Spit-wad
Bake a Pretty Cake!
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- 905
This is what's up: My mom likes to watch tv shows and stuff, but she doesn't have cable and misses a lot of her shows, so she needs to watch them on the computer. She can't stand sitting in her computer chair, so she needs to be able to watch it on the TV in a different room. She borrowed my laptop for a while, which I hooked up to her TV, and she loved it.
So I was thinking it might be a cool gift to get her a small home theater kind of pc. I don't know what people usually put in an HTPC, but this would need to be small and cheap.
So I was thinking of putting it in the cabinet underneath the tv with a small case and getting her a wireless mouse and keyboard to have over on the table by the couch.
Does this sound like a decent idea?
Small case, micro atx board, cheap cpu, etc.
I don't really know what kind of components you would put in something like this... but I'm guessing onboard video and audio is fine? Is there any onboard video with an hdmi port that would transmit sound also? Otherwise I might have an audio cable to do that through the TV.
Can anyone put together a parts list? Let's say $300? (just for the tower... don't need OS. less than 300 would be wonderful)
also recommend a very cheap wireless keyboard + mouse combo? (not included in the $300 budget)
I'll throw up my attempt at a parts list in a few mins
Thanks in advance!
Edit: what's the deal with barebones kits? What do you usually get in them, and would one of those be a good option for me?
So I was thinking it might be a cool gift to get her a small home theater kind of pc. I don't know what people usually put in an HTPC, but this would need to be small and cheap.
So I was thinking of putting it in the cabinet underneath the tv with a small case and getting her a wireless mouse and keyboard to have over on the table by the couch.
Does this sound like a decent idea?
Small case, micro atx board, cheap cpu, etc.
I don't really know what kind of components you would put in something like this... but I'm guessing onboard video and audio is fine? Is there any onboard video with an hdmi port that would transmit sound also? Otherwise I might have an audio cable to do that through the TV.
Can anyone put together a parts list? Let's say $300? (just for the tower... don't need OS. less than 300 would be wonderful)
also recommend a very cheap wireless keyboard + mouse combo? (not included in the $300 budget)
I'll throw up my attempt at a parts list in a few mins
Thanks in advance!
Edit: what's the deal with barebones kits? What do you usually get in them, and would one of those be a good option for me?