Maybe the best mini-system around, but...
931958
...believe it or not, my displays on the RX-E810 reciever and the DVD-E810 media player do not perfectly match. Though were are not talking about the difference between, for example, red and blue LCD displays; my RX-E810 reciever display is noticeably blue-hued, while the DVD-E810 media player is noticeably green-hued. That said, the exteriors of the two components are identical, and the sound of this system is so good (especially with the addition of the subwoofer) that it will bring tears to your eyes. Oh, and for a perfect match on the subwoofer, make sure you get the one with the "piano finish;" it best compliments the mini-system speakers.
2218719
Amazing system, best system I have ever owned

Pros
-plenty of power for gaming and whatever else you might do
-battery life is surprisingly good
-lots of ports
-lightweight
-style
-backlit keyboard

Cons
-Preinstalled bloatware

Regarding the "hot keyboard problem", heat is shifted away from the wasd keys and number pad (gaming key areas) and is concentrated in the middle which is not touched when you are gaming. So you do not feel the heat from the system while playing games.
739258
Met expectation,  doesn't meet specs, smaller than pictang system
3273152
If you're into minidiscs, this unit is the `final word' ...
3972163
I've had this system for about 3 months now.  The sound is pretty awesome. i live in a two story apartment and can rattle the windows in the upstairs rooms when cranked up.  i'm sure the neighbors love that.  but anyway the "night" mode works pretty good at filtering out certain frequencys without sacrificing performance.  so whatever it sounds awesome and all, but i'm sure what people really want to know about is the negative things.  here's the couple of things i've come across:

1.  kinda personal opinion, but i think it sucks that there's no light on the remote.

2.  in order to play your tv and playstation, xbox, etc through the surround sound system, they need to go into the receiver as inputs.  every now and then the receiver freaks out, and when you go to select an input it says that it cannot "read the disk".  the only solution that i have found is to do a complete system factory restore.  which is really annoying because that requires you re-setting the speaker levels and distances and also entering in all your username and passwords to netflix and everything.  i keep a picture of all my speaker settings on my phone to make this go faster. this has happened to me 3 times....so it's averaging about once a month.  VERY annoying if you have company over and you're trying to watch a movie because it's like a 20 minute thing.

3.  if you pause a movie or leave the system idle for some time (like say to go have a smoke outside), sometimes when you come back the receiver has turned itself off.  when you turn it back on there are times that the sound will not work at all.  it's like it freaks out if it powers down from idle time.  the solution is to turn it off and on once again.  easy fix, but annoying.

4.  if i were you i would look up the dimensions of the receiver and double check that it will be able to fit in whatever space you are trying to put it in.  it is kinda long.  i bought it hoping to put it on one of the shelves in my tv stand, and come to find out it was unable to fit.  so now i have to get a new tv stand.  awesome.

in general i like this surround sound system and am happy with my purchase.  i originally gave it 4 stars, but after writing the review i was aggravated with it so i bumped it down to 3 lol.  the sound it produces is really good.  i'm really happy with the bass levels (and i only have it set on 3..i think it goes up to 10).  if the receiver didn't have the tendency to act crazy sometimes i'd easily give this a 5 star rating.  there are a TON of things to watch that come with it.  kinda like netflix, but dealing with workout routines, cooking shows, traveling, etc.  really neat.  i'll also mention that you are able to plug in an external hard drive to the usb port in the front of the receiver to watch movies or shows you have stored.  this really came in handy when i realized that the ps4 is unable to do this.
1726337
Im inpressed with such a little device that can do so much in a small space. Im very happy to own one. Although sometimes slow,I have to remember its not a pc,even when some of us try to make one for that purpose. So heads up you have been warned.
1154521
I LOVE IT! The sound on this system is incredible and, with its compact  size (receiver and DVD/CD player in one), it doesn't take up much space.
My only complaint is that the directions for installation aren't that  great - so, if you are not adept at this kind of thing, make sure you have  someone around that is!
1041293
Overall this is a very nice system, extremely well made and sounds excellent - especially given the small size of the speakers.

The one disappointing problem is that Focal Bird don't seem able to provide the 4 digit IR code so you can program your other remotes - probably important if your planning to use this with your TV.

As far as integrating this with a TV ......The digital TOSLINK output - at least on my Samsung LED TV is set to a fixed level, regardless of how you adjust the TV volume - so to adjust the volume you have to use the Focal Bird remote which is small with tiny volume buttons (the same size tiny size as all the other tiny buttons on the remote)

The work around is to take the RCA (analog) audio from the Cable box, set the Cable box so those outputs are variable (with the right menu settings), that works, but if you go to another source on your TV - Blue Ray Xbox etc, you have the wrong audio and need to go back to the Digital In.

Its pretty frustrating, I was hoping to have a family friendly setup, without having to use different remotes and / or the extra complication of a receiver - its just not quite there.  I have contacted focal bird - they don't seem to understand the problem or be able to offer up the code.

I haven't tried the separate Ipod transmitter, I just use an airport on the other analog input.
3359717
I also own one of the older edition Core 2 Duo Mac Mini's, which I was not terribly impressed with.

Apple has done more to hit the mark this time. The HDMI & Mini Displayport options were better considered than the old DVI port. USB 2.0, Firewire 800. Excellent. I'm putting the built-in Bluetooth to good use with Apple's wireless keyboard and magic mouse.

If you're just checking email and web surfing, you're going to be more than happy with this machine. If you're doing something more intensive (photography being my vice) you'll be happy to find that it is cheap & easy to upgrade the memory on this system to as much as 8GB.

The hard disk on this model is not as slow as what I had on my older Mac Mini. The slow hard disk on the older model was part of the reason I hesitated to purchase this model. No so anymore. It's not going to set any speed records, but this system is VERY usable compared to its predecessors.

The SD card slot on the back seems like an afterthought. I'd rather Apple save some money and not include it in the next generation. It's too hard to get at back there. It's easier for me to just plug in a USB cable and attach it to my camera or to an external reader.

Why did I give it only 4 stars and not 5?
* It's stuck on the old Core 2 Duo platform. Offering the Mac Mini at this price point with a Core i5 processor would be awesome. I would have paid a little more to get an i7 processor.
* Apple's phobia of Blu-Ray Disc support. The built-in superdrive really should have been Blu-Ray.
4089207
It's a great system. I would like to be able to see the words on the screen when searching for songs from the web because they're very small on a phone or iPad. Other than that, it's a great little system and quick and easy to transport.
3608351
I briefly owned this PC, but had to return it due to the budget I have to survive on. It is an older model, but despite some limitations for super high end gaming and the like, this was quite the little gem of a PC. If I got an external Firewire hard drive, it'd be as practically good as a built in one and won't necessarily fry when the PC does, in an ideal scenario I guess.
2511800
Excellent mini PC! Super fast; super small! Runs a bit hot, so I also bought a mini fan:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DLTM4R4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They work great together... and super quiet too!
3115110
This console rocks, its everything i've ever wanted a portable console to be but... no one is buying these things. It has legendary hardware and for the most part all of the games have been great. There just needs to be more of them.

If you buy a vita you won't regret it though, it offers the ultimate portable gaming experience.

My cellphone might be nearly as powerful, but it doesn't have buttons. And i need buttons.
3190470
...as is, Windows 8 is enough to drive one to suicide and I had to add software to get a conventional win7 type of desktop...but after that the system worked great -- the best experience I've had straight from the box...boots almost instantly from a cold start...loads programs, videos, etc almost instantly -- actually outperforms my other "high end" gaming system in all the basic functions...I didn't look inside so "tweakers" may want to investigate further about the ability to add boards and such...
4276805
I have very mixed feelings about this machine. While it gave me no end of grief getting it set up, I would actually recommend it if the price dropped to around, say $100, as nearly 12 months later there still isn't much to choose from among the barebones machines with 5th-generation processors.

Firstly the good: This was shipped in no time at all, maybe three days, might have been two. It came with a mini-screwdriver which is a very nice touch and a sheet of clear instructions so adding the memory and storage was no trouble at all.

Now I wanted to install Linux and then run it 'headless' (no monitor, keyboard, mouse) and this is where the trouble started.

With the monitor, keyboard and mouse it was easy to install Ubuntu from an SD card I prepared using the tools from Pen Drive Linux (but note *all* the USB ports are taken at this point). I thought everything was going smoothly, but then the troubles start ... before you're even ten minutes into applying the updates the wireless will give up. For me that means pressing the off button and starting up again. In order to get anything downloaded you're going to have to find a USB wireless adapter - I plugged in a six-year-old DLink adapter and everything went without hassle. Then unplugging the DLink adapter and doing some light browsing - bam! the wireless is dead again. Restart, plug DLink in, upgrade from 3.13 kernel to 3.16 ... now looking good, can browse the Internet okay ... for maybe thirty minutes this time and ... wireless is dead again. Long story short: Finally I have to add a line in a config file to stop the adapter (Realtek rtl8723be) from sleeping. After that the wireless works, at fairly slow speeds ... and you can just forget bluetooth.

So the Brix is still not running headless. There were more surprises - would you believe the machine wouldn't start up if all the USB ports are empty?! I tried various combinations - adding *anything* - even a USB card reader with no card in it - would solve the problem. I investigated for hours until I found that this problem only existed when the HDMI cable was plugged in - arghh! So now I unplug everything, carry it over to the living room, plug in the speakers, attach the 2TB hard disk with the music on it, install Clementine ... wow it's all working! Controlling my music collection from my phone!

So for $135 plus $110 for 4GB RAM and 128GB storage I have a headless server with a decent processor, pathetic wifi, no bluetooth, an ethernet port, audio out ... but no SD card slot and *only* one USB3 port and two USB2 ports. Just one more USB3 port would have been a huge improvement. And, get this ... the USB ports are upside down! Now depending where you're coming from you might think this is no big deal - but I only have one other device, an Anker portable charger, that has this retarded arrangement. I don't know what Gigabyte were thinking.

Back to the positives: The case appears well built, if a little large - it's quite tall. And one very important thing, it requires no fan and it never gets hot, contrary to experiences in some reviews I've read. One final criticism: the power adapter is quite huge - it's a wall-wart type and a *lot* larger than the one for my 14 inch laptop.

Finally I'm very happy to have this running, serving files, music, etc. It was a struggle.
3765225
I have to say i'm slightly disappointed by the mini, i struggled to find any benefits to use the scaling or deinterlacing on 1080i broadcast's compared to my 4k Samsung TV which does a noticeably better job on both fronts, where I do feel it has potential is with good quality 1080p content (via my HTPC), the ability to bring out extra detail in a picture without making it look overly sharp is a welcome addition to my set up. One quirk of the mini which is concerning me is that no matter where in the chain i plug the mini in on my system it is upsetting my the handshake between my TV and Receiver, My Samsung just randomly starts 'talking' to the iscan mini instead of my Yamaha RX-V673 leaving me unable to get Audio out of the Blu-ray player (which isn't plugged into the mini, my Pioneer BDP-LX58 does all the scaling and detail enhancement that the mini can do better), usually i unplug the mini and rescan Anynet for the set to find the receiver but just yesterday i had to unplug all my cables do a factory reset on the receiver and reconnect all the cables omitting the mini from the chain to get it working again, then i re-plug in the mini and in a couple of days it will of identified itself as an audio control device to the TV and i will have to start again. I can't find any setting in the mini menus to stop it identifying itself it as an audio device which is really frustrating.
1762468
great device with only one issue and it's an annoying one. I had no charging cable included with it, apparently that's normal, and it's been a nightmare trying to purchase one. haven't succeeded yet. it's a MINI input, it's so tiny every single thing I try is too big.
I've even written to the manufacturer and they never replied. if anyone who reads this can help me out that would be awesome. the sun is a great power source but I'd like to have a plan B if need be ......