[ThaDraGun]

Hi all,

I've recently purchased a Dn2820 and am not very happy with the unit. Xbmc menu navigation is quite sluggish, and not all 1080p files play without issue (jerking, tearing, slowdown, etc). I've unloaded it onto a family member that doesn't go past 720p, so that's ok.

I'm now considering an i3 D34010WYK with a 30gb msata drive + 2gb ram to run openelec, possibly i5.

1. Will this play all 1080p (12-15gb files) without issue?
2. What is menu navigation and general xbmc usage like? I'm currently running xbmc on a quad core i7 Mac mini, and it is smoother than butter - I love it.
3. Can the i3 handle heavy skins with ease, or is there noticeable slowness of any sort? I'm pretty picky about this stuff.

The other option is the i5 which i believe will be fine, and run xbmc interface with heavy skins (ala aeOn nox ). . I have no interest in 4k video at this time.

i3 or i5 ultimately. What do you guys think?

Cheers,
bc.

I was debating between the D34010WYK and the DN2820FYK but ultimately went with the i3. After reading your post, I'm really glad I did. I'm running XBMC w/ aeon nox skin (win8.1 w/ 2x2gb RAM) and the menu navigation is fine. This is the first time I'm using this skin, so I don't know how it compares to other systems, but seems very smooth to me. I'm running 1080p bluray rip mkvs off a NAS (Synology 214SE) through a gigabit router and the movies play perfectly.

I can't decide between i3 and i5. So xbmc runs smoothly on i3 but what if I also want to do more with it. I also want to use nzbget, couch potato and sickbeard as well. Those programs for sure.. but also, maybe use avstodvd for converting mkv to dvd. Too much for i3?
I was planning on getting 4gb ram.