News Apex girds up for entertainment PC play

From news.com:

Apex Digital, the quiet giant in consumer electronics, will come out with its first PCs later this year as it continues to sneak into the American home.

The company, which specializes in $50 DVD players and other low-cost consumer electronics devices, is preparing a so-called entertainment PC for release later this year, Steve Brothers, president of Apex, said Wednesday.

Entertainment PCs are fully functioning home computers designed to work with televisions and fit in entertainment equipment racks. They are about the size and shape of videocassette recorders and are used to play and record DVDs, view photos, serve up digital music and record TV programs. Consumers operate them with remotes, rather than keyboards or mice.

While it's not one of the best-known brand names in the U.S. consumer electronics industry, Apex has rapidly emerged as one of the biggest players, so its move into entertainment PCs will likely be closely watched. Founded in 1997, Apex has become one of the largest sellers of home DVD players in the United States due to its sharp discounts, creative product integration, and close ties with retailers and contract manufacturers.

Rest of article is here...


Hmm... Since they were the ones who broke the sub-$50 mark for dvd-players, it will be very interesting to see what they do with pc's...

 

I say fair play to them;

1. Needs to be small and look ace.
2. Needs to be p*** easy to use (for dummies)
3. Needs to be configurable, outwardly and inwardly (for us)
4. Easily upgradeable
5. Cheap
6. TV, stereo, DVD, VHS, etc etc compatible

Sounds like a good idea.

 

if it's anything like the players, it'll be absolute crap. The apex dvd players have so many issues - dvd, vcd lockups, doors falling off... on many units too.

 

Very easy fixes though - and for someone who knows how to do it, $40 for a region free dvd-player is quite worth it.