Build Your Own Mini-PC For The Office

Installing A DVD Drive Or A CD/RW Burner

It's up to you - either a DVD drive or a CD/RW burner can be installed in the free 5.25" bay.

There's only room in the case for a single 5.25" drive, so you'll have to be circumspect about choosing what goes in there! If you don't use DVD media, you really ought to install a fast CD burner with 24x write speed. Fans of DVD videos, on the other hand, may prefer a DVD drive or even a DVD burner. The latter are still very pricey, though, and don't offer many benefits over a CD burner other than their higher capacity. You won't be able to copy DVD movies, in any case.

Basis For Digital Video: FireWire Port

Setting this PC system apart from its miniature competition are the two FireWire ports. The interface is wonderful for attaching digital video cameras (DV cameras) or hard drives quickly and without much hassle. Attaching a DV camera would allow you to copy video and audio data to the hard drive without losing any of it. You can also send sequences to a camcorder using special editing software. If you're in the market for a perfect video editing solution, however, you'll have no choice but to get a special video editing card from Pinnacle, Canopus or Fast. These cards are based on special DSP chips that use specific hardware routines to process the data.