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#361549 - 02/05/2014 02:06 Best SFF PC?
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
I'm looking for a Windows box with a very small form factor. Like, the kind of size that can fit behind a wall-mounted TV (not flush-mounted, of course).

My preference is for a computer running Windows 7, with enough oomph to run video calling applications like Go To Meeting. I suppose Atom CPUs are out because I'd like to be able to have it do HD video (at least, my Atom-powered netbook is incapable of handling HD Youtube). It should also be able to drive a TV, so HDMI is good.

I guess what I'm hoping for is the successor to the Acer Aspire Revo. Is there such a thing? Didn't Intel have some sort of platform they launched recently?
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#361550 - 02/05/2014 02:34 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
Okay, I answered my last question. I was thinking of the Intel NUC. Has anyone played with one of those?
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Matt

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#361551 - 02/05/2014 10:26 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14491
Loc: Canada
The Zotac ZBOX line of mini-PCs predate the NUCs, and have been filling that niche for many years.

The CPU is not that important so long as the graphics chipset is capable. So a ZBOX with an Atom is fine so long as it is paired with a discrete NVIDIA GPU chip. In the case of the all-Intel NUC thingies, the CPU and graphics are the same chip, so it matters more there.

No direct experience with a NUC here, but I have set up many, many ZBOX machines as combined MythTV frontend/backend PVRs, and they have zero issues with playback of pretty much anything. A NUC running Windows will probably be just as capable if not more so.

Cheers

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#361553 - 02/05/2014 11:34 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
JBjorgen
carpal tunnel

Registered: 19/01/2002
Posts: 3584
Loc: Columbus, OH
Depends on what you want to do with it. PVR? Streaming? Games? Skype?

Are you planning on running Windows MCE? Plex? XBMC?

The new NUCs are slightly larger (and uglier IMHO), but can use a standard 2.5" drive and use the newer, more energy efficient Haswell processors.

The previous generation require a mSATA drive, which can get pricey in a hurry. Here's a great price on a previous gen Core i3 NUC
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#361554 - 02/05/2014 17:27 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
BartDG
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/05/2001
Posts: 2616
Loc: Bruges, Belgium
Gigabyte also has their Brix range.
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#361555 - 02/05/2014 20:13 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31594
Loc: Seattle, WA
Mac Mini with the wireless mini keyboard and mouse? Can even boot that into Win7 if you want.
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#361556 - 02/05/2014 20:45 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
K447
old hand

Registered: 29/05/2002
Posts: 798
Loc: near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Originally Posted By: Dignan
I'm looking for a Windows box with a very small form factor. Like, the kind of size that can fit behind a wall-mounted TV (not flush-mounted, of course)...
You want to mount it behind the TV because there is no HDMI cable to feed the TV from elsewhere?

Does the power brick also need to fit back there?

How much space do you have to work with?

What about fan noise? Fan-less a requirement?

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#361563 - 03/05/2014 20:27 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
pedrohoon
enthusiast

Registered: 06/08/2002
Posts: 333
Loc: The Pilbara, Western Australia
Originally Posted By: Dignan
Okay, I answered my last question. I was thinking of the Intel NUC. Has anyone played with one of those?


I have recently bought a NUC D54250WYKH with win8.1 to replace my girlfriends old winXP machine. 8GB RAM, 120GB mSATA HD.

Nice looking little box, seems fast enough for her needs (MS office, web browsing, emails, Google Earth mainly), can be VESA mounted (assuming the monitor's stand does not take up the mount already), dead silent, runs cool (although nothing she does is stressing it). Four USB 3.0 ports (more would always be nice!). I feel it would look cleaner if all the ports were at the rear but not a big deal, especially if VESA mounted.

Pity about the win8.1 POS UI (fixed by Classic Shell)! Actually, once you do that, win8.1 is not too bad. Fast to boot up and shut down, quite snappy response in use and much like win7. Also, all of the older programs from XP that we needed will still work despite the upgrade advisor (or whatever it is called) deeming them incompatible.


Edited by pedrohoon (03/05/2014 20:32)
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"I spent 90% of my money on women, drink and fast cars. The rest I wasted." - George Best

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#361584 - 04/05/2014 20:45 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
andym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
I had a Zotac ID41 in the living room until I realised I could actually achieve everything I needed with a Roku streaming stick and the Plex app. Now it's a test client machine for a project I'm working on. Nice machine, it would happily play all the HD stuff I could throw at it.
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Andy M

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#361760 - 20/05/2014 20:51 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
Taym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
I've been using 4 NUCs at home (HTPC) and in the office for various projects. I am very, very pleased with them. If I can help with anything specific, I'll be happy to. They definitely do all you mention in your very first post.
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#361814 - 27/05/2014 17:13 Re: Best SFF PC? [Re: Dignan]
Daria
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
when i thought my old sff pc had died i got a zotac. it *was* dead, but the one i had was fine, and then i retired it anyway, but the zotac stuff looks quite nice given the size and the price. are the nucs actually capable of HD video? might have to revisit this for some applications soon, tho at this point a single mac mini is handling everything at home

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