[JohnR]

https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/

I have an SBC with the same CPU, it's not going to win any races but probably usable enough. (REW seemed to run fine when I tried it, for example.)

[whell]

Not to mention that for $199 USD this would probably make for a great little music server.  Didn't see an HDMI option, so not sure it would be a good media center.

[JohnR]

Oops I had a link to the $99 one, which was considered too slow, corrected to the $199 version now.

[JohnR]

Not to mention that for $199 USD this would probably make for a great little music server.  Didn't see an HDMI option, so not sure it would be a good media center.

I had the wrong link before, however display output is via USB-C, I don't know what that means for media (I assume 7.1?) playback. I'm just trying to think through the use cases myself.

[knucklehead]

I'll throw in my $.02 worth here. Get a 256gb SSD drive for that $200 laptop, and find a large capacity thumb drive of 64/128gb for music and you'll be set. I dumped W10 in 2014 for Ubuntu and haven't looked back. The only reason I even kept W10 (dual boot) is Logitech doesn't support Linux machines so I need windows to program my two Harmony remotes. Best thing about Linux is it doesn't expand from the 2gb install disc and bloat up to something like 50+gb like a Win install does! Where the hell does all that app data come from?

The nice thing about Linux is it supports older devices, unlike Win 7,8, &10. My ex has a computer from 2002 or so. Windows 7 could not find device drivers for it, in fact would barely load the OS. Linux Mint had no problem finding drivers for the sound card, network chip, etc. It's all working on an old 50gb hard drive & 2gb RAM and a Celeron processor. Good enough for email and FB.