I'm looking to build a reliable, basic, no-frills computer primarily for Internet browsing and watching movies. Not sure if it matters, but it would be running Linux Mint. I may also look to do some amount of photo and/or video editing on it at some point too, but i don't have any real needs for gaming with it. There's a million choices when it comes down to the mobo and cpu and all the rest of it, though i think i know which case i want to get so i think that may help narrow my options. (Fwiw, it's a Fractal Designs North model case I'm considering)
Any advice, please?
Edit: thank you all so much for your responses, I'm really glad i posted here! I have a much better sense of which way to go now. I really appreciate the time y'all took to help me out. ๐
As far as being a media center PC, you can probably stick just about any reasonably modern components you can find in a case and call it fine as long as you have HDMI on your motherboard you probably don't even really need a graphics card, a half decent processor with integrated graphics is probably more than sufficient.
As far as Linux software and compatibility I'm out of my element there. I know KODI is kind of the standard recommendation for HTPC software, but that's pretty much all I got for you.
Same with video/photo editing, not my thing especially on Linux, but I get the overall impression that those are very broad categories that range from "you could probably do that on a $5 thrift store toaster if you could figure out how to hook a monitor and keyboard up to it" up to needing a truly beefy computer with all the bells and whistles (and you can probably still make toast with it if you skimp on the cooling a bit)
The case you have picked out is definitely an attractive option if you want to have your PC sitting out in the open next to your TV in the living room. Personally I built my PC in a Silverstone GD09 and it fits nicely in my entertainment center and pretty much looks like any other piece of AV equipment. It's a little cramped to build in, but it does the job just fine, I was worried about airflow and cooling with how cramped it is and since it's living in an enclosed entertainment center, but I filled up all the fan spaces and even using it as a gaming PC it seems to stay cool enough. They have a couple other cases that are geared towards HTPC usage, I went with this one in particular because of the optical drive because I want to be able to stick a DVD or Blu ray disk in it, because it's a media PC, but that's not important to everyone.
IMO, just taking a quick look at what bundles are currently available at microcenter, something like this is probably sufficient for a basic media PC. That + a power supply and hard drive/SSD/m.2 drive and you're pretty much set. You'd need to talk to someone else about Linux compatibility or suitability for video/photo editing.
I'm personally of the opinion that some sort of small handheld keyboard with a touchpad is borderline necessarily for a HTPC, the one I use is a Rii i4, no complaints about it, maybe some nicer options out there but it does what I need it to do and was cheap.
If you might want to sit back on the couch with a full keyboard and mouse on your lap, unless you want to shell out for something like a couchmaster, I think a wireless trackball mouse is a good option since you probably won't have a lot of "desk" space to move your mouse around.
Very thoughtful and informative response--thank you!! It looks like i have a microcenter a little over an hour away... Perhaps I'll give them a try. I like that they have some pre-selected options, might make my life easier to let them choose the parts since I don't really know my way around this stuff. Cool case, btw! I like all the different options out there these days. Def looking for something i can display in the living room...
Thanks again for the response, lots of food for thought here.
Yeah, microcenter is kind of the place to go for computer building as far as brick and mortar stores go. And most of the staff there, at least at the one near me, are pretty knowledgeable and willing to talk shop and let you pick their brain a bit.
Also just kind of a fun place to walk around if you like electronics, all the weird adapters and gadgets that you know must exist but never actual see in stores are there. The one near me also has a bunch of 3d printers and other maker/tinkerer tools and gizmos.
And their service department is usually pretty great (although I don't know if their online appointment system actually works, anytime I've brought something in to them with an appointment they kind of act like online appointments don't exist)
I haven't used their PC building service myself, but I'm pretty sure you could pretty much tell them what you want to do with your computer and they'd build you something suitable.
This place sounds amazing! I'm very excited to go there now :)
Thanks for your response!