Scarily good fun: Elonex Lumina

Somebody pinch us! This thing actually works! Yet again the gods have smiled on our hideous faces and granted us a Media Center PC that's fully functional out of the box. We've never had this kind of luck before.

The Elonex Lumina is an LCD television with a Media Center stuck to its back like a barnacle. It's thicker than your standard LCD TV, but it's also more powerful. We switched the slab on and expected it to give us a hearty slap in the face -- after all, every other Media Center has.

Instead of behaving like an idiot, the Lumina booted straight up and was ready to record live television instantly. We're more used to Media Centers behaving like fussy eaters -- refusing this monitor, turning a nose up at that video source. The Lumina was the perfect house guest.

This ease-of-use has a lot to do with its built-in screen: it's shocking how hard it can be to get a PC to play nicely with a monitor, but this monitor's already hardwired to the computer, so we didn't have to kill ourselves to coax the thing into displaying a picture. It's also a svelte enough television -- we wouldn't hesitate to hang it on the wall of a Docklands apartment. Expect a full review soon. -CS

Update: this review is now live here.