Torn between a Revo & a Laptop

I'm in need of a new home PC as my laptop (only PC in the house) seems to be on the fritz.
I will have a dedicated space for it that I didn't have previously so I can consider a desktop now.

I'm after something small so it'd probably be a Revo or similar, problem is a dual core Revo has no optical drive & is about £190, for just over £200 I can get a (refurb) laptop with a 1.66Ghz C2D, optical drive & no need for an extra screen! (I've only looked quickly @ Bigpockets.co.uk)

HDD wise I don't need much 60Gb is enough, I'd probably end up buying an external monitor whichever route I went so that cost isn't under consideration. I'm leaning towards the Revo (for the HDMI) but that seems to be it's only benefit & think I'm making the wrong choice!

So, any suggestions?!

Cheers,

Rob

Why would you want HDMI?

To be honest, it seems a fairly obvious choice to me. The laptop will be faster, has a free OD, has a free screen, both will have 2.5" hard drives, and they're more or less the same price. And the laptop is portable.

I feel like I'm missing something!

Plus, even a dual core atom = slow for anything other than browsing and even then...

Maybe worth considering something like a USFF (Ultra Small Form Factor) PC from Dell? We have some Optiplexes at work for easying moving (PC behind the LCD). Even the SFF are quite dinky and come with optical/dedi graphics/decent cpu etc.. more expensive though.

Given previous statements I too would be leaning towards the laptop

No contest. Go for the laptop.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snootyjim

I feel like I'm missing something!

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Refurb laptop, is what you're missing, granted if it's being used as a desktop then issues like failing battaries is not going to be an issue.
Most laptops develope issue between 3 and 5 years old in my experience, so I am a bit wary of them.

However a c2d refurb for £200 is a good price, what's the rest of it like and where from?

I thought I was missing something too, HDMI would be used for if I decided to link it to my TV/spare TV for any reason.

laptop @ Bigpockets - £204.99

Dell D620
1.66Ghz C2D
14.1" Screen
1Gb RAM
40Gb HDD
DVDROM/CDRW
XP Pro

Nothing special but with a touch more RAM (which I have in this dying laptop) & another HDD (again I have one) it'd surely beat the Revo to death?!

Also Dell D620 - same spec but 1.86Ghz C2D @ £225
Compaq NC6400, same spec but 60Gb HDD + DVDRW @ £225

If its for playing movies etc under the telly - then an atom based pc (revo) is quiet and cheap for that.

If you're going to be sat at the computer, then a C2D will be much much better.

Note also that a C2D is actually MORE power efficient than an atom in terms of power per watt:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...y,2069-13.html
Basically give the atom and C2D the same benchmark, and the C2D will consume less total watts
for the entire job. The atom's main plus is its cheapness.

Umm that artical has a few issues, namely it's compairing a E7200 to a atom 230 (single core)
where as we really should compair a atom 330 (dual core) to a T5500 which is the cpu used in a 1.66ghz c2d laptop http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27253

Also the issue of ION vs Intel 945GM chipset, the ION is more efficient than the rather unefficient 945 and has far better performance per watt in graphics.

If you want something small here's an option

http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/prod...ode=PCF-NT330I
You need to add an SO-DIMM DDR2 (only takes one) and a 2.5" sata hard drive or SSD to it
And no dvd of course, but you could get an extrenal one eg http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/LiteO...ooks-notebooks
Although again if you've got a current laptop you could get the drive out of that and use that in an external unit, like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/External-CD-DV...item53de9e6b3b

or even the ASRock ion barebones http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ASRoc...AID-No-HDD-RAM

HDMI is nice if you want to hook it on an external screen though. The pictures from hooking my laptop to my projector via VGA isn't quite right.

I'm now really considering this, figured I might not want to risk trying to fix my laptop :/

Ooooh I'm tempted! - http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/lapto...ompaq-tc4200/2