Portable mini pc in place of laptop

grumpybeard

grumpybeard

grumpybeard

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Hey folks,

Taking a sabbatical next year to kitesurf a few locations over the summer.

I have an ipad for cafe surfing/picking up emails. However I want to have a portable machine capable of 1080p video processing from the GoPros and photo editing, plus some self study programming I will do.

Been considering a high end laptop (Alienware, Clevo P170EM), but wonder whether it's possible to build a portable mini PC capable of the applications in mind (i.e. quad core i7, 16Gb ram min). Occasional gameplay so ability to pop in decent graphics card would be good.

Anyone with experience of building something similar, including the possibilty of placing a monitor about 17" into a rucksack/carry bag with the PC to port it around (from accommodation to accommodation). Probabbly issue with monitor stand into rucksack?

Wonder if this option could give me decent portable computing power that is more easily upgradeable than a laptop, or just stick with search for a laptop, hmmm?
 
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mine rocks and fits nicely in a bag.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £259.99
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) w/ FARCRY3 & Sleeping Dogs PC Games £149.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) £119.99
1 x ASRock Z77E-ITX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Silverstone Sugo SG05 HTPC Case with 450W Power Supply - All Black ( SST-SG05BB USB 3.0) £114.98
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC128B/WW) £76.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (GD316GB1600C11DC) **OcUK Exclusive** £69.95
1 x Silverstone SST-NT06-E CPU-Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £28.99
1 x Samsung SN-208DB/BEBE Slimline 8x DVD±RW SATA Drive - OEM £17.99
1 x Akasa Slimline Optical SATA Cable, 40cm (AK-CB050-40) £2.99
Total : £975.95 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Have seen a 680 in this case too
 
Hey Gav thx for the reply. Nice build. You just stick one of these in any old rucksack or so ething more specialist. What do you do aboubt monitor, do you transport one or have one abailable at destination?

Thanks!
 
I use a gaitor box, which is like a hardened suitcase but silverstone make a bag for it too. I take a 22" widescreen monitor on the road but then i do get a 54Kg baggage limit on flights.
 
It goes in the bottom of the case in a hard foam cut out, you can get sheets of it for a couple of quid off that there internet auction site.
 
Is a monitor needed? As if staying in hotels they might have LCD televisions.

Personally I think a laptop would be better as carrying a Shuttle around in a bag became a chore, although I used Shuttle's shoulder bag instead of their rucksack.
 
Emailed Silverstone regarding the Sugo pack, unfortunately the reply below:

"Thank you for your interest in SilverStone product.

The Sugo pack is a phased out product, we are not selling it anymore.
Since it is for 2 years EOL, regrettably nobody is selling this item."

May try get one from the auction site, thinking going the SG05 as it has the smallest footprint I can find.
 
Actually if you are traveling around a lot, I think Silverstone case would still be too bunky for taking from places to places. If I was in your position, I woud go for the Antec ISK 300-150 or 310-150 case as that seem to be one of the smallest mini-itx case around (video review here), and grab a i7 3770T (Max TDP 45W), a low profile single slot 7750 (most likely a Sapphire low-profile 7750) which has a max power consumption around 44-50W, and then a H77/Z77 mini-itx motherboard. The PSU that come with the case has 10A on the 12v rail, so it can output max of 120W over the 12v rail, which would be sufficient for the i7 3770T and the 7750.
 
Hi Marine,

Thanks for pointing out the Sapphire low profile 7750, looks good, and has got me thinking.

Liking the look of the Streacom F7CB evo, wonder if I can put an ivybridge i7 with the sapphire 7750 in this case, able to keep the temps down and have a Pico powerful enough (no overclocking, but lots of video/picture editing).

This case looks approx the same size as an Xbox and I can handle taking something this size on my travels. Thanks.
 
Not exactly what you asked for, but far more portable. Have you considered a windows pro tablet? Like the acer w700 or surface pro. I3/i5 or i7 mobile CPUs. Not great graphics for gaming. But as said its far better than lugging around a pc, so might be a good compromise.
 
grumpybeard said:
Hi Marine,

Thanks for pointing out the Sapphire low profile 7750, looks good, and has got me thinking.

Liking the look of the Streacom F7CB evo, wonder if I can put an ivybridge i7 with the sapphire 7750 in this case, able to keep the temps down and have a Pico powerful enough (no overclocking, but lots of video/picture editing).

This case looks approx the same size as an Xbox and I can handle taking something this size on my travels. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Physically I think the Sapphire low profile 7750 should fit in the Streacom F7CB evo, but the only problem I can see is the challenge of having to source a NanoPSU & AC Adapter that can provide adequate power. I googled a bit, and it would seen that a 150W NanoPSU & AC Adapter would set you back around £65-£70...so add that to the Streacom ST-F7CB EVO case cost that would comes to around £150, in contrast to the Antec ISK 300-150 for just around £65 WITH the PSU included...but if you really like the Streacom ST-F7CB EVO case and don't mind paying the extra by all mean go for it.

But I have to point out both case are not really that much difference in dimension...here's a comparison between the two in terms spaces it take up:
Streacom ST-F7CB EVO: 100 (H) x 240 (W) x 250mm (D) plus a bulky power brick (£150)
ISK300-150: 96mm (H) x 222mm (W) x 328mm (D) plus just a kettle cable (£65)

Just want to clarify I'm not trying to convince you to take the Antec over the Streacom, but I'm just laying them side by side for you to have a comparison and consider what you would prefer more.
 
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Well I pulled the trigger on components for an SG05 build, can't wait to get home for Xmas tomorrow and start building with the listed components. Not exactly laptop portable but will fit onto carry on luggage no problem for the few trips I will make next year. Should be a little powerhouse, looking forward to the build.


Silverstone SG05BB-450 USB 3.0
Intel Core i7 3770K
Asus P8Z77-I DELUXE
Corsair Hydro H60 V2
16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance
2GB EVGA GTX 680
Razer Mamba 2012 4G 6400 DPI Wireless Mouse
Ducky DK9087 Shine 2 Blue LED Mech KB Brown Cherry tenkeyless
2 x Samsung 840 Pro 256GB


Thanks all for offered suggestions and help. I did a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with all the case/psu/heat combinations and thought the SG05 would give me the best all-round portable system for next year, with a choice of components I can always harvest and make use of in my other systems after my travels (for example the SSds and GTX680).

Cheers.
 
Yea the spec looks fine. I was a bit worried about if that 450W PSU can handle the 3770K and the GTX680, but looked on Silverstone's website to check the rating for that included PSU, and it got 36v on the 12v rail, so it is rated to output 432W and should be fine for both the 3770K and GTX680 :)
 
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