Greetings!
I originally put this in my other question, but I'd like to break it out into its own, if you don't mind. My apologies if this topic has been discussed here already.
I've ordered the Aeon Labs Z Stick 2 and it'll be here on Friday. For now I'll test it out with a couple spare ZWave lamp modules I have floating around, and if I like it I'll look into replacing my Vera with InControl. To do that, however, I'd need to have a dedicated PC for the task, as I'm moving to a laptop as my main computer.
So far, I've been looking at the various extremely low-priced PCs on the market these days. My first thought was some sort of NUC, but by the time I build it out I'll be hitting ~$600, which is just too much. The only advantage I see to that is that I could also use it as a Plex media server. Anyway, I'm now deciding between two low-cost PCs:
HP Stream Mini - It's tiny and adorable. It has four USB 3 ports and full HDMI. It's also from a known company.
Vensmile Windows Box - Frankly, I'm only looking at this for two reasons: it's super cheap at ~$117, and it has a built-in battery. I like the idea that if the power blips out for a minute this thing won't skip a beat. What I don't like is that this is a no-name company based in China, it only has 2 USB 2 ports, no ethernet, and it's mini HDMI. I'm just a little concerned about the quality of the product and what kind of backing it'll have from the company.
But what I want to know from you fine folks here is: will these computers be enough for InControl? I have to imagine that they would, if they're capable of streaming HD Netflix and Skype sessions. I just thought I'd check, and see what other people were doing too.
Sufficient PC?
- 117 Views
- Last Post 22 June 2015
My recommendation is to look at the user reviews.
They definitely are cheaper than a full sized PC. My rig is a new Dell $500 to $600 desktop but only because I use it is a video server and needed the bays to add my video hard drives when my old PC crashed.
opinion I would say that either device would work, but it would be slow loading Windows 8.1 and limited memory at 2 gigs. But once booted up, shouldn't be too painful to run Incontrol HA.
If you do get one or the other, you will have to let us know how it works.
I can live with a bit of a startup delay, and 2GB isn't bad if I'm not using it for anything else. One day I'll build a NUC to act as a Plex media server, and I would put InControl on that, but it's too expensive right now.
I can live with a bit of a startup delay, and 2GB isn't bad if I'm not using it for anything else. One day I'll build a NUC to act as a Plex media server, and I would put InControl on that, but it's too expensive right now.
Not sure if you bought your machine, but it doesn't require much resources. I am running it as a VM on a 3Ghz Pentium D with 1 vCPU and 1gb of memory running Windows 7 enterprise. It takes a minute or two to start up, but I have no performance problems.
I read a review of the HP Stream. They mentioned a significant performance improvement by adding another 2GB stick of RAM.
This is true of any machine. Stuff all the ram you can into them and watch 'em fly.
Ram is accessed 1000 times faster than a hard drive.
