Artwork: Rick Rizner, John Goddard

Resembling a stereo component more closely than any other PC here, the Sys Technology MediaMax entertains with knobs, buttons, and bouncing color gauges galore. In fact, this shoe box-shaped unit can act as a stand-alone radio. The MediaMax comes with two FM coaxial connections on the back, one for Windows Media Center and another for a front radio knob. Too bad the knob can't control radio tuning inside the Media Center. Likewise, the MediaMax's EZ-Cinema button lets you launch a basic Linux DVD and CD player without booting Windows, though EZ-Cinema didn't work reliably on our test unit.

Despite looking like a stereo component, the $1390 MediaMax is a pretty good PC for its dimensions, just 7 inches wide by 9 inches tall by 13 inches deep. The front features a multiformat DVD burner. Two of the unit's six USB ports, plus a CompactFlash memory card slot, microphone and headphone jacks, a FireWire port, and a multiformat card reader, can be found on the sides. The rear has most of the audio/video-in and -out ports, including DVI, so you shouldn't have a problem connecting any of your favorite audio or video equipment. Our system came with an undistinguished 17-inch Planar PX171M LCD monitor.

The MediaMax handled all the Media Center applications with ease, particularly the Media Center FM radio tuner, which zipped through stations as fast as the front dial did. In our speed tests the MediaMax earned a WorldBench 5 score of 84--the second-slowest in this group, but respectable for a 3.2-GHz Pentium 4 540 PC with 512MB of RAM. You might be able to goose that performance a bit by using the MediaMax's Magic Tuner, a combination volume/overclocking dial that's located on the front.

We have one major complaint to lodge against the MediaMax: It took us longer to figure out how to use this unit than any other system here. The multitude of front gauges and controls is confusing, and the documentation is almost nonexistent. Even our Sys Technology representative had trouble explaining some of the features.

Upshot: The MediaMax looks more like a stereo component than any other entertainment PC in our January roundup does, and it offers the bonus of stand-alone radio, DVD, and CD options.

Carla Thornton