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O.T. AMD designs prototype PC for the living roomBy Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: November 16, 2006, 10:13 AM PT

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6136186.html

Personal computers TVs Home entertainment Advanced Micro Devices Advanced Micro Devices has created a prototype PC designed to go in the living room, a place where several companies have tried to go before but almost none has succeeded.

Resembling a stereo component, the computer is designed essentially to function as a media vault: it stores music, videos, TV shows and photos and then pipes them to flat-panel TVs and other PCs. PC makers can, conceivably, use the prototype as a reference design.

"There will be PCs in the living room. They won't look like PCs," said Joe Menard, corporate vice president of consumer business for AMD, during an interview at the Samsung Executive Summit this week in San Jose. Some of these types of PCs may come out next year, he added.

Companies that have tried to get PCs into the living room include Gateway and Compaq, which tried to sell large projection TVs linked to PCs in the late 1990s. But high prices led to low sales.

In early 2004, Intel CEO Paul Otellini unfurled the EPC at the Consumer Electronics Show. The bulky appearance and the noisy fan crimped sales. Intel revamped the idea with its Viiv line of PCs. Still, most Viiv PCs are not packaged in sleek, small cases that would fit in living room entertainment racks. Most Viiv PCs are about the same size as standard desktops and laptops. Apple also came out with a Mac Mini in 2005, but despite the good reviews, it's nowhere near being a cultural phenomenon.

There are Intel-based computers making it into the living room, but they're not PCs. Toshiba's HD-DVD player runs an x86 chip and some set-top boxes have Intel chips as well.

So why will the living room PC concept succeed now where it has limped along in the past? Chip cooling has improved, so computer makers will be able to get away from fans, said Menard.

With Vista, Microsoft's soon-to-be released new operating system, consumers will be able to play high-definition content on PCs--providing them with an incentive to pick up a living room PC.


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