Wireless wonders

The wireless keyboard and mouse are very thoughtful additions to the package. The keyboard is compact, unlike a standard 104-key unit, allowing you to pretend that you're evil media terrorist Elliot Carver, from Tomorrow Never Dies. Since the communication to the main unit is conducted via infrared, you need to maintain a line of sight between the controller and the system.

A RF system would have been a bit nicer in this regard, as the IR system is a bit more position-sensitive than most TV/VCR remotes. The remote functions as a both mouse and a DVD remote. The most intriguing button on the remote is the tv/pc button and the power button. The TV/PC button switches between the TV-out of the ATI versus that of the Realmagic decoder.

Unfortunately, if you lose your remote control, you're in for a minor hassle. The only way to change from PC to TV mode from the keyboard is with a key combination: "Ctrl-Alt-Backspace." It's not the easiest of hotkeys to use, but once you know it, using the keyboard solo becomes much more appealing. The power button was kinda cool as it allowed you to shut down you system remotely, embarrassingly the system did not utilize an ATX power supply and required you to physically turn the system off.

There were some compatibility issues with the remote control as buttons can be mapped to two different key templates (i.e. arrow keys v. number pad) however switching between modes was very troublesome and confusing.