Computer in the kitchen?

[Barrister]

hmmm... those Atom based systems don't include memory, hard drive, optical drive, RAM, or Windows.

Not nearly so cheap now.

Mac Mini becomes more competitive (and with a much stronger processor)...

[Grey Fox]

For 289$ they included memory, hdd & ram.

Altho ram & memory are the samething.

It includes a crap version of Win 7 tho, that's true.

[derspiess]

Dell was practically giving these things away when they first started selling them: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-zino-hd-410/pd?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn&ST=dell%20zino&dgc=ST&cid=50313&lid=1304519&acd=52183,8,0,88806310,771378569,1300124968,,19857862,4852798101

I got mine for under $200.  It shipped with Vista Basic but I happened to have an extra Win7 license so I was set.

[derspiess]

Also, you could almost get by with an Apple TV hooked up to a monitor.  I would have to think someone has gotten email & web browsing to work on it, though I dunno what you'd use for a keyboard other than an ipod touch.

[Barrister]

Dell was practically giving these things away when they first started selling them: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-zino-hd-410/pd?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn&ST=dell%20zino&dgc=ST&cid=50313&lid=1304519&acd=52183,8,0,88806310,771378569,1300124968,,19857862,4852798101

I got mine for under $200.  It shipped with Vista Basic but I happened to have an extra Win7 license so I was set.

Intriguing.  And it has real processor and vid card, not Atom-based.  The fact it's the size of a hardcover book, not a paperback, doesn't really matter much.

[Grey Fox]

Woha. I want one of those.

[derspiess]

Dell was practically giving these things away when they first started selling them: http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-zino-hd-410/pd?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn&ST=dell%20zino&dgc=ST&cid=50313&lid=1304519&acd=52183,8,0,88806310,771378569,1300124968,,19857862,4852798101

I got mine for under $200.  It shipped with Vista Basic but I happened to have an extra Win7 license so I was set.

Intriguing.  And it has real processor and vid card, not Atom-based.  The fact it's the size of a hardcover book, not a paperback, doesn't really matter much.

When Zino HD launched in November 2009 Dell was using AMD's Atom equivalent.  The one upgraded component I ordered was the dual-core version of that processor, which together with the low spec video card & a couple GB of RAM, handles HTPC functions just fine.

[MadImmortalMan]

You put the good stuff in it and it's up around $900. But still pretty neat.

[derspiess]

You put the good stuff in it and it's up around $900. But still pretty neat.

I don't think Beeb needs any of the good stuff for a kitchen PC, though.

[dps]

Any thoughts?  Anyone else do something like this?

At one time, I had an old desktop that we didn't really need anymore set up in the dining area right off the kitchen.  The only thing we used it for was to play music, so I just set the keyboard on top of the tower to save space--I took the password off the system, so we could que up a playlist with just the mouse, so we hardly ever needed the keyboard (just if we happened to add some more music).  Don't need a big monitor for that, either, so you can really set it up in a limited space.

[Norgy]

Moving to the new house we are of course rationalizing and re-assessing everything.

My wife has an old computer that doesn't get used for much besides her iTunes collection, and the rare occasion we both need to use a computer.  I think it might be time to retire this computer.

The King of Macs is going to go into an office/man cave in the basement, together with my personal law library.   

But I have a (crazy?) notion to get either a used iMac, or a small form factor computer, and put it in the kitchen.  There's a counter that divides the kitchen from the eating area that we can put a couple of stools up against.  My idea is to put a computer there (which likely would have my wife's iTunes on it) for light web surfing, email, and playing some music.

But I've never had such a set up before, and never had a computer that wasn't intended to also play games on it

Any thoughts?  Anyone else do something like this?

What's wrong with leaving Post-It notes rather than e-mails when you need milk?

[derspiess]

What's wrong with leaving Post-It notes rather than e-mails when you need milk?

Simple Post-it notes aren't complicated enough.  I got my parents one of these a few months ago & they're still trying to figure out what it is: http://www.amazon.com/Audiovox-Electronics-Homebase-DPF711K-Digital/dp/B0012M8RE6

Dad still seems to think it's nothing more than a digital photo frame & gets pissed off when someone writes on the dry-erase area.  Mom is fascinated by the video camera on it but can never navigate past the 20 menu options to record something.  I got a lot of entertainment value out of it for the $25 I spent

[Norgy]

 

[Barrister]

Because GF asked, I'm close, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

The three options seem to be:

-an Atom (with Ion) based system.  Very cheap, but have to do some DIY that I'm not sure I want to, plus I'm not confidernt at how good a Atom processor would be.

-a Dell Zino.  Prices are very agressive, and specs seem good.  Bad experience with my last Dell.  Is a self-contained system.  It is also probably the largest of all three systems.

-a Mac Mini.  Of course this is what I want to buy, but it is the most expensive.  Probably the most powerful too, but not sure how much that matters.  When asked my wife likes Macs, but isn't obsessive like me.  Size is quite nice.

[MadImmortalMan]

For the same price as the Mac Mini, you can get a fantastic netbook that's just as powerful or more and not have to buy a monitor.




Edit: I bought a Mini for the office to do some testing with OSx and active directory integration---fyi, you can't use a svga monitor with it. Has to be HDMI or DVI with an adapter.