Conclusion

Silent PCs are fantastic things - except for their high prices. But believe us when we say that everything comes at a price. And in this case, the money you pay offers a tangible - and auditable - benefit, which is quiet. While the different components and systems of quiet PC that are available vary, the end result is that they work very well in office or home theater environments in which noise pollution is definitely not wanted. Whether these units have slower Pentium M processors or use high-end dual core Athlon 64 CPUs, all of them are designed to work well with completely passive cooling.

In some cases, these PCs are a bit big for a typical home entertainment center. That said, smaller units like the Hush Mobile M MCE PC manage to be both compact and attractive. You really don't need more hardware or CPU power than this unit delivers for HTPC use either, because music, TV, DVD playback and recording all happen in the foreground with these machines.