Digital Home Thoughts: HP Makes Sure You Got Served

"It hasn't all been teddy bears and fluffy bunnies. HP's focus on simplifying the MediaSmart Server has left enthusiasts, like me and others who read in-depth reviews of Home Servers, wanting more power, flexibility, and control over features like the Video Converter and Media Collector... without resorting to registry edits and other complex hacks. Is it even possible to give power users the features they want without overwhelming the everyday user?"

It seems it was just the other day that I was talking about the release of the HP MediaSmart EX-485 and EX-487 servers and here HP has pulled a trick from the video card industry and announced the EX-490 and EX-495 less than a year after the release of their previous generation. Maybe sales are disappointing and they feel they have to "upgrade" things to get more attention. At least the upgrades seem substantial for the premium server. HP has changed up their hardware for the MediaSmart servers with every generation, and now they're creeping into dual-core territory. It would not surprise me if in a few months, they announce a quad-core server! Still, the focus of their upgrade, and rightfully so, is the software, which seems to be getting better with every iteration. It is almost enough to consider not doing home-brew. Still on the fence? Check out MediaSmartHome's review, which goes through a lot of detail of what a Windows Home Server can do!