Upgrade concerns aside, the HPE-390t will make a formidable complement to any demanding user's workspace, owing to its strong general performance. But HP has also outfitted the machine with a full array of media-centric connectors, making the midsize-tower system a suitable living-room PC.

On the front you'll find a multiformat card reader, plus a pair of USB ports. The PC also has a dock for HP's Pocket Media Drive. Hidden behind a panel are a third USB port, a FireWire port, composite and S-Video ports, and the microphone and headphone jacks.

The rear of the unit provides four USB ports (for a total of seven), another FireWire port, a pair of eSATA ports, and optical and analog audio inputs. The ATI Radeon 5770 GPU has a pair of DVI ports, an HDMI port, and a DisplayPort connector. You also get an infrared input port for the included remote control, and a pair of infrared output ports.

Rounding out the media functionality are composite ports, a coaxial antenna connector, and an S-Video port, courtesy of a TV-tuner card. Present as well is the requisite gigabit ethernet port, along with 802.11n Wi-Fi--a curious but welcome addition, if you're averse to cable clutter.

Media-center PCs are generally small; quiet, compact PCs and space-saving fit the bill, and won't intrude upon your preferred viewing space. The HPE-390t's midsize-tower chassis seems a bit bulky by comparison, but it puts its horsepower to good use.