Good HTPC for around £500 ???

Wholehearted

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Dont want to build one myself but want a small form(ish) HTPC. Not sure if I'll ever get one that reliably works with digital TV but would be nice!!!:rolleyes:

Basically a simple machine required for internet, DVD and hifi duties through Media Centre.

Bought a Philips LX2000 through PC World but it didnt work with my Philips 32" LCD!!!! Also had bought a Advent DHE2000 but it was too big for my sideboard shelf and would have overheated due to the lack of air circulation (hence the small form requirement!)

Anyone recommend/supply anything?
 
Normally don't recommend them...but what about mac mini? They start getting expensive once you add bigger HD and more memory though.

You need to have a larger space to place a HTPC, a good HTPC is around £500, but it'll be MATX so larger than that advent....but have far better cooling, quieter and upgrade potential.
 
You should have a look at Shuttle Cases and decent Micro ATX cases like those from Antec. See which one fits the dimensions you are working to and use that as your start point:

Antec Cube Micro ATX
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=CAA-NSK1300

Antec Tower Micro ATX
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=CAA-NSK3300

Antec Desktop Micro ATX
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=CAA-NSK2400

Shuttle Core2Duo / HDMI Case
http://www.icubes.co.uk/asp/product...7&cat=&ph=&keywords=&recor=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=

You can then add componets as required, I would say something like this all from Ebuyer:

Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache - OEM 130454 123 in stock £50.86
OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 5-5-5-12 GOLD XTC *SPECIAL OPS* ED 114721 39 in stock £50.03
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB Cache Retail Box Processor 132064 170 in stock £46.75
Samsung SH-S183 SATA 18x DVD±RW/RAM Black - Bare Drive OEM 127260 1039 in stock £14.99

Cart Total: £162.63

And then the best MATX mobo for a HTPC is this one from OCUK (not necessary with a shuttle type system):

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-125-AB&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=326

Hope this helps :thumbsup:
 
You would then want to finish it off with a digi TV card and probably Vista 64 Bit Home Premium to bring the system up closer to your budget :)
 
sibeer, that Advent looks like a slimline MATX, so no way Shuttle or Fusion MATX will fit.

OP needs to place the computer elseware, not build a computer that fits into the space.
 
The advent is approximately the same size as the MATX desktop above (except the desktop is a bit fatter at 140mm instead of 85mm). As such there is a good change that one of the other shapes could work with his space.

Personally i would also work on finding somewhere for a proper sized system to go rather than shoeboxing my system to suit. Sometimes though it is not really an option. Found an interesting complete system too but you would probably need to ring the manufacturer for further details:

http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=222
 
Sorry just re-read the OP's comment that he doesn't want to build one. You really are going to be struggling to get a decent windows MCE PC with a Smaff Form Factor for that budget
 
Isn't cooling a greater issue the smaller the case?
 
Yes. And noise. Smaller case=smaller fans used. Smaller fans are louder, with lower amount of airflow.
 
Looks like its a no go then!
Had though about the Acer L100 but I see they are a bit hit and miss quality wise.:confused:
 

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