best cheap quiet computer

[stevos]

Hi,

I have slimserver 6.5 running on my linkstation 2 but the nokia 770 works really really slowly.

I am now considering buying a proper computer to run slimserver, either using the linkstation as an external harddisk or its own harddisk

It needs to be cheap, quiet and fit behind my couch so small.

One options suggested is a mac mini but i don't know how quiet they are.

Any other suggestion?

[MelonMonkey]

You can build a miniITX system which is pretty much the only other option to get the same/similar size. You can find ITX motherboards that don't use a fan.

Then you'll need to also buy a small case - with external power supply is probably best if you want to omit a fan.

This may cost you more money than a Mac mini and won't be as fast a system though.

[stevos]

I never had any direct experience with the mini mac and finding shops that sell them is difficult so would be a gamble.

How hard is it to install slimserver and then map an external harddisk (linkstation)?

[fzwo]

From what I've read so far the Mac Mini is very quiet. Not totally noiseless because it still has a notebook HDD and a very quiet fan in it, but incomparable to a standard PC quiet. My guess would be it would be as loud as a fan cooled AV receiver.

[MelonMonkey]

It takes a few minutes to unpack a mini and plug it in. Connect a USB keyboard and mouse and it takes only a few seconds to boot up. Once that's done it takes only about a minute or two to answer some setup questions which will get you logged in and connected to the net (wired or wireless, but wired recommended if running it as a server)

Once connected to the net you can download Slimserver on it which then takes under a minute to install and start running.

Adding a network drive is simple. It will show up when you browse the network from the Mac's desktop.

You can either point Slimserver to this network drive or set up iTunes to see all the music. If you do that then you just need to tell Slimserver to "use iTunes" and it will get the location of all the tracks from iTunes. The bonus is you also get iTunes' playlists and it makes a really good organizer.