this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2025
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Hi all!

I was running Kodi (and some *arr services) on an old laptop, but that one seemingly now decided it was time to die.
It was a bit underpowered for the task anyway and more meant as a test platform, to see if the setup works and if it's also comfortable enough to be used by my wife.

So I'm having this laptop connected with HDMI to the TV, with a HDMI-CEC adapter to let me use my TV remote and a reasonable large (12TB) external USB HDD for mass storage - which is a bit of a bitch, because it tends to go to sleep and not wake up properly or doesn't show with e.g. lsblk anymore (but that could also be a wonky usb socket in the beaten up laptop)

Any recommendations for something that could play some media well enough, handle multiple download connections and isn't eating much power, when not actually in use?

I looked at some Intel NUCs and some Chinese small form factor thingies.
But I'm not entirely sure, what would be sufficient and the best choice here.

Thanks for any input!

Edit: thanks for all the recommendations! I went with a BeeLink S13 (N150/16GB/512GB) and I think, it will exactly fit the the requirements.

If I'm having trouble or see any shortcomings, I'll inform the community here :⁠-⁠)

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I got a Topton Mini PC doing this, and its doing a good enough job. I tried an older SZBox for this, and it didn't quite cut it, but it makes a good Pihole now.