Small Form Factor HTPC Comparison

[k11]

Barebones
Intel NUC Celeron
Gigabyte Brix Celeron
ZBox Atom/Celeron

Ready to use
ASUS VivoPC Celeron
Lenovo Q190 Celeron

Which is a good buy in terms of value for money, power consumption, adding remote for power on/off, flexibility to upgrade however limited it may be.

Looking at a celeron machine, which can play 1080p bluray rips, low power use while playing music, internet radio.
XBMC would be preffered.

Core i-3 or i-5 are kind of out of budget and might be an overkill.

 

[dheerajjotwani]

I have and can vouch for the zotac nano id61. Comes with a fully functional remote. Tested to deliver full hd audio and comes bundled with the remote et al !

tapped on Note II cdma

 

[k11]

Zotac ZBox iD61 specs looks impressive.
Buy Zotac ZBOX Nano ID61 Gadgets.in|Online Shop India

I assume it is barebone with everything except for only RAM and HDD.

Can I skip HDD and boot it from USB.
I have a external 500GB drive which I can use for storage.

I hear intel NUC can boot from USB.

 

[Rockfella]

For the price you can assemble a slightly bigger HTPC.

 

[manniraj]

Zotac ZBox iD61 specs looks impressive.
Buy Zotac ZBOX Nano ID61 Gadgets.in|Online Shop India

I assume it is barebone with everything except for only RAM and HDD.

Can I skip HDD and boot it from USB.
I have a external 500GB drive which I can use for storage.

I hear intel NUC can boot from USB.

Yes you can use OpenElec to boot from USB with XBMC.

 

[k11]

For the price you can assemble a slightly bigger HTPC.

Actually even I am thinking of that.

I might be able to score the processor for very little or even free through my sis who works for the big chip company. I am trying to see if I can get discounts on NUC, I heard they are coming with a new baytrail powered one.

I would have to buy MB, case, RAM in that case.

Cases are too big, the barebones and the ready made ASUS/Q190 are way cool looking. Looks are important too, do not want a ugly case near my sexy TV. VivoPC is just gorgeous with metallic finish.

Do you guys have any good recommendation for a small good looking case case.

 

[dheerajjotwani]

Yes openelec usb boot works like a charm.

tapped on Note II cdma

 

[manniraj]

Actually even I am thinking of that.

I might be able to score the processor for very little or even free through my sis who works for the big chip company. I am trying to see if I can get discounts on NUC, I heard they are coming with a new baytrail powered one.

I would have to buy MB, case, RAM in that case.

Cases are too big, the barebones and the ready made ASUS/Q190 are way cool looking. Looks are important too, do not want a ugly case near my sexy TV. VivoPC is just gorgeous with metallic finish.

Do you guys have any good recommendation for a small good looking case case.

I have a Silverstone ML03 or 05 (not sure) but it is a slightly bigger compared to small form factor but nevertheless nice looking cabinet. You can also look at the Antec series one with the mini-itx form factor. One of nicely built and small form HTPC cabinets in the market today. Availability and cost is a problem for these cabinets.

 

[asliarun]

Actually even I am thinking of that.

I might be able to score the processor for very little or even free through my sis who works for the big chip company. I am trying to see if I can get discounts on NUC, I heard they are coming with a new baytrail powered one.

I would have to buy MB, case, RAM in that case.

Cases are too big, the barebones and the ready made ASUS/Q190 are way cool looking. Looks are important too, do not want a ugly case near my sexy TV. VivoPC is just gorgeous with metallic finish.

Do you guys have any good recommendation for a small good looking case case.

I am caught up in this bind too. The problem with Nuc is that other components will be quite expensive especially storage. However like you rightly pointed out, baytrail nuc will be a killer combo and will do full HD in under 10 watts. You could run the thing easily without a fan or a fancy cabinet.

But you have to wait at least a few months.

The t series of low power chips from Intel are so tempting and especially if you are getting a discount on it. Hd4400 or hd4600 should be good even for 4k.

In my case, I also want light to mid level gaming - want to use it as a steam machine once the controller comes out early next year. I am waiting for amd kaveri, hopefully a sub 70 watt model. It will give realistic full HD gaming options.

 

[dheerajjotwani]

Not to deviate but to me the cubox looks stellar. Smallest 2" cube form factor and it does and has it all. Works well with xbmc so could be a small and efficient htpc replacement

tapped on Note II cdma

 

[k11]

However like you rightly pointed out, baytrail nuc will be a killer combo and will do full HD in under 10 watts. You could run the thing easily without a fan or a fancy cabinet.

But you have to wait at least a few months.

Will call up tomorrow to see if there is a way to grab one before it hits the stores. I read the price is $139 and release date is Q1 2014. It is pretty light so can be transported it easily. So many people will be coming to India for holidays.


Coming to the parts for NUC, I think it is just the RAM and SSD.
A 4GB stick should not cost a lot. SSD seems optional.
Am I missing something?

 

[k11]

Going back to Baytrail

Why cant we use the new Baytrail Tablets as HTPCs.

Most of them have Micro-HDMI, there must be some wire to connect it to TV/Receiver HDMI. USB can hookup to external harddrives and USB sticks. They run windows and android.

They should consume the lowest power and still perform pretty decently.

Don't know if 1080p stream is possible, but atleast it should do 720p.

Bay Trail Z3740 Steaming 1080p Video to a TV - ASUS Transformer Book T100 - Video Dailymotion

The above video shows it is possible.

Comments?

 

[asliarun]

Not to deviate but to me the cubox looks stellar. Smallest 2" cube form factor and it does and has it all. Works well with xbmc so could be a small and efficient htpc replacement

tapped on Note II cdma

If you are going down the ARM/Android path, then the Minix Neo X7 or X5 is worth considering.

 

[asliarun]

Going back to Baytrail

Why cant we use the new Baytrail Tablets as HTPCs.

Most of them have Micro-HDMI, there must be some wire to connect it to TV/Receiver HDMI. USB can hookup to external harddrives and USB sticks. They run windows and android.

They should consume the lowest power and still perform pretty decently.

Don't know if 1080p stream is possible, but atleast it should do 720p.

Bay Trail Z3740 Steaming 1080p Video to a TV - ASUS Transformer Book T100 - Video Dailymotion

The above video shows it is possible.

Comments?

That's a goode idea! Baytrail based NUC is launching in a few months. But again, considering this is Intel, it might be expensive.

You could also do something like this. It allows for a 35W CPU so technically, you could even fit an Intel i3-4330T in it, and you will get all the processing and GPU power you will need.

 

[haisaikat]

Zebronics mini series cabinets is also a good and cost effective option as I am using one myself.

Regarding adding storage, since HTPC storage does not require great poerformance as that of a NAS, I would recommend getting a used 2.5 or 3.5 HDD from ebay.in for less than 2K (1600) and put that to use. buy the ram brand new to match the htpc mobo and cpu

 

[van]

Barebones
Intel NUC Celeron
Gigabyte Brix Celeron
ZBox Atom/Celeron

Ready to use
ASUS VivoPC Celeron
Lenovo Q190 Celeron

Which is a good buy in terms of value for money, power consumption, adding remote for power on/off, flexibility to upgrade however limited it may be.

Looking at a celeron machine, which can play 1080p bluray rips, low power use while playing music, internet radio.
XBMC would be preffered.

Core i-3 or i-5 are kind of out of budget and might be an overkill.

Are these available in India (stores/online)?...

i called up Asus exclusive store in Bangalore...but the sales person...did not have any knowledge of the ViVoPC.

 

[k11]

ASUS VivoPC I think is India product. It is not available in US.

Lenovo Q190 might not be available in India, but it is available all over SE Asia, Singapore/Thailand and Europe/US/UK/Brazil.

ZBox is available in India and rest of the world.

Gigabyte Brix comes from Taiwan/China. Bit harder to get.
But you can ask at computer shops.

Intel NUC might not be available in India as far as I know. It is easily available in US.

 

[thx911]

The problem is of Availability, even if its available the pricing doesn't help a decision in favor of the small form factor PC. I'm currently looking for a small PC/Laptop/Nettop just to be used as a transport and none of the above PC's make sense from a pricing standpoint. So i'm leaning towards a Asus Nettop that sells for around 16K on flipkart.

 

[ujjwaana]

If you are going down the ARM/Android path, then the Minix Neo X7 or X5 is worth considering.

I too have a Minix Neo X7 which does 1080p on XBMC now. It is extremely low powered - running on a 5v/2A Adapter and runs almost cool to finger touch. It has Dual band WiFi, 3x USB OpenGL supported HDMI and SPDIF out. If you are not planning to play Windows Games, and intend this to be a serious Media player /AnyShare kind of streaming, this could be another good option. Just look at this beauty - Looks like bigger brother of Apple TV in foot print and look, this is definitely the future of Media PCs

 

[sound1]

Have you guys checked out Fit PC? I was looking for a fanless PC (not HTPC) and came across this. Specs look good but a little pricy, good value if you order bare bones. Fit PC - Products