[WhiteHartMart]

Looking for a bit of advice please - I'm guessing this will be just another 'which hardware' thread though so sorry in advance.

Having decided to get some sort of media center set up in my lounge, I was initially looking at something like a WDTV live to stream all my media from a NAS, then I moved on to thinking about a MacMini with Plex and now, after trying out XBMC on my laptop - I've pretty much decided on this route.

Thing is - which hardware - I don't need the box for any other task other then XBMC - it will all be connected through my AV amp by HDMI. Have looked at the Acer Aspire Revo (did have one of these before), then I see people talking of the Zotac Barebones systems and adding the SSD looks attractive, now the Foxconn Netbox also looks tempting. I'm no computer expert and have no knowledge of Linux, although I did have XBMCLive on my Revo before.

Is there one box that stands out around the £200 mark or are the barebones systems pretty similar?

Thanks in advance.

[Beer40oz]

Welcome to my world as I can not decide either..... cheers!

[Ninjahblu]

Is there one box that stands out around the £200 mark or are the barebones systems pretty similar?

Thanks in advance.

As a Foxconn 330i owner, I would say they all have similar specs, but nettops will vary with noise, BIOs options, and how much time you'll spend tweaking settings. The Revo is one of the mainstream boxes used for XBMC. There's quite a bit of documentation for Linux newbies, and most features work out of the box if you use Live or OpenElec. I wouldn't rush to buy anything new if you still have it.

My Foxconn for example has an inferior BIOS which only allows 256mb of memory dedicated for the GPU. The Revo's BIOS lets you utilize twice as much. My videos play fine, so it's not that big of a deal. It is also a pain to get wireless to work on the Foxconn.

I love my box after all the tweaks, but I'd probably go with a Shuttle (for noiseless) or Revo (for ease of use/installation) if I had do it again.

[Hannes The Hun]

shuttle XS35GT http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=87305 poofy said everything there is to

[WhiteHartMart]

Well finally I made a decision - have ordered a Revo 3700 with 2gb, 250 HDD, Wireless KB & Mouse and Windows 7 for £199 - decent price here in the UK.

Windows will be handy for the occasional PC use - the rest of the time I guess I can run XBMC off a USB stick or possibly SD card if possible (would that be ok?)

It not I'll just replace Windows completely - this one was cheaper than other Revos with the OS anyway :p

[maxinc]

Where did you get the R3700 with wireless keyboard and mouse in the UK for that price? I could only find the r3700 with wired keyboard.

[paddyred9]

You can buy them on ebuyer,

Be careful though I have one with xbmc live and the sound doesnt work :-(

So its pretty much a useless brick now

[WhiteHartMart]

Where did you get the R3700 with wireless keyboard and mouse in the UK for that price? I could only find the r3700 with wired keyboard.

Didn't get one for that price in the end - courier driver slipped on the ice in the UK and cracked my unit so I got a refund.

I did notice some going for about £195 on ebay though

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ACER-ASPIRE-REVO-R...45f7a9078b

[WhiteHartMart]

Really still stuck on which way to go now that my Acer purchase was refunded?

Saw the Foxconn nt330i for about £130 and was tempted because of the low cost (could add Ram and SSD and come in under £200) but not sure if its so easy to set up?

Then thought the Shuttle XS35GT would be the way to go but its a tad more than I wanted to spend at this time.

The Zotacs are in between the two and then I though perhaps I could build a simple unit myself??

Sorry for asking again, but for a simple 'appliance like' XBMC, which is the best way for a bit of a XBMC learner (have played with a few skins on Mac and Win7 Laptop and not much else) to go??

[Hannes The Hun]

So its pretty much a useless brick now

please get in touch with woftam http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=674...tcount=787

[maxinc]

Are these problems related to the XBMC Live / Linux only? I'm still trying to decide on one of these but can't seem to find confirmation that XBMC for Windows runs fine on R3700 (full audio over hdmi and all that) ...

[poofyhairguy]

Yeah, Windows has full support.

[WhiteHartMart]

Anyone want to point me in the best direction for which machine to purchase as in my post 3 before this one?

Have tried XBMCLive on my Windows laptop and convinced its the way to go for speed and 'applicane' feel.

Just really don't know which ION hardware to go for (Shuttle would be right at very top of budget at the mo) or whether to attempt a self build??

Ta in advance

[poofyhairguy]

I love Zboxes for XBMC Live.

[maxinc]

Why do people go for custom / more expensive front end builds if a cheap Zbox can do it all the easy way? Are there any advantages for more powerful machines?