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• Components Manufacturer and Model Price Motherboard Asus A7V, Socket A, VIA KT133 chipset $145.00 CPU AMD Athlon 800 MHz (overclockable to 1000 MHz) $109.00 Cooler Swiftech MC370-0A $25.00 System Memory 256 MB PC133 SDRAM $83.00 Case ATX Mid Tower with 300 Watt power supply $55.00 Graphics Card Asus V7700 32 MB, GeForce2 GTS with TV Out $230.00 Hard Disk IBM DTLA-307030, UltraATA/100, 30 GB, 7200RPM $149.00 DVD-ROM Drive Toshiba SD-M1402, 10/40X ATAPI $85.00 NIC 3Com Fast Etherlink 3C905B-TX PCI (100Mbit/s) $35.00 Sound Card Creative Soundblaster Live! Value PCI $49.00 Accessories Mouse, keyboard etc. $30.00 Total $995.00 This table lists all components used in our Tom's Hardware PC. Systems offered in current PC magazines and ad flyers reflect the market situation. Almost any shop offers PCs in various configurations within a price range between 700 and 1300 dollars. All these systems show a common characteristic however. The most important components - motherboard, memory and the CPU/cooler unit - are also those parts where assemblers tend to use the cheapest options and thus save the most money. Otherwise, important price points like "$699" or "$999" could simply not be met. Whoever looks for a customized PC solution can hardly avoid assembling his PC by himself! Please note that, even for less experienced users, it is not all that difficult to assemble and mount all components of a PC by yourself. We, the team from Tom's Hardware, have built a dream PC for this occasion, which performance leaves behind that of most PCs within the price range in question and considering its performance, our PC is not at all expensive. The costs of all components combined - from the case to the CPU - sums up to a mere $995 . We even overclocked the system and pushed it up to the limits of its performance -without incurring any stability problems of course! We paid special attention to one aspect: This computer had to be very future-oriented and easily upgradeable. This is the one sensitive point for PC buyers: after a year, they have to resign to the fact that their cheap PC is only good for the trash can. Our series "Do-it-yourself PC " comprises three parts. Part one deals with motherboard, processor, memory, cooler and casing. In part two we recommend powerful graphics cards and give helpful tips. The last part informs about drives, that is, HDDs, CD ROM and DVD drives.

• In Village Tronic’s documentation, they claim that their goal with the ViDock is to “create an affordable, reliable device that would empower notebook users by allowing them to connect more and bigger displays to their computers, as if they were desktop systems.” The ViDock is much more than this simple goal would suggest. While Village Tronic focuses on the ViDock’s multiple display functionality, its hardware might be considered a little overkill for this task. While it does offer support for a lot of displays, the ViDock offers a great deal of 3D graphics acceleration for laptops with slower integrated chipsets, allowing for much faster performance in professional 3D applications, games, and HD 1080p video playback. In addition, the ViDock includes a USB port in addition to its display outputs, which makes it a very attractive docking station for users on the go who want to use a better display, keyboard, and mouse when they get home: with the ViDock, all of that can be quickly attached with a single ExpressCard cable. Since driving multiple displays is Village Tronic’s core focus for the ViDock, let’s look at that functionality first. Village Tronic claims that the ViDock supports the highest resolutions available to an external graphics card solution, with the ability to drive two analog or two digital displays at 2560x1600 each. Here is a breakdown of some competing external display solutions and their specifications compared to the ViDock Gfx: As you can see from the chart, the ViDock does seem to offer the most feature-rich display solution available. I would note that Village Tronic’s chart would suggest that all versions of the ViDock Gfx will accelerate HD Video playback, but as far as I know, the base model ViDock ‘Business Edition’ models—sporting Radeon X1550 or GeForce 7200 GS graphics—probably won’t sufficiently accelerate high-definition1080p video from a Blu-ray source in a satisfactory manner. Without this version of the ViDock to test, though, we can’t say for sure. Speaking of the different versions of the ViDock, let’s consider the different models, the hardware each model sports, and the suggested retail prices: ViDock Gfx Business Edition MSRP: $329 ATI Version: GPU X1550, 128MB DDR2 NVidia Version: GPU GF7200GS, 128MB DDR2 ViDock Gfx Pro Edition MSRP: $429 ATI Version: GPU HD2600Pro, 512MB DDR2 NVidia Version: GPU GF8600GT, 512MB DDR2 ViDock Gfx Mac Edition MSRP: $499 GPU: GPU X1550, 128MB DDR2 As you can see, the $100 price spread between the Business and Pro versions of the ViDock will upgrade the user from a low-end 128MB DirectX 9 graphics chipset to a more respectable 512MB DirectX 10 graphics chipset. However, we should point out that the street price difference between, say, a, X1550 and a 2600 PRO 512MB is only in the neighborhood of $40. And it’s also notable that the Mac version is considerably more expensive than the PC version of the ViDock. Village Tronic anticipates the ViDock’s retail availability by the end of the second quarter of 2008. This means that we were given an early pre-release version of the ViDock Gfx Pro for testing, so bear in mind that the company has some time to iron out any problems we might encounter. Now that we know what to expect, let’s dig in to the hardware!

• Included in our delivery: the Apple Mac mini, wireless keyboard and mouse The basic version of Apple's Mac mini comes with a price tag of $499. However, in keeping with the BYODKM paradigm - Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard & Mouse - no external peripherals are included. A mouse and keyboard, be they wireless or standard, must be ordered as extras. The basic configuration of the Mac mini includes a G4 processor clocked at 1.25 GHz, 256 MB of DDR 333 RAM and a 40 GB hard drive. As is common for most products sent out for review, our sample reached us in the maxed-out configuration, which would cost almost $1200. Not exactly cheap for a compact PC, but not expensive either, for a rare and unconventional gem of a designer piece. The table found below lists the build-to-order (BTO) options and extras available. The premium for 1 GB of memory seems more than a bit steep by today's standards. If your budget is a little constrained, you can pass on the wireless keyboard and mouse, saving $100. Conventional devices such as mice and keyboards are supported through the USB interface. This will make life easier for those coming from the Windows world, as that paves the way for the use of mice with scroll-wheels - not to mention a second mouse button, something PC users are accustomed to. Configurations & Extras Price Apple Mac mini (1.25 GHz), 40 GB, 256 MB, DVD drive $499 Apple Mac mini (1.42 GHz), 80 GB, 256 MB, DVD drive $599 512 MB memory $75 1 GB memory $325 DVD recorder $100 WLAN & Bluetooth $100 Wireless Keyboard & Mouse $100