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best "mini-pc"

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  • 21-11-2016 10:11am
    #1
    CSU
    Registered Users Posts: 459 ✭✭


    Looking for advice on some hardware.

    Being 2 months into my first real world project I wrongly took Java's tagline too literally and has me again looking for a mini-PC/embedded device to run on.

    The Raspberry pi does not fully support JavaFX.

    Does anyone have a recommendation on an x86 box similar in specs and price to the pi please?


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    #2
    CreepingDeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,015 ✭✭✭CreepingDeath


    Not sure your definition of "best", but here's one of the cheaper ones

    http://m.geekbuying.com/ItemDescription/361826

    Temporarily out of stock, but @ $69.99
    Only 2gb of ram, but the Pi only has 1gb.


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    #3
    colm_c
    Registered Users Posts: 2,031 ✭✭✭colm_c


    CSU wrote: »
    Looking for advice on some hardware.

    Being 2 months into my first real world project I wrongly took Java's tagline too literally and has me again looking for a mini-PC/embedded device to run on.

    The Raspberry pi does not fully support JavaFX.

    Does anyone have a recommendation on an x86 box similar in specs and price to the pi please?

    Is this for development or some kind of production application? Do you need usb/inputs/hdmi etc or will it be headless?


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    #4
    CSU
    Registered Users Posts: 459 ✭✭CSU


    colm_c wrote: »
    Is this for development or some kind of production application? Do you need usb/inputs/hdmi etc or will it be headless?

    Production app (my first) . . . I'll think twice in future about developing on a different architecture and making assumptions :)

    The app makes use of hdmi output, USB, networking (pin out's like the pi has would be a plus as I have opportunity to grab physical environment variables on-site rather than relying on services.)

    I see a lot on newegg but would like if someone has experience with a particular device before I commit to one (20 of).


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    #5
    14ned
    Registered Users Posts: 768 ✭✭✭14ned


    CSU wrote: »
    Looking for advice on some hardware.

    Being 2 months into my first real world project I wrongly took Java's tagline too literally and has me again looking for a mini-PC/embedded device to run on.

    The Raspberry pi does not fully support JavaFX.

    Does anyone have a recommendation on an x86 box similar in specs and price to the pi please?

    Two years ago I bought the Asus Chromebox (https://www.amazon.com/Asus-CHROMEBOX-M004U-ASUS-Desktop/dp/B00IT1WJZQ) for $170 or so when staying in the US. 1.4 GHz dual core Haswell CPU, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 16 GB SSD HDD. Very easily convertible into a normal PC with a real BIOS, and thus you can install Linux or Windows or anything else you might like.

    I appreciate $170 looks like five times more than $35 for a PI. However, that Chromebox runs off 8W of power peak (and typically 1W-2W), comes with a case and PSU and storage built in, so you're really comparing $100 or so against $170 for like for like.

    Your next question then becomes: is paying $100 for a vastly faster CPU, software that "just works" including the package repos, and a great deal of your time saved worth it?

    As a veteran of many, many ARM boards since back before ARM existed I'll tell you straight out: yes it is. RaspPI is great and all, but as with all low cost boards you swap substantial amounts of time and effort for not much money saved.

    Niall


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