sub $300 laptop for media playback, win10 or chromeOS?

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mycomputersucks

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I'm looking for something to, primarily, use as a mobile entertainment system. It will be used to entertain kids while otg so it needs enough processing power to playback multiple media formats including 1080p Hi10p and HEVC.I want something small (11 to 13 inches), light weight and w/ good battery life(6+hrs). A 1080p(most of my rips) screen would be ideal but this doesn't appear common in those screen sizes/price and overall screen quality is more important than resolution. i'm fine w/ using removable storage but preferably usb 3.0.

This is replacing an aging Atom Z3740D 8 inch tablet which can choke on high bitrate 1080p content unless specifically encoded(lame) and had very limited storage options. Not to mention win10 is terrible w/ just a touch screen.

so, the question is which SoC architecture and os?

An Atom based system like the lenovo 100s? A celeron systems, like the hp stream, look about right if they are braswell based since that apparently has 4K/H.265 video acceleration so 1080p *should* be a breeze. Any AMD solutions to look for?

As for OS, windows will give me more software options but is more of a resource and battery hog. How is chromeOS's offline video playback? and chromeOS driver support to maximize gpu hardware acceleration?

thanks for the opinions and info!
 
unless chrome allows use with no internet, Win 10 as you can use it offline
 
my nephew is looking for a laptop under $300 as well. please post what you find.
 
Gabe3 said:
I found this on slickdeals if your interested: Lenovo Edge 15 2-in-1 Touch Laptop: i3-5020U, 15.6" 1080p, 6GB DDR3, 500GB HDD $350 + Free Shipping
Click to expand...

that is a great price, but size and weight are a concern. hmm.

jimh425 said:
I don't think you need 1080p on a small laptop for videos. I'd go with a 11.6 like this one. Lenovo - Ideapad 100s 11.6" Laptop - Intel Atom - 2GB Memory - 32GB eMMC Flash Storage - Red
Click to expand...

price and size are great. I'm concerned about the Atom not having enough processing power to get through some content.
 
atom will handle 4K video and I tested it with an external BD-Rom player. it works just fine.. the ram is really going to be the limiting factor here, not CPU
 
you would not see any difference in video playback that was not constricted by ram.

my pops has a Dell Venue 11 Pro Atom powered tablet with a 1080p display and it plays back video just the same as my core i5 4300Y Venue 11 Pro
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
atom will handle 4K video and I tested it with an external BD-Rom player. it works just fine.. the ram is really going to be the limiting factor here, not CPU
Click to expand...

Bay Tail Atom is limited to 1080p, so make sure you're buying new stock before you make that 4k playback assumption.

Also:

A serious examination of 1080p hi10p hardware requirements

1080p Hi10 is software-only. I'm not sure even a quad core quad-core Atom is capable of playing it back. I think you need an i3 to be sure.
 
That was not my assumption, that was Intel's marketing and since the model of tablet is specified by OP and BB as 80R2001FUS Baytrail is assured.




Intel's Bay Trail CPU: 5 Things You Need to Know

post #27 in your referenced thread states

Some Hi10p processing can be handed to hardware, and this can make the difference between choppy and smooth playback.

At least this youtube video about Hi10p testfile playback on Acer Iconia W4 tablet with Intel Atom Baytrail CPU using Media Player Classic Homecinema suggests so:
http://youtu.be/Eryqjsv53gs

That software is using GPU shader assist and that is INSIDE the CPU so yeah it works
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
you would not see any difference in video playback that was not constricted by ram.

my pops has a Dell Venue 11 Pro Atom powered tablet with a 1080p display and it plays back video just the same as my core i5 4300Y Venue 11 Pro
Click to expand...

thanks for the info! i'm leaning towards a Toshiba Chromebook 2 (N2840). It has a 1080p IPS display and 4gs of dual channel ram. Only $250 too.
 
Gabe3 said:
do you need internet to use it though? chome os is a mystery to me.
Click to expand...

No, you just need the internet to access you cloud storage. It sounds like you can still edit documents if you switch to offline mode:

How to Activate Google Docs Offline on Your Chromebook

Chromebooks beyond the cloud: Everything Chromebooks can do offline

As far as I've read you can plug in any USB disk, so getting files on there should be easy. I've also heard it supports ext2/3 if you swing the Linux direction.

File types and external devices that work on Chromebooks - Chromebook Help

And you can install VLC, so you're covered on playback support :D

VLC brings its feature-rich video player to Chrome OS

What else do people do when not connected to the internet?
 
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