Recent Mini PC purchase

[peterS]

Wanted to buy the mac mini but couldn't justify its price compared to this guy:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883265291

[PewterTA]

Nice, I like it...though I wonder with having a 1.5Ghz Celeron processor, how it actually does with Windows 8?!?

My friend James has that lenovo mouse/keyboard and it's nice! Only thing missing on it is the Function keys (like if you wanted to get into the bios).

Let us know what you think of it. What are you going to use it for, just audio or movies?!

[peterS]

I only plan on using it for itunes. If the GPU can handle netflix ill use it for that but I have a PS3 for that too.

It is the only mini pc that i could find with a DVD drive, included windows OS and populated RAM and Harddrive. The remote keyboard is integrated (I already have the same one) but I will probably use my RF full keyboard. Most of the bare bones approach the price of a mac mini when you take this into consideration.

Agreed that the cpu may be a bit slower for Windows 8 but id rather it run quite and Its not clear which version of windows 8 this is so we will see.
I'll comment on that once its up and running

[PewterTA]

Cool, can't wait to hear the comments! I'd like to build something small that is pretty powerful to be permanently hooked up to my TV for HTPC use. Some day I'll see if I can put together one out of the scrap parts I have..

[JonMarsh]

Wanted to buy the mac book mini but couldn't justify its price compared to this guy:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883265291

How's that working out for you? How well do you think the 3000 series graphics work for what you need? (that was a weak point in the older Intel CPU's- two generations ago). Will you use the built in S/PDIF or USB for audio interface?

The price is reasonable, but you know some of us would have gone for a Mac Mini - a much more comparable form factor and cost comparison (compared with a Macbook of any type). With standard features like Firewire and options like a Fusion drive (SSD+HD), there's a lot you can do with it for music playback in all kinds of levels of system, at a reasonable price. Memory is expandable, too, important if you want to use a player that supports playback from memory.

Let us know how you use it and how it works out- those on a tight budget may find it quite useful.

[mjb]

The price is reasonable, but you know some of us would have gone for a Mac Mini - a much more comparable form factor and cost comparison (compared with a Macbook of any type). With standard features like Firewire and options like a Fusion drive (SSD+HD), there's a lot you can do with it for music playback in all kinds of levels of system, at a reasonable price. Memory is expandable, too, important if you want to use a player that supports playback from memory.

Yep. I'm Mac all the way, love Mini's as a music server, but there are cheaper options.

[peterS]

Well I cant say you guys didnt warn me The Lenevo started acting funny once I installed itunes- some kind of buffering issue- it basically sounds like it cant keep up with 192khz sampling lol. There is also a subtle noise issue that I havent pin pointed yet. I was able to convince new egg to give me atleast a partial refund. I'll be keeping my eye on the new mac minis in october instead

[peterS]

*update

[wkhanna]

......The Lenevo started acting funny ....

Bummer!

[jim1961]

http://www.goods4salez.com/apple-apple-mc815lla-desktop-computer-p-2139.html

Mac Mini $403 ?

[Audio_ElF]

Well I cant say you guys didnt warn me The Lenevo started acting funny once I installed itunes- some kind of buffering issue- it basically sounds like it cant keep up with 192khz sampling lol. There is also a subtle noise issue that I havent pin pointed yet. I was able to convince new egg to give me atleast a partial refund. I'll be keeping my eye on the new mac minis in october instead

Oh. Sounds like you returned it... I was going to suggest you tried Foobar or J.River in preference to iTunes under Windows.

[bigburner]

Well I cant say you guys didnt warn me The Lenevo started acting funny once I installed itunes- some kind of buffering issue- it basically sounds like it cant keep up with 192khz sampling lol. There is also a subtle noise issue that I havent pin pointed yet. I was able to convince new egg to give me atleast a partial refund. I'll be keeping my eye on the new mac minis in october instead

I'm surprised. I use a basic Celeron-based laptop with 2GB of RAM to run iTunes under W7. It runs perfectly. I think the secret is to strip the machine down for audio use only. It was a while ago when I did it but I think this is the guide that I followed: http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/...tion_Guide.pdf

Nigel.

[peterS]

the issue (besides the noise) may be windows 8

[ellisr63]

I use a i3 NUC for a media server and I am about to try a celeron NUC for another media server. I have zero problems with the i3 as a server.

[JonMarsh]

the issue (besides the noise) may be windows 8

Windows 8 has problems with the real time clock, and that will likely affect the playback in sampled time based digital systems- i.e., digital audio; the higher the sample rate, I'd guess the worse might be the issues.

[PewterTA]

I've seen windows 8 play flawless and as good as anything on a MAC or W7 machine. I doubt Windows 8 inherently was the problem...however the processor running windows 8 was most likely the culprit as windows 8 does like a nice beefy CPU. I have a stripped down Win8 (minimalist) copy that is purly designed for Audio. So far it's been very impressive. Nothing beyond anything that isn't already out there at the top of their game. But this Minimalist Win 8 & JRiver run flawlessly. I've also got Foobar2000 running correctly now on it with my customized configuration of it and I have to say I think it's slightly better than the same machine with Win7 on it. So same hardware, just different boot drives.

I see on another site they already are working on a minimalist Win 8.1, so I wouldn't think it shouldn't be too long before that one is configured to be the same.