It's taken several years, but finally the manufacturers of personal computers have realised that we don't want big, ugly, beige computers in our living rooms. As such, the next generation of digital home and media-centre PCs will look and behave entirely differently to the current behemoth sitting in your study, home office or bedroom. Intel's new initiative is Viiv (rhymes with 'jive'), and should be available early in 2006. Viiv is an all-in-one platform that other manufacturers such as Dell and HP, will then build upon. The Viiv system uses several of Intel's latest gizmos, such as dual-core processors and high-definition audio and will run Microsoft's Windows Media Centre.

Perhaps the best feature of the Viiv, though, is the case. Gone are the big clumsy towers of old. Instead, Intel is proposing we use notebook technology to keep things small, cool and quiet. The prototype designs I've seen are definitely pretty slick, and we can expect a wide range of different shapes and colours when Viiv is released.