how - shuttle under tv & monitor, mouse, kb on desk

laffin tattie · 15 Mar 2006 at 12:06

ok im open to idea here guys, at the moment i use my laptop on a small table with wheels and i sit on my sofa to use it, i like it being portable but for some reason the laptop is slow even though it has a p4 2.8 and 512 ram, i intend to sell my lappy. So i want something faster which i can connect to my av amp to play music and connect to my display for the odd game

i am buying a 42" pwd8 panasonic plasma which i will wall mount, i will have some cabinet or rack in which i will mount the shuttle below the tv, it needs to be silver to match the other components.

I fancy the idea of having the remote control for playing media too without the need to use the keyboard to change albums etc.

Now although i want the shuttle to sit below the tv i dont think using a plasma for general pc stuff ie internet etc is very practical, so i was hoping for a solution where i could have a little desk on wheels that i can still sit in front of me on the sofa and just have the monitor & wireless mouse and keyboard. I assume i will need a long vga lead to reach the pc if i want to sit 10ft away. I know i could sit the shuttle on the small desk too but i would prefer to keep it situated on my av rack.

This may not be very practical to do but what can you guys suggest. Im not a really into games but just fancy a bit of gaming on the big screen i would like to be able to play HL2 so what would be a good silver shuttle to buy.

i hope i have not confused you as to what i am trying to do.

thanks

semi-pro waster · 15 Mar 2006 at 12:58

What is your budget here? For the remote control issue there are a few ways you could do it, one option being the remote that complements Windows MCE, another being the remote for the ATI AIW(you can use it with or without an AIW or even ATI card). There are also maximum length limitations on VGA leads but 10 metres ought to be fine as far as I recall.

laffin tattie · 15 Mar 2006 at 14:06

semi-pro waster said:
What is your budget here? For the remote control issue there are a few ways you could do it, one option being the remote that complements Windows MCE, another being the remote for the ATI AIW(you can use it with or without an AIW or even ATI card). There are also maximum length limitations on VGA leads but 10 metres ought to be fine as far as I recall.

i intend to sell my lappy so maybe looking at about £500 for shuttle and other bits inc remote stuff, i may be a bit low on my budget but im out of touch with hardware costs so not sur eif this is enough. i will probably try and buy a good second hand 17"tft. i have only heard of MCE, what is the ATI AIW. I am only needing 10ft not 10m.

anybody got suggestions as for a small portable lightweight desk that could hold a monitor mouse and keyboard, i would only then need a power cable and vga cable to run to the desk if the kb and mouse were wireless. which mouse and keyboard would be good at a 10ft range?

semi-pro waster · 15 Mar 2006 at 14:14

This is an ATI AIW remote and this system may be suitable but it is significantly over your budget which is a bit too low if you really want a proper silver Shuttle.

FS-047-SH Shuttle XPC ST20G5 Aluminium Barebones System - AMD 64 (Socket 939) (FS-047-SH)
£209.95 £209.95
CP-150-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM)
£119.95 £119.95
MY-004-OK OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK)
£39.95 £39.95
GX-055-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X800 GTO16 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-055-PC)
£89.95 £89.95
CD-028-NE NEC ND4551 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-028-NE)
£25.95 £25.95
HD-055-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 120GB 1200JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-055-WD)
£40.95 £40.95
Subtotal £526.70
VAT £92.18
Total £618.88

Fruit&Veg · 15 Mar 2006 at 14:21

semi-pro waster · 15 Mar 2006 at 14:28

Fruit&Veg said:
;s

Que? Can you help with any suggestions about a good way for laffin tattie to set-up his system as he wants?

SidewinderINC · 15 Mar 2006 at 14:33

on the same topic as this really, what is the maximum length possible for VGA cables? as i wouldnt mind having a 2nd monitor at another point in my domain

semi-pro waster · 15 Mar 2006 at 14:37

SidewinderINC said:
on the same topic as this really, what is the maximum length possible for VGA cables? as i wouldnt mind having a 2nd monitor at another point in my domain

Scala says about 9m for DVI and 10m for VGA but that is just a rough guide

laffin tattie · 15 Mar 2006 at 14:42

well i could save something off that as i have a 250 gb hard drive and an 80gb hard drive in my other pc (for downloading and burning but has no monitor i use vnc viewer to control it) and i could pinch the silver nex dual format dvd burner from it too so save me buying a drive.

laffin tattie · 16 Mar 2006 at 10:20

semi-pro waster said:
one option being the remote that complements Windows MCE, another being the remote for the ATI AIW(you can use it with or without an AIW or even ATI card).

ah that remote would do the job too, i assume you dont need any particular software for the remote to work ie would work with wmp or any other media player? :cool:

semi-pro waster · 16 Mar 2006 at 10:42

laffin tattie said:
ah that remote would do the job too, i assume you dont need any particular software for the remote to work ie would work with wmp or any other media player?

The remote is best with an AIW card(ie you may not get all the functions without one) but it has a D pad so you can use the mouse from afar and works on radio frequency so no line of sight is needed. I don't know about how programmable the buttons are, I never tried with mine before I sold the card although it should allow some reprogramming.