Mini PC's

[SkinnyPupp]

As someone who has been building PC's since the 386 days, and having it as my career for over a decade, it was pretty interesting to see how things have changed for me since quitting hardware reviews a while ago.

My wife's PC, used only really as an HTPC in our bedroom, which I built in 2006 died on us the other day. Probably the motherboard, but maybe the CPU (or a component on it).

Normally I'd put together some parts and build a new one. Maybe go mini ITX this time, research the most economic low power CPU's, and put it together.

This time I just went and bought this for under $180



Intel X5-Z8300 (Quad core Atom)
4GB RAM
32GB eMMC

Built in ac wifi, bluetooth, DisplayPort, HDMI, 4 USB ports, analog audio in/out, and ethernet, microSD

Runs at 5-6W under full load, so it's fanless

Oh and it comes with Windows 10 and no preinstalled bloatware

Pretty crazy how things have changed... Obviously this won't be a powerful system, but should be fine for watching media and streaming Steam games from my main PC. Anything my wife needs it for, it will be totally capable of doing.

Anyone else getting into mini PC's for things like this? I'm curious what the experience has been like for you. I saw this coming a long time ago which is why I quit reviews. Even though I knew this was coming, I never thought I'd be into it myself

[bcrdukes]

So far so good? Have low expectations. I only use it to browse Revscene.

[asian_XL]

Used to build a lot of HTPC / mini pc until the android set top boxes came out few years ago, my last attempt was Intel Compute Stick for the living room TV, it didn't work that well with Atom and 32gb emmc.

Me and my wife are using Samsung S8 now, so I added a Dex dock in the bedroom and mounted a HKD500 cheapo Chinese LED projector to the ceiling, it was simple and pretty, which can watch pretty much everything we want.

[underscore]

For the vast majority of users that's all they'd ever need unless they're running modern games. My HTPC/storage whore is a hodge podge of ancient parts and has no problem putting out 1080p60 video or sharing stuff to everything else in the house so I'm guessing this could do everything you need no problem.

[twitchyzero]

the average person will be fine with set-top boxes or the smart features built-in on the TV

the geek will still see it as an opportunity to build a mITX or to relegate their older parts into a smaller form factor than to go for these intel/android sticks

I see the PC building scene as hot as ever even with stupid prices...look at the proliferation of all the reviewers and streamers

as much as Netflix and more PC-like consoles are the dominant players, the established market of custom desktops aren't going away anytime soon.

[freakshow]

my HTPC is dying.. could use an upgrade/replacement to a mini PC.
@Skinny, i'm assuming you did the research and the one you got is the best? Do you have a link?
Also, are there any other mini pc brands that I should consider?

[!LittleDragon]

Can it do 4k x265 10bit? I've been using old laptops for my htpc to run Kodi and they've not been fast enough to do 4k.

[SkinnyPupp]

They say it can do 4K x264 (since the GPU decodes it). Not sure about x265, but I never get those anyway since they always look like shit

[Hondaracer]

kind of sad that it seems that your standard desktop PC's are slowly dieing

i dont have any use for this product currently as my smart TV works well enough and then casting from my main PC to TV works great, but i could see it be useful down the road

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

kind of sad that it seems that your standard desktop PC's are slowly dieing

i dont have any use for this product currently as my smart TV works well enough and then casting from my main PC to TV works great, but i could see it be useful down the road

It's totally the opposite. PC's have made a big comeback. Gone are the days people thought an Ipad and smartphone would replace the PC.

YouTube

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Gone are the days people thought an Ipad and smartphone would replace the PC.

Oh god.

I remember a few years ago people bringing their Ipads to the company meetings (my boss and his boss included) and tapping away the whole time.

That's now stopped completely. Everyone's back to pen and paper.

The company bought me an Ipad, I don't know why, they bought into some hype that it was the way of the future. About all it's useful to me is for watching TV or looking up recipes in my kitchen, of course it can't even do both of those things at the same time.

[Razor Ramon HG]

iPads work if all you're planning to use it for is basic word processing (w/ the purchase of a keyboard). But I wouldn't use it for that purpose unless I already had one lying around and didn't have a laptop.

For everything else, even a basic Chromebook is miles better.

[underscore]

For someone who just browses the web a tablet might be fine, but to me a phone/tablet is a shittier version of a laptop, and a laptop is a shittier version of a desktop. Which is partly why I have a crappy old phone, if at all possible I'll just go use my desktops.

[!MiKrofT]

I have 3x Intel NUC at home. I also have a couple of minix ones but they’re just sitting unused for now.

1x esxi server, i5, 32gb ram, 1.5tb ssd
1x hyperv server, i3, 16gb ram 500gb ssd

My main machine Intel SkullCanyon. i7 quad core, 16gb ram, 750gb ssd

I love how these things run super stable and take up 0 space.

[Ferra]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

As someone who has been building PC's since the 386 days, and having it as my career for over a decade, it was pretty interesting to see how things have changed for me since quitting hardware reviews a while ago.

This time I just went and bought this for under $180



Intel X5-Z8300 (Quad core Atom)
4GB RAM
32GB eMMC

Built in ac wifi, bluetooth, DisplayPort, HDMI, 4 USB ports, analog audio in/out, and ethernet, microSD

Runs at 5-6W under full load, so it's fanless

Oh and it comes with Windows 10 and no preinstalled bloatware

Pretty crazy how things have changed... Obviously this won't be a powerful system, but should be fine for watching media and streaming Steam games from my main PC. Anything my wife needs it for, it will be totally capable of doing.

Anyone else getting into mini PC's for things like this? I'm curious what the experience has been like for you. I saw this coming a long time ago which is why I quit reviews. Even though I knew this was coming, I never thought I'd be into it myself

Does it feel snappy when doing light duty tasks like browsing webpage?

I remember wanting to get something like this few years ago. But heard they are pretty slow and sluggish even just for browsing webpage / navigating in windows
I wanted to mount/tape it to the back of the TV so you can't even see it. And use it as a download station for torrents & movies, browsing web, etc.

But review about it feeling sluggish turned me off.
I guess now they are much better than before?

[way2quik]

Been using this for 3 years since my tower died.
VivoPC-VM40B2
Celeron 1007U Dual-Core.
Upgraded to 8GB ram.
500GB HDD.

It was a huge downgrade at first. Firefox and Chrome would take 2-4 seconds to load, Excel takes 7-10 seconds to load.
Transferring a huge file from one source to another takes up 100% CPU usage, which makes watching YouTube videos and other tasks lag.

I'm still using it and I love it.
Dual monitor set up, 3x ext HDD plugged in, Firefox and Chrome opened for each monitor, and it's not sluggish. I torrent, stream, browse, play mp3s all at once. Totally usable.

Built-in speakers, WiFi, Bluetooth, memory card slot... etc.
The only downside to these mini pc is a lack of USB ports. 4 is not enough.

[Ferra]

Originally Posted by way2quik

It was a huge downgrade at first.
Firefox and Chrome would take 2-4 seconds to load, Excel takes 7-10 seconds to load.
Transferring a huge file from one source to another takes up 100% CPU usage, which makes watching YouTube videos and other tasks lag.

Firefox and Chrome opened for each monitor, and it's not sluggish. I torrent, stream, browse, play mp3s all at once. Totally usable.

That sounds pretty sluggish tho

[vitaminG]

anyone have a recommendation or resource for buying/building an HTPC? i think i want to put something together over winter break.

ill mostly use for torrents and streaming, i probably wont game on it at all. would like it to be future proof and hopefully handle 4k video. no set budget but under $300 would be great.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Ferra

Does it feel snappy when doing light duty tasks like browsing webpage?

I remember wanting to get something like this few years ago. But heard they are pretty slow and sluggish even just for browsing webpage / navigating in windows
I wanted to mount/tape it to the back of the TV so you can't even see it. And use it as a download station for torrents & movies, browsing web, etc.

But review about it feeling sluggish turned me off.
I guess now they are much better than before?

I've had it for a couple days... I wouldn't call it snappy, but it's fine for browsing and video watching. For doing things like setting up windows for the first time, installing updates, scanning etc. Anything intensive is really slow. Especially if you're used to multitasking while doing these intensive things in the background. You won't be able to do that.

Browsing is fine, you wouldn't want to work on big spreadsheets, video or photo editing, etc, with it or anything though.

Think of it something like connecting your phone to a monitor and installing full Windows 10 on it. It can do anything you want, but the power just isn't there to do it like a 'real' desktop.

But for basic things most people do at home, it's totally fine. For under $200 how can I complain?

I'll be trying some Steam streaming today. Took over 5 minutes to install it

[JDMDreams]

Where is a good place to pick one of these up? My dad is looking for something to replace his dying net book. And I am trying to convince him he doesn't need to buy a new laptop. Would you guys suggest one of these or a chrome book? He really just surfs the web for weather, wants to stream Asian TV shows

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

Where is a good place to pick one of these up? My dad is looking for something to replace his dying net book. And I am trying to convince him he doesn't need to buy a new laptop. Would you guys suggest one of these or a chrome book? He really just surfs the web for weather, wants to stream Asian TV shows

Chromebooks are junk. Whats his budget?

[asian_XL]

buy the iPad 2017 for your dad? my wife and mom use it to watch Asian TV shows...can check email and play games.

[twitchyzero]

nevermind, I don't know much about loading asian streams

[SkinnyPupp]

In home streaming with Steam works perfect

[JesseBlue]

I have the u1 Android version and is my primary streaming box after upgrading from a boxee