What Nettop / Mini PC

[spac3d]

Hello,

I work for a web agency and we often have to demonstrate stuff on a 32" LCD thats connected to a old nettop/miniPC. It's pretty slow, and was wondering if anyone could recommend something that is:

snappy that will load up quite quickly/opens programs,
run firefox + office nicely
hopefully win7
Wired/Wireless, doesnt matter
NO CD/DVD needed
HDMI 1080p desktop (No gaming)

Cheers!

[Kumagoro]

If you are after some decent cpu power in something smallish there is the zotac id81
The cpu is twice ad good as an amd e450 and the gpu apparantly as good allegedly as its a sandybridge celeron.

Stick an ssd in and you are well away. Its only about 200 at ccl too.

http://www.cclonline.com/product/748...ni-PC/BRB0086/

There is the tiny foxconn nt-a3500 with an e350 as well which I am thinking of getting.
For 160

http://www.cclonline.com/product/576...ettop/BRB0072/

[DDY]

The Acer Revo seems like popular nettop, here's an E450 based machine ready to go bar the OS for £180 delivered.

[spac3d]

What do you think of This?

[DanceswithUnix]

If you want to impress then ditch the nettop form factor, they are all too slow.

You need a Shuttle.

They are still quite small, to the point that you can get carry bags for them which is handy for off site demos. They are more expensive than a nettop, but you get the full performance of a desktop and they look fantastic.

In theory you could get a mini-itx machine with the same performance, but I doubt you can get one that looks as good.

There are companies that will fully assemble a system for you, but here is what they usually sell, a motherboard & psu assembled into a case.

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Componen...ttle-Barebones

[Ulti]

Personally I'd take this: http://www.ebuyer.com/288843-lenovo-...ettop-vc71huk?

And replace it with a 64GB Crucial M4. 64GB should be enough for what you suggested. You can sell the 320GB drive to slightly offset the 64GB Crucial M4 and it won't run above £200. It doesn't have an OS so I'd advise you to take the key for the OS from the old nettop if that's allowed.

I think it'll be better than an AMD APU or full sized fat processor.

Contrary to what DanceswithUnix says, I think a nettop is perfect WHEN you pair it with an SSD. I was thinking of getting that myself but realised I could build something like that myself for roughly the same price with more CPU power but this was only because I had the parts available (Antec ISK100 Case £60 + Celeron G540 £33 + Biostar TH61 ITX £43 + 4GB RAM 2nd hand £12 + Crucial C300 64GB Refurb £46).

[DanceswithUnix]

Absolutely disagree.

This is a demonstration machine, and you don't want to demonstrate that something is OK, you want perfection.
That rules out E350 and utterly rules out Atom (specially for web work where single threaded performance is key).

You also don't want to demonstrate with a monster sized workstation as that looks like you are throwing muscle at the problem.

The point of a Shuttle is that you *can* throw some muscle at the problem, and it looks like you aren't. On top of that they are quiet, highly portable, and really nice looking.

I would hate to lose a contract because there were a few pregnant pauses in a presentation from under powered kit.

The system that Spac3d linked earlier looks usable, though I would worry about its 90W psu.

[wasabi]

Agree- if you want proper snappy, go with SSD and ideally 4 gigs RAM. Which might be a bit high spec for true nettop type machines so personally I'd go for a small form factor desktop machine with a 'proper' processor.

Dell do plenty of small Optiplex machines with i3 processors - not sure if they do them with SSDs though so you might have to buy that bit separately.
.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Perhaps you could go with an ISK110 case or this Shuttle system:

http://www.ebuyer.com/340610-shuttle...s-chipset-xh61

Both have 90W PSUs. I would suggest a Core i3 2105 as the HD3000 IGP has more grunt than the HD2000 IGP in the Core i3 2100.

[DanceswithUnix]

Perhaps you could go with an ISK110 case or this Shuttle system:

http://www.ebuyer.com/340610-shuttle...s-chipset-xh61

Both have 90W PSUs. I would suggest a Core i3 2105 as the HD3000 IGP has more grunt than the HD2000 IGP in the Core i3 2100.

OP did link an ISK110 based i3 machine above

Came to 450 quid including VAT if you configured with Windows 7 pro, so I guess that is the target to beat.

Novatech had something similar but slightly more expensive in their business PC range.

[Ulti]

Absolutely disagree.

This is a demonstration machine, and you don't want to demonstrate that something is OK, you want perfection.
That rules out E350 and utterly rules out Atom (specially for web work where single threaded performance is key).

You also don't want to demonstrate with a monster sized workstation as that looks like you are throwing muscle at the problem.

The point of a Shuttle is that you *can* throw some muscle at the problem, and it looks like you aren't. On top of that they are quiet, highly portable, and really nice looking.

I would hate to lose a contract because there were a few pregnant pauses in a presentation from under powered kit.

The system that Spac3d linked earlier looks usable, though I would worry about its 90W psu.

If it's a demonstration machine I don't think it'll need to be particularly high powered? I mean it really depends on what type of work his web agency does but I can't imagine it being really heavy on the CPU.

I don't think you've used the newer atoms such as the D2700 or low powered sandybridge processors such as the i3-2357M or perhaps even a Pentium G620 - my point is you really don't even need something like an i3 for that sort of work. The D2700 +6450 combo is faster than the E450 APU.

Also, 90W is plenty for anything such as an i3 or below, especially the power brick in the Antec ISK100. I'm sure the one in the Shuttle is also good. Of course if it was a bad/unknown 90W PSU then I would worry but these two cases have good ones. Also I'd note that you should get the ISK100 over the newer ISK110 as it is slightly thinner and has a 100mm fan on the side which really helps with the cooling and temps and it's practically silent with some fan control on the board.

The SSD will really make a big difference though and I think a 64GB one will be enough for a demonstration machine.

Of course, at the end of the day, if money and size isn't an issue, then either the Shuttle or ISK100 would be the better choice as they're not much bigger than an average nettop (and could probably be classed as one) and you could upgrade it in the future if it ever feels slow as mini ITX is receiving more attention and R&D.

[DanceswithUnix]

The thing with the PSU is this.
90W is the PSU maximum limit.
65W is the CPU TDP, thats a thermal design guide NOT an upper limit.

So add in 10W for motherboard, 5W for ram, 7W for an active hard drive. When that CPU turbos, you are pushing the PSU up to or possibly over the edge. Companies sell these configuratios so I guess they at least sort of work, but again it comes down to the corporate environment where it absolutely has to work on the day if you have a customer coming in.

As for the demo machine CPU requirements, demos I have seen have sometimes involved the back end server work as well. Sometimes with Oracle running on there. Perhaps the OP isn't doing that, perhaps they will in the future. Doesn't cost much to have that covered.

[Kumagoro]

Not really on topic but I went and bought the q180 cheers ulti for the in-direct help.
Strangely ebuyers stock level still hasn't gone down I wonder if I will actually get one.
Pity they don't make these small boxes with room to fit two 7mm drives.

[spac3d]

Not sure what we'll be going for just yet but given the boss my ideas/your ideas