PC or Laptop for The TV

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  altomic on 31/08/2017 - 11:52

  Why not an android box?

  • 

    OptimumCrush on 31/08/2017 - 11:57

    open to any suggestions. can you recommend any? My partner and I stream on about 10 different sites

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      Beanvee on 31/08/2017 - 12:22

      The Mi Box is a popular one. Lots of cheap no name chinese ones on ebay too.

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        OptimumCrush on 31/08/2017 - 12:48

        cheers, looks like great value

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  boomramada on 31/08/2017 - 11:57

  What is cheap?
  Time to time try, https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/hp or https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/dell
  then add wifi adapter or ssd.

  if its way too cheap, you may need to add dvi to hdmi adapter too

  • 

    OptimumCrush on 31/08/2017 - 12:00

    under 500

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      boomramada on 31/08/2017 - 12:05

      Keep your eye on it, https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/325590 was a good option. But you need to add stuff.
      I build my own micro ATX or you can try one of those intel UNC.

      • 

        Looking4Bargians on 31/08/2017 - 12:07

        NUC

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        boomramada on 31/08/2017 - 12:08

        @ozyboy:
        What he says ^ :)

      • 

        Looking4Bargians on 31/08/2017 - 12:10

        @boomramada: HELP

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  brokenglish on 31/08/2017 - 12:17

  +2

  As my old laptop is starting to struggle

  Maybe start with: what is the current laptop's struggle? Specs of the current laptop?
  If you want something cheap to make it fast, have you tried SSDing the current laptop?
  Maybe not Plex, but running a stream of 1080p movie to a single TV (HDMI) from old laptop should be OK (my old may not be your old though).
  So long as you don't ff/rewind the movie while it's running, you shouldn't see any lag.

  • 

    OptimumCrush on 31/08/2017 - 12:47

    It's an old gaming laptop from 2009, bought it so i could play games while travelling but it has been sitting with my bedroom TV for the last 5years.

    Acer Aspire (can't remember model)
    i think it's a 15inch, dual core, 4gb ram, nothing flashy graphics. I'm not even sure if SSD will work on it but i'll check when I get home tonight.

    • 

      jerjergege on 31/08/2017 - 13:17

      +1

      As my comment below before I saw and replied to your comment, DIY perks has a youtube video in which he strips the motherboard from a laptop to make into a nice looking piece of artwork a 2009 laptop would be fine with an SSD upgrade.

      You can pull the windows key off the machine by typing this into CMD without quotations:

      "wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey"

      You can then upgrade to windows 10 using the "accessibility/assistive" upgrade feature.

      https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgra…

      Good luck and Happy DIYing!

      EDIT: Also if you want to pull specs off the computer fast, type "systeminfo> c:\systeminfo.txt" into CMD and a txt file will be made in your C drive and you can copy paste that here.

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        OptimumCrush on 31/08/2017 - 13:54

        im pretty new to this sort of thing. will check it out though

      • 

        altomic on 31/08/2017 - 23:04

        I saw that video last week. love the aluminium and laminate.

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  jerjergege on 31/08/2017 - 13:13

  If you have an old computer or laptop lying around, you can repurpose them to do this. DIY perks has a video on taking an old laptop and mounting it into a self made box that looks like a art piece.

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  thord on 31/08/2017 - 13:35

  Pretty silly to get a laptop for streaming movies to your tv. Just get a cheap celeron PC build. It'll work pefectly fine and will last a long time.