HP has announced the latest member to join its Windows Home Server device lineup, the MediaSmart LX195. The new system is in some ways the successor to its EX485 and EX487 siblings introduced more than a year ago, and refreshed back in December, but the LX195 differentiates itself with a scaled-down form factor, more modest specs and a cheaper price tag.


For starters, the new MediaSmart Server drops the existing AMD Sempron and Intel Celeron processors in favor of a 1.6GHz Atom. This means it will use less energy than previous models while purportedly offering more than sufficient processing power for streaming most media types – though the Atom is not particularly known for its HD video playback capabilities so this will depend on the unspecified accompanying chipset. It also packs 1GB of RAM, 4 USB ports and 640GB of storage on a single hard disk at a cost of $400.

On the functionality front, it continues to serve as home network storage solution, it includes hooks for streaming media and offers support for web based photo sharing services like Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa.