out of the box HTPC what to buy???

[smallaMember]

Hi,

i am new to this forum but i am in need of expertise… unitil now i used a media player (conceptronic) attached to my pioneer plasma (42″) but i am tired of basic interfaces and selective codec possibilities… so i started looking for something better… at first my attention was drawn by a popcorn hour C200 but… i don’t know..

Than i learned about XMBC and installed it on my desktop pc.. and it is great!!!

I want to use it on my telly, so i started looking around for prebuild HTPC’s which have 2 major features (small, stylish)

I found 2 with different ones both with pro’s and con’s but i have not the sufficient technology background to check the specs…

option 1: MAC MINI
pro:
looks
remote control (apple)
con:
never used a mac before
price tag:
160 GB hard drive
2,26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB RAM
8x SuperDrive mit Double-Layer-
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
DVI to HDMI Cable
apple remote
—-> 650 euro at least

option 2: ZOTAC MAG HD-ND01 http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_…=100033&lang=en

-> Intel® Atom™ 330
->2GB DDR2-800
-> 160GB 5400RPM
-> Manufacturer NVIDIA® GPU ION™
–> price +- 260 euro

PRO: price
con: no remote
no OS

Ok the price difference between the 2 is very big.. maybe if the zotac is ok i can spend some extra money on a cool design remote control or extra memory (advise is welcome!!!) (is it possible to use a harmony one for example) Which os is best to use on such a system? I have vista lying around… i would have to buy an extra licence for 7…

Any advice on these 2 HTPC would be welcome… I know that it is maybe not the best setup but due to limited space and design issues i have to go for a very small stylish setup… suggestions are most welcome!!

Thanks in advance.

Smalla

[ronaldMember]

I think there is more support for ION based systems and the price difference is large enough to say get the ION.

[quintixboxMember]

I’d go for the Zotac & install one of the many excellent HTPC oriented Ubuntu-based Linux distributions (XBMC LiveCD https://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc/files/XBMC%20Live/Camelot%20-%209.11/xbmc-9.11-live-repack.zip/download , XBMCFreak’s excellent NVIDIA customized XBMC LiveCD http://www.xbmcfreak.nl/downloads/ , the dedicated HTPC Element OS which includes XBMC http://www.elementmypc.com/main/index.php or build your own using either the tutorials or scripts available at the XBMC forums http://www.elementmypc.com/main/index.php ).
As far as the hardware is concerned you could contemplate getting an ASRock Ion330 (there’s many incarnations, see here: http://www.asrock.com/nettop/index.asp ) or, if you’re not in a hurry, get one of the new nettops that are currently being announced at the CeBit.
Do bear in mind that the Zotac does NOT have an optical drive while the ASRock machines and some of the recently announced machines do.

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