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choosing a mini pc

rl249
By rl249
in New Builds and Planning
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Posted

Hey guys, 

 

So lately I've had an urge to buy a mini pc, I had my eye on the intel compute stick for a while but between then the 1 to two month waiting period to buy and the fact I've heard a few bad things about it I'm starting to go off the idea. 

I'm basically looking for something to go into my bedroom tv so I can brows the web, watch youtube videos, do some emailing and other light use... I heard the minix neo Z64 is pretty good, but I'm generally wary on pc reviews and recommendations that I don't read from this website  :P

 

So I'm looking for something around 150 usd, small, able to watch full Hd videos.

 

Any suggestions?

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my review on the MSI Windbox DC111 will be up soon, might help I dunno :D

Desktop - Corsair 300r i7 4770k H100i MSI 780ti 16GB Vengeance Pro 2400mhz Crucial MX100 512gb Samsung Evo 250gb 2 TB WD Green, AOC Q2770PQU 1440p 27" monitor Laptop Clevo W110er - 11.6" 768p, i5 3230m, 650m GT 2gb, OCZ vertex 4 256gb,  4gb ram, Server: Fractal Define Mini, MSI Z78-G43, Intel G3220, 8GB Corsair Vengeance, 4x 3tb WD Reds in Raid 10, Phone Oppo Reno 10x 256gb , Camera Sony A7iii

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Get a windows tablet with hdmi.

Location: Kaunas, Lithuania, Europe, Earth, Solar System, Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Bubble, Gould Belt, Orion Arm, Milky Way, Milky Way subgroup, Local Group, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea, Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex, Observable universe, Universe.

Spoiler

12700, B660M Mortar DDR4, 32GB 3200C16 Viper Steel, 2TB SN570, EVGA Supernova G6 850W, be quiet! 500FX, EVGA 3070Ti FTW3 Ultra.

 

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Get a windows tablet with hdmi.

 

this is probably the best idea

Desktop - Corsair 300r i7 4770k H100i MSI 780ti 16GB Vengeance Pro 2400mhz Crucial MX100 512gb Samsung Evo 250gb 2 TB WD Green, AOC Q2770PQU 1440p 27" monitor Laptop Clevo W110er - 11.6" 768p, i5 3230m, 650m GT 2gb, OCZ vertex 4 256gb,  4gb ram, Server: Fractal Define Mini, MSI Z78-G43, Intel G3220, 8GB Corsair Vengeance, 4x 3tb WD Reds in Raid 10, Phone Oppo Reno 10x 256gb , Camera Sony A7iii

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yeah... overheat

and windows 8 updates, broken wifi

 

I completely forget about that one.

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Get a windows tablet with hdmi.

 

 

this is probably the best idea

Is this just a matter of literally getting a tablet with hdmi/mini and plugging it into the tv? what about wireless mice and keyboards etc

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What about a Zotac Pico?

its a bit out of my price range unfortunately.. 

do you know much about the minix?

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yeah... overheat

and windows 8 updates, broken wifi

 

I completely forget about that one.

Can you suggest an alternative?

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Is this just a matter of literally getting a tablet with hdmi/mini and plugging it into the tv? what about wireless mice and keyboards etc

 

Yep, and you could get bluetooth peripherals or a logitech keyboard/mouse with unifying receiver :D or a little riio mini keyboard or something :D

Desktop - Corsair 300r i7 4770k H100i MSI 780ti 16GB Vengeance Pro 2400mhz Crucial MX100 512gb Samsung Evo 250gb 2 TB WD Green, AOC Q2770PQU 1440p 27" monitor Laptop Clevo W110er - 11.6" 768p, i5 3230m, 650m GT 2gb, OCZ vertex 4 256gb,  4gb ram, Server: Fractal Define Mini, MSI Z78-G43, Intel G3220, 8GB Corsair Vengeance, 4x 3tb WD Reds in Raid 10, Phone Oppo Reno 10x 256gb , Camera Sony A7iii

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Yep, and you could get bluetooth peripherals or a logitech keyboard/mouse with unifying receiver :D or a little riio mini keyboard or something :D

or just use usb hub and plug in ten mice.

Location: Kaunas, Lithuania, Europe, Earth, Solar System, Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Bubble, Gould Belt, Orion Arm, Milky Way, Milky Way subgroup, Local Group, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea, Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex, Observable universe, Universe.

Spoiler

12700, B660M Mortar DDR4, 32GB 3200C16 Viper Steel, 2TB SN570, EVGA Supernova G6 850W, be quiet! 500FX, EVGA 3070Ti FTW3 Ultra.

 

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Yep, and you could get bluetooth peripherals or a logitech keyboard/mouse with unifying receiver :D or a little riio mini keyboard or something :D

Although that does sound like a nice idea, that I will probably do, I'm still kind of set on getting a mini pc.. I just feel like it'd be a little more reliable or something, I'd much prefer a windows os than android. I'm picky with this stuff :P 

 

how did you find the windbox? 

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Although that does sound like a nice idea, that I will probably do, I'm still kind of set on getting a mini pc.. I just feel like it'd be a little more reliable or something, I'd much prefer a windows os than android. I'm picky with this stuff :P

 

how did you find the windbox? 

 

Yeah I was talking about a windows tablet not android

 

It was good :) i used a model with hard  drive would have been better with an SSD - ran steam game stream at 1080p 60 :D was streaming GTA v to my living room over ethernet 

Desktop - Corsair 300r i7 4770k H100i MSI 780ti 16GB Vengeance Pro 2400mhz Crucial MX100 512gb Samsung Evo 250gb 2 TB WD Green, AOC Q2770PQU 1440p 27" monitor Laptop Clevo W110er - 11.6" 768p, i5 3230m, 650m GT 2gb, OCZ vertex 4 256gb,  4gb ram, Server: Fractal Define Mini, MSI Z78-G43, Intel G3220, 8GB Corsair Vengeance, 4x 3tb WD Reds in Raid 10, Phone Oppo Reno 10x 256gb , Camera Sony A7iii

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raspberry pi b 2 (windows 10 and BAM small htpc)

My pc:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dvcw23 

(Black Glacier)

 

My server:

Dual xeon x5679 processors, 24gb of ECC memory, Nvidia quadro 295 NVS and 48tb of storage.  (z600) 

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Windbox is like 350, but the links I just gave you are a mini streaming/basic use pc combo and a wireless keyboard with a mouse part on it too for just under 150.

Have you used he beelink? I had planned to get that keyboard/mouse. 

 

It seems like a nice pc. 

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raspberry pi b 2 (windows 10 and BAM small htpc)

I'm a total noob with raspberry pi, I've never used one before. I was looking at them today, I was looking at the 2 b + model. is this just a matter of installing an os on a micro sd card and powering up? 

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Yeah I was talking about a windows tablet not android

 

It was good :) i used a model with hard  drive would have been better with an SSD - ran steam game stream at 1080p 60 :D was streaming GTA v to my living room over ethernet 

Sadly I just noticed the price.. 

Have you used the beelink p1? It seems pretty slick. Its specs are similar to every other mini pc but what are the drawbacks 

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Are the load times any faster than the b 1 by much? I could seriously be killed by various gentle spoon taps before the 1 loads a site.

yes they are faster.

My pc:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dvcw23 

(Black Glacier)

 

My server:

Dual xeon x5679 processors, 24gb of ECC memory, Nvidia quadro 295 NVS and 48tb of storage.  (z600) 

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Not personally, but by the reviews the only bad ones were one guy got a dud while the other didn't realize he was downgrading.  

so if you had to choose between a beelink, raspberry pi, minix or windows compute stick, which would you go for?

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I'm a total noob with raspberry pi, I've never used one before. I was looking at them today, I was looking at the 2 b + model. is this just a matter of installing an os on a micro sd card and powering up? 

all you need is to flash a 8-32gb sd card with your chosen os (hopefully windows 10 or raspiban)

My pc:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dvcw23 

(Black Glacier)

 

My server:

Dual xeon x5679 processors, 24gb of ECC memory, Nvidia quadro 295 NVS and 48tb of storage.  (z600) 

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all you need is to flash a 8-32gb sd card with your chosen os (hopefully windows 10 or raspiban)

is this done with the software NOOBS? I'm not familiar with these at all..

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For that I can tell you yes.  It's really easy, but don't go with linux unless you have linux experience.  On the 2 go with windows 10.  Don't get a model 1 either because loading a site takes several minutes.  But, it goes into an SD not a micro sd though you can use a micro sd to sd card.

so for example; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Model-Desktop-Quad-Linux/dp/B00T2U7R7I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433412388&sr=8-1&keywords=raspberry+pi+2+b%2B 

Watching movies, youtube, email, other light use, would this suffice? Can I use a mico usb and plug it into my tv? or will this be an insufficient power source

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is this done with the software NOOBS? I'm not familiar with these at all..

NOOBS is a drag drop installer (you drag all the files in the NOOBS zip or rar file and then you drop them onto a FAT 32 formatted micro sd card and boot your pi)

My pc:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dvcw23 

(Black Glacier)

 

My server:

Dual xeon x5679 processors, 24gb of ECC memory, Nvidia quadro 295 NVS and 48tb of storage.  (z600) 

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