I need something small, quiet, and cheap for a 360 media hub

[gorcorps]

Basically I want a small, possibly fanless and/or solid state PC, that can run XP fine and be used to host media files for my 360 and stream TVersity. It doesn't need a screen, as I could just plug it in to a TV.

I remember stumbling over a few interesting looking ones with built in wireless, but I can't remember where I saw them. Opinions?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Originally posted by: gorcorps
Basically I want a small, possibly fanless and/or solid state PC, that can run XP fine and be used to host media files for my 360 and stream TVersity. It doesn't need a screen, as I could just plug it in to a TV.

I remember stumbling over a few interesting looking ones with built in wireless, but I can't remember where I saw them. Opinions?

Dell Studio Hybrid

Powerful notebook processors, available Blu-Ray drive, and available built-in wireless. Not to mention HDMI, which is perfect for hooking up to TV screens. About all you could want for a little streamer.

Heck, right now if you go for the $950 unit (blu-ray drive, high end 45nm Core 2 notebook processor, 3GB of ram etc.) They're throwing in a Mini 9 netbook for $100 more. Kinda hard to beat all that.

 

[gorcorps]

Those a pretty pricey for how little I need it to do. If I didn't need to run TVersity I'd just get a networked external drive.

 

[IlllI]

shuttle KPC? http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16856101064
just add processor, ram and huge hd and you're set. its not fanless however.

theres also this http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16856101076 which according to 1 review requires a heatsink w/ a fan also. but its smaller than even the kpc

 

[bamacre]

Exactly how small do you need this to be? How much internal hard drive capacity are you looking at?

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: bamacre
Exactly how small do you need this to be? How much internal hard drive capacity are you looking at?

Size isn't that big of an issue, I just don't want to full fledged tower in my living room. Internal space isn't important. All it needs internally is enough space for the OS, codecs, and a couple programs. I'll be hosting the video files on an external drive.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Originally posted by: bamacre
Exactly how small do you need this to be? How much internal hard drive capacity are you looking at?

Size isn't that big of an issue, I just don't want to full fledged tower in my living room. Internal space isn't important. All it needs internally is enough space for the OS, codecs, and a couple programs. I'll be hosting the video files on an external drive.

The Studio Hybrid would certainly meet those requirements, and it is pretty damn small. Another option would be something a little bigger, but cheaper, an Inspiron 530s or 531s, but make sure you get a video card with TV output rather than just integrated video with VGA output.


Dell Outlet is the place to look...
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBO...?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh

Looking through their current inventory, I don't see any 530s or 531s models with video cards. But there are some Studio Hybrids priced pretty well.

Some pics of the Studio Hybrid...
http://www.majortoker.com/images/st_hyb01.jpg
http://www.majortoker.com/images/st_hyb02.jpg
http://www.majortoker.com/images/st_hyb03.jpg

 

[DaveSimmons]

Newegg has a MSI Wind desktop barebones for $135 including CPU, but an Atom is only good enough for decoding 720p from what netbook owners say.

It's fine as a file server though if you can stream files without decoding, and TVersity should be fine for 480i content.