Hewlett-Packard chose Macworld over the Consumer Electronic Show to lift the curtain on its latest Windows Home Server-based system, the HP MediaSmart Server ex485/ex487, thanks to the new unit's compatibility with Apple's Time Machine software for backing up Macs as well as PCs. Heck, it'll even work as an iTunes server. The latest MediaSmart Server is available now and comes in two flavors -- the $599 ex485 with 750 GB of hard disk storage on a single SATA drive and the $749 ex487 with 1.5 TB on two drives. The system has two more expansion bays for hot-swappable drives.
Microsoft's Windows Home Server operating system powers the unit, while HP's own MediaSmart software provides a console interface with the OS and Apple's Time Machine. Built on a 2.0GHz Intel Celeron chip, the MediaSmart Server has four USB ports, one eSATA port, a built-in Ethernet port and also supports wireless networking. This Macworld "Best of Show" winner ships in February.
