dinos, very sage words.

I beta tested the Blackbird, and I was dying to show the XS forums, but was under NDA. I am a DIY guy, but this rig is probably the best prebuilt. If you consider that this is their first offering, then I think that this is a success.

Also, I tried to push a p35 chipset, but they were trying to limit their SKUs. Additionally I mentioned adding Crucial or TG to the ram list, and we'll see what happens their. This is a huge production as industrial design, marketing, business development, etc are involved. Lots of time and money went into this, and for the prebuilt community, I don't think you find a better machine.

Some of the cooler things are the airflow, and there are precut mobo holes. Additionally there is a sata backplane so no messing with cables on the HDs. It is a tad loud and I pressed for some Yate Loons or SilenX fans, but it wasn't happening.

When the site is up, you will be able to make some considerable configuration changes, and this is the midline model IIRC - if you want to DIY config a cheap model, and mod the out of that thing. The drive trays alone make it worth it. When you see it in person, you'll grow quite fond of it.

I suppose it is easy to criticize mass produced stuff, but at least HP is thinking outside of the box because last time I checked Alienware, FNW, Hypersonic et al are still using platic alien heads, Temjin tj03s, and Lian Li non-modified rebadges for their cases respectively.