ViewSonic launches Blu-ray home theatre PC

pc mini VOT550 looks awfully familiar

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23 July 2009 17:39 GMT / By Lars-Göran Nilsson

The last of a slew of ViewSonic launches is the pc mini VOT550, although, again as with the previous two mini computers, this one comes in two different models with its more basic sibling going under the name of VOT530.

The VOT550 comes with Windows Media Centre and is intended as a home entertainment or home theatre PC and as such, ViewSonic has equipped the top of the line model with a Blu-ray drive. We’re not sure how big of a selling point this is, especially as this is a rebadged system from AOpen that we’ve seen sold under several other brand names in the past.

In terms of features, the VOT550 has a mobile Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory, a 320GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, eSATA and a DVI port. A dongle is supplied that turns the DVI port into an HDMI port which allows for easy connectivity to your HD TV.

The VOT530 shuns the Blu-ray drive in favour for a DVD super-multi drive and both models feature slot-in type drive, similar to those in a car CD player. Price wise the VOT530 is going to set you back £494, while the Blu-ray equipped VOT550 ups the price to £678, making both fairly poor value for money compared to the other mini PCs that ViewSonic has just launched.