If you are not quite convinced that you want an Intel Viiv PC in your living room, then here is another option: AMD promises similar functionality and "real world solutions" with beefed up entertainment center PCs. "Live!" PCs will act behind the scenes, rather than physically invading the family room, and act as the digital nerve center of a home.
Live arrives almost half a year after the launch of Intel's Viiv and could be late to the party. Given the fact that Intel made far less progress with establishing its Viiv platform in the past six months than many industry observers had expected, however, may put AMD in a situation where the distance to its competitor becomes insignificant and in fact may help the company take advantage of the overall traction of entertainment PCs that has been generated by Intel.
AMD claims that a total of 40 system builders will begin offering Live-branded systems in June. Among others, Hewlett-Packard, Gateway, Acer and even performance PC maker Alienware are expected to be offering Live systems.
Just as Intel's Viiv, Live calls for very specific hardware and software requirements. According to AMD, a Live PC requires at least a dual-core AM2-based Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, needs to run Microsoft's Windows XP MCE operating system with a capability to upgrade to Windows Vista and display the operating system's Aero Glass graphical interface. Other requirements include at least 1 GB of system memory, a SATA hard drive and a DVD burner. Interestingly, a TV tuner as well as HDMI support with HDCP are just recommended, but not required.
News source: The Full Story
