Help with my portable mini-pc project

D

drewbagel423

New Member
I do a little DJing every now and then, but not enough to warrant investing a whole lot of money into this project...

I've switched over to digital DJing on my computer, and I want to be able to make a portable setup to make things more convenient for me. Basically I have a few options:

1 - Buy a laptop and do everything off there
2 - Buy an ultra small form factor pc (the smaller the better) I would still need a monitor and a keyboard then
3 - Build a computer and package it inside the 19" rack for my mixer... this would be pretty slick and down the road I could set it up so that the screen is part of it

Here are the minimum pc specs (obviously faster is fine but not necessary):
Pentium 1 GHz
512MB RAM
don't need an OS
monitor output (decent size monitor, not one of those new 9" laptops)
left/right audio output, even if it's from the same jack
enough PS/2 or USB ports to be able to hook up a keyboard and mouse and have 1 USB port left over for my external HD
and an HD with enough room to run windows, since I'll have all my songs on my external (btw, can xp be run off of a USB HD?

Now the kicker is that I'm trying to do everything as cheaply as possible, hopefully $200 or less. So are there any good options out there as far as ultra small form factors like this? I'm comfortable with building pcs so that wouldn't be a problem.

I have a really old laptop that's not fast enough to run the DJ program I have, which is why I'm going this route. Can the screen be taken out and reused for this project?
 
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Your program is only compatible with xp? How big does the screen have to be? is this going in a car or...? Is it going to be carried around?
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342 - $70
probably your best best if you want to go the ultra small form factor route.
4 USB ports
CPU is 1.6Ghz (there is a dual-core version of this CPU but newegg doesn't have it in stock)
Supports up to 2GB of RAM
has 3 audio ports, normally 1 speaker, 1 mic and 1 line-in but most drivers let you actually choose what each one does (so you can have 5.1 audio technically)

You might want to look around and see if you can find this in stock somewhere
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121359
it has the dual core CPU which could definitely help.

throw in some cheap RAM and a hard drive and PSU, and you have yourself a tiny PC. The form factor in Mini-ITX, it is not very common but it is very small.
If this looks good to you, I could throw together a whole shopping list.
 
AUTOBOOT2000 said:
Your program is only compatible with xp?
Click to expand...

As far as I know. I couldn't find any documentation on the vendor's website or product manual to suggest otherwise. My friend has a spare copy of xp he can give me so I don't need an operating system. (Updated my OP)

AUTOBOOT2000 said:
How big does the screen have to be?
Click to expand...

Big enough to be able to read relatively small (8pt?) font on. I'm a little weary of those new 9" laptops for this reason (Updated my OP). I was hoping to be able to reuse the laptop screen I have now in some fashion - it's a 14.1" screen.

AUTOBOOT2000 said:
Is it going to be carried around?
Click to expand...

Going to be transported in my car, then carried to the stage or where ever I'm going to be playing and set down.
 
gamerman4 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342 - $70
probably your best best if you want to go the ultra small form factor route.
4 USB ports
CPU is 1.6Ghz (there is a dual-core version of this CPU but newegg doesn't have it in stock)
Supports up to 2GB of RAM
has 3 audio ports, normally 1 speaker, 1 mic and 1 line-in but most drivers let you actually choose what each one does (so you can have 5.1 audio technically)

You might want to look around and see if you can find this in stock somewhere
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121359
it has the dual core CPU which could definitely help.

throw in some cheap RAM and a hard drive and PSU, and you have yourself a tiny PC. The form factor in Mini-ITX, it is not very common but it is very small.
If this looks good to you, I could throw together a whole shopping list.
Click to expand...

They do look pretty good. The size of the power supply would be my next concern. I would probably be able to find a super small case that isn't even really designed for PCs and drill the mounting holes in it. Any suggestions there?
 
PicoPSU-90.jpg

the PSU is actually right on the 20 pin power connector, it includes 1 molex (cd drive) and 1 SATA power cable (for hard drive) and a 4-pin aux power plug (for motherboards that need the extra 4 pins.)
 
gamerman4 said:
PicoPSU-90.jpg

the PSU is actually right on the 20 pin power connector, it includes 1 molex (cd drive) and 1 SATA power cable (for hard drive) and a 4-pin aux power plug (for motherboards that need the extra 4 pins.)
Click to expand...

I'm guessing the molex is the PATA connector in the picture?
And with that DC jack, do you connect one of the bricks like a laptop uses?

AUTOBOOT2000 said:
What's the name of the program you want to use?
Click to expand...

VirtualDJ Pro
http://www.virtualdj.com/products/virtualdj/index.html


Btw thanks for all the responses guys!
 
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