How good would this be as a HTPC?

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Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › How good would this be as a HTPC?

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#171781 30-Apr-2015 23:07

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I'm looking at options for a HTPC, and I was wondering how well this Gigabyte Brix would suit my needs:

Gigabyte Brix

It appears to have the SSD and RAM pre-installed, and would just need an OS to complete the build (which suits me fine). I like that it's fanless, given the living room is small and therefore we would sit close to the machine.

My main requirements are being able to stream NZ TV On Demand sites, YouTube, any other SVOD services I can't get on Apple TV or PS3, and general web surfing. I'd also like to run Kodi on it. I don't intend to game, record TV or store large files. It would be nice to stream downloaded content from my Mac but not a deal breaker as I can do that on my Home Theatre System thanks to a cool wee programme on the Mac called Playback. I'd like it to operate smoothly and responsively, and run Windows.

Or would I be better off going for the J1900 processor with a smaller hard drive for $40 extra?

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

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littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1296061 3-May-2015 11:47

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I spent a bit of time yesterday experimenting with an old Acer Aspire One netbook plugged into the TV and it quickly became apparent that my main requirement is just streaming and a bit of surfing. Both my PVR and home theatre hub play videos across the network from my Mac just fine, and none of those are much more than 1080p H.264, or the odd MKV. So that means $700+ to get a decent NUC or Mac Mini is just overkill. I also feel like $450+ for a lower-end NUC is more money than I'm comfortable spending for that small purpose. So I did some research and purchased a Minix Neo Z64 with Win 8.1 with Bing for $211. Expansys are doing no-GST on purchases under $400, which is good timing. The unit has reviewed really well and seems capable of what I need it to do, and it's at a price point where I can accept the limitations.

In a few years when the TV and home theatre need updating, I'll probably reconfigure the whole setup and pop a decent full-purpose machine in there, but for now I'm hoping the Minix will fill the little gap.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

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