Buying an android TV box on a budget - what to prioritise?

by scrumpylungs

As the title says I'm trying to pick up a TV Box on a tight budget. So there's a few factors that effect price, I most likely couldn't afford a box with all of them so should I prioritise having:

  • 5.1 Lollipop over 4.4 KitKat
  • 2GB RAM over 1GB RAM
  • Octacore GPU over Quad-core GPU

Going into it I imagined that the RAM is the most important factor and that the others won't have too much of an effect (it won't be used for gaming) but for general streaming apps & Kodi, what would be the most important factors for /r/AndroidTV?

Andrroid

Prioritise by getting a real android TV box. If you are on a budget, thats the Nexus Player.

I know those "Android boxes" on amazon proclaim all these great specs, blah blah, but they are literally just hardware slapped together with vanilla Android slapped on top. No optimization, no software development, no QA. They are nothing more than low end Android tablets with HDMI outs.

Avoid them and you will avoid frustration down the road. The Nexus Player can occasionally be found in brick and mortar stores for $50 or on ebay for around that amount. It will be an infinitely better experience.

partytime71

and Android box is not the same as Android TV. For that you'll need a Nexus Player or Nvidia Shield. Spring for the shield.

OssotSromo

Also cores mean shit other than Qualcomm and Mediatek marketing is working.

From_My_Brain

There's only two options for Android TV. Nexus player and Nvidia Shield. If you're on a budget, then the Nexus Player.

paticao

the nexus player is still $49.99 from asus http://store.asus.com/us/item/201412AM240000002