First Look:

Front of the Case (Image Courtesy: ABS Computer Technologies)

As you can see, the system is a rather professional looking machine with gray and a hint of black color scheme. ABS has decided to use a universal color scheme that usually goes well with almost all home entertainment setups. The power button is situated towards the very left of the system while a LED display and the remaining buttons cover the right side for convenience.

The DVD drive is located right in the middle, and the bottom half of the front plate exposes a multitude of connectivity options. Thankfully, ABS has included a faceplate to cover the otherwise unprofessional looking ports, which would have certainly ruined the overall look of the Ultimate E2 Media Center PC.

Front of the Case with Front Plate Closed and Thermal Design

This particular image depicts Intel’s BTX standard in action with a more revealing look at the case and its air circulation methodology.

Back of the Case with Inputs/Outputs

The back of the media center PC contains almost all connectors that you might need to make the media center work with other devices. Perhaps the most interesting accessory is the actual remote that is the included with the product package. The remote will interact with Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center 2005 version, which ABS has chosen as the heart and soul of the E2 system.

Remote

While E2 is certainly not a gaming machine, it can surely fulfill every other multimedia requests that you may have. Thanks to the Windows XP Media Center software, it will play everything from video to audio files with breeze. Not to mention that you will be able to take a look at your personal photos as well as live TV. You can consider this your one-stop device for everything multimedia related.

ABS Computer Technologies will also allow you to purchase additional accessories and software with the system at an additional cost. These accessories range from printers and scanners to webcams and keyboards/mice. The software mainly consists of image editing; anti-virus and gaming that include Valve’s Half-Life 2. You will also get ABS’ one year, 24/7 technical support assistance; extended technical support coverage will cost more.

From what we can conclude directly from the specifications, E2 is close to being a gaming machine, but it falls short due to ABS’ choice of picking an ATI X300 120B graphics card. Unfortunately, there is no way to upgrade the graphics card to a better one (at least not when placing an order). What’s even more discouraging is that the system with the latest in microprocessor and mainboard isn’t fully utilized due to the lack of graphics power for a wholesome gaming experience. However, if you look at it from a completely multimedia use, ABS provides everything that you might need for your entertainment. Perhaps for those who would like to use their portable systems for both gaming and multimedia activities, Alienware, Shuttle, and MSI may have the solution you are looking for.

The standard system costs around $1,549 and prices go up as you increase the power and specifications of the system.

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