[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 07:34 AM, said:

Darn... I guess I'll just have to take your word for it then. I'm not sure that she needs a mini-tower though, as I was planning to use a network-based backup solution and thus have one hard drive instead of two in the machine.

Have your browsed through Newegg's HTPC cases?
http://www.newegg.co...ia-Center-Cases
They've got a pretty good selection of SFF cases if you go the DIY route.

[Stevey]

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 07:33 AM, said:

Stevey, on 29 September 2012 - 09:20 PM, said:

LiveBrianD you're 63? And all this time I had been thinking you were a student...lol...

No! Compnovo is - I'm 15.

Oh good I'm turning 64 this november...rarely see that young people here

This post has been edited by Stevey: 30 September 2012 - 10:36 AM

[LiveBrianD]

compnovo, on 30 September 2012 - 08:47 AM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 07:34 AM, said:

Darn... I guess I'll just have to take your word for it then. I'm not sure that she needs a mini-tower though, as I was planning to use a network-based backup solution and thus have one hard drive instead of two in the machine.

Have your browsed through Newegg's HTPC cases?
http://www.newegg.co...ia-Center-Cases
They've got a pretty good selection of SFF cases if you go the DIY route.

I need to take another look at that - the problem is that a lot of them are a bit expensive, or have slightly questionable power supplies. (I'm guessing that they're no worse than most OEM ones though.)

Edit: Say, you got one of these for a friend, right? How well has that been working? (I'm wondering if the slightly larger variant, here, would be better, since I can get the motherboard cheaper and I can actually put an expansion card in there - I might want to put a wireless card in at some point.)

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 30 September 2012 - 11:07 AM

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 10:46 AM, said:

Edit: Say, you got one of these for a friend, right? How well has that been working? (I'm wondering if the slightly larger variant, here, would be better, since I can get the motherboard cheaper and I can actually put an expansion card in there - I might want to put a wireless card in at some point.)

So far he's been very happy with that system, everything is working as it should. I used an ASRock H67M-ITX/HT board that came with onboard EVERYTHING, including wireless (antennas included) and a remote.

That was my smallest build and I am very pleased with how it turned out, even though the i5 2400 I put in it gave me a serious case of processor envy.

[LiveBrianD]

Just remind yourself that at least you have a better GPU than him! I'm a bit envious of the system I'll be choosing/building for my grandma - it looks like my 1st gen i5 isn't too much faster than the AMD A6, includes good graphics and costs less, and does all that under the same TDP. Dang...

That said, I'm still a bit wary of those generic PSUs. At least the ones in OEM cases are decent - otherwise, they'd get a bad reputation. (Dell apparently thought that saving a few bucks was better than making a decent machine and getting repeat business though...)

Btw, I'm probably going to order this in the next few days, since I need it 2 weeks from now.

[LiveBrianD]

My dad and I ended up deciding on getting 2 Lenovo Thinkcentre M72e SFF desktops (we're replacing grandpa's as well) - i5 3550S, 500GB HD, 4GB RAM, and Win7 Pro for around $500 (I know a guy who gave me his IBM employee discount info) - not bad at all. The funny thing is, you can get the 3550S, or you can pay $40 more and get a Pentium G645. What? Another thing - you can get the machine without a recovery disc, or pay $0 and get it. Umm... why would I not get it if it's free?

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 06:06 PM, said:

My dad and I ended up deciding on getting 2 Lenovo Thinkcentre M72e SFF desktops (we're replacing grandpa's as well) - i5 3550S, 500GB HD, 4GB RAM, and Win7 Pro for around $500 (I know a guy who gave me his IBM employee discount info) - not bad at all. The funny thing is, you can get the 3550S, or you can pay $40 more and get a Pentium G645. What? Another thing - you can get the machine without a recovery disc, or pay $0 and get it. Umm... why would I not get it if it's free?

Do you have a link so we can take a look? I googled, but there are a few different M72e machines.

This post has been edited by compnovo: 30 September 2012 - 06:48 PM

[waldojim]

If you have no need for it. Like in a corporate environment.

[LiveBrianD]

compnovo, on 30 September 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 06:06 PM, said:

My dad and I ended up deciding on getting 2 Lenovo Thinkcentre M72e SFF desktops (we're replacing grandpa's as well) - i5 3550S, 500GB HD, 4GB RAM, and Win7 Pro for around $500 (I know a guy who gave me his IBM employee discount info) - not bad at all. The funny thing is, you can get the 3550S, or you can pay $40 more and get a Pentium G645. What? Another thing - you can get the machine without a recovery disc, or pay $0 and get it. Umm... why would I not get it if it's free?

Do you have a link so we can take a look? I googled, but there are a few different M72e machines.

http://shop.lenovo.c...8FECFA35696C46B
(hopefully that'll still work, if not, try this http://shop.lenovo.c...8FECFA35696C46B)

It seems there are 3 versions - 'Tower', 'Small Desktop' (what my dad ordered), and 'Tiny Form Factor' (which lacks PCIe/PCI slots, for instance).

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 30 September 2012 - 08:00 PM

[LiveBrianD]

waldojim, on 30 September 2012 - 06:49 PM, said:

If you have no need for it. Like in a corporate environment.

Good point - I almost forgot that these machines are meant for business use! Say, if you guys want, I'll run a few benchmarks on these (when I'm configuring them) before I give them to my grandparents. I'm curious to see how the 3550S compares to my 750 - I'm getting a bit jealous (now I know what it's like, Compnovo! ). At least I have more RAM and a better GPU...

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 07:52 PM, said:

compnovo, on 30 September 2012 - 06:48 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 06:06 PM, said:

My dad and I ended up deciding on getting 2 Lenovo Thinkcentre M72e SFF desktops (we're replacing grandpa's as well) - i5 3550S, 500GB HD, 4GB RAM, and Win7 Pro for around $500 (I know a guy who gave me his IBM employee discount info) - not bad at all. The funny thing is, you can get the 3550S, or you can pay $40 more and get a Pentium G645. What? Another thing - you can get the machine without a recovery disc, or pay $0 and get it. Umm... why would I not get it if it's free?

Do you have a link so we can take a look? I googled, but there are a few different M72e machines.

http://shop.lenovo.c...8FECFA35696C46B
(hopefully that'll still work, if not, try this http://shop.lenovo.c...8FECFA35696C46B)

It seems there are 3 versions - 'Tower', 'Small Desktop' (what my dad ordered), and 'Tiny Form Factor' (which lacks PCIe/PCI slots, for instance).

I found it on the second link (the first shows your option selections). Very nice, looks like about the size of my media center. Yours has better "innards" though.

[LiveBrianD]

Lol... I was surprised by what I was able to get for the money there. I'll have to put this next to my desktop for size comparison. (is this starting to sound familiar? )

The first link is just what it chose by default, not what I set. (I changed it to the i5 3550S, added the recovery discs, and for one added a wireless card and a card reader since grandpa uses those. I also removed a keyboard and a mouse from one of them because grandma's mouse is still good, and grandpa's keyboard is almost brand new - the Dell one he had failed.)

I am so glad my dad finally got around to this before Windows 8's release date though...

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 30 September 2012 - 08:14 PM

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2012 - 08:08 PM, said:

Lol... I was surprised by what I was able to get for the money there. I'll have to put this next to my desktop for size comparison. (is this starting to sound familiar?

Yep.

Attached thumbnail(s)

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[LiveBrianD]

OK, this is interesting - I looked up the order on Lenovo's site, and the machines actually have Celeron G550s. I figured the site was wrong there or something. (It's still a dual core sandy bridge one though, so that's good enough.)

[brainout]

LiveBrianD, on 28 September 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:

I think that's a bit too expensive though (the machines I've been looking at are in the $400-500 price range). Also, she's used to Windows, and adding that would be an extra $100.

Brian, I hear you about Dell, but I just bought an Optiplex 780 Windows 7 Pro SFF at dellauction.com for $225. Fan is loud at boot, but I disabled the power/quiet mode and fast boot -- else, it's quiet. The 7 Pro includes SP1 already, plus reinstallation disk, and the drive is partitioned with a separate recovery of 10GB.

Case doesn't seem loose, to me.

There are a bunch of them up for auction, so you can get them at any price you'd want. I did a search in Amazon for Dell parts, and also in Dell itself; the prices and availability are pretty good. The only problem, is the DisplayPort; in the 780 and 760 (both of which I bought), sound won't come through. I'll have to add a card which has a fully functional Display Port. One expansion slot is free, but the other holds a second serial port and Ps/2, so you could replace that, too. There is also an old-fashioned parallel port.

The models include eSATA; processors vary in type and speed, but most of the machines for auction are Core 2 Duo, 2-3 GHz (I got 3 and 3.33 GHz).

This post has been edited by brainout: 17 November 2012 - 03:27 AM