MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Toying with the idea of getting a mini PC instead of using the laptop for everyday work (mainly word processing/excell/ powerpoint).
I'd like to spend less than £250 and I don't intend on gaming, but the PC will be hooked up to a TV (23" Samsung) so any fringe benefits always welcome i.e ability to record TV straight onto hard drive. Only provision is that it must be unobtrusive and small.
Don't really have a clue what I need, or more importantly what I don't need so any advice welcome.
Cheers
Matt
There are a few atom based mini's about for £230-£270, Do you want the lackluster performance of an Atom?
http://www.scan.co.uk/Shop/Computer-Hardware/All/Systems/NVIDIA-ION-and-Intel-Atom
Is the atom that bad? I'm currently using a Viao laptop thats about 5 years old (1.83Ghz Intel core 2) and it stuggles a little with larger word files but is ok for 98% of what it's used for. I've seen the Zotac mini pc's and they look as though they fit the bill - I take it they are the equivalent of a netbook but in desktop form?
I'd like to be able to run windows 7 though as the laptop uses Vista which I hate.
Cheers for the help.
Matt
Is the atom that bad?
I have a couple of Acer Aspire A3610 running Win7 just fine
They have an HDMI out straight into a TV too
I don't do any graphics stuff or video rendering though
Ebuyer stock them
i have an asrock ion 330 with 4gb of ram that runs 7 just fine ( and ran it fine with only 2gb of ram ).
asrock also have variations that run the desktop core 2 duo processors too, iirc, with a similarly sized foot print.
Read the review here to see what's possible with the new sandy bridge Core chips
http://www.cartft.com/catalog/il/1299
No graphics card needed 🙂
Here's a couple of reviews:
[url= http://www.reghardware.com/2010/04/29/grouptest_mini_pcs_peak_cape_7_ion/ ]Cape Ion[/url]
[url= http://www.reghardware.com/2008/10/10/review_desktop_pc_asus_eee_box/ ]Asus EeePC[/url]