Android Mini PCs - Beginning of a new Era ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter coze
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 5
  • Views Views 222
coze

coze

Commander
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Posts
311
Country
Japan
Region
Tokyo
As Zetro has mentioned in his post here, we have a new category of devices in the form of pluggable sticks. Actually they have been around for a while, but they were under powered, not really up to spec for us retro geeks full media demands. But with the advent of Quad core goodness, these guys are now able to do 1080p video and Emulation without frameskip. And they come in a price range below $100 ! It looks like finally our prayers have been answered ! :thumbsup:

In the original thread, Zetro compared these guys with the Raspberry Pi, which I think is not fair because Raspberry is under powered and more geared toward tinkering and creating your own projects, while Mini PCs are geared toward modern media playback & gaming. And since they are both below 100$, hell just get both it's still a fraction of the Amiga One X1000 :p

Myself I've ordered Tronsmart CX-919, it's little bit more pricey, but it has more RAM, ext wifi antenna and Android 4.2.2. There're lots of options out there that use the same chipset, but I hear tronsmart are good at updating their firmware so that's why I went with them :) (minix is good too I hear) Now if this guy was able to run Steam, it could completely replace my desktop. I think I saw one with Intel HD 4000 chipset, it was a little bit bigger formfactor though. I think if I'm satisfied I may buy another one to install ubuntu and use for work !

Anyway I didn't want to hi jack the Raspberry thread so I started a new one here, if you have experience with these devices please share :) This space is moving so rapidly it's hard to keep up with the new stuff. Google is also wyving to get into this space with ChromeCast, but it's hard to get in Japan (for now at least) and it's not a full android device so it's not really attractive for us geeks :coffee:
 
What can you really do with this thing?
And how do you manage keyboard/mouse in an effective way?

If it's just a matter of viewing video/music files, my netbook can do it fine and can connect to my TV with HDMI too.
 
I bought a dual core box for XBMC and wireless connection to my NAS.

I wanted a quad core but my TV in the bedroom is old no HDMI, but its a very good tv with multiple inputs so I had to get an Android box that had Component output to maintain HD picture.

It cost for about £60 and that was a year ago, I connected a mouse as the remote with the device is rubbish, something on the style of a camcorder remote.

Now I'm looking at remotes with XBMC mainly in mind, what does anyone suggest ?

I'm looking at this one, Remote,keyboard and Air mouse, as it must be cheap :D
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310817438534?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

can anyone suggest better for around same price or cheaper?

I Don't really want this one as its not designed for XBMC
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111107663851?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
 
The Raspberry Pi is quite slow but does has a full OS with lots of documentation. Android as much as I like it and use it everyday is by no means as open and can require rooting etc. Plus most software development is done on a PC/Mac using an emulator as there are very few native tools available. It's not quite as easy as just getting GCC and compiling on Android :thumbsdown:

Also I don't mean to sound snobby but an Intel HD4000 is underpowered. Intel have not made a good graphics chip when compaired to the competition since the original i740. Budget AMD laptops have more grunt in general.
 
It is true that AMD CPUs do seem to have the better onboard GPUs, but their CPUs are lacking. Intel CPUs are far better in terms of efficiency and processing power, and the onboard GPUs of current Intel CPUs are perfectly fine for their intended purpose, i.e. non gaming. I use an older i3 540 CPU for my home server and it is perfect. The onboard GPU can output to dual monitors in 1080 resolution and is perfect for its required use.

As for Android based mini PCs, they are a nice idea for media devices, but as mentioned above you still cannot match Windows for emulation. No other OS comes anywhere close for the number of emulators and the support they receive, plus active development always takes place on Windows emulators before porting to Linux and then Android. For me I just wouldn't consider another platform.. unless it was for a mobile device, then Android is quite good for emulation on the move.
 
AMD processors are indeed slower than the top end i7 processors but that's the only area they rely lose to any great extent. For mid range and budget they compare very well and on a price for performance or bang for your buck they are a far better deal. Describing them as lacking is a little unfair as the performance gap is in real terms very little.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom