Question 1

Does it have an ethernet port?

Accepted Answer

Any windows PC will have one, if you click on the specs tab you should see it as well.

Question 2

How many USB ports?  What version are they?  I assume on-board graphics... what version?

Since you don't get an OS disc, what happens when the HD needs reformatting or crashes etc.  how do you reinstall the OS?

Thanks

Accepted Answer

USB 2.0
2x USB on front
6x USB on back

On-board graphics is Intel Q35 Express Chipset.

You will need an OS disc if you need to re-format it, but it will load with a standard Windows 7 Professional SP1 disc, so if you have access to that disc then you should be OK.

Question 3

I want to replace my cable box with a machine dedicated to WMC; will this system playback quality 1080p video?  If not, can the graphics be upgraded to support it?

Accepted Answer

The specs would support such a setup, however due to the half height expansion slots and the basic video output capabilities of the graphics chip, I would personally look elsewhere.

I use this very machine to process 5 high definition 720P 5fps streams from network security cameras, however this is not a machine I would use as my media center unit.

In my opinion, I would grab a NAS device for storing your media and then picking up a WD TV Live streaming box. The reason I say this is because the WD device is a renderer that is low power, zero noise and has a nice graphical interface.

Feel free to email me hopjeremy [at] gmail

Question 4

What rpm is the hard drive? 5400 or 7200?

Accepted Answer

It is a 7200 RPM Western Digital Hard Drive. Model Number: WD1600AAJS.

Question 5

Does this come with a Windows 7 install disc?

Accepted Answer

The units I received did not. They come with Win7 in an install partition on the disk, and a product activation code on a sticker on the chassis.

As I already have a Win7 disk from another machine, I'm not very concerned. A disk replacement would end up requiring a Win7 disk.

Question 6

Thanks for the answer. How about the question about the OS? What happens if the HD needs to be reformatted or for any other reason the OS needs to be re-installed? Thanks!

Accepted Answer

Just call ABS phone number located on the users manual and they will take care of that for you. Also the system comes with a 1 year warranty. This is what they told when i called and asked a similar question. Hope this helps.

Questions & Answers