[CoolKeith]

I am looking for a compact device, if possible pico or intel stick size, but with a non-intel gpu. This Zotac Pico looks great, but two problems for me. 1) ram is only 2gb, I need at least 3gb; and 2) it's has an Intel gpu and I prefer something beside that if it comes with an Atom cpu. I prefer Celeron or Pentium based Atom if possible, but really as long as it's a quad core Atom cpu(newest version) it's fine with me. I also really would prefer at least one USB 3 port, something that Zotac lacks. If it's a barebone I don't want to go over $250, and if it's pre-built, I don't want to go over $350.

I plan to run Windows(10 probably), Mint(with Unity like theme), and of course Kodi. I want to play 1080p, 2k, and possibly 4k video from downloaded video, and from the internet. Mostly MPG, h.264/5 format, mov, mkv, FLAC audio, and SACD files. It will be hooked up to a 1080p TV, 2K monitor, and possibly later a 4k tv.Audio will be through a 6.1 channel home theater system. Thanks a bizzle.

[Matt Devo]

what you are seeking doesn't exist. come back in a year or so.

[CoolKeith]

So no pico size and non-intel based gpu then? What about something say Chromebox size(if possible a bit more compact), but with similar specs? Or AMD device in a similar size to what i am asking for? Thanks a biz

[nickr]

2GB ram is plenty to run Kodi.

[k4sh1n]

Here is an AMD device:
Gigabyte’s AMD Brix

[noggin]

Zotac have made Mini-ITX motherboards with on-board nVidia GPUs in the past. Think they made one with Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge support in the past, which would allow socketed Celeron or Pentiums to be used, but Mini-ITX isn't that small these days.

Not sure they've done a Haswell one.

Now that Intel integrated graphics is 'good enough' for most applications of little PCs, there is almost no market for them I guess. (Pity as the nVidia GPUs are still a very good fit for some Kodi applications, though now we have MCDI deinterlacing on Haswell Celerons the last real reason has kind of gone)

[CoolKeith]

So i saw that ars review people mentioned here, but I doesn't do much for Celeron comparison of 5th gen vs 4th gen.

And people were mentioning to me Atom J series of the Asus EEE box comes with an nvidia gpu GT810m is it? I don't like the look too much as it stands up. How is the J series cpu in relation to Celeron and i3 for kodi work? Google says its equal to Celeron cpus, but that just in test not in real world usage, so.......not sure.
They also mentioned that an i3 haswell asus that has GT810 gpu too, but its not worth $500 as it comes with an HDD. Now a 4th celeron variant would be better for me as that seems to be the most popular kodi cpu right now. But, then i was talking to a friend and she was like why get a 4th gen celeron or even pentium model when people are talking about 5th gen broadwell which is can use a smaller fan as it produces less heat.

So now all I really want is possibly a 5th gen Celeron or Pentium model with if possible nvidia gpu. This GT810 looks good and if they price it around $275 for a barebone, I'd be like yo I am get that device it's purrfect. I would get it to run windows and Android along with XMBC.

[nickr]

Don't get me wrong, I am an nVidia fan from way back when they were the only decent accelerated graphics solution for linux. However it seems intel have largely caught up, and I wonder why you are obsessed with not using intel for graphics?

[aturikim]

A very informative article and lots of really honest and forthright comments made ! This certainly got me thinking about this issue, thanks a