Small PC Recomendations?

[GavinCampbell 18]

I'm looking to replace my bedroom ATV2 with a new media player. 

 

Does anybody have any experience with or can recommend something that meets these requirements?

• can run win7/win8 with xbmc (this is a must)
• small and quiet (will leave on all the time)
• Can handle 720p minimum.  Not looking for a powerhouse.  Its for the bedroom.
• stereo output is fine
• Good built in WiFI (N minimum)
• Built in IR reciever, if none then at least a USB port so I can use FLIRC
• Around the 100$ mark.  Above or below is fine. 
• Doesn't need a lot of storage as very little is stored locally.  Its all pulled from the server.

Hopefully there is something good out there that can do all this.

[schoondoggy 871]

I like HP 8200 USDT when I can find them cheap:

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getDocument.aspx?docname=c04168353

 

2.5" x 10" x 10"

[schoondoggy 871]

$185

i5

4GB

500GB

DisplayPort with audio

I would confirm that it comes with Win7 Pro COA

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Compaq-8200-Elite-USDT-Intel-Core-i5-2500S-2-70GHz-4GB-500GB-GE497-/381138498343?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58bd9ff327

[ikon 439]

I don't know of anything in that price range. Only ones I can think of cost several hundred $.

[schoondoggy 871]

If you need to stay closer to $100, look for a local shop that sells returned business pc's:

Dell, HP, Lenovo:

4" x 13" x 15"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-DC5850-SFF-Desktop-Athlon-Dual-Core-5000B-2-6GHz-2GB-320GB-w-Win-7-/141531612036?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f3f10384

If you need to stay closer to $100, look for a local shop that sells returned business pc's:

Dell, HP, Lenovo:

4" x 13" x 15"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-DC5850-SFF-Desktop-Athlon-Dual-Core-5000B-2-6GHz-2GB-320GB-w-Win-7-/141531612036?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f3f10384

[ikon 439]

Yeah, I would say that used/refurb are the only real options in that price range.

[GavinCampbell 18]

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

Also, just ran across this in another thread.  Looks promissing.  Just nervous about jumping on something so new just for it to let me down. Need to do a bunch of review lookups on it too.

 

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/PIPO-X7-Windows-8-1-Smart-Mini-PC-TV-Box-Media-Player-2G-RAM-32G-ROM-Intel-3736F-2-16GHz-Quad-Core---Black-340056.html

[schoondoggy 871]

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

Also, just ran across this in another thread.  Looks promissing.  Just nervous about jumping on something so new just for it to let me down. Need to do a bunch of review lookups on it too.

 

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/PIPO-X7-Windows-8-1-Smart-Mini-PC-TV-Box-Media-Player-2G-RAM-32G-ROM-Intel-3736F-2-16GHz-Quad-Core---Black-340056.html

They are OK to stream, but limited storage space locally.

[ikon 439]

Interesting little box. If it's only for streaming it might be OK.

[GavinCampbell 18]

They are OK to stream, but limited storage space locally.

 

Ya.  It looks like it may be a nice box.  Storage space isn't big.  As long as it can hold the OS xbmc and a few plugins everything is pulled from my server.  Very little is stored locally.

 

I'm going to dig a bit more into this and see if it will be worth it.