Medion's Akoya RIM 2550: 22-inches of all-in-one Media Center

Medion is one of those low-end, consumer electronics manufactures whose products sell in the likes of Aldi, Woolworths, and Toys 'R Us around Europe. Still, they bring some design cred as demonstrated in this Akoya RIM 2550. This unspecified "Dual Core" all-in-oner brings Windows Media Center to that big 22-inch display and features 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a DVD-burner, ExpressCard slot and suite of USB and Firewire jacks, Gigabit Ethernet, an integrated webcam in the bezel, and a dual analog/digital TV-tuner for good PVR'in fun. Yeah, the keyboard is wireless, but if you're a lefty just forget about using the touchpad, unless of course you bat from both sides of the plate. No drop date but expect the 2550 to pull €1,399 / $1,785 sometime before the sun burns itself out.

[Via gadgetzone (in Dutch)]

[Intrepid @ Sep 8th 2006 9:09AM]

Not bad... PC designs are slowly improving. We need them to so we can stop the onslaught of the crApple crApintosh.

[Filip @ Sep 8th 2006 9:23AM]

Windows Media Center... in Europe?

Hah! Using Windows MCE in Europe is craptastic! You have to put up an antenna to use the digital tv "features" of MCE (i.e. DVB-T only) -- if you can even find a tuner that supports MCE.

Linux´ MythTV, now that is _the_ way to go, if not MediaPortal. Heck, even Microsoft(ies) recommends us to use MediaPortal instead of MCE if we want to use DVB-C, DVB-S and/or DVB-S2.

[Dave @ Sep 8th 2006 9:34AM]

Wow, this thing is really decent looking. This seriously blows away the all-in-one offerings from Gateway.

And hey, Intrepid, why in the world do you have to drag Apple into this? To me, it sounds like you're just throwing out some flame bait. Say what you want about Apple, but in the last 6 months their laptop market share has doubled from 6% to 12% so they must not be that crappy! 75% of the dap market and climbing? And you say crapple? You're just jealous that Apple is doing things right and now they are the epitome of style and function and it makes you mad that all other pc's are compared to them.

Yep, Im a mac user and the funny thing is, I would have never mentioned a damn thing about this medion being compared to the iMac (especially the new ever so stylish 24"), but since you had to bring it up...well.... lol

damn flame baiters...

[Hagen @ Sep 8th 2006 9:44AM]

According to the german medion page - https://www.medionshop.de/deshop/catalog/updateItems.do?page=&itemPageSize=5&next=seeItem&itemkey=40909DA5DDF93786E10000000A00004A43F67A76F76063F9E10000000A00004C&order=&display_scenario=products&contractkey=&contractitemkey=&item%5B0%5D.itemID=40909DA5DDF93786E10000000A00004A43F67A76F76063F9E10000000A00004C&item%5B1%5D.itemID=40909DA5DDF93786E10000000A00004A4289A764BAD766C8E10000000A00004C&item%5B2%5D.itemID=40909DA5DDF93786E10000000A00004A443EBCD31DF440FDE10000000A00004C&item%5B3%5D.itemID=40909DA5DDF93786E10000000A00004A444C012583A42203E10000000A00004B&item%5B4%5D.itemID=40909DA5DDF93786E10000000A00004A43778B32633F3AA4E10000000A00005C - it comes with a Core Duo T2300, only has a 17" monitor, but is readily availabe. Or is this the predecessor? Anyhow, the 1399,- already include 16% sales tax.

[z @ Sep 8th 2006 9:58AM]

Nice to see some decent competition to the iMac (even thought I still prefer the iMac). Aren't there any decent furniture or decorative designers that can be hired by computer companies? Or does it mean most computer companies are headed by tasteless businessmen and inapt designers? Or both?

[Semantix @ Sep 8th 2006 11:07AM]

Anyone else think it's funny that the company is called Medion?

Imagine that brainstorming session:
"Ok gentlemen, I'm tired of seeing all these companies that try to make their products sound BETTER than the consumers who buy them, let's go for a name that screams 'We are about the same as everything else'. Any suggestions?"
"Averidge?"
"Soso?"
"Medion?"
"YES! MEDION! I LOVE IT!!"

Next up, their xtreme gaming rig, the Medion Medio-core

[Tom @ Sep 8th 2006 12:03PM]

So, I was on the development team at a certain processor company when we designed that particular style of machine, if you google for Intel Florence, you will see what I mean.

As for being compared to the iMac.. umm if you look at the dates of the Florence design, you will see it predates imac in it's current form.

It's really nice to see a product that came from something I helped bring into reality.

[mikeR @ Sep 8th 2006 1:05PM]

Apparently, Best Buy used to try to pitch Medion as a "high end european manufacturer." Knowing Best Buy, that's probably true. Knowing the experiences of friends (and customers) who had Medion, I would never

ever

ever

ever

purchase one. They are junk PC's.

[glacia00 @ Sep 8th 2006 1:10PM]

Actually I'm surprised people are seeing this as competition for Apple products. Competition wouldn't be doing something similar but doing something different. Which is what most computer makers do.

If you want something that looks like a Mac buy a Mac. Since Apple has a fairly repetitive design theme it's the best place to get that particular design if that's what you like.

If you want an alternative there are hundreds of other designs out there that are very cool and offer what Apple doesn't. That's the competition - not this.

[T @ Sep 8th 2006 1:13PM]

Tom is correct, it is based on the Florence reference design, and developed by Chinese PC maker TCL. The styling was done in the USA though.

[Dave @ Sep 8th 2006 1:48PM]

"Actually I'm surprised people are seeing this as competition for Apple products. Competition wouldn't be doing something similar but doing something different."

uhhh... do you think a Hyundai Azura considers a Ford F-350 competition? those a different.

[glacia00 @ Sep 8th 2006 2:27PM]

I hadn't counted on anyone thinking I meant to compete you have to make something that would serve a completely different purpose. But for your sake dave I'll be more precise. Your 2 examples are a poor analogy since the two vehicles have completely different purposes.

Why for instance don't competitors of the Camry simply build something that looks exactly like the Camry? Because it's been done and people would say "It looks like a Camry".

To compete you have to set yourself apart. Again not by making say a footstool to compete with a computer. But to make something that serves the customer's needs as adequately but has a style that sets your product apart, not inspires them to say "It looks like an Imac.".

[J S @ Sep 8th 2006 3:20PM]

Basically, it looks to me like Appple is allowed to get product ideas and maybe improve/interpret from existing work of others. Yet if anyone else learns from something Apple has done and does their own work on top of it .. everyone claims it's copying of apple .. cheap ..unoriginal etc. Ever thought that maybe they were just the first to come up with a particular "perfect" solution to something?

Multiple points I am raising:

1. If a design is optimal, does it mean that the first person to come up with it should have total monopoly on it forever? For example .. if I ask you how much is 32317 times 372183 .. if somebody tells me the answer first .. it doesnt mean that if someone else tells me the same answer later that he has copied it. It could just mean it took them longer to come up with it.

2. Apple's products (the concept of a computer, the concept of a GUI, the concept of a keyboard, the concept of operating system) are all based on research and the work of many many others before. Heck, even the ipod looks like it has design ideas (rectangle shape and wheel interface) the world's first transistor radio made back in the fifties. There were other (uglier) hard drive based portable mp3 players before ipod. Just because Apple come up with an advance, doesnt mean other people in the world shouldnt be allowed to learn from it and improve on it.

Anyway, just had to say this. Yes, Apple came up with new and awesome design concepts and user interface ideas. Given more time, would someone else have come up with similar ideas? Maybe. Is it ok if others learn from it? Yes.

[glacia00 @ Sep 8th 2006 4:32PM]

Good call JS, Apple was actually first at very few things and yet has managed to sculpt perception so that people actually believe they do everything first. In that I give them credit for their marketing prowess but first - not very often. Many of their firsts were only firsts for them and not the computer industry in general.

As you point out the computer GUI had a long history before Apple with Xerox PARC & SRI. Even the OS (BSD) underlying OSX had other GUIs on top of it before Apple did it. They were far from first with the DAP and the Mini form factor computer was around long before the Mac Mini. Dualbooting had a long history before bootcamp. And of course there are the philosophical uturns like Intel processors & the 2button mouse they've spun into being "this is the time to do it." instead of we were wrong.

They've cultivated a belief that they have great inovative style in their computer hardware that everyone desperately craves in spite of having 2% marketshare.

Someone is no doubt going to get angry at this but you really can't dispute the facts of it. I'm actually not bashing Apple at all. They have great marketing.

[Jamie @ Sep 8th 2006 5:05PM]

Please don't buy Medion computers - i've worked on them a few times when repairing PCs and they use the cheapest components humanly possible.

Best Buy called them High-End? Sorry? They're cheapos, only undercut by the likes of Time and Packard Bell. If you're looking for european high end, try Evesham.

[DrThaddeusVenture @ Sep 8th 2006 5:27PM]

jamie, which components used in them are cheap? Just curious.

[hobgoblin @ Sep 8th 2006 6:23PM]

a bit on the expensive side i think (alltho its a 22" screen). i wounder how upgradeable it is tho. and does the keyboard come with a usb port, so that i can hook a proper mouse into it rather then that pad? still, the placement of said bad looks like it allows for tumb input. but the main issue i have with pads is that they require two hand work for anything remotely like drag and drop...

[RolandG @ Sep 9th 2006 4:54AM]

The medion site states that the Akoya features a 17" display (like the iMac), just 512 MB of RAM, a slower last-gen CPU and a notebook HDD with less capacity than the new 17"-iMac but is - fasten your seatbelts - 230 Euros more expensive.

Funny, how things change... Medion is (well, was) the #1 budget PC maker in Germany.

[Jamie @ Sep 9th 2006 10:48AM]

^^^
Things i've seen go wrong the most are the hard disks and in a couple of cases the RAM decided that it wanted nothing more to do with the motherboard after roughly a year.

Medion make great slimline DVD players =P, but they just haven't got computers right.

[keith waddington @ Sep 9th 2006 10:50PM]

I love people who bash apple and go on and on about xerox even though they never saw the interface that they claim apple copied. It didn't even have menus! So yeah, apple copied it like Ford copied the inventor of the wheel! haha

Any way, keep up the good work cos it gives me a laugh.

And enjoy your windows.

waddo
http://www.waddo.net/

[glacia00 @ Sep 10th 2006 9:42PM]

Kieth, how is pointing out historical facts bashing Apple? I know Steve Jobs enjoys insulting Xerox PARC even though they handed him his success but it's still a fact that everything at Apple was command-line until then.


You must be a youngster...

[Alex @ Sep 11th 2006 12:03PM]

I find a curious resemblance to this earlier Engadget posting. Am I the only one? Hmmm...

http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/05/alienware-area-51-5400-all-in-one-pc/

[kevin @ Sep 11th 2006 2:16PM]

The production industrial design was done by innodesign in palo alto CA.
www.innodesign.com

[DrThaddeusVenture @ Sep 11th 2006 2:47PM]

"So yeah, apple copied it like Ford copied the inventor of the wheel! haha"

Another successful student of history 2.0. Geez kid go read a book ok. Apple didn't just copy it kid they were handed it. And yeah, it would be like Ford was making cars without wheels until somebaody showed him one with wheels.

Kieth, it's better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. But you did give me a good laugh when you did.

[Erv @ Sep 13th 2006 4:35PM]

Intrepid r0xoRZzzz.

[Erv @ Sep 13th 2006 4:35PM]

hahaaa x2. L0Lzeerrr!!! hE comBinded dA WorDiEs 'crap' & 'apple'. sO cOoL. So oRiGinALLLLL!!!!! OMGGGGG

[John Griffiths @ Sep 30th 2006 10:52AM]

Dear Sir / Madam. Will you please be so kind and tell me where I can obtain an instruction booklet for a Medion Jukebox MD81034. I am aware that this is not the subject I should be commenting on but I have no other address to send my query too. Will you please pass this message on to the correct department. Kind regards. John Griffiths. 9 Pleasant Terrace. Clydach Vale. Rhondda. Mid Glam. South Wales. UK. CF40 2DS.