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Last week, I had written about my Home Theater Setup and this is a continuation of that post.

6. Dell Inspiron Slim 537ST HTPC Contd…
On Black Friday, last month, I got lucky with a Bing promo that was advertising 25pc cashback on all Dell Home Office stuff and managed to pick up an Inspiron 537ST for about $350.

The specs are as follows

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 (2.33GHz, 4MB)
- 4GB DDR2 SDRAM,800MHZ- 2X2GB DIMM
- ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB
- 640GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200RPM
- 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
- Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio

Not bad for the price paid huh? In fact, a quad core might be a little bit of an overkill for most media today but you never know what will be here in the next few years.

Here are a few pointers about the Inspiron that I think I should share with you. I had a hard time getting info on these things before I bought the machine.
- The form-factor of the Slim is about the same as an XBOX-360, a tad wider maybe but overall, fits really well in the entertainment center. The piano black is about the same finish as the PS3 and is highly recommended if the rest of your setup is in black. Check out this video to get an idea about the size.
- The ATI Radeon HD 4350 that this Dell ships with has an HDMI out and it can do 7.1 Audio via LPCM. Here is a great article that explains in detail LPCM Audio via HDMI.
- If you’re thinking a quad-core box would be too noisy for the living room, well you’re in for some great news; the thing is extremely quiet, way quieter than your PS3!
- Is it beefy enough? Can it do 1080p? Well, with a quad core, it could do 2160p if it had its way! Jokes aside, almost all of your media needs will be taken care of; including even video editing and some excellent HD video streaming over the network.

Price paid: $350

That is my Home theater setup for now. I still have a few things on my list to complete the setup:
- Harmony One Universal Remote
- A wireless keyboard with a trackball (Looking at the Dinovo Mini or the IOGear Mini Wireless Keyboard).
- A NAS to put all my media in a single place and RAID it preferably.

All in all, the entire setup has cost me around $3500 (excluding the camcorder) and I should say I’m really pleased with the performance. Not to forget, 1080p with 7.1 surround with 24p all the way.

Happy Holidays and have a great new year!