My Laptop Died, Need a new HTPC

[Pogre]

Through the grapevine, I've heard about some QC issues with recent NUCs so I won't be in huge rush recommending them, surely not at premium prices they demand.
Here's another mini pc build:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164097R&ignorebbr=1
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820156072&ignorebbr=1
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820215022&ignorebbr=1

Total under $450
Just add windows or free linux os

So this is a bare bones, but will do everything my lappy did (rip cd's play music, Kodi and surf the web) in 4k? if so then I think I'm sold. I might even do Linux if windows 10 is more than $100.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

So this is a bare bones, but will do everything my lappy did (rip cd's play music, Kodi and surf the web) in 4k? if so then I think I'm sold. I might even do Linux if windows 10 is more than $100.

It doesn't have optical drive so you'd have to add external one unless you already have one.
will it do 4k? It should according to this:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-620.172256.0.html
Also on newegg, it says it supports hdmi 2.0
Question of 4k is not a technology question, but DRM one.

So, TL;DR; 4k SHOULD work, but YMMV.

 

[sholling]

I'm going to go in a different direction. NVIDIA's ShieldTV makes a pretty good music and video player. It fully supports 4K, comes preinstalled with Plex (client and server), and is also a really quick Android gaming console. I run the basic 16GB version with a fast 128GB thumb drive for application storage and connect to a NAS (network server) on my network for media storage but you could use an external USB 3.0 drive for the media.

A bit different direction is my 4K home office (non-gaming) PC. I'm running an ASRock BeeBox-S (i5) 7200U. These were designed as a 4K HTPC and include a remote control. I configured mine with 16GB of RAM (overkill), Windows 10, and a 500GB SSD. The problem is that it's about $600 all in.

 

[slipperybidness]

Just make sure you get a grounding strap and make sure you are grounded as you work on the unit, so you don't blow it up from static.

I don't think you will have trouble putting it together.

I put this HTPC together four years ago with Bored's help. I use it all the time and love it.

I used the best quality parts I could find and it has now many hours of use on it.

The tower audio workstation to the left of it I built in 2002 from the best parts I could obtain. It was costly for a PC at the time, but it now has had lots of use over 15 years. If I had used cheap parts I likely would have got through several by now. It still does everything I want. It will be due for replacement, but I will have to update WaveLab and buy a new RME unit, so it will be a costly project.

I firmly believe you are lots of dollars ahead taking the high road.

You know, I have never used a grounding strap and I have never had a static discharge cause a failure.

Of course, I live in a pretty dang humid climate, so that likely helps me out. I know that this should be considered as essential gear for this type of work, but I just haven't needed it yet.

 

[sholling]

You know, I have never used a grounding strap and I have never had a static discharge cause a failure.

Of course, I live in a pretty dang humid climate, so that likely helps me out. I know that this should be considered as essential gear for this type of work, but I just haven't needed it yet.

I live in a dry climate (10-40% humidity) and have never had a static discharge caused failure. I just touch something grounded now and then to make sure I haven't built up a charge and assemble my new computers.

 

[panteragstk]

I'll add my support for the nvidia ShieldTV. I've got one in my living room and now can't find anything for my HTPCs to do. They just aren't useful anymore. When you throw in 4k HDR movies in the mix the Shield runs circles around the HTPCs. Windows 10 supports 4k HDR, but not in a simple way. Kodi, Plex, and MPC-HC don't play nice with any HDR content I've tested. Netflix in 4k HDR on win 10 requires a VERY specific set of hardware. All of it costing MUCH more than the $200 I paid for my Shield TV. If you plug in some HDD or SSD into the shield you can host all of your media and even record OTA TV if you wanted.

I have a very powerful server that does all my recording and media hosting/transcoding, but if it were me, I wouldn't even bother with an HTPC. You just won't come close to the simplicity of what I get with the Shield TV. Also, my WAF has never been higher.

It really boils down to what content you are trying to play back. If it is all local media, then a cheap HTPC or even cheaper Android box running Kodi will work wonderfully, but if you bring streaming or 4k hdr into the mix, things get complicated quickly.

 

[everettT]

I live in a dry climate (10-40% humidity) and have never had a static discharge caused failure. I just touch something grounded now and then to make sure I haven't built up a charge and assemble my new computers.

That usually does it, but for good measure if it's my system I always wear a ground strap. It's cheap and not really inconvenient. We're I live the the humidity is always above 60% year round. I've built PCs since the late 80s and haven't had an installation failure due to me. It's so much better than buying and very easy. I'd say the most difficult time I've had is wire Management in smaller cases.

On a side note to Porge, I think you can find great value in amd chips. My main desktop system has a 5 year old and phenom 1100T 6 core and I do audio and video work without issue with 16g memory and 2 250g SSDs. I have a 15tb server that I use on a gigabyte network for my sharing via set-top devices.