC. Xbox 360 delivers the ultimate digital entertainment and gaming experience.

With its built-in Ethernet port and a free level of the online service, Xbox 360 instantly connects you to Xbox Live. Every Xbox 360 owner is a Silver subscriber?just plug the Ethernet cable into your existing broadband connection and join a global community of more than two million members. Set up a Gamer Profile, visit the Xbox Live Marketplace, even send voice messages?and that's just the beginning. Upgrade to Xbox Live Gold service and experience multiplayer games and tournaments, intelligent matchmaking, voice communication via the Xbox 360 Headset, and much more.

you can only stream music and photos? if so booo