Media Desktop

Folks, I am looking to purchase a media desktop for around E600 max to use in my living room, hooked up by HDMI to a 42 full HD tv and surround sound. I plan to use it for internet, email, music/movie downloading & streaming, gaming, occasional light office work and dvd/blu ray playback. Im not looking for top end gaming performance, just to be able to play F1 2010 and similar new release PC games. I would also prefer it to be reasonably small.
I dont fully get all the tech jargon with computers but after some searching around here are two machines I came across and i would appreciate any opinions as to whether they are up to the tasks/ suggestions of other suitable machines:

Acer Revo: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/236581
plan to use a USB blu ray/dvd drive with this, not sure if the graphics card is up to it...

HP Pavillion Slimline: http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfullat.asp?productcode=ECE2081863#spec
not sure if this comes with blu ray...


p.s I am assuming a laptop with similar performance would cost alot more...

thanks, Icky

iMax

Go for a mac mini with plex.

The_Thing

Before you spend a single cent have a look at this site - http://xbmc.org/
Check out their forums - http://forum.xbmc.org/

iMax

iMax wrote: »

Go for a mac mini with plex.

out of my price range, thanks

The_Thing

The_Thing wrote: »

Before you spend a single cent have a look at this site - http://xbmc.org/
Check out their forums - http://forum.xbmc.org/

been looking over that, looks smart, thanks

iMax

Deleted User wrote: »

out of my price range, thanks

It's really not. You'll get a second hand one from €200 upwards. New you're looking at around €600. Plex is free & is what xbmc aspires to be. (it was developed by the guys who developed xbmc).

desaparecidos

Mini-itx boxes (like the Revo) are nice and small, but lack power and "upgradability".

Slimlines are nice and smallish, but really constrain the hardware choices and parts will cost a small bit more. Prebuilt ones are usually ****e.

What about a self build?

A mATX cube case might be an option, not the smallest, but looks nice and is smaller than a standard ATX case.

EG: http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=9848&agid=635

This will allow you to choose a mATX motherboard, a 45W CPU (example), maybe a HD5450 graphics card (silent cooling which is good for sitting room, good for BluRay playback and decent for playing games at lower graphics settings)

Noise will be an issue for a PC in the living rooms, so Xilence fans are a really good option. Run them at 50-60% speed and they are virtually silent.

iMax wrote: »

It's really not. You'll get a second hand one from €200 upwards. New you're looking at around €600. Plex is free & is what xbmc aspires to be. (it was developed by the guys who developed xbmc).

Why recommend a mac when he clearly stated he wants to play PC games?

iMax

Didn't spot that bit but gaming would be the last thing I'd be thinking of with a media centre anyway.

desaparecidos

desaparecidos wrote: »

Mini-itx boxes (like the Revo) are nice and small, but lack power and "upgradability".

Slimlines are nice and smallish, but really constrain the hardware choices and parts will cost a small bit more. Prebuilt ones are usually ****e.

What about a self build?

A mATX cube case might be an option, not the smallest, but looks nice and is smaller than a standard ATX case.

EG: http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=9848&agid=635

This will allow you to choose a mATX motherboard, a 45W CPU (example), maybe a HD5450 graphics card (silent cooling which is good for sitting room, good for BluRay playback and decent for playing games at lower graphics settings)

Noise will be an issue for a PC in the living rooms, so Xilence fans are a really good option. Run them at 50-60% speed and they are virtually silent.



Why recommend a mac when he clearly stated he wants to play PC games?

thanks desap, would there be much of a saving going down the self build route? I am sure I could manage it with some research but I am just tight for time with work etc for the foreseable future.
Do you think the slimline I mentioned/similar one with say a few upgrades would be up to what i want? (say a pc with a intel 3.2ghz cpu, 4gb ram, 500gb hd, dedicated ATI graphics card with 1gb memory, decent sound card). I am pretty sure it would do most of what i want, my main concern is that it would not be able to play some games like mentioned or that I would have resolution issues on a 42" screen?

iMax

iMax wrote: »

Didn't spot that bit but gaming would be the last thing I'd be thinking of with a media centre anyway.

no worries, just trying to kill all birds with one stone/one unit for net/mail/sound/video/gaming

ok, after a root around on that german site and coming across the build & upgrade forum I am after putting together a basic build within my budget, first impression, a hell of a lot cheaper than the similar function of the Dell site... I will run it by peeps on the build & upgrade forum and try and get some feedback.

cheers for the replies