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| Thread ID: 140624 | 2015-11-13 22:44:00 | New Build | EFFIGY (12530) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1411365 | 2015-11-13 22:44:00 | After my success with my first build I want to do it again. This time I want a discrete entertainment box, just for iTunes, Lightbox and YouTube in the lounge. That is all we ever use. The challenge is 'bang-for-buck' and longevity, in a small box. Yes the iPad does the job, but its not always convenient - so I want a dedicated box, and speakers hooked up to the TV which is a five year old 55" LG Plasma. Any advice on where to begin would be much appreciated. Also this has to be simple and easy for my Luddite husband to be able to use. |
EFFIGY (12530) | ||
| 1411366 | 2015-11-13 23:21:00 | The usual problem with size is the smaller the size the bigger the cost. When you say a small box, what do you consider the size (approx).? I know of several People who use items like the Intel NUC Intel NUC Site (www.intel.com), you add components to them, Eg: different Storage Capacity SSD HDD, different amounts of RAM, and as for power - They are small, roughly 110MM square x 50mm Deep. Dont let the small size fool you they can blow or keep up with most desktop PC's they range from i3 -i7's. Some from Ascent www.ascent.co.nz |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 1411367 | 2015-11-13 23:35:00 | You don't need much for what you mention, I have a dual core 2Ghz Celeron powered NUC than can do all of that just fine. You do pay a premium for a mini PC but if you want small and unobtrusive they are hard to beat. Check out the Intel NUC and gigabyte Brix ranges. You just add a hard drive, RAM, and an operating system. I actually have 2 of them, one in the lounge and one in the bedroom. The lounge one is a more powerful i3 and it is a little nicer to use but both do lightbox/Netflix/ Youtube/ media streaming from my NAS perfectly which is what I got them for. If you want to build something larger it's relatively hard to go wrong. Basically any modern PC is likely to do all that with ease. The best way is to decide on a design philosophy first and base your decisions around that. For example, do you want a full featured expandable PC capable of being upgraded to do anything, perhaps play some full screen games on that plasma? then a mATX based system with room for a graphics card and a few drives might be worth considering. Want something small & silent that uses as little power as possible while still performing well? then maybe go for a mini itx system and pick power efficient parts (there are low power CPU options for example). want something that looks like a home theatre component? buy a nice home theatre case first then choose parts to fit it. Want to store a lot of music or media? make sure you have room for a large hdd. Even some NUC's have the option for a mSata or M.2 drive + a laptop 2.5" drive. My lounge NUC has a 120GB M.2 SSd and a 500GB 2.5" WD blue drive hiding in that tiny little box. I do recommend an SSD for whatever option you go for, you don't need to install much software so even a small 60-120Gb drive will do and it just makes the experience that much nicer. If you want a remote control and a full screen multimedia experience it may be worth grabbing windows 7 well you still can as media centre works really well and has been abandoned in windows 10 and is only available as a paid extra on the pro version of 8/8.1. It also makes a pretty decent freeview PVR if you add a tuner card. Personally I just use a cordless mouse and keyboard and standard windows 10 with the scaling turned up a bit to make things easy to read from the arm chair. I just use it like a standard windows PC with a giant screen. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
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