HTPC Mod Looks Like Giant iPhone, Plays Crysis
Here's the ideal custom HTPC for Apple fans.
Benjamin Bachmeier has created a custom home theater PC (HTPC) that should leave Apple fans with a warm and fuzzy feeling all over. It's called the iTableous, and its main body is shaped like a giant iPhone 4, as seen in the picture to the right.
"The idea came while watching various DIY projects on the net. The idea to build an iPhone in the form of a table is not new," he said in a forum post. "The implementation has not nearly convinced me so far. This is probably because I like to expect a certain functionality of the products I use. In short, I wanted to do it better and have tinkered four months."
According to Bachmeier, the rig's 40-inch screen isn't touch capable -- instead it's actually a Toshiba LED LCD monitor. Underneath is a fanless ZOTAC ION ITX A-E clocked at 2.01 GHz, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM and a 500 GB HDD. The cooling system includes four 80-mm Revoltec "AirGuard" coolers (with Hysint bearings), four 40-mm Xilence Low-Noise coolers and a self-made fan-control to avoid high noise levels.
As for input and output functionality, the iPhone 4 mod consists of one Line-In port, one USB 2.0 port, a CD / DVD-RW Slot-In (SuperDrive), two additional HDMI input ports for connecting a PlayStation 3 and other compatible devices, and an antenna cable for DVB-T reception. There's also one eSATA port, an optical audio port, a DVI port and an Ethernet port. The rig also sports 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and more. The rig also has the ability to dual-boot into Mac OSX 10.6.7 (Hackint0sh) or Windows 7 Professional.
"Since there is no provider that offers a slide in at least 40- inches with a USB connection, I have to use a wireless keyboard to use the computer," he writes in a forum post. "As an alternative, I have a Wii Remote diverted to operate the IR-Cam over two small infrared lights with LED signals and thus to operate the computer with pseudo-multi-touch. This feature is not yet satisfying and is therefore more alpha than beta (check Wiimote Whiteboard Solution to gain an idea of what I want to do with that)."
To see a full list of specs and how Bachmeier turned the iPhone 4 buttons into functional controls, check out his PDF file right here. Additional photos can be seen here.
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where does it say that it plays Crysis? except the title
I don't know why I feel like firing up air hockey? Foosball anyone.
HTPC Mod Looks Like Giant iPhone, Plays Crysis
Here's the ideal custom HTPC for Apple fans.
See here's the thing there is a paradox in the fist two sentences. I will now point out the key words in the phrase.
Plays Crysis......for Apple fans
Paradox much?
This computer is not considered Crysis worthy.
If it looks like a giant iPhone, Apple will sue them !
>Crysis
>Ion
So it plays Crysis at .5 fps? I think the author means that it can play Crysis if you connect a PS3 as mentioned in the article in which case any monitor can play crysis (if you connect a desktop to it of course). I call false advertising.
Well, I think its a pretty sweet mod and very creative. Nice work!
Shame that you have to make your mod look like an apple product to get press
? Why not use a mini-itx Llano? Llano is at least better than the ION, computing/APU/All around. I mean maybe except the TDP, but even still Llano is a pretty ideal HTPC chip for now-a-days. Also... What OS is it running? It seems like the PSP/PS3 Linux OS.
it would play Crysis if It had used a Zacate at least..........
Beat the idiots to the punch Toms by putting it plays Crysis in the title, love it! lol
At first I thought it was a Surface PC.
iBored with iBoard!!!
But can it play 3D Gay Villa?
Somethings I do find interesting about this project is that he would use such low end hardware on such a expensive project to begin with. I don't quite understand the logic behind that.
Further more get actually admits to breaking the terms of agreement of OSX as it does clearly state that its meant for Apple products and anything else is in violation. Apple could likely sue him for "damages".
Not that I support Apple in such.
hmmm let me see... aren't that corners rounded ? Apple is going to take you to court little boy...
FAIL
The only thing I can say to this is: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx
Fugly.
Seriously, out of the options he had, he chose the fricken iPhone. Dude... Seriously. Go for a sci-fi case or something. Let creativity flow, don't just copy a bullshit design.
This is a terrible product all around, on top of being absolutely ugly. Seriously, who games or watches movies on a flat (parallel to the ground) screen? You'd have to be sitting on the ceiling...
And if the 40" panel isn't meant as the primary display, then why even have HDMI inputs (multiple ones at that!)? You mean you're gonna drop 2000$+ in a HTPC and not even hook it up with an audio-video receiver?
Unless I'm missing something, the concept of an HTPC is to have a PC that outputs video and sound to a receiver, which has speakers connected to it. You know, the Home Theatre part of the HTPC?
Also, the specs are terrible. You have pretty much all the room in the world under that TV and all you manage to fit in is an ION processor? I have an HTPC the size of 2 DVD cases and it sports the exact same specs. Without all the BS that is...
Complet, utter fail.
From the one picture, it doesn't really have the Apple aesthetics.
at first from the article I thought they took an iPad, gutted it, and hooked up an ion proc to the base and just used the screen. Then when I went to the website I noticed rather quickly that this thing is massive! That is a big screen TV, with a tiny little ion proc inside the screen housing, while the base of it is just a big empty cabinet! Crazy!
1) there is enough space in the screen housing to hold a tricked out i7 system, so why go though all the effort for a little ion?
2) the screen does pop up to make it a useful TV... but when you do then you cannot get into the cabinet below! epic fail.
3) as noted by deadgargamel, why spend that much and not attach it to a decent sound system? People just don't realize that audio is 9/10ths of video.
4) My bet is that they went though more effort getting OSx running smoothly on an ION based proc than it took to get the whole thing put together in the first place. Would have been easier to put some sort of minWin or Linux and dress it up as OSx.
5) Really... couldn't think of anything prettier? The case of iProducts are not that great looking, it's all about the screens they use that gives all the wow and flutter. Centering on the housing and putting crap hardware inside is just wrong no matter what side of the mac fan/hater fence you ride on.
It's like saying MacAir with thunderbolt using an external thunderbolt GPU running Windows plays Crysis, poorly... (but somebody wanted to try) ;-)
Runs at a solid 60 seconds per frame
So what is the difference between this and an iPad? They are both giant iPhones that play games.
But can you watch TEE-VEE (TV) on it???
LOL .... roflmao!
show me video..
THAT'S BIG