As someone who has been building PC's since the 386 days, and having it as my career for over a decade, it was pretty interesting to see how things have changed for me since quitting hardware reviews a while ago.
My wife's PC, used only really as an HTPC in our bedroom, which I built in 2006 died on us the other day. Probably the motherboard, but maybe the CPU (or a component on it).
Normally I'd put together some parts and build a new one. Maybe go mini ITX this time, research the most economic low power CPU's, and put it together.
This time I just went and bought this for under $180
Intel X5-Z8300 (Quad core Atom)
4GB RAM
32GB eMMC
Built in ac wifi, bluetooth, DisplayPort, HDMI, 4 USB ports, analog audio in/out, and ethernet, microSD
Runs at 5-6W under full load, so it's fanless
Oh and it comes with Windows 10 and no preinstalled bloatware
Pretty crazy how things have changed... Obviously this won't be a powerful system, but should be fine for watching media and streaming Steam games from my main PC. Anything my wife needs it for, it will be totally capable of doing.
Anyone else getting into mini PC's for things like this? I'm curious what the experience has been like for you. I saw this coming a long time ago which is why I quit reviews. Even though I knew this was coming, I never thought I'd be into it myself
