Niveus leads the PC world in creating Windows Media Centerâ€based entertainment systems that even a persnickety A/V connoisseur can embrace. It pioneered the fanless case, using huge heat sinks (those funky side fins) to quietly keep the processor from frying.

A Media Center PC designed to pull full-time duty in your living room needs to play nice with your existing entertainment system, both aesthetically-with a sleek horizontal case that disguises its PC-ness-and with high-quality video outputs for connecting it to your TV, such as DVI or component video, and a digital-audio port for piping surround sound to your receiver.