Is this possible on current hardware?

saitrix · 24 Jan 2010 at 19:20

Hi,

My Dad has said to me when his laptop dies he wants to swap to having a mini-itx pc mounted on the back of his tv. His plan seems to be connect it up via hdmi to the tv (a 1080 tv so high resolution).

Now how possible is this? I instantly thought an atom system but is that powerful enough as a main pc for my parents to use? Their use will include general net usage with a bit of youtube added in and a little photo resizing too. Would an atom 330 ion system provide the power or can you fit a desktop cpu into a smaller case ok?

Also it would have to be done for about the £250-300 area.

pat_c · 24 Jan 2010 at 19:45

One of the Acer Aspire Revo models has a 330 and nv ION, or a 230 if you want a cheaper model. It's small enough to tuck away out of sight and is ok for light usage with the ION chipset providing enough grunt for 1080p playback.

The cheapest version being £149
Or have a look at the

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-220-OK&groupid=43&catid=1446&subcat=
and

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-065-AS&groupid=43&catid=1446&subcat=

JHeaton · 24 Jan 2010 at 19:54

There's also the Zotac MAG, although it looks expensive in comparison to the Acer.

http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-mag-hd-nd01.html

What you want should be possible with the Atom 330 and Ion platform, so I would say go ahead

saitrix · 24 Jan 2010 at 20:19

How well can the 330 take to multitasking?

Also I have read about overclocking the 330, I suppose I can do this if they need a little more go from it.

Yewen · 24 Jan 2010 at 21:48

saitrix said:
How well can the 330 take to multitasking?

Also I have read about overclocking the 330, I suppose I can do this if they need a little more go from it.

Cape7: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-002-NV

VESA mount in box, amazing performance and we have had them playing games they really should not have been.

Can encode video on them not too shabbily, consider the performance similar to an old P4 Dual Core and your pretty much with what to expect. Nippy enough and feels a lot smoother in Windows7 than a top end FX55 overclocked single core processor from a few years back.

saitrix · 25 Jan 2010 at 10:26

Thanks for the info!

Though for the same price I have found the Acer Revo R3610, which has the 330 dual core, 800mhz ddr2 and a 250gb hdd. Amazing what you can get for the money these days.

a1ex2001 · 3 Feb 2010 at 16:36

saitrix said:
Thanks for the info! Though for the same price I have found the Acer Revo R3610, which has the 330 dual core, 800mhz ddr2 and a 250gb hdd. Amazing what you can get for the money these days.

Got one at Christmas time and it's pretty much faultless, only gripe is with the included vesa mount it stuck out the top of my tv to much but then thats what you get for only having a 23" tv! Performance wise it's spot on for web browsing with multiple tabs and a bit of iplayer etc.

errata · 3 Feb 2010 at 17:21

several asus eeebox products have all your asking for as well.

Choices of ion or onboard ati.

Do you really think they will be multitasking? If not makes choices wider and price cheaper.

saitrix · 5 Feb 2010 at 06:42

a1ex2001 said:
Got one at Christmas time and it's pretty much faultless, only gripe is with the included vesa mount it stuck out the top of my tv to much but then thats what you get for only having a 23" tv! Performance wise it's spot on for web browsing with multiple tabs and a bit of iplayer etc.

Sounds spot on. Will be behind a 37" so it will be fully hidden.

errata,

At one time the maximum my Dad will be doing is having outlook open, firefox with multiple tabs and maybe ripping a cd to mp3. Plus I can see him using it for audio playback too.

errata · 5 Feb 2010 at 13:27

lots of these miny itx and similar kit do not come with optical drives, double check you get one!

That lot of software is not particuarly demanding on cpu unless your using iplayer in the firefox tabs and have a virus scanner on the box