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Full Version: Which Ion based system should I buy?
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Hi all so I'm looking at getting a ION based machine to run XBMC and maybe some sort of torrent client. OS will probably be linux, really just so I can utilize VDPAU.

My budget is about £150-£250 I have thought about building my own PC but I'm a linux noob, so I can imagine it would just be a nightmare trying to get to grips with a new OS and making drivers work correctly (I'm currently a Mac user).

The Machines I have been looking at are

ASRock ION 330
http://www.asrock.com/nettop/spec/ION%20330.asp
Pros Dual-Core, DVD Drive Cons Can't find anywhere to buy it, no clue on the price.

Acer Aspire Revo
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-Revo...911&sr=8-1
Pros Cheap, Available, doesn't look to bad. Cons Small fan, Small 8gb HD on lower model, not Dual-Core, no Optical or Coaxial audio, I have seen this machine trying to run play flash hulu videos and it was dropping frames.


H1 Hotel PC
http://www.aleutia.com/products/h1-hotel-pc
Pros Silent, Dual-Core, Cons Price seems a bit more pricey compared to others, 8GB Hard drive, No Wifi on low end model.

I needed the machine to
- Run 1080p video
- Run a torrent client
- play SD Flash without issues.

I thought that this info might be helpful for anyone else looking at buying a ION based machine. If anyone knows of a better machine that might be coming out in the near future please let me know.
The ASRock has much better specs than the Revo. I think I will wait for it... Thanks Smile

Faster dual core CPU
More memory
Near silent
Optical drive

This summer there will come ION netbooks also. Perhaps they will be even cooler for XBMC. Then you can take it on the road also Smile
H1 Hotel PC seems to be a good option.
Ubuntu 9.04 pre-installed, so I asume drivers would be working ok (VDPAU an so)

The price (199GBP for the single-core version and 249GBP for the dual-core version) isn't too high, similar to the offers in mini-itx.com

Take a look to this offer from mini-itx.com

ION Bundle (2): Zotac ION-ITX-A Dual Core Atom N330 Motherboard; M350 Universal Mini-ITX Case; 4GB DDR2 800 Memory (2x 2GB DIMMs); Optional HDD/SSD
Lead time approx 1-2 weeks £239.00

It's similar, but without SSD HD and without OS installed and configured.
grajea Wrote:H1 Hotel PC seems to be a good option.
Ubuntu 9.04 pre-installed, so I asume drivers would be working ok (VDPAU an so)

The price (199GBP for the single-core version and 249GBP for the dual-core version) isn't too high, similar to the offers in mini-itx.com

Take a look to this offer from mini-itx.com

ION Bundle (2): Zotac ION-ITX-A Dual Core Atom N330 Motherboard; M350 Universal Mini-ITX Case; 4GB DDR2 800 Memory (2x 2GB DIMMs); Optional HDD/SSD
Lead time approx 1-2 weeks £239.00

It's similar, but without SSD HD and without OS installed and configured.


Once tax is added the costs look like this.

ION Bundle (2) from mini-itx.com
£261.05

H1 Hotel PC
£297.85

You end up paying them £40 for a 8GB SSD card and a pre-installed OS. From the amount of time that it would take me to work out how to install Ubuntu and get all the drivers working this might be worth it? If only someone could copy there configured OS then it would be happy days.
Quote:H1 Hotel PC
£297.85

€297 = £259

The price of H1 Hotel PC is £259 (shipping cost included), not £297

¿Do you refer to €297?
In order to compare same items ....


mini-itx ION BUNDLE (1) with IONITX-A (N330 dual core) + 2Gb RAM + SSD 30GB = 395GBP (including shipment to spain - 40GBP)

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/basket.asp...012=1&d=22

Same items from ALEUTIA, but assembled and with the OS installed, 349GBP (shipment to Spain included)

46GBP cheaper with ALEUTIA, and:
- OS installed (ubuntu 9.04)
- Assembled
- 10GBP shipment flat rate

In addition, mini-itx.com have this board out of stock, they claim to have more in 1-2 weeks.

In this case I selected the 30GB SSD for have identical items to compare, but I think 8GB compact flash can do the work for installing the OS and a external HD - USB can be the storage set.

Do you think Compact Flash is fast enough have good behavior with ubuntu+xbmc? (20MB/sec of CF vs 90MB/sec of SSD)
grajea Wrote:€297 = £259

The price of H1 Hotel PC is £259 (shipping cost included), not £297

¿Do you refer to €297?

I thought the same thing for a while but that price is excluding VAT so once you add VAT the price ends up at around £297
ops ... Sad
No way to tell until someone buys one but the H1 Hotel PC has a picture of the Zotac Ion motherboard on its specs page.

The Zotac Ion board does not support wake on usb and never will until a new revision of the motherboard ships.
http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=601

Something to be aware of if you plan on using it.
grajea Wrote:In addition, mini-itx.com have this board out of stock, they claim to have more in 1-2 weeks.

People who have pre-ordered the Atom330 board get their items shipped on the 27th May. So I expect my delivery to be made on the 29th May if its a inland company.

I ordered the Atom330 bundle, 4GB Ram, no hard drive. = £284.05
Aleutia H1 Deluxe, 4GB Ram, No HDD, No OS = £326.60
Quote:Aleutia H1 Deluxe, 4GB Ram, No HDD, No OS = £284.00
+ VAT (15%) = £326.60
(but same price with os installed)
£42 more expensive than mini-itx.com (the assembling work?)

Please, report your experience with this toy. ¿what type of disk will you use for the system? ¿CF card with sata adaptor, ssd, 2.5" sata disk, ...?
Nod
I have a 500gb 2.5" hard drive around that I plan to use with it. Will store OS, music and my video library. It won't take too long for me to fill that up but the case used (both mini-itx and aleutia) can take 2 2.5" drives.
Though I maybe switch to PXEBooting at one point.
grajea Wrote:what type of disk will you use for the system? ¿CF card with sata adaptor, ssd, 2.5" sata disk, ...?
Nod

I'm tossing up between a CF card and a USB stick. Any particular reason to choose one over the other?
I'd replace that useless wifi card with a pci-e SSD. Wink
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