HTPC Mod Looks Like Giant iPhone, Plays Crysis

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.