Hi all
Need your advice on the below product:
https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Dell-In…
i will only used it for checking ozbargain and download movies, watch moviess, basic stuff, no gaming. I need HDMI connection to connect it to tv as well.
thanks
OzB
Don't forget to factor in a flight to the US:
https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Dell-Inspiron-15-i5559-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.333089700
Lol someone negged that, that's hilarious! Did we not read OP's post…?
Let's all budget for American prices!
Please tell me where I can buy that laptop for AU$379, I'll take 10!
Here, have a charity +, being a Zimbabwean Trillionaire I can afford it.
I'd consider a NUC. Have a look at something like the Intel NUC BOXNUC5CPYH for $162 at MSY.
I'm sure you can probably find one for cheaper. Along with that, I'd get 4GB of RAM for $35, the vanilla DDR3 1333MHz stuff at MSY should do.
I'd also get a 120GB SSD for the OS if you intend to run Windows, though there are OSes more appropriate for a media centre PC. These cost around $59 from MSY (e.g. Transcend one). If you're super cheap, you can run a live distribution of linux off a USB key you have lying around, though I don't recommend this route.
Total: $256
This will be fine as a media centre PC. You can plug in external HDDs for storage (wait for an Amazon sale on OzB) and you're pretty much set. This is silent and is more than powerful enough to watch movies (even 4K), stream media and download stuff. The SSD means it'll be more responsive. If you open a lot of tabs when browsing the web, you might want to consider getting 8GB of RAM. Apart from that, this should be great for you.
We will be seeing the new Arches Canyon NUC's pretty soon by next month or so. https://www.simplynuc.com/product/nuc6cayh-full-system/
They'll feature processors capable of hardware-accelerated playback of 4K video encoded using HEVC and VP9 codecs. They'll also support 4K Netflix.
When that releases the old NUC's will lower in price.
You may want to consider a Raspberry Pi 3, pretty cheap mini PC ($60-$65) which meets nearly all your requirements. 4 USB ports, Ethernet port and runs via micro USB.
You can run multiple operating systems on the one RPi3 so depending on what is required just switch OS. Streaming movies via Kodi, web surfing on Raspbian and connects via HDMI. Fairly simple to setup, will take about 15-30 min and you can start.