[Chris P Bacon]

Ordered from Amazon just in case but I suspect it is the same wholesaler for all.

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At the very least you have the distance selling regs as some form of protection if you're not happy with it.

Done the same. Expected delivery between 3 - 7 Jan. Whichever turns up second will be sent back.

@gangstarrrrr @Mark142 Just had a look again at the product description on Amazon.co.uk for the units priced around £100 and it is very vague I don't know if the page has been edited or if it was always like this, despite saying "Windows 8.1 with Bing" there is no mention of SSD or RAM and one seller,he Tech Lodge, has a note under condition saying "NO RAM NO HDD"

Might be an idea to review your order confirmation to see what it says.

It certainly looks like this listing is in fact for the true barebones model.

Under distance selling rules you will always have 14 days to return the product if it is unopened just be careful that you don't get stuck with something you don't want.

[malcolmbarr]

FWIW, you can't boot off a SD card in the internal reader on the BI320. It's USB 2.0 based reader, but uses a Realtek controller that the BIOS doesn't recognize as a mass storage device. Windows even needs a driver for the reader.

OpenELEC can see cards in the reader, so it can be used for media input even though you can't boot from it. OpenELEC 5.0 runs fine on the BI320. It played everything I threw at it smoothly. Blu-ray with the different video codecs, 1080i and 720p MPEG-2 OTA HD, various resolution transcoded content, etc. CPU usage stayed low. As expected it passed the HD audio formats via HDMI without issue.

Can I check I am understanding what you have done correctly here - you have booted to openelec 5.0 from a usb stick, rather than overwriting the windows install on the SSD? So the box gives you a bios to boot into where you can set the boot up options.

This is a very long shot, but do you have any way to test 3D ISO/MVC on this box? I have been thinking about getting one of these and setting up an external player for Kodi for 3D ISO under windows. I have a Pipo X7 on order for this task, but am also interested if this box can do that (can't see why it shouldn't).

[Stereodude]

Can I check I am understanding what you have done correctly here - you have booted to openelec 5.0 from a usb stick, rather than overwriting the windows install on the SSD? So the box gives you a bios to boot into where you can set the boot up options.

Yes, I was booting from a USB drive. I was pressing F8 during boot when the BIOS screen appears to bring up the boot menu and pick the USB drive. However, you can change the boot order in the BIOS so it will boot from the USB drive first (avoiding having to bring up the menu each time you power it on).

This is a very long shot, but do you have any way to test 3D ISO/MVC on this box? I have been thinking about getting one of these and setting up an external player for Kodi for 3D ISO under windows. I have a Pipo X7 on order for this task, but am also interested if this box can do that (can't see why it shouldn't).

Sorry, I don't have any 3D Blu-Rays. However, I know it's a no go under OpenELEC because it doesn't have a MVC capable decoder. In Windows, I don't know if it works or not.

[malcolmbarr]

Stereodude - thanks for the clarification. Am I right in thinking this is fanless, or at least the fan noise is negligible?

I know 3D MVC iso doesn't work under openelec, was wondering if you had any means of testing under windows using powerdvd or similar. Can't see any reason why that wouldn't work given that the hardware is 3D MVC capable.

[Stereodude]

Stereodude - thanks for the clarification. Am I right in thinking this is fanless, or at least the fan noise is negligible?

It is not fanless. However, the fan noise is negligible.

I know 3D MVC iso doesn't work under openelec, was wondering if you had any means of testing under windows using powerdvd or similar. Can't see any reason why that wouldn't work given that the hardware is 3D MVC capable.

Sorry, I don't.

[Stereodude]

Yes, I was booting from a USB drive. I was pressing F8 during boot when the BIOS screen appears to bring up the boot menu and pick the USB drive. However, you can change the boot order in the BIOS so it will boot from the USB drive first (avoiding having to bring up the menu each time you power it on).

So not only can you change the boot order to boot the USB flash drive first (which I tried), you can actually disable the built in SSD (by disabling its SATA channel) so it's hidden from OpenELEC or whatever OS you're booting.

[malcolmbarr]

I contacted the seller of one of us these on Amazon UK (PC Mods) and they confirmed the listing at £101 was for the unit with no ram and no SSD.

[chclark]

I contacted the seller of one of us these on Amazon UK (PC Mods) and they confirmed the listing at £101 was for the unit with no ram and no SSD.

Shame would of been great if had all the bits.

[gangstarrrrr]

Agreed, at this price point it's comparable to what's already out there.

[chclark]

Hmm the hunt for a cheep device continues

[stuCONNERS]

Where is the ssd? Is it an addition board or built onto the motherboard?

[Stereodude]

Where is the ssd? Is it an addition board or built onto the motherboard?

I'm not sure. It doesn't appear to be on the top side of the board where you can access where the SODIMMs and 2.5" drive "bay" from. There's a warranty void if broken seal that I didn't feel like breaking in order to take a look at the bottom of the board and check it for the SSD.

To be clear it's not in the 2.5" drive "bay".

[Topken]

The SSD is an MSata SSD so its more then likely on the bottom of the board then.

[gangstarrrrr]

Will be interested to know how the Amazon UK sellers include windows without a SSD drive.

[wrxtasy]

Yes SSD is on the back of the motherboard, see the review here:

http://www.servethehome.com/Workstation-...twork-box/

these slackers don't mention NO WiFi either