The QuaNext from Hong Kong manufacturer Quataris is now shipping. Featuring an Intel Pentium 4 Prescott, an Intel 915GL chipset and a whopping 2GB of RAM, the QuaNext is as much a multimedia PC as it is a TV receiver. Currently running a modified version of SuSE Linux, the computer can switch from TV to PC mode with the press of a button on the remote.

Other goodies in this 19-inch LCD system include AC'97 sound, NIC and over 200GB of hard drive space. While details on pricing are not available, they do offer 15 and 17-inch models for the more budget conscious consumer.

This sounds like it could be a powerhouse of a computer. Between the rocklike stability of Linux and the powerful hardware, the QuaNext blurs the line between PCs and TVs... even more.

Only things I wonder about are: why didn't they use the KnoppMyth Linux Distribution which has PVR capability, and (of course) will they offer a NTSC tuner? The PAL option it comes with may be fine for most of the world, but US and Japan (two of the tech-heavyweight countries globally) both use NTSC.

Posted By: Larry Erhard