So I’m thinking I want something to put next to tv so I can watch all my HD movies and listen to all my music but I don’t want to fork out 30,000 for a new laptop and a regular desktop will just look ugly. I like the look of the asus cs5100 range of mini pcs but they’re a tad expensive. So here’s my question … can anyone recommend a good mini pc that will hook up to my 720 tv. It would be nice to have a wireless card in it too so I can watch streaming stuff. Or on the other hand would it cost much to build one yourself, bear in mind I’ve never done anything like this before but I wouldn’t mind having a go at it.
off the top of my head, I’d say DIY or you might want to talk to the sponsor that builds computers.
It would be very inexpensive for you to build. You don’t need top of the line gaming equipment to run this. I use an 8year old dell laptop I found myself.
What do you need videocard wise to do that though, to get that quality of output? And do you need eg a DVI output? How about for 1080p?
I’ve got a PS3 that has a USB in the front, but when I try to play the majority of stuff I d/l I find it doesn’t play mp3 or AVI, so I guess I gotta go right into the TV?
it’d be great if I could just plug my external HD into the back of the TV…
Ok, first of all, why does it have to be a PC?
You’re only going to use it for watching movies and listen to music, right?
I think this will be great blog.boxee.tv/2009/12/09/step-1- … ut-a-hole/ but sadly isn’t not out for a few months yet…
However, there are similar devices on sale here already such as:
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 35&ROWNO=4 (no idea who makes this)
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 35&ROWNO=1 (by Asus)
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … P&ROWNO=16 (by ViewSonic)
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … P&ROWNO=21 (by Zinwell)
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 2432&c=A05 (by Western Digital)
Only problem would be that none of them support WiFi, but all have Ethernet connectivity…
Another option would be something from here popcornhour.com/onlinestore/ they ship to Taiwan and offer optional WiFi upgrades. They’re not cheap though, but have had a lot of good reviews.
If it has to be a PC, have you considered something like this?
shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 2Y&ROWNO=4 (requires that you bring your own OS at that price point)
ViewSonic also has this model which offers similar specs monday.com.tw/gdsale/gdsale.asp?gdid=1773761 (comes with Win7)
MSI has this shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 01&ROWNO=6
And Acer has this which is a steal at under 10k shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 1M&ROWNO=2 (although without OS again)
This Acer model is even cheaper, but has an Intel chipset and a mobile Atom shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 1M&ROWNO=3 (the chipset is not the normal netbook one though, this model allegedly supports HD video decoding)
So, there you go, a range of options from about NT$4k to NT$15k
[quote=“TwoTongues”]What do you need videocard wise to do that though, to get that quality of output? And do you need eg a DVI output? How about for 1080p?
I’ve got a PS3 that has a USB in the front, but when I try to play the majority of stuff I d/l I find it doesn’t play mp3 or AVI, so I guess I gotta go right into the TV?
it’d be great if I could just plug my external HD into the back of the TV…[/quote]
The PS3 should support all those formats, but you need to update the software to the latest version, which should be done automagically if you connect it to the interweb.
I guess otherwise this is the kind of thing you want shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 2V&ROWNO=5 not cheap though especially as it doesn’t come with a hard drive, but it’s the only one I’ve seen with HDMI so far.
Hey Swede you always answer my posts! Thanks for all the info. I was looking at some of those things on pchome already but I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience with any systems or building that could let me know what to look out for hiccup-wise!
I was thinking about buying a WDTV myself before leaving Sweden for Taiwan, but as I went here to study for a year I did postpone the purchase (as only version 1 was out before the summer).
I think they are pretty good, albeit I’ve heard that they are a little slow when viewing pictures (i.e. no fast forwarding on picture slideshows).
Should also handle most 1080p movies problem free (at least that’s what I heard).
Well, considering the costs, it’s just not worth building a system for just playing movies these days.
I don’t think it’s possible to build something decent for less than these machine are on offer for, at least not unless you want to go down the 2nd hand route.
Sure, you could get a mATX AMD board with sufficiently good integrated graphics, the most basic dual core AMD processor, 2GB of RAM, the cheapest hard drive around, a basic crappy case with a PSU and you’d be set, but it’d be much bigger, most likely noisier and still be no better for the purpose intended.
There are some cool mini-ITX boards coming, but they aren’t cheap, which is the problem and I don’t know if anyone is selling them in Taiwan. Check out Zotac as they’re doing most of that type of boards for now, although Asus have a couple of models coming as well and even one with an Atom 330 and the ION chipset, but it’s half the price of one of the complete systems or near enough.
For software, have a look at boxee.tv/ it’s pretty neat if you want to run something full screen and it works with most PC remotes. Their own box that I linked to above looks sweet though, but it won’t be out for a few months and is expected to sell for around $300.
The other option is to buy a console such as the Xbox 360 or PS3, but they do have limitations as to what formats they can play. For HD stuff you’re safer with one of the other solutions.
Forgot about this one shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 1F&ROWNO=9
A tad expensive, but it has space internally for a 3.5-inch SATA drive. Unlike some of the other devices this one can also download torrents comprousa.com/en/product/nmc … tures.html
Anyhow, I don’t think it’s the best solution, but it’s another alternative.
There are also models with WiFi and one that functions as a PVR as well as it has its own built in tuner (if I remember right, it does digital, but not hd).
Thanks again swede for all the info. The acer eeeeeeeeeeepc with the nvidia card looks good at under 10k and as I want to watch sports online through less than reputable sites I think a pc is a better option for myself than the popcorn or the compro type boxes.
“sports” 
Just be aware that at that price point, neither Acer model, nor the EeePC comes with an operating systems. You can of course bring your own or buy a slightly more expensive model that’ll come pre installed with Win7. Also remember that if you’re going to use the GPU offloading part for having it play back HD video, you need Windows Vista or 7, as XP doesn’t offer some of the features that are apparently required for this to work. I have seen something about one application that is meant to be able to do it in Windows XP, but I don’t know for sure. You’re also somewhat limited to which video applications support the GPU accelerated video playback on these boxes (more so the one with the Intel graphics than the ION ones).
subscribed
Looks like Asus has a new version with n WiFi and a card reader shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item … 7499&c=A05 looks a bit better in terms of functionality and the price isn’t bad either.
What about a PS3? The new ones come with wi-fi and 250 gigs of memory. And they throw in the ability to play games and watch blu-ray dvds for free…hehe. You can also hook them up to your home network and access whatever you want from you computer through your PS3 and the PS3 also has it’s own internet browser.