Dell usff vs intel nuc vs ??

[montrose818]

Need a small computer to put in my trailer. Will be used to watch movies from hdd. Have used a dell usff at home before and was happy, not sure if theres something better to look at. Will be hooked up to a 32" tv.

12v would be awesome but Im not getting a lot of google hits on that, maybe Im old and missing new tech.

Thanks
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[Lil'John]

Any reason not to get a laptop? MUCH MUCH cheaper than a nuc. My cheapy OfficeMax ~$150 laptop plays movies fine.

FWIW, I've got piles of NUCs around my house and even with a steep discount on them, I never sniffed $150.

 

[Wolfe_Man]

check out a Lenovo tiny PC, I've got a couple and they run well for how small they are. Way more "horsepower" than a NUC like this https://www.newegg.com/p/1VK-0003-1CRV1

 

[Void_of_Light]

A raspberry pi running plex or kodi would do it, and cost about $50

 

[montrose818]

Some of my movies have separate subtitle files, and I dont know if plex or kodi will play those? I also worry about response time.. never used the raspberry but it seems like a toy?

No laptoos. I want to mount it in the corner somewhere away from sight.

Cool lenovo! Never seen one, will check it out, thanks

 

[Lil'John]

Not sure I see how you can't mount a laptop in the corner "away from sight". Just like all the other small form factor NUCS, you will need a keyboard and a mouse(or equivalents).

There is also the Gigabyte Briks. I've got one of them from a few years ago that had an integrated projector.

That lenovo is six or more generations old(ivy Bridge). You also don't need a ton of "power" to play movies. A non-core Intel will work fine; my movie player is a Pentium. Specs are:
NUC5PGYHOAJ - Pentium N3700 - 4 core @1.6Ghz. Added 8GB RAM. No issues playing movies. Five year old processor.
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/88065/intel-nuc-kit-nuc5pgyh.html

If you have the option, find one with a "large" case that will allow a full height 2.5" drive. Many do not offer this.

I will say the above will have issues doing any hefty web browsing especially in default 2GB RAM mode... after about the third tab, it gets into a page swapping nightmare.