Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 9Materials and Prices
Here's the breakdown of what I used and how much it cost:
Laptop - ~$50 - eBay
Tivo - $10 - Goodwill
USB Sound Card - $5 - eBay
Antenna Cables - $4 - eBay
Antennas - from a box in the garage
Power adapter - from a box in the garage
Remote Control - spare, ~$40 new
Misc. Cables - laying around, but easy to come by
So, I have a lot of excess computer crap laying around. I mean a lot. I would guess that if I didn't have these things and I had to go out and buy everything I used it would have been around $100-120. I also looked long and hard to get the laptop that I ended up with, so some persistence will be helpful. As for the incidentals such as cables and adapters, stick to the auction sites. These seemingly insignificant items are the highest markup items for stores like Best Buy and Radio Shack, and can be purchased MUCH cheaper on eBay.
So, how does it perform?
Why, thank you for asking. The performance is not as good as my main HTPC, but it's good. It choked a bit when I had it at 1920x1080 resolution (1080p), but works great at 1600x900. I think that the computer could benefit from another GB of RAM, 1GB just makes the minimum requirements for Windows 7. Where this box really shines is the noise level. My main HTPC sounds like a DC-9 by comparison. I have to struggle to hear any noise coming from the box when I'm standing right next to it, it's completely inaudible when we're watching it from the other side of the room. I'll leave the heavy lifting to the big box in the living room and this thing can stay on 24/7 without disturbing anyone.
Laptop - ~$50 - eBay
Tivo - $10 - Goodwill
USB Sound Card - $5 - eBay
Antenna Cables - $4 - eBay
Antennas - from a box in the garage
Power adapter - from a box in the garage
Remote Control - spare, ~$40 new
Misc. Cables - laying around, but easy to come by
So, I have a lot of excess computer crap laying around. I mean a lot. I would guess that if I didn't have these things and I had to go out and buy everything I used it would have been around $100-120. I also looked long and hard to get the laptop that I ended up with, so some persistence will be helpful. As for the incidentals such as cables and adapters, stick to the auction sites. These seemingly insignificant items are the highest markup items for stores like Best Buy and Radio Shack, and can be purchased MUCH cheaper on eBay.
So, how does it perform?
Why, thank you for asking. The performance is not as good as my main HTPC, but it's good. It choked a bit when I had it at 1920x1080 resolution (1080p), but works great at 1600x900. I think that the computer could benefit from another GB of RAM, 1GB just makes the minimum requirements for Windows 7. Where this box really shines is the noise level. My main HTPC sounds like a DC-9 by comparison. I have to struggle to hear any noise coming from the box when I'm standing right next to it, it's completely inaudible when we're watching it from the other side of the room. I'll leave the heavy lifting to the big box in the living room and this thing can stay on 24/7 without disturbing anyone.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
Shawn
It was inspiring. I need your help / guidance. I am having a laptop with chipset issues and damaged dvd combo. Its having 15" TFT, 520 MB Ram, 160 HDD, AMD Turion Processor, Web Cam, etc. It can boot up, but dies off very fast. To repair is also costing too much. I got a VCD player which is good. Can I convert the laptop to something usefull.
Looking 4 support..
Ram
1: a simple remote (either IR or AM-radio) connectiong through the little 9-pin vga-like connection at the back? With a little software and most likely under $5 bits, could have you tivo remote encased remote
2: Buy a ready made one. But thats no fun. Or a PS3 controller. Or a wii controller. ETC