Knowing that we are going replace the old Bell PVR receiver with a new Telus Optik PVR, I peered behind the flat-screen. OMG! There were dust bunnies the size of .. well .. bunnies! About a hundred miles of cables and wires were covered from view by a well-placed board too. What a mess! It has been a jumble of wires and equipment since the end of 2009. That was the time I decided to use our old computer as a media server and get a laptop for the table for everyday use. It has served us hundred and hundreds of movies over the years!
Throwing the old PC box behind the television was supposed to be a temporary situation until I found a stand with enclosure enough to tuck everything inside. I never did. The old thing has been acting weird for years and was still running the pre-release evaluation copy of Windows 8. It no longer updated and would frequently shut down after a few hours of use. It had gigantic component cables running into the back of the TV. Today, when I blew the dust off it, I wondered why we were still using it. Some of the innards are almost a decade old.
In the spring, I bought a tiny Acer V netbook for vacations and to use during classes at BCIT. It has a small screen and is light enough to carry around easily. It runs Windows 8.1 but is surely no powerhouse. I have to wait and wait for it to boot up. The most intensive thing it usually does is PowerPoint presentations and a bit of web browsing.
Yet, it has an HDMI port for 1080p, a licensed copy of Hotspot Shield, and the Netflix app. Could the little underpowered device replace that ageing boat-anchor? Time to try. We're streaming from my American Netflix account presently. Consequently, I am a tiny bit sad by the realization the old box will soon go into the recycling bin. It has outlived its usefulness.
I have owned a procession of traditional, desktop PCs since 1985. It's a little difficult to imagine there will be none in the apartment.