FriendTech Computer has got an absolutely awesome looking modded Xbox for sale: they open it up and pop in a 1.48 GHz Celeron, add S-Video Out, upgrade to Dobly 5.1 surround sound, throw in some extra RAM and do all the other modifications necessary to turn it into an out-of-the-box media machine. It’ll play back MP3, MPEG, DivX, Ogg and all that, and can do quite a bit more since it’s possible to load third party software on it. The only thing missing is a hard-drive, which can be self-installed up to 120 GB. And with just a flick of the switch the whole unit goes back to being an ordinary Xbox capable of playing ordinary games, with the only downside being that it doesn’t work well on Xbox Live. The upgrade costs $479, or you can just buy one for $579. Other kits are available from $70 up if you’re a DIYer.
Hardware Beyond the Hype