[Matt Devo]

I kind of fail to see the advantage of buying a Chromebox and then get rid of the OS There has to be an equivalent "barebones" solution at a fraction of the cost no? I'm just being picky here, Chromebox seems to be the way to go for me.

highly varies based on region. In the US, the Dell ChromeBox for $130 is probably the best buy ATM; in the UK, it's the HP 260 G1. The advantage of the Chromebox is the inclusion of RAM, SSD, WIFI, and BT for less than the price of other units which don't include some/all of those. Plus, it's by far the fastest booting box due to its use of highly optimized open-source firmware.

[LarrxX]

Seems in France the two cheapest competitors are the ASUS-M036U and the HP-CB1-010nf. It seems to my n00b eyes that they're roughly equivalent, unless I'm missing something?

Or is it worth it to dish out double the price to get an i3 CPU like the ASUS £CBOX or even the ASUS M037U?

This is becoming more and more complicated as I dive into it. Appreciate all the help you guys are dishing out, thanks a lot!

[Matt Devo]

Seems in France the two cheapest competitors are the ASUS-M036U and the HP-CB1-010nf. It seems to my n00b eyes that they're roughly equivalent, unless I'm missing something?

Or is it worth it to dish out double the price to get an i3 CPU like the ASUS £CBOX or even the ASUS M037U?

This is becoming more and more complicated as I dive into it. Appreciate all the help you guys are dishing out, thanks a lot!

the HP 260 G1 is a much better buy for you at ~100EUR. Same hardware, larger SSD, comes with Windows.

[LarrxX]

I actually tried looking for the HP 260 G1 on Amazon as per the earlier advice, but if I do this on amazon I get a whole lot of different results with no technical information whatsoever. What is the difference between all these devices? Which one is best suited for what I want?

And the cheapest one is 199€, which is the same price as the ASUS-M036U or the HP-CB1-010nf. A quick Google search shows that the HP 260 G1 Mini only has a display port output, and no HDMI. So instead of buying it + an adaptor, I thought I'd directly get the ASUS or other HP mentioned above. No?

Furthermore, the ASUS box comes with its own keyboard which the other ones seem to lack. SO I'm currently partial to the ASUS box, unless there's a really good reason to buy any of the others, even if they're more expensive.

[Matt Devo]

I actually tried looking for the HP 260 G1 on Amazon as per the earlier advice, but if I do this on amazon I get a whole lot of different results with no technical information whatsoever. What is the difference between all these devices? Which one is best suited for what I want?

And the cheapest one is 199€, which is the same price as the ASUS-M036U or the HP-CB1-010nf. A quick Google search shows that the HP 260 G1 Mini only has a display port output, and no HDMI. So instead of buying it + an adaptor, I thought I'd directly get the ASUS or other HP mentioned above. No?

Furthermore, the ASUS box comes with its own keyboard which the other ones seem to lack. SO I'm currently partial to the ASUS box, unless there's a really good reason to buy any of the others, even if they're more expensive.

the forum thread I linked you to has a direct link for the HP 260 G1 at 99 EUR, Amazon obviously isn't selling it at the same price currently. That thread also has full specs etc. The DisplayPort to HDMI adapter is a non-issue if you're able to get the box at half the cost of the others. And I'm not sure how viable a ChromeOS keyboard is for use with other OSes.

[LarrxX]

I'll read that thread more thoroughly then, thanks. I kinda like the idea of having a Windows machine for that price, I'm used to Kodi on Windows, won't make much of a change for me.

I'll still have to look for a small wireless keyboard/mouse and/or IR remote and I'll be set. Any recommendations on that front?

[decpvr]

I'll read that thread more thoroughly then, thanks. I kinda like the idea of having a Windows machine for that price, I'm used to Kodi on Windows, won't make much of a change for me.

I'll still have to look for a small wireless keyboard/mouse and/or IR remote and I'll be set. Any recommendations on that front?

noggin recommended this remote on the HP 260 G1 thread:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/windows-media-...trol-a49ha

£19.99 delivered from Maplin

It should be able to wake the box from 'off' (fully powered down).

[LarrxX]

Yup, I actually replied here before reading the entire post. Bad LarrxX!

But... yes, there's still a "but" but I think I'm reaching the end here: it doesn't have builtin WiFi! I posted on the dedicated thread to get an answer as to what the best WiFi solution for it would be. I hope it's something good and somewhat cheap, or I'm back to square one with another box

[LarrxX]

I actually tried looking for the HP 260 G1 on Amazon as per the earlier advice, but if I do this on amazon I get a whole lot of different results with no technical information whatsoever. What is the difference between all these devices? Which one is best suited for what I want?

And the cheapest one is 199€, which is the same price as the ASUS-M036U or the HP-CB1-010nf. A quick Google search shows that the HP 260 G1 Mini only has a display port output, and no HDMI. So instead of buying it + an adaptor, I thought I'd directly get the ASUS or other HP mentioned above. No?

Furthermore, the ASUS box comes with its own keyboard which the other ones seem to lack. SO I'm currently partial to the ASUS box, unless there's a really good reason to buy any of the others, even if they're more expensive.

the forum thread I linked you to has a direct link for the HP 260 G1 at 99 EUR, Amazon obviously isn't selling it at the same price currently. That thread also has full specs etc. The DisplayPort to HDMI adapter is a non-issue if you're able to get the box at half the cost of the others. And I'm not sure how viable a ChromeOS keyboard is for use with other OSes.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back to square one... :'( Flubit only accepts deliveries in the UK. So I'm stuck with buying the HP 260 G1 at full price on Amazon at 200€ + a display port to HDMI adapter + a WiFi USB adapter... Is the hassle really worth it or should I fall back on the ASUS or 010nf ChromeBoxes? :'(

Unless someone has a trick to get the 260 G1 cheaper from some other vendor that ships to France?

EDIT:
I actually found the Pentium 3558U and 4GB Version at 149€. Guess I wont find better in France... But if I'm not mistaken, this is better than the Celeron/2GB RAM version and cheaper than the ASUS box for a better overall performance. Am I missing something or should I finally go for it? (doesn't come with a windows install though, guess I'll have to go with OpenElec for it...)

[MediaPi]

LarrxX doesnt that model come with 500gb hdd? dam if so then it has 4gb Ram 500 GB hdd meaning you don't also need to buy the sata connector and at € 149.90 that equates to £106.99, this beats the pants of the model where getting in UK. Do they deliver to the UK?

[noggin]

The Pentium model should definitely outperform the Celeron one LarrxX. Seems like a good buy to me.

[MediaPi]

with windows its going for € 237.90 (£169.80) so thats 88.9 euros more
https://translate.googleusercontent.com/...eAfGQHDUGw

but thats still way below the £268 RRP
http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Produc...GwodLswLUg

its that cheap that you might aswell buy the cheapest ticket to france, get 10 of these, sell 9 easily and have one for yourself with £500 cash
I'm abit suspicious to be honest, if something is to good to be true...

[LarrxX]

And they charge 9.98€ for shipping to France. I'm going to look around and see how reliable the site is. Will get back to you on this. I'll probably post the followups on the official HP 260 thread to centralize the information.

[MediaPi]

looks like quite a few vendors are selling for that price in the EU
https://geizhals.de/hp-260-g1-k8l22ea-a1245294.html

and found some more
http://www.mercateo.com/p/855-3374405/HP...seGeo=true