[max789]

Hi, all

Having spent some time reading up on XBMC and OpenELEC, and thanks to the insightful contributions to the two wonderful communities, I'm finally ready to pull the trigger.

A question that remains is, should I get the Zotac ID84, AD06 or AD12?

The AD06 seems to have a very small edge over the nano AD12 in ventilation terms, so that's settled. However, choosing between the ID84 and AD06 is a little more challenging.

One would think that it boils down to a comparison of the ID84's Nvidia GT520M with AMD's rebranded HD7340. However, is the ID84's Atom D2550 preferable to the AMD E2-1800 for XBMC purposes?

Benchmark tests seem to favor the GT520M, but it's not clear how meaningful these are in real-life usage.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-...636.0.html

UPDATE: Is the more powerful GT520M likely to lead to slightly higher temperatures?

Your views, please!

[GortWillSaveUs]

What OS will you be using?

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What OS will you be using?

Duh,....just noticed you mentioned OpenElec. Looks like I picked the wrong time to give up coffee.

[Gr8rtek]

In my experience and observation, there is a larger support community for Atom/Ion systems than for AMD systems. I have two Atom/Ion systems (Jetway and Zotac ID40) and both were relatively easy to get set up with OpenELEC. In all fairness, I think it was easier for me to get the Frodo beta and RC1 up and running than it was to get the "official" XBMC Eden running on these systems. But part of that is my being a Linux NOOB, I'm sure

One great thing about OpenELEC ... updates are Super EASY. Download the appropriate download from http://openelec.tv/get-openelec. Next, from a Windows PC, Start > Run > \\[IP Address]\Update and copy the contents of the "Target" directory (that you just downloaded) to this location. Finally, from a Windows PC, SSH into your OpenELEC system IP address (username: root, password: openelec) and type reboot. Wait another 30 seconds or so and you're done!