Laptop Client or HTPC?

[Suricatta]

Hi,

I have spent the best part of a day investigating whether to go for a Laptop Client or build a HTPC

I have about £400 ($600 US) to spend.

I quite fancy a laptop client but I have few questions

If a laptop will work as a client, what's the minimum spec I need?
Can you set up a remote with it?
Would the fan be too noisy? I want it in my living room

If the laptop is a non starter can anyone recommend a case, it needs to be black and slimish and preferably less than £100.

Thanks in anticipation.

[imagn]

Before fully answering your question it would be good to know if you plan on doing High Def or Sd and I'm not sure but do you have any H264 High Def channels in your country.

I have a basic laptop see link Acer Aspire 4730z
http://www.notebook-driver.com/laptops-i...fications/

And have set up GBPVR as a client.

Standard Def stuff is fine to play and I play it wirelessly.
HD is a little iffy but it works and I do get decent playback, but needed some configuring. I have vista on it and I only have analog VGA output on Laptop which causes an issue with Vista. so my recommendation is to get one with DVI out and a decent video card

I have a 42 inch plasma and I was not able to use the VGA out to get full resolution which obviously will impact any TV/movie watching heavily.

I have a MCE remote with the usb ir receiver working quite well with GBPVR (which i fully tested with my laptop as well and no problems there), I also use LM Remote map to configure the remote key as some did not work in GBPVR without some redefining, and LM was really easy to use.

So as a replacement I went with what's in my sig as a client, which cost me a total of $350 usd and have finally got it configured to work really well.

The case I used was an apex see link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811154087

and has been a wonder, after I changed the case fan to a less noisy one (but it was only a $10 change) and now its virtually silent.

I do however caution you to put a large amount of research into the 780g 790gx board, search the forum for other who have them and see the problems they have encountered (It has taken a month to find the best ati drivers and codec combination for decent playback, but I am happy with it now

Alternatively I would recommend looking at getting a PCH client, with Martins work on mvpmcx2 it is a super client, and virtually silent

[Suricatta]

Thanks for the reply and advice.

I wasn't planning to go HD yet but it's a good point, so I might keep it in mind.

I like that case it's a nice price and good looking but I can't find it in the UK.

I will definitely check out PCH as a client, I don't know much about but will investigate now. Now I know that laptops are OK as clients I will compare and try to improve on your spec.

[martint123]

I went for a PCH box for use here. It was when the exchange rate was a lot better though, the prices are a bit steep now, but still cheaper than a laptop especially if you want HD at some point. If you go for a diskless one then it is totally silent.
I got mine from their website (http://www.popcornhour.com) I think Scan carry them, but at a bit of an eye-watering price. It could be worth it for a UK warranty (mine had to be returned, but it didn't cost too much - just the board, but it took a few weeks turnaround).

[sub]

I think the new small nvidia ION devices look pretty nice for a client. The Asus B206/2B204, Acer Aspire Revo, or preferrably a dual core model like the soon to be released Asus B208 or the bundle half way down this page http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=53

[pBS]

those are sweet...just like the new mac mini...[9400 inside it also now]
25 watts, now that's low power...

hmm,i think i could make a solar powered one...:eek:
i wonder how many AA batteries it would take to make it go? lol
i thought they were gonna be smaller..

[mvallevand]

I don't think the Asus eeboxes are ION's and they probably don't have what it takes to compete in anything but price. There is another ION the ASRock ION 330 which might be worth a look http://www.asrock.com/nettop/spec/ION%20330.asp

Martin

[ACTCMS]

I don't have a PCH (no HD source yet...), but I do have 4 MVPs which are excellent for SD Mpegs and completely painless - no faffing about with codecs OS updates etc.

When I get around to looking at HD stuff, I'll definitely be going the PCH route rather than a PC client.

Just my 2p worth...

[pBS]

so the ion is just a low power 9400? cool..
i'm seriously thinking about this one for myself..http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=52
it's a 9300 onboard w/wifi also and only 99.
[i'm assuming under 150$ US]

with a real processor and a nice pciex16 slot, i'm good to go for more than a client..
it'll even take a quad core...and do hybrid sli...lol :eek:

[sub]

I don't think the Asus eeboxes are ION's and they probably don't have what it takes to compete in anything but price.

True they're not ION based. The older Asus B202 were utter crap with some Intel onboard graphics, but the B204/B206 have the much more respectable ATI Radeon HD 3450 GPU. These are capable of Blu-Ray and H.264 playback etc.

The not-yet-available Asus B208 has a dual core atom (N330), and the even newer ATI Radeon HD 4530, which is even more capable.

That said, anything from ATI would have you worrying about if the drivers would work, so a dual core atom on nvidia ION probably sounds like a better idea.