Any drawbacks on a mini pc?

[smokafatty]

Was thinking about getting one of these (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=56-150-006&depa=0) for a high school graduation present. I've never used a mini pc before is there any drawbacks to them?

[TierraDelFuego]

hey smoka,

from experience the only drawback is the obvious one, not much room for expansion. Their cooling is, in general, excellent for such a confined space.

[noyfb™]

I have the MSI Mega PC, and i love it.

Pros: Size, quiet, smart.

Cons:expansion restrictions.

now you can get bigger hdds, you only need one hdd.

i would not go back to a midi or a tower case.:)

[a_rouse]

Is any make particularly better than the other??

We have a family friend who builds shuttles, and i'm pretty sure does them quite reasonably but i could be wrong. I think he quoted:

2.8/2.6 ghz P4
120GB HDD
512 Ram
DVD CD RW combo,
and then medium spec GeForce or equivilant

for £450 or something. Is this cheap, or can others build and sell it for less?

[CHR15]

Sounds quite reasonable really, take a look at www.Ebuyer.com (http://www.ebuyer.com/) in fact this link is for a shuttle barebone:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51056#pinfo

you can save money by going for an AMD system though.

I was thinking of building one of these (if they get them in stock!)

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=49396

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/slim_pc/slm/pro_slm_detail.php?UID=431

[noyfb™]

www.novatech.co.uk (http://www.novatech.co.uk) have em in stock.

[CHR15]

Thanks for the link noyfb,

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MSI-MEGABB

costs quite a bit more though at £227.95,although it does have a combo drive in it but I wouldnt want that, I'd stuff a DVD-RW in it I already have. :)


Good picture of it here.. :
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/silverstream/objectstore/images/ev-pc0407th.jpg

Im talking myself into definitely getting one now... Sorry for highjacking your post Smokafatty :beer: didnt mean it :)

[Dave2986]

I asked a m8, who loves mini pc about the first one you posted this is what he said

that mini pc is based around a motherboard made by the same company as mine, i know someone with the amd version and they are very good, only drawback to them is you can't run an ati all-in-wonder card in them with that psu you have to buy a newer 250w version, it'll run everything else though and look very cool while it does it aswell.

[nimbles]

Hey ho chaps,

My bro has asked me to look into getting one of these for his room- Anyone got any opinions on the MSI systems (looking at the MEGA 180 deluxe- cos it'll take amd cpu's so cpu will be cheaper) He basically wants something for office/internet/ maybe a bit of cd burning. Its got card reader built in- and he's got quite into photography so thats one less thing he has to buy on top

Here's (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.asp?bn=10150) the systems stocked by komplett which from a brief scouring of the usual vendors seems to have the best price for the barebone system itself.

I'm veering towards one of the two msi bundles so that i can get my old tv off him :D as i can get the tv tuner card for it (cos of the size i'm not sure any old TV tuner card will fit in the dinky little case)- and i can nab his hifi off him too (its got AM/FM + CD/MP3 on cd playback- when the pc is off).

Any body have any experiences with the MSI models in particular? from what i've read cos its so small it may run hot particularly if i lug something in the one available PCI slot.

Also do these shuttle pcs have standard ide cables for the HD and optical drives- or do i need to get additional converters.

Its getting a bit pricey though- priced it up on komplett with following components

Athlon 2800xp+
512mb Crucial Pc2700 ram (2x 256)
80gb WD HD (think it was the 2mb cache version)
Liteon 16x52x32x52 DVD/CD-RW drive
Logitech Keyboard & Optical Mouse
+ a 15" TFT, and still struggling to keep it under £700 inc vat & del :eek: which is the budget he wanted to stick too

any ideas on alternarive stockists maybe? Just Used Ebuyer, Microdirect, Komplett.

As always, any help greatly appreciated guys :t_up: