Need advice on laptop/tablet for TV connecting

themoneycollector · 03-10-2013, 11:41 PM

cheap yes, quite a stretch to call it sorry and underpowered. It's a fully powered Linux computer in a tiny form factor. I'd say it's more capable than other option mentioned so far and open source at a significantly lower price as well.

Ethernet, HDMI, that's about all the connectivity you need. As far as I can tell, it has 2 things more than an ipad at 1/10th the cost. OK so you'll need an additonal $10 usb dongle to get wifi on it if you can't do wired ethernet.

I have had a similar interest to find something cheap to leave connected to my tv as well to do these:
1). play movies/music off network shared drive or nas (or saved onto a USB or SD card - wait....even an ipad doesn't even give you a usb port standard on a $300+ device)
2). view *most any* (here's where I'm not fully sure, but all signs point to yes) web based videos (youtube, putlocker). Netflix is available with some additonal work, but hopefully should be a nice neat app soon.

The RPi is just an option depending on whether you wanted to spend the minimum and still have great tv capabilities. If you're budget is higher, I would recommend a miniITX form factor HTPC before spending the money on an ipad/appletv. You'd still come out ahead and completely blow away any option in terms of flexibility and capability.

03-10-2013, 11:41 PM	#11
themoneycollector Nicotiana Tabacum Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Hill AFB, UT Posts: 1,258 Trading: (108)	Re: Need advice on laptop/tablet for TV connecting cheap yes, quite a stretch to call it sorry and underpowered. It's a fully powered Linux computer in a tiny form factor. I'd say it's more capable than other option mentioned so far and open source at a significantly lower price as well. Ethernet, HDMI, that's about all the connectivity you need. As far as I can tell, it has 2 things more than an ipad at 1/10th the cost. OK so you'll need an additonal $10 usb dongle to get wifi on it if you can't do wired ethernet. I have had a similar interest to find something cheap to leave connected to my tv as well to do these: 1). play movies/music off network shared drive or nas (or saved onto a USB or SD card - wait....even an ipad doesn't even give you a usb port standard on a $300+ device) 2). view most any (here's where I'm not fully sure, but all signs point to yes) web based videos (youtube, putlocker). Netflix is available with some additonal work, but hopefully should be a nice neat app soon. The RPi is just an option depending on whether you wanted to spend the minimum and still have great tv capabilities. If you're budget is higher, I would recommend a miniITX form factor HTPC before spending the money on an ipad/appletv. You'd still come out ahead and completely blow away any option in terms of flexibility and capability.