Intel Nuc is a great Media Center Computer

Intel NUC Kit D34010WYK The Ultimate Media Center Device

Specifications:

• i3 Haswell Processor
• Intel HD 4400 GPU
• Micro HDMI
• 15W peak power usage

 What is required to get it working:

• TV or Monitor with HDMI
•  Laptop Ram
• Mini PCI express slot for a SSD based storage 

Total Cost:

• NUC - $300
• Ram 4GB - $60
• 256GB Corsair SSD - $150
• Total:
• ~$550 + TV/Monitor

Essentially the processor is an Ultrabook processor in a different form factor. So you get the performance of an Ultrabook, but for much much cheaper.

The Intel 4400 HD GPU is capable of playing most games on low-medium settings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysDgUdQLvUk



So after setting up Netflix, ftp server, VLC media player, windows file sharing, snes/n64 emulator. You get a complete media center that is capable of playing movies, games, music off of a local network, while also being capable of playing most games on low-medium settings.

One big bonus for using such a power efficient device is that the peak power usage is 15W and standby is around 2-5W, so your electric bill will not go up by much -- even if you keep the device on all of the time.