Hello guys, just decided to post a bit about a recent purchase.

After contemplating getting a HTPC to connect to my living room screen, options were scarce. Custom-built or a Dell Inspiron Zino HD which costed RM999 for the base model.

So I went to Digital Mall to see what I can custom build, but ending up getting poisoned by the superior performance of the ASRock.

Here are some pictures.



My inventory. ASRock HT-100, 2x2GB Mushkin Enhanced 1333MHz DDR3, 1x500GB WD Scorpio Blue 5400rpm, Rapoo 2900 Touch wireless keyboard & mouse combo.



Contents of the ASRock's box. The PC itself, power adapter, DVI to VGA, documentation, extra connector cables, anti-slip pad for placing on your desk, and the media center remote.



The Rapoo Touch 2900 keyboard. Minimalist design & packaging.



Keyboard.

-

So far this unit has been really good to me. Tried playing performance-intensive games like Need for Speed: Shift & Need for Speed: Carbon, nothing short of excellent performance. Viewing movies is really great too - somehow it manages to fit the input video to a 720p resolution.

One problem though, I don't know how to push it (the resolution) to 1080p.

So, yup, there you go. A happy customer.

EDIT: Noticed the pictures are a little big, if anyone knows how to resize with BBcode, please do tell me. And disregard the watermark, it was added in Lightroom batch processing

This post has been edited by TheWandererX: Dec 30 2010, 03:02 PM

Thanks for the welcome.

Anyway, the keyboard cost RM150. Steep price for a wireless keyboard & mouse combo, but well worth it for its design and aesthetics.

Yup, I got it for RM1350. There's a forumer selling it at RM1380.

Haha, the shop assistant recommended me to get it so I thought why not and just got it.

This post has been edited by TheWandererX: Dec 30 2010, 04:10 PM

It's just like a notebook, actually. CPU, chipset etc all included. You have to get your own RAM and HDD though. That's all. 2GB RAM sticks cost about RM70 and a 500GB 5.4kRPM HDD would cost about RM150.

Haha, yeah.

My guess is yes - there is VGA and HDMI, then there's a DVI to VGA converter just in caes.

I haven't done much with software yet at the moment, but it is running on Windows 7 Ultimate with Windows Media Center. Haven't had the time to really 'set it up as a HTPC' yet, been using it more as a normal desktop, watching 720p videos with VLC Media Player and managing my files while I am transitioning from my old laptop to my new laptop (in delivery).

Any tips/pointers would be appreciated.

For a keyboard designed to be used while lounging on a couch, etc, etc, it's really good. But one quirk, the mouse buttons are above the touchpad, and I have no friggin idea how much the volume is increased/decreased via a long press/short press. But overall, it's really good for its size, simplicity and ease of use.

Why do you want to do so? It's already damn good that we have Daemon Tools so we won't need to waste CDs...

Anyway, I've never come by such an action before. Don't think anybody has created something to do that.