Mini Pc !!! Advice pls

[SGCMav]

Hi all

I've decided to go for a mini of to hide behind my tv, can anyone recommend some pc shops as I only know overclockers and dabs.
Time to get rid of my desktop and free the spare room up.

Also does anyone have a mini pc and could recommend one in particular ??

My budget is around £500 I wouldn't be using it for gaming much, but would like HDMI, wifi, decent cinema audio 7:1 etc

Thanks very much

 

[LJx]

Scan, CCL , Aria, Ebuyer, Amazon, - are you building it yourself?

 

[EndlessWaves]

Misco, KustomPCs, Novatech, Oyyy etc.

Also, specialists like Mini-ITX.com, ITX Warehouse, LinITX.

The first thing to establish for spec advice is what you consider a Mini PC? How small are you looking for? The above are great for PC components for building systems the size of a fat DVD player or bread bin but if you're looking for PCs the size of a thick paperback you'll need to look elsewhere for pre-built systems or a different architecture.

Also, do you have any mounting requirements, would you like the system to be VESA mount compatible so you can screw it to the back of the TV (assuming the TV's current stand doesn't get in the way)?

 

[SGCMav]

I'm not looking at building one myself, im not the best with building pc's.

I was looking at this site:

PCSPECIALIST - Intel Htpc PC, Intel Htpc Computers, Build Your Own Intel Htpc PC

With a AMD A6 3500, with everything I want comes in at £506

Just looking for a small box really, to sit behind the tv on my sub woofer, needs to connect to tv via HDMI, also needs wifi and a bluray (want it future proof) also saves switching on the PS3 to watch films.

Hadn't thought about VESA my tv is freestanding at the mo on a wooden unit, it is angled across the corner so I have all the space behind it to hide it. The unit needs to be as quiet as possible


Thanks for your advice

 

[EndlessWaves]

PCSPECIALIST - Intel Htpc PC, Intel Htpc Computers, Build Your Own Intel Htpc PC

Ah, you're looking at rather large mini PCs then. Those are standard tower PCs but half the width (narrowest dimension). They're extremely common and there's a huge range to choose from, even Dell does them:
Dell Inspiron 660s Desktop Details | Dell UK

 

[SGCMav]

I thought these were small lol, 150mm x 440mm x 320 mm (H x W x D)

 

[EndlessWaves]

I thought these were small lol, 150mm x 440mm x 320 mm (H x W x D)

I assumed you were looking at one of the thinner cases there, at 150mm that's not even low profile.

As an example a quick look on ebuyer for an AMD desktop PC brings up this machine from HP in a standard tower case, dimensions:

165mm x 389mm x 368mm

While you can get bigger PCs for tinkerers and high end systems, those sorts of dimensions and an mATX motherboard are the normal size for your average computer these days.

Compare the dimensions of the mini PC range at PCSpecialist with the HTPC range you're looking at if you want an idea of the larger end of what's typically considered a 'mini pc'

 

[SGCMav]

Thanks very much for getting back to me, what is the range that's smaller than a mini-pc ? If there is one ?

Looking at the HP one, it does look on the large size, the pcspecialist place do two I like:

225mm x 76mm x 193mm
Or
96mm x 222mm x 328mm

Some come with a wifi pcie card and others don't, but they offer a Wireless N high gain USB adapter 150mbps, I'm currently on fibre optic broadband. Would this adapter be ok or do i really need the PCI card ?

Many thanks

 

[EndlessWaves]

Thanks very much for getting back to me, what is the range that's smaller than a mini-pc ? If there is one ?

Generally mini-ITX at ~200x200x50 is the smallest you can get for 'full power' components, the next step down is low power systems based on chips such as the Intel Atom and AMD E-450 which can go down to about 160x160x2.5. Below that there's a couple of specialist windows-compatible X86 chips such as VIA's pico-ITX systems and finally the ARM chips you'll find in Phones, Tablets, Rasberry Pis and the like which Windows won't run on until Windows 8 comes out later this year.

Mini-ITX.com have a list of mini-ITX cases organised by volume here.

 

[MrR0b0T]

Have you considered something like an Asrock ION 3D ? These make a good HTPC both small and quiet.

 

[SGCMav]

Thanks very much about the info on the mini-itx, I will have a look at that website.

The Asrock ION looks really smart, it has the HDMI I want and the Blu-ray drive. Will have a look into it today.

Thanks guys !!!!

 

[nonumb]

Also look at revos. Eee box etc all fine for htpc uses but not great for gaming.

 

[Trollslayer]

Thanks very much about the info on the mini-itx, I will have a look at that website.

The Asrock ION looks really smart, it has the HDMI I want and the Blu-ray drive. Will have a look into it today.

Thanks guys !!!!

I have an Atom/Ion based PC, handles XBMC including Blu-ray rips wiithout any problem.