[artmageddon]

When you say device, can you give an example of what you're referring to? My wife got a me a Chromecast for Christmas, a great friend of mine got me a FireTV stick for my birthday loaded with emulators on it, but I'd really like to be able to carry a full-fledged PC around if that were possible.

[WorldWideWayne]

Sorry, nothing really portable - we have a couple of Zotac ZBOX "nano PCs" (http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-ZBOX-CI320NANO-U-W2-nano-Plus-Wi...) and the others are an old laptop (Dell XPS L502X) and an old Shuttle SH67H3 barebones PC. Each site except the laptop also has a Logitech K400/r wireless keyboard/touchpad which is great except when it occasionally loses signal.

[lorenzhs]

But that's 8 times the price of a Chromecast (if you include the keyboard and mouse).

For me, a Chromecast is very close to the perfect device, as my iPad lives in the living room most of the time and allows me to conveniently control the Chromecast, without any keyboards or mice lying around. While it's not as powerful or flexible as your setup, I prefer its convenience. It does everything I need it to (Netflix, Youtube, other players [ZDF Mediathek etc], play local files with Plex or Videostream for Chrome, ...), and does so hassle-free. For surfing, I prefer the iPad over the TV anyway.

[artmageddon]

The only problem I've had with the Chromecast is that the wifi connection feels a little finnicky at times, and maybe I'm just not using it right, but if you can't actually get it on the internet, it doesn't do much for you. That said, I still really like it.

[lorenzhs]

The main problem for me is that it's 2.4GHz only. As lots of people live in the inner cities in Europe, where lots of flats are in close proximity, that spectrum is extremely crowded even in residential areas. I guess that's much less of an issue in the suburbs though.

For me, the 2.4 GHz spectrum is only usable during "off-peak" hours, or extremely close to the router (the Chromecast is <1m from the router, so it's fine). But since I use 5 GHz for everything else, I muddle through with surprisingly few issues :)

[WorldWideWayne]

Absolutely. (Unless you count the cost of the iPad or other devices that's required to run the Chromecast.) The Zotac box is actually ~16 times more expensive than a Chromecast, but unfortunately I just can't do whatever I want with a Chromecast and I'm totally willing to pay to get what I want.

I don't think there is more inherent convenience in the iPad -> Chromecast setup. My $20 wireless keyboard is actually more convenient in my opinion because it's a dedicated input control that's ready to go as soon as I pick it up. With a smart device, I have to setup a whole other device with apps that are compatible with Chromecast and when we're picking stuff to watch we don't have to huddle around a tablet or phone - we just look at what's on the TV.