[bwood83]

I am hoping to get advice on the purchase of a laptop to run xbmc-live. These are my requirements:
1) I will be using this laptop primarily as an XBMC-live HTPC solution. It will usually be connected to my bedroom Samsung 6300 led via hdmi. I plan on using it to replace an old Tivo series 1 by installing sabnzbdplus and sickbeard. I have an extensive music and photo library so I will bring it out into our kitchen for parties and gatherings. On occasion, I will be moving this machine from tv to tv at home in the event that my kids want to watch in another room. I also plan on bringing it on road trips.
2) I was hoping to keep the cost below $500.00
3) I would like to buy enough machine to keep this laptop viable for use in this capacity for 5-7 years or as long as possible.

I had settled on buying an MSI FX400-063US and then found out that the nvidia optimus was a big issue for a Linux install. Now I am back to square one. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[monkeyvsmonkey]

I imagine that the need for a laptop would be when you're on the road right?

Because other than that I don't really see why would you use a laptop as htpc. Are you planning on leaving is running 24/7 for the downloads? Cause this will certainly ruin the battery life.

[bwood83]

Correct. We would like a portable, self-contained system. I plan to leave it running and plugged in while connected to my bedroom Samsung.

[poofyhairguy]

My ION Netbook can do pretty much everything you want. Here is currently available one like it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as..._-34220761

I use mine on the go all the time. The main limitations you will find is that because it will have two screens (its screen and the TV) you CAN'T disable twinview which means no 24p support for your fancy TV (no big deal IMHO). There is no way around this. Also I am not gonna vouch for how well it runs sick/sab/coach 24/7 because personally I have much better machines doing that. Honestly I might consider an Optimus+Windows 7 rig if you really want one machine to do it all that too, as any ION system is weak in the CPU department which hurts when Sab unrars stuff.

But for just playing 1080p content over HDMI, you can't do better. Just add a IR receiver.

[bwood83]

Thanks for the recommendation poofyhairguy. I was hoping you would weigh in. I have read a lot of your posts and like what you have to say.

What do you mean when you say that the weaker ION CPU “hurts” when sab unrars stuff? Does that mean that it will constantly be failing when unraring which would require a lot of manual intervention? Does it mean that sab will monopolize the CPU making playback jittery when trying to watch at the same time as an unrar? Does it mean that unrars will stress the system causing extensive heat or possibly overheating?

[eskro]

means that poofyhairguy says
"you can't do better then an ION system to just play 1080p content over HDMI"

Also meaning he's not gonna vouch for how well it runs sick/sab/coach 24/7
because he's got much better machines to do those jobs...

So it might be too hard to ask for an ATOM/ION system to run
sick/sab/coach 24/7 + play 1080p content over HDMI at them same time....

thats my 2cents

[poofyhairguy]

Exactly eskro. When Sab gets down downloading things, it has to unrar them. That eats ALL the CPU on something like an Atom. If you are trying to go through the menus at the exact time it does that, the XBMC interface will freeze up something nasty. If you are playing a 1080p movie, it will start to skip. You need about 4 times as much CPU (so about a Core2Duo level) to do both at the same time.

One option would be to run all those programs on the netbook, but leave Sab paused while you are awake and using the machine then unpause it at hight when no one is using it.

[bwood83]

Thanks to both of you for your input.