Suggestions for Kitchen PC

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mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek

#38239 27-Jul-2009 09:34

Hi

I have a need for a touch screen PC that I can attach to the wall in the Kitchen for browsing and watching TV with perhaps a shopping list also. We also want to be able to run a Media Portal TV client on it. MP has a standalone TV client that seems to be fairly light on resources. The ideal is a touch screen based PC that has everything incorporated into the screen rather than a seperate PC box and screen.

Looking around, the most useful option seems to be the ASUS ET1602 or the MSI equivalent. I reviewed the Shuttle X50 but it did not stack up as well as the ASUS or the MSI in the reviews that I read. Each of these run the Atom PC which is certainly not the fastest option, but given that we are not looking for a desktop machine, perhaps this is good enough.

I wondered if anyone else has been down this path and found an option that works reasonably well. One of the main aspects is the ability to connect the screen to a wall mounted stand!

Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Cheers Mike

garvani

1873 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#239265 27-Jul-2009 09:46

I have the perfect solution for you! i ran into the director of this company at the Christchurch Ingram tech show this time last week. He develops a kitchen pc based on the msi touchscreen pc you mentioned.. The software looked quite good, and does all you want including, tv, movies, radio, recipes. shopping list and much more.. Plus its all developed in New Zealand. check it out here Link

You dont get to see the recipes and shopping list integration in the video, but its very well done.

mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek

#239304 27-Jul-2009 11:50

Thanks garvani. Unfortunately that option is very expensive at over $4K compared to around $1500 for the MSI or ASUS. Nice option though - thanks.

Cheers Mike

garvani

1873 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#239307 27-Jul-2009 11:58

$4k? Really? good god. Considering its made from the MSI component, he is charging $2500 odd for the software. Where did you find the price? Keep in mind though you will be hard pressed to find an all in one peice of software that does what you want for little money, but $2500k is a tad excessive!!

event2

188 posts

Master Geek

#239316 27-Jul-2009 12:29

Maybe the extra cost is a non stick Teflon coating for easy rinse and wipe cleaning

mruane

420 posts

Ultimate Geek

#239331 27-Jul-2009 13:25

If you dig around the ili site you will find a price list PDF. It seemed to me a little over the top for a box that can be purchased for around $NZ1450 retail! However as event2 notes - teflon could be expensive!

The only issue with the MSI box (which appears better spec'd with the dual core Atom) is that there does not appear to be anyway of mounting it using a standard VESA mount. So perhaps part of the cost is work on the case to support a wall mount! The ASUS appears to have a mounting capability

Cheers Mike