Computer Related > Small PC Miscellaneous
Thread Author: smokie Replies: 7
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New Sat 7 Dec 13 11:09 
 Small PC - smokie
My PC under the telly has bust - sizzling noise and won't boot. It is over 7 years old I think, and was a neat little unit - Acer L320 - albeit a bit underpowered. tinyurl.com/qgrke94

Used mainly for occasional browsing, watching DVDs (no DVD player here) and to feed multimedia from NAS to lounge (video and music, and to bore guests with holiday snaps on the big screen)

The new Smart telly (one of those which is watching you - tinyurl.com/kbgwf6w) does most of this but not as well as a proper PC.

I've been looking at these tinyurl.com/ndm4kht but no DVD. Suppose I could buy an external one, but it's already a bit pricey for something only used occasionally.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a replacement, similar size and not just an unattractive black box?
Last edited by: smokie on Sat 7 Dec 13 at 11:22
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New Sat 7 Dec 13 11:26 
 Small PC - R.P.
We bought one of these for my mobile Office...

shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/desktops/thinkcentre/m-series-tiny/
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New Sat 7 Dec 13 11:48 
 Small PC - smokie
Hmmm interesting, there is an apparently new M72 Tiny on fleabay for £250 + P&P at the mo. That fits the price criteria nicely, but it has no DVD.

Should've added - buying a barebones PC is good because I don't want a disk (already have an SSD which will go in) and it seems silly to pay for something which is of no use. But those really small ones in my link take a different type of SSD.

Also looking for HDMI output, and ideally an audio-out jack. And ideally Windows rather than Android. And ideally space for a standard SSD drive, not mSSD
Last edited by: smokie on Sat 7 Dec 13 at 13:43
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New Sat 7 Dec 13 11:59 
 Small PC - smokie
Is an Intel Atom chip likely to be man enough for the above tasks? I see some cheap 2nd hand machines on ebay but no knowledge.
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New Sat 7 Dec 13 13:16 
 Small PC - Fursty Ferret
Atom shouldn't have any trouble, video playback off-loaded to GPU (or integrated equivalent nowadays). USB DVD drive only about £20.
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New Sat 7 Dec 13 16:56 
 Small PC - rtj70
>> Atom shouldn't have any trouble, video playback off-loaded to GPU (or integrated equivalent nowadays)

I've no idea what is available but for a low power system with decent GPU I'd also consider AMD. They can't compete with Intel at the high end but they certainly do at the low end.
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New Sat 7 Dec 13 17:41 
 Small PC - spamcan61
How about one of the various 'nettop' mini PC jobbies?

www.ebuyer.com/567280-acer-aspire-xc-105-desktop-dt-sr4ek-013

or

www.ebuyer.com/395449-acer-revo-l80-nettop-pc-dt-smcek-003
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New Sat 7 Dec 13 20:42 
 Small PC - Zero
The keyword is HTPC

Build your own, starting with this case (or similar)

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/120988302769?
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