Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

According to EngadgetHD, HP is planning on releasing the m8010y and d4890y systems with Digital Cable Tuners as an option. The m8010y series will start at $929.99 and the d4890y series will begin at $949.99. The systems will also include Nvidia GEforce 8800 video cards and possible a next generation DVD combo drive (for an additional $800). Apparently, these new systems will be available for purchase after May 9th. PCmag also had more details on the release:

Judy Chan, HP’s Consumer Desktop Product Manager, said that component pricing will be available on Wednesday, via hpshopping.com when customers will be able to configure both of the chassis series. She added that all the new options will be available for the m8010y series, but that the d4890y series will be limited to the Intel Quad-core processor and Nvidia GeForce 8800 graphics card. It is expected that the optical drive will cost between $800-1200, falling into a comparable price range to LG’s standalone BH100, although that was not confirmed on Monday by HP.

This is great news in light of the recent stories of HP abandoning the media center market. I thought the decision was an odd one for HP and I opined at the time that you would still be able to buy DCTs through HP, who had always been in aleader in the media center market. Hopefully DCTs will become ubiquitous in the computer world with every manufacturer offering them.