Laptop vs minipc recommendations

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flammaefata

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Hi everyone,

I am looking to get a system set up mostly for torrenting, browsing and watching series, and from what I've seen I'm considering getting a very portable (light) laptop vs a minipc setup (plugged into my TV with a wireless keyboard and mouse).

As for budget it seems like this won't require big machines (so the low end of the market), but at the same time I don't want to make the mistake of buying the cheapest thing out there when for a few hundred more I could get a much better system altogether. And I'm not sure about the perks of a light laptop vs a minipc setup (the one obvious thing is that a laptop stays all in one).

Would like to hear your suggestions.
 
The key consideration would be ability to decode videos. This depends on both hardware acceleration and raw processing power. If the videos you're watching are in a format supported by the hw acceleration then they'll play even on a weak device. If not then you need more raw power.
 
I don't think I'm quite clued up enough to handle a Raspberry PI... As for the videos they'll just be your basic wma or mp4.
 
flammaefata said:
I don't think I'm quite clued up enough to handle a Raspberry PI... As for the videos they'll just be your basic wma or mp4.
Click to expand...
That's why they provide NOOBS (New out of box software). Just download it and chuck it onto a SD card via your PC or phone or buy a premade sd card when you get the Pi. Then just install Raspbian and OSMC and bobs your uncle.
 
flammaefata said:
Hi everyone,

I am looking to get a system set up mostly for torrenting, browsing and watching series, and from what I've seen I'm considering getting a very portable (light) laptop vs a minipc setup (plugged into my TV with a wireless keyboard and mouse).

As for budget it seems like this won't require big machines (so the low end of the market), but at the same time I don't want to make the mistake of buying the cheapest thing out there when for a few hundred more I could get a much better system altogether. And I'm not sure about the perks of a light laptop vs a minipc setup (the one obvious thing is that a laptop stays all in one).

Would like to hear your suggestions.
Click to expand...

If you wanna build up a system or use a Laptop I have some advice

-Instead of mouse and keyboard get something like this http://www.wootware.co.za/logitech-tk820-wireless-all-in-one-keyboard.html but that one is pricey and bulky. DON'T get a Bluetooth one.
-If you get a Laptop make sure it can do a resolution of 1920x1080 or you gonna be sorry, where with a Desktop you can buy a cheap 210, 610 or 710 nvidia card which will display everything fine onto your TV.
-You don't need anything more then a basic dual core.
-There is no need to torrent anymore because Kodi with Exodus (Google this) so the most basic HDD you can get will do. (make sure you have at least 4mb/s line with 100gigs)
-4 gigs of ram will do fine DDR 3 or DDR 4. (what ever the MB can take)
-You can also get pretty cool mini cases for relatively cheap http://www.wootware.co.za/coolermas...dvanced-usb-3-0-mini-itx-desktop-chassis.html.
-You can also have your pc start straight into Kodi with some googling but if you want to browse I wouldn't recommend it.

I do believe a Laptop that can run 1920x1080 are about R8000 but don't quote me on this, where as a desktop you can do it at R3500-R5000 depending what you have lying around. This is a more expensive way to go but it has no limitations where as every other streaming device I have seen has major limitations, slow response times and gets outdated quickly.
 
Scary_Turtle said:
-If you get a Laptop make sure it can do a resolution of 1920x1080 or you gonna be sorry, where with a Desktop you can buy a cheap 210, 610 or 710 nvidia card which will display everything fine onto your TV.
Click to expand...
Laptop with HDMI or DVI port will output 1080p. This is independent of internal display resolution.
 
Last edited:
Ancient laptop + Chromecast FTW.

My old laptop downloads stuff if I need it to. Otherwise I stream from there, or using plex from somewhere else, using the Chromecast.
 
sajunky said:
Laptop with HDMI or DVI port will output 1080p. This is independent of internal display resolution.
Click to expand...

Strange my wife's laptop would not display 1920x1080 would only go to 1366×768 with my TV screen on HDMI. I could have been doing something wrong but there was no option for this. When viewing the TV it had a black border and nothing I tried would make it fit.

Nothing worse then only being able to watch half your TV screen, so I wouldn't recommend it.
 
backstreetboy said:
That's why they provide NOOBS (New out of box software). Just download it and chuck it onto a SD card via your PC or phone or buy a premade sd card when you get the Pi. Then just install Raspbian and OSMC and bobs your uncle.
Click to expand...
Thanks - I see takealot has Raspberry PI 3 with the noobs sd card. If I go that way the other things I'll need are keyboard, mouse and HDD?
 
Scary_Turtle said:
If you wanna build up a system or use a Laptop I have some advice

-Instead of mouse and keyboard get something like this http://www.wootware.co.za/logitech-tk820-wireless-all-in-one-keyboard.html but that one is pricey and bulky. DON'T get a Bluetooth one.
-If you get a Laptop make sure it can do a resolution of 1920x1080 or you gonna be sorry, where with a Desktop you can buy a cheap 210, 610 or 710 nvidia card which will display everything fine onto your TV.
-You don't need anything more then a basic dual core.
-There is no need to torrent anymore because Kodi with Exodus (Google this) so the most basic HDD you can get will do. (make sure you have at least 4mb/s line with 100gigs)
-4 gigs of ram will do fine DDR 3 or DDR 4. (what ever the MB can take)
-You can also get pretty cool mini cases for relatively cheap http://www.wootware.co.za/coolermas...dvanced-usb-3-0-mini-itx-desktop-chassis.html.
-You can also have your pc start straight into Kodi with some googling but if you want to browse I wouldn't recommend it.

I do believe a Laptop that can run 1920x1080 are about R8000 but don't quote me on this, where as a desktop you can do it at R3500-R5000 depending what you have lying around. This is a more expensive way to go but it has no limitations where as every other streaming device I have seen has major limitations, slow response times and gets outdated quickly.
Click to expand...
That keyboard trackpad combo is cool, thanks.
Still reading up on kodi - my TV is supposedly smart but it's old (Samsung, 4 years) so don't know if it'll run kodi. Otherwise still an option for the stick.
And thanks for the pointers regarding minimum laptop capabilities - will work from there.
 
flammaefata said:
That keyboard trackpad combo is cool, thanks.
Still reading up on kodi - my TV is supposedly smart but it's old (Samsung, 4 years) so don't know if it'll run kodi. Otherwise still an option for the stick.
And thanks for the pointers regarding minimum laptop capabilities - will work from there.
Click to expand...
Oh and as for building up my own box, less likely to happen than Raspberry PI (I prefer not to get into the real guts of computers - know my limits).
 
mr_norris said:
Ancient laptop + Chromecast FTW.

My old laptop downloads stuff if I need it to. Otherwise I stream from there, or using plex from somewhere else, using the Chromecast.
Click to expand...
Well I've got an issue with streaming services as I want to watch whatever content I want to - hence torrenting. Other than series and movies I'm interested in audiobooks which won't be possible via streaming. And there's always such a fight going on between which streaming services are the best. And to top that I like setting downloads for the evening as I don't need to have a more expensive Internet connection to allow good streaming. But thanks for the suggestion - I had come across Chromecast when I started wondering what to do.
 
Scary_Turtle said:
Strange my wife's laptop would not display 1920x1080 would only go to 1366×768 with my TV screen on HDMI. I could have been doing something wrong but there was no option for this. When viewing the TV it had a black border and nothing I tried would make it fit.

Nothing worse then only being able to watch half your TV screen, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Click to expand...

Did you go to where you change resolution in Windows? You can change the external display from mirroring your laptop's screen to being an "independent" screen.

OP, you don't need an expensive laptop to output at 1080p on an external display.
 
Fro said:
Did you go to where you change resolution in Windows? You can change the external display from mirroring your laptop's screen to being an "independent" screen.

OP, you don't need an expensive laptop to output at 1080p on an external display.
Click to expand...
^This. Once screens are independent, more options will show up.
 
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