Barebones Deals & Offers

Now £39.99

So long as you don't need to transcode. i.e. if your Plex player (TV, etc.) can direct handle the formats stored in Plex.

fantastic as a Plex server

Just add an SD card.

Any good as a plex server?

Hmm. might be tempted... would be an upgrade from my current Atom N450 Netbook

You're basically describing a Chromebook.

I use one as a vehicle diagnostic laptop running Windows 7 and it's worked quite nicely, fairly slow...a small ssd drive might help...it's not bad on batteries. There is lots of educational software available for it, using some of it's hidden features. Good for the money , if you want to have a project to play with.

CPU in this thing is about 40% weaker than the £30 linx tablets that appear here now and again.

Any good as a linux box? Are there any gotchas in doing this (lack of driver support, etc) ?

Thanks! Bought a new dell branded 8gb stick for £38.

Anyone know where you can buy one of these, as I quite fancied one.

lucky chap

Yes mine also arriving tomorrow by DPD

Mines been dispatched. Arriving tomorrow via dpd.

stoopid kids making me miss deals

must have only been 1 :/. missed again

Back in stock on Amazon and eBay @ £216.

kind of wish I picked one up now

Well quick delivery mine arrived today got my stuff today the only downside being a don't have a mini hdmi cable

I have an ML10 v2, and will be sticking with it... The ML10 v2 has two ethernet ports, and I was really hoping for front USB 3.0 ports. It's also about £70 cheaper to get hold of a compatible Xeon if you're happy with used. Maybe the Gen10 will look a little better...

I don't know what you're looking at but both machines have 4 RAM slots and 4 internal 3.5" drive bays, although the HP, being taller, does have an extra 5.25" bay which could be purposed for additional drives (e.g. 2 x 2.5") if required. With some imagination you could stuff either full of velcro/tie-wrapped drives if you're desperate. It's all a bit of a moot point anyway; there's plenty space in both for any realistic use, and if a huge amount of performant storage is a need then you're probably looking at the wrong solution with either of these two servers. I can't see any reference to 're-casing' the T20 on eBuyer. Would seem a rather futile and expensive way of doing things. If you need a small server, just buy one? And if you do, why all the fretting about drive bays?

It shows 4 bays available on each? Also one of the comments on Ebuyer states that while you can transfer into a smaller case (which I would do) the headers are different and some other cables would be required, there is also only one RAM slot so although you can get more RAM it has to be a single stick, that and I'd not use either 32gb or 64gb. The processor is more 'future' proof for sure but I wonder how many hours and PITA messing around I'll have to do to get it to where I want it? I'd also need to buy DDR4 as opposed to just using a stick from my existing system. Edit: The T20 looks like it may have to taken itself out the running anyway as it's case is bigger than I want so downsizing the existing setup looks the best option and that is the ML10 if I'm going through the processes

You make a good point to be fair.

This one? https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-poweredge-t20-intel-g3220-4gb-ram-500gb-hdd-mini-tower-server-delivery-ebuyer-2594521 Yes, I get that is a bit smaller and it comes with a (cheap/slow) HDD but has older & slower CPU/memory, it's more expensive than the HP (after cb) and will similarly be unable to be rehoused in a Microserver-size case. The £20-odd you save buying the HP goes a fair way to buying a small SSD for the OS, hugely improving the responsiveness. It's your money though :)

Hello, No guide - I just unplugged and unscrewed the laptop style blower fan. Cleaned up the CPU die then applied new thermal paste and a small heatsink from an old motherboard chipset this sort of thing (be careful not to use one that's too big as it'll short out components around the CPU (use non conductive tape on the parts not making contact with CPU die) the weight of the metal and paste kept it in place without movement, so no clasp etc needed to fix it down. Mine was a little too tall to put the top of the case back on but I wasn't fussed. Idles around 30degrees with max temps of 65degrees when 100% stress/burn tested so very happy. actually cools better than that awful blower fan with the top off

Meant to type 'please', where are my manners.

​Interesting. Did you follow a guide or are you able to give me a steer on that front, seems like a good idea as the fan is noisy.

​I removed the built in fan and installed a passive heatsync onto mine. use it as a silent plex server. Perfect for what I need.

What do you guys think of yours? Rate it or not?

Yes it is a barebones system but where some NUC's and similar devices allow additional RAM or maybe a HDD/SSD, this one allows a greater range of things, including CPU. More flexibility in a small box.

​yes

​yes

i dont understand what this is. Is it basically a case with a motherboard fitted and you have to supply the cpu, ram and hard disk?

More info over at the ASRock site. http://www.asrock.com/nettop/Intel/Deskmini%20110%20Series/

soz -- my mistake, I thought the price had changed, but I hadnt seen the code first

This has been up here before. A very niche device with a CPU benchmark of around 556. However, it is fanless.

Does not mean to hijack this thread, but I just want to inform you this memory can can complement, but this is for prime (you can just use the trial prime). See my comment you can get this for about £7.99. I just want to help. https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/crucial-ct102464bf160b-8-gb-pc3-12800-unbuffered-non-ecc-1-35-v-1024-meg-x-64-17-2478820

Thanks, have ordered one

Best to use an SSD with a USB3 adapter that supports UASP. This is the one that I am using: StarTech.com USB 3.0 to 2.5" SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable w/ UASP - SATA to USB 3.0 Converter for SSD/HDD - Hard Drive Adapter Cable

Thanks, will give this a go, I wonder what the experience will be like regarding speed

No.

That looks interesting, thanks for sharing 8-)

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/acer-revo-m1601-nettop-celeron-2gb-ram-32gb-ssd-99-ebuyer-2378103?page=2#comments Post there says about the acer revo its a 32gb emmc not ssd drive ?

Pretty much any Bay Trail mini PC will outperform this by 100% in threaded tasks. And as others have pointed out, other products in the Brix products with low-end Celerons or Jxxx0 SOCs will be even more performant for very little extra money. What this has going for it is expandability in the drive bays and RAM slots that other Bay Trail mini PCs might not offer. I'd be genuinely keen to learn of any application where you think this would shine above the burgeoning competition. Edit: with a wee bit more reading, the TDP of 6W is quite interesting. If you want an always-on device with consumption around that of a raspberry pi then I guess that I can see the point of this.

£1.80 cheaper than when I posted it 3 weeks ago and still getting a frosty reception :) Definitely a poor cpu.

The J1900 version is around the same price.

Such as?

ASRock Beebox N3150/B/BB Barebone Mini PC - Bla ck £128.49 & FREE Delivery in the UK or £124.39 flubit http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-Beebox-N3150-BB-Barebone/dp/B00ZXXU04U/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1452605180&sr=1-1&keywords=beebox

You bought a better spec PC, five months later and for a cheaper price? I should damn well hope so!! :{

just bought a beebox n3150 £134.99 250gb ssd samsung 8gb ram :p

What are you using it for? If it is for movies than this unit can be powered on/off from the remote easily, in which case you probably won't notice the fan

Thanks flea, I want to keep it on 24x7 so I'm torn between the noise of the fan and it getting too hot

Use Flubit for £93 or Bespoke for £92, based on the Ebuyer URL. I assume that Ebuyer have shifted most of the excess stock, which is why the prices have firmed. I bought at £85 and £89. Dabs have it for £96 delivered if you don't want to use Flubit or Bespoke.

Thanks for this soza, I was waiting for info on the new Brix. Sticking with VGA on the GB-BACE-3000 is baffling really and it looks like the GB-BXCE-3205 isn't fanless (not surprising with a TDP of 15w). Looks like the Beebox is definitely the one for me unless there are any contenders soon....

Nice one, probably pull the trigger soon then :)

I've owned one for a while now and it's been great, but I suspect that the price will continue to go down. They've just recently announced the GB-BACE-3000 which is also fanless, has 4 USB 3.0 ports, split headphone and MIC ports, supports wireless AC, up to 8GB of DDR3L @ 1600 MHz and it also has a built in micro SD card reader. I believe that the other fanless version is the GB-BXCE-3205. It costs more, but it's slimmer, supports more memory and it should also be a little faster than than the other two. Would I recommend any of these for Kodi alone? No as there's cheaper alternatives. For a compact and totally silent PC they're amazing though.

Mine was £26 from the UK. It can run any skin.

This Brix I believe is mSATA only so if you bought a 2.5" SATA SSD it won't fit. You'd need something like this for 2.5" drive support: http://www.ebuyer.com/613292-intel-nuc-d34010wykh3-i3-4010u-haswell-with-2-5inch-drive-support-barebone-boxd34010wykh3

bought it and have an ssd bought from https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/refurbished-crucial-m4-ssd-256gb-37-43-delivered-crucial-2069195, will it work with the brix?

Are there cheaper versions of this> Just need something to stream internet feeds onto a TV...

64 bit

which version of windows for this 32 or 64 bit?

Back down to £199.98 for those who are interested.

I bought one late last night. I realise the projector is a bit of a gimmick, but the same spec machine without it is about £30 dearer so a bit of a no brainer really.

Assuming it's done it automatically as I only put it on as the same date valid. Forgot the eBuyer deals run until about 8-9 AM following morning.

Why Has this been expired?

75 ansi lumens = nothing for a projector. Don't expect to see anything that's going on!

if I wanted to add an IR receiver and use this device with openelec -what is the best ir receiver to use?

available HERE for £89.74 inc VAT (Free Delivery)

yes it will play both, do a search on google for "Intel Celeron 1007U terraria" & "Intel Celeron 1007U minecraft"

Do you think it would be capable of playing Minecraft and Terreria? Or would i satill be better with the A4-4000 deal posted earlier?

It's a substantially faster CPU, it's also a substantially more power hungry one (relatively speaking). Which is better?

You might as well make a new post for it as I posted this so many months ago. :)

back in stock!:)

The big problem with this unit is it gets red hot literally without any cooling help.. I did get one at this price and despite it being not that powerful as i plan to try and get a little airflow through the case for safety and use it as an "always on" linux box for squeezebox server, minidlna etc duties .. i'm toying with the idea as its so hot at the moment of hacking a silent 5V fan to plug in to a usb2 port and resting the unit on that, perhaps drilling a few more holes on the base for airflow etc

I've got a low(ish) power HTPC (Core i3 2120) that's also doubling as a NAS with 5TB of storage. The Pi is just connecting to network shares and direct streaming off that (no transcoding). Plays everything fine. The trick is to use the sd/usb setup. It's a complete game changer for the Pi, as the USB caches all your library images and the speed literally quadruples. I did use a nowtv & plex server running on the HTPC, but the overhead of transcoding everything that's not 720p was just draining too much power as well as making all the fans fire up. I prefer using clients that can stream content direct without transcoding.

How would this do for steam inhome streaming? Would be ideal as a media centre + game streaming device, even if it could only manage 720p.

Earlier this week Intel had 6-8 weeks worth of n2820 stock still to shift to sellers before they start with n2830 variant rolling out. N2820 version: SA H22962-100, H22962-101, and H22962-102 N2830 version: SA H22962-103 and later Its going to be longer than s6-8 weeks before stock at sellers is not mixed :(

Yeah I might get the 2830 version to make a smart TV pc to replace a cumbersom desktop I have in use and like the idea of tiny, quiet and low consumption device running Windows similar.

Don't touch! As stated the processor has a bug. It's really poor that intel are still selling these. Should be recalled really. Ideal for a low power solutions but I'm waiting until they get through this dodgy stock.

Thanks for that. It did seem a bit whiffy, with both processors appearing to offer similar performance. The only difference in the spec I could see was the memory interface being a little faster on the '30.

Intel are discretely replacing the 2820 with the 2830 after they decided they couldn't be arsed to fix a bug that affected some users. Note this Celeron is based on the Bay Trail Atom CPU's rather than Celeron's based on Haswell. Not saying anything bad except they're very low power consuming and not directly comparable to regular desktop type Celerons http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2014/04/24/intel-n2820/1

echoing dt_matthews.. for these barebones you need the SODIMM RAM.. aka laptop ram .. which is slightly more expensive than the desktop one. THere is a Crucial £10 off code somewhere on HotUKdeals... use that and it will be become cheaper than Amazon.

Yes, ram* and ssd required. Beware, this is not by any means a quiet unit, under load the fan is loud. *low volt ddr3 sodimm modules If you do buy I have an 8gb module I had in mine that I'm selling if your interested

Do you need to buy ram and HDD to use this PC? Can anyone explain how it works? Is this the barebones, processor, graphics etc then just need to put in RAM & HDD. I'm on the edge of ordering!!

The brix arrived safe and sound, and on time... so i havent found the need to test their CS team. I can confirm the performance is great if you are not bother by the heat and fan noise. When I play Diablo 3 @ 1080p, i get 60+ fps; the max heat i get on CPU is 100 degrees, one of the Ram module is running a bit higher due to its location (beneath the other Ram module.) I found the fan noise is tolerable, it is about the same as a 2009 Macbook Pro running Diablo 3 @ 900p at 30 fps. BTW disabling Turbo Boost helped with the heat reduction. You are correct. i5 is worth exploring if you are not going to play the cutting edge games. it is not suitable for me since i need to processing power to use Lightroom and play the occasion games. i5 is not a true quad core and it does not have the full 128Mb L4 cache.

I always thought Kikatek sounded iffy but looking at those reviews it seems not. Have you used them before Op?. Worth updating your price too; they're now offering them at £504.19, or £501.67 if purchased with a debit card, delivered The reviews I've read rave about the unit in all areas except price, heat and fan noise. Two different reviews have made mention that when pushed this baby gets close to 100 degrees C and the fan goes into overdrive. I would like to read a review and see the cost of the I5 based Brix Pro as this might be a better compromise - if you're not aiming at a full on gaming machine.

A Dell Vostro 270 desktop on their Business outlet section can be grabbed for around this sort of price often with Win7 or Win8 ... ok it might have 2GB ram but the Dual core G2020 CPU is pretty good and probably better than this. Many outlet products are new & cancelled orders. Not much at the mo but earlier this week there were several models from around £195 delivered inc VAT.

only good for home server

Sorry but terrible processor and graphics. Cold

No operating system supplied (rare for Packard Bell / PC World)

You may want to look at refurbished devices such as this: http://www.scctrade.co.uk/prod/lenovo-thinkcentre-m58p-6234-core-2-duo-293ghz-2gb-160gb-grade-b/(other other similar models). This will leave you with some spare change even after upgrading the ram and getting a larger disk drive (possibly even a SSD one), and will result in a much more powerful machine. As a bonus you'll likely to get a Windows license (likely to be Vista Pro or Win 7 pro) thrown in for good measure. If you're patient, you can find configurations with 4GB of memory for the same price with the company in the link (I'm not affiliated with them, but bought two Grade B computers from them -a Lenovo X61 and an M58p. Both of these machines were great with very little trace of usage... but YMMV)

My new build idles around 40W with a single 500GB hard drive, DVD writer and 2 x 2GB DDR3 ram - this is with a fairly old inefficient PSU though.

It would be fine for an SSD even if it were only SATA II. With the H81 chipset and cheap Pentium CPU, I'd be interested to know what the power consumption of this PC would be. Might make for a decent cheap NAS / Ubuntu box.

Still shocks me how most people think a new build has got to be capable of been a super uber gaming rig. I built my son a machine around this budget and all i put in was a dual core chip i think for around £30. 4gb DDR for about £25. A 500gb hdd i pulled out of a old sky hd box and a graphics card i got off of CCL for around £40. All he was bothered about was if he had LED's on his case or not lol. But serious once ya got it up and running then thats the main thing cos its easy enuff to put the rest of the parts in when and needed just make sure u dont hold back with splashing the cash when it comes to the motherboard and that its future proof. Use This To Pick Parts And It Shows You Where To Get The Cheapest Prices.

This is true. I'm hoping it might help someone on a budget (obviously) and who , while comfortable finishing off the build by adding a HDD , may not want to build completely from scratch.. :|

I ordered a similar Intel G3220 cpu + MSH H81M-P33 motherboard for £78 delivered from Scan - added some spare memory and hard drive and installed Windows 8.1. Once you enable the fast boot options it boots in only a few seconds even with a regular 500GB hard drive. Personally I was very impressed with this budget build - powerful enough for non-gaming duties - can play 1080p YouTube at 30% cpu etc.