Window Media Center: Great for your family room, bad for your desk.

I have a Windows Media Center PC hooked up to my entertainment center at home. Despite a few minor bugs, it works great! It's kept in my family room for the following reasons:

• Recording TV & Movies
• Organizing Music Libraries
• Organizing & Viewing Pictures on TV
• Organizing & Viewing Home Videos on TV

These are great features to have in the family room. However, Windows Media Center is not a good operating system for an everyday computer. Lately, I've noticed a lot of PC makers using it in place of Windows XP Home edition. We've found this to be a bad idea. Most computers with Windows Media Center are slower, less stable and just seem to have more problems. This is Microsoft's first attempt at a media driven PC, and it seems like they've missed the mark (think Windows ME). So, buying a Windows Media Center PC is a good idea, but only if you use it for media driven tasks (such as those listed above). Otherwise, I recommend sticking with Windows XP Home or Professional edition.