[hyde01]

The Zotac BI320 is currently going for $200 on amazon fuly loaded. AKA 64gb mSATA SSD, 2GB of ram and windows 8.1 with Bing
http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-Celeron-DDR3...00M2UKY1Q/

The BI320 will handle Audio over HDMI just fine the built in Toslink/SPDIF connector is just a major plus for the ZBox.
Also the Zotac will indeed handle a 2.5" HDD unlike the Chromebox. so thats another + in its favor over the chromebox.

That's a fantastic find, thank you for that discovery! I was thinking it was a nice deal for $245 at Newegg, there we have it for $200 at Amazon with much more generous return policy and support, compared to Newegg.
They are identical, if I am not mistaken:
http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-Celeron-DDR3...00M2UKY1Q/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883218045

I guess the only shortcoming(s) is the lack of WiFi and Bluetooth in Zotac in comparison to HP.

Intel's product naming/numbering is positively confusing for the average consumer (and even some tech folks). The U-series Celeron processors are basically cut-down U-series Core i3's, but the N-series Celerons are based on the Atom architecture. So a 2955U blows the doors off a N2940. Stick with a U-series CPU and you'll be ok.

Thanks, I actually wanted to find something with i3, but no luck. Does Zotac or HP make one with i3? I think the only ones I saw with i3's are barebone Intel NUC's and those get pricey. Is there an example I can use as benchmark to include in my comparison (so far it's a short list of HP 200 and Zotac BI320)

basically has the same limitations as the Haswell Chromebox I mentioned before, but works/comes with Windows.
Basically the same as the ChromeBox/HP Mini, but slightly different configuration. Whether it's worth it or not depends on your use cases. If you're not needing BluRay playback, then do you really need (or want) Windows? If not, then the ChromeBox is your best buy, followed closely by the HP Mini.

I want a seamless transition from my 6 year old vostro which I spent a long time to configure with EventGhost and most of my movies are in .flv format. Plus, I am using several plugins that rely on windows streaming, and it's overall compatibility that I want to maintain throughout the house with other devices. What is it that makes chromebox a good (or better) alternative? I noticed there is no easy way to install Kodi (I thought chromebox could just run android version, I was mistaken of course) additionally, I am also considering giving a chance to AmiDuOS for my android trials, I am not sure how secure this is, that's going to be something to try after I make sure it's safe and secure.
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When I look at HP Stream 200, I see a very nicely built little hardware, the only thing that worries me is the hard-drive. Does it come with recovery software for SSD swap? Or do we need to clone it first? I am not sure if we can install a clean windows in this and use the license from the original installation and be able to get all drivers easily. While I should be able to live with 22GB of available space for on-board storage, at some point I would probably need to upgrade that, so I might as well do that from beginning with a $90 128GB SSD.

in that case, why aren't you looking at the HP Stream Mini / Zotax BI320 (Haswell Celeron 2955/57U), or MSI Cubi (Broadwell Celeron 3205U), or even a Core i3 NUC? That Asus is a terrible value with outdated hardware

I don't know if there is some problem with Asus hardware, I checked a newer version ASUS VM42-S075V, which comes with 2957U and 500GB HDD/4GB RAM, for $230 and the reviews aren't very stellar. I guess it's too new.