Following the recent trends, First International Computer has unleashed a lineup of personal computers designed to fit into living rooms and satisfy the demands of customers who wish to have stylish, but powerful machines that can serve the centre of digital entertainment.

FIC’s product lineup today includes a number of small form-factor or compact personal computers that are aimed to pioneer the personal computer technology into living room. Currently FIC offers “CE PC”, “Entertainment PC”, “Condor”, “Fish Hawk”, “Shelba” and “IBIS” systems designed to fit into living rooms or new-school homes or offices.

CE PC from First International Computer is an iMac-like “Intel Inside” personal computer with integrated 17” LCD display, 2.1 audio sub-system, AGP 8x RADEON 9200 graphics card with options for upgrade, a 3.5” HDD, NTSC+FM A/V inputs, card-reader, 10/100Mb/s Ethernet and other options. The system is powered by Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz chips with i865-series core-logic.

FIC's Consumer Electronics PC. Please click to enlarge.

Entertainment PC produced by FIC is a successor of ASUS’ DiGiMatrix and Gigabyte HA – personal computers designed to serve as digital video recorders, players and so on, matching the design of typical home appliances, such as VCRs. The FIC’s Entertainment PC will feature integrated DVD, radio and mp3 players, TV-tuner, upgradeable PCI Express x16 graphics card, card-reader, WLAN, high-definition 7.1 audio and other important capabilities. The computer will be based on Intel Pentium 4 “Prescott” processors in LGA775 packaging as well as Intel’s i915-series core-logic.

 
FIC's two versions of Entertainment PCs. Please click to enlarge.

Condor – “a gamer’s best friend”, the company calls it – is a light and compact i865G-based machine with Intel Pentium 4 or Celeron chip inside and plethora of upgradeability options, including memory, graphics and audio cards.

 
FIC's Condor. Please click to enlarge.

IBIS is an all-in-one PC that is designed for customers who have certain space constraints. With LCD screen only measuring 12.1” and powered by VIA KN266 chipset with integrated graphics , AMD Athlon XP-M processors 1400+ - 2400+, PC2100 memory, conventional 3.5” HDD and 10/100Mb/s Ethernet, the FIC IBIS is one of the most optimal solutions for SOHO clients who want to have the smallest PC possible.

 
FIC's IBIS. Please click to enlarge.

Fish Hawk is a yet another ultra-small form-factor system with Intel Pentium 4, i865GV core-logic, DVD-ROM and WLAN controller inside.

FIC's Fish Hawk Please click to enlarge.

Wide availability of digital contents and digital copies all over the Internet, including services like iTunes and peer-to-peer networks like eMule continue drive the momentum of systems capable of playing appropriate content. Hardware makers understand the trend very well, which is why there are loads of barebones that were designed to fit into the living room all over the CeBIT 2004 show earlier this year.

Typical cube-like SFF computers do not match hi-fi equipment mounted in living rooms. To address this issue, system manufacturers have to make PCs in the same form-factors as digital equipment, but so far there are very few computers that answer this requirement. Basically speaking, there are ASUS DigiMatrix II, ASUS M6000NE (well, this is a notebook, but it still matches the living-room), Gigabyte HA – a totally new kind of system from Gigabyte Technology, as well as full range of systems from Fist International Computer.