Recommend me a mini PC

[CFB]

I'm looking for a new Mini PC with WiFi built in.

It will be mainly used for streaming movies etc from internet to TV using hdmi.

 

Budget is around £200

 

Anyone got any recommendations what I should go for?

I'm not really tech minded so just want plug and play.

[mbames]

I might want to look around the HTPC market, as if used in a livingroom quietness will be key.

[Aspman]

I haven't tried this but I do want one to play with

 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

 

But if it's just something more basic what about a Chromecast? They are only about £30.

[@Lee]

How about a PC Mini?

 

 

[CFB]

2 hours ago, Aspman said:

I haven't tried this but I do want one to play with

 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

 

But if it's just something more basic what about a Chromecast? They are only about £30.

 

We have chromecast which we are using at the moment.

It works fine, but the PC is in the other room and it's a PITA to keep going in there every time to do stuff.

not enough space to move it into the front room, hence the need for a small unit to fit in the TV unit.

 

[RainbowFire]

If it's just for streaming movies etc, why not look at a Raspberry Pi?

[io1901]

What sort of streaming? Netflix, amazon, iplayer etc >? As things like Roku, Fire TV are generally better and easier to use than a PC.   I just replaced now TV box, Amazon Firestick with a Roku 3 (~£70) and that is quite good. (now Tv, Amazon Video, Netflix, Wauki, Crunchroll, iplayer, 4all, itvplayer, 5player and PLEX to play stuff from my PLEX server- only thing not there is the UKTV catch up.) It's quite small and the remote isn't infrared but wireless so you can squirrel the box away so it can't be seen.

 

I've used a Raspberry Pi (bit of messing about to set up)  and a PC (generally too bulky) to do the same thing.

Edited 7 April, 2017 by io1901

[CFB]

7 hours ago, io1901 said:

What sort of streaming? Netflix, amazon, iplayer etc >? As things like Roku, Fire TV are generally better and easier to use than a PC.   I just replaced now TV box, Amazon Firestick with a Roku 3 (~£70) and that is quite good. (now Tv, Amazon Video, Netflix, Wauki, Crunchroll, iplayer, 4all, itvplayer, 5player and PLEX to play stuff from my PLEX server- only thing not there is the UKTV catch up.) It's quite small and the remote isn't infrared but wireless so you can squirrel the box away so it can't be seen.

 

I've used a Raspberry Pi (bit of messing about to set up)  and a PC (generally too bulky) to do the same thing.

 

It will be used for Amazon, Netflix and iPlayer.

We have fibre broadband with BT infinity.

 

I've just checked the Roku out. Seems to do all I need.

Not sure I like the registration with credit card thing though.

Any issues I should know about with that?

[io1901]

48 minutes ago, CFB said:

 

It will be used for Amazon, Netflix and iPlayer.

We have fibre broadband with BT infinity.

 

I've just checked the Roku out. Seems to do all I need.

Not sure I like the registration with credit card thing though.

Any issues I should know about with that?

Not so far, works well with wifi and via ethernet. Needs the ocassional reboot - but then its on all the time.

[biomulv]

Tried most of them.

Firestick, roku, pi 1 , 2 , 3 , few flavours of mini PC homebuilt and bought, Chromecast, various android boxes etc etc.

 

Can't beat a mini PC with a wee ssd for versatility.  My favourite was the revo rl80 , although i now have an 85.

The 80 was less conspicuous , the newer ones are white cylinders and stick out a bit.

 

That said for the average user a decent android box is great.  My kids prefer them as they are just a big phone plugged into your TV. 

I have a couple of h96 pro + 's. 8 core, 3gb ram. USB HDD hanging off the back. Kodi et al pre installed, great bit of kit, perfect for TV use and can be had for about £60.

[Yetiherts]

Look at the Gigabyte Brix, they are barebones, start at £100 for an intel quad core and go up to an i5 and i7

I put in 4gb ram and a SSD all for about £200 fantastic bit of kit. Kodi through a PC is very easy to setup.

They also have Wifi, HDMI out, USB3, very small little brick, will take abuse with a SSD in it. I use a USB Microsoft  wireless keypad/keyboard

 

 

[Boundy123]

I bought a little Pc for under the telly about 18 months ago, was looking at the acer revo RL85 that seemed to tick all the boxes. In the end I got a HP 260 G1, as the BT online store seemed to be giving them away at only £100, it runs a Celeron 2957U, I've 6GB of ram and a 32GB SSD running Windows 10.  It runs 24/7 as it is home to my plex server and is connected to the TV via an active DP to hdmi lead as it also runs plex home theatre and Kodi, all my media is stored on a 2TB nas.  

 

Cheap as chips and even though it's not fanless, it's still virtually silent. 

[CFB]

Thanks all for your advice.

I've gone for the H96 pro+

Will let you know how I get on with set up etc.

 

[biomulv]

4 hours ago, CFB said:

Thanks all for your advice.

I've gone for the H96 pro+

Will let you know how I get on with set up etc.

 

Good choice for a TV setup.

Best thing to go with them is a Bluetooth micro keyboard / track pad.

 

We have 3 of them now. Kids have controllers / full keyboards for theirs as they also play games on them.

Edited 27 April, 2017 by biomulv

[CFB]

BT keyboard next on the list

[biomulv]

On 2017-4-27 at 21:34, CFB said:

BT keyboard next on the list

How you get on with the box?

[CFB]

It arrived today so haven't had a chance to set it up yet.

[CFB]

So, all set up and working, BUT....

I cannot get Amazon video to work.

I've tried using the website  tells me to download the Amazon AppStore app.

Done, but when I try to stream video it then says it does not support digital downloads so that ain't gonna work.

 

Any help gratefully received.

 

[biomulv]

17 hours ago, CFB said:

So, all set up and working, BUT....

I cannot get Amazon video to work.

I've tried using the website  tells me to download the Amazon AppStore app.

Done, but when I try to stream video it then says it does not support digital downloads so that ain't gonna work.

 

Any help gratefully received.

 

Not sure mate. I use the Amazon video app, downloaded via the website just fine. 

 

Apk mirror also has it.

 

I have had this box since release, around 6 months. I have had to software reset it once to solve it dropping wireless. Which it did.

 

Sorry I can't help further.

 

[biomulv]

On 2017-5-5 at 18:34, CFB said:

So, all set up and working, BUT....

I cannot get Amazon video to work.

I've tried using the website  tells me to download the Amazon AppStore app.

Done, but when I try to stream video it then says it does not support digital downloads so that ain't gonna work.

 

Any help gratefully received.

 

Get it going mate?

[CFB]

Nah!

I gave up. Sent it back to Amazon today.