HP Mediasmart EX490 - $ 409 FS/AC + CB from Beach Camera

navi4all
Senior Member

posted: Nov. 3, 2009 @ 4:40p

Better deal than the Amazon one couple of days ago... This time directly on beach camera's website

HP Mediasmart EX490 for $409 + FS AC
Use coupon code EX490 after adding to cart to knock of $100

There is also 2.5% FW CashBack or (2-5%) from Bing

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posted: Nov. 3, 2009 @ 4:40p

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febdragon
Addicted Member

posted: Nov. 3, 2009 @ 5:10p

Price on this thing is dropping fast... only recently released like 1-2 months back.

zoltano
Member

posted: Nov. 3, 2009 @ 6:03p

Thanks OP, great timing - I was able to stop the prev. shipment with Fedex and jump on this deal... Now I am gonna get the unit $85 cheaper... Fatwallet is da bomb!

BTW, I am going to upgrade the processor from the 2.2hz Celeron to a 2.8hz Pentium dual core (E6300), thus making it more powerful as the EX495. (Yes, it can be done - check out mediasmartserver.net for more info. FAIR WARNING - following my example will void your factory warranty...)

(In case somebody wondering why to do so, it is simple - upgrading to a much faster processor gives us the ability to do some serious multitasking (recording multiple surveillance cameras while still doing server duties, perform video transcoding on the server and stream to two or three media streamers at the same time, etc.).

kaikuilui
Member

posted: Nov. 3, 2009 @ 6:20p

zoltano said:Thanks OP, great timing - I was able to stop the prev. shipment with Fedex and jump on this deal... Now I am gonna get the unit $85 cheaper... Fatwallet is da bomb!

BTW, I am going to upgrade the processor from the 2.2hz Celeron to a 2.8hz Pentium dual core (E6300), thus making it more powerful as the EX495. (Yes, it can be done - check out mediasmartserver.net for more info. FAIR WARNING - following my example will void your factory warranty...)

(In case somebody wondering why to do so, it is simple - upgrading to a much faster processor gives us the ability to do some serious multitasking (recording multiple surveillance cameras while still doing server duties, perform video transcoding on the server and stream to two or three media streamers at the same time, etc.).

Just wondering if you need powerfull machine why not get a core 2 dual(or more) desktop?
is it because of the smaller foot print?

philipj
Member

posted: Nov. 3, 2009 @ 7:02p

Great price. It's amazing how fast this has dropped.

I bought this only 16 days ago from HP for $550+27.50tax. Granted, I'm supposed to get 25% bing.com CashBack, but that just brings my total to $440.

I called HP for a return and they offered me a $54. I took it hoping I'll still get the bing.com credit, but this beach camera purchase is much less of a risk.

BTW, it's a great little server. From the built-in webpage, you can stream music, movies, pictures from anywhere with an internet connection. You can use the server to login to your home network computers using remote desktop while you are on the road. Plus it does automatic windows and mac backups and all the other file server stuff.

nukem
Senior Member - 3K

posted: Nov. 3, 2009 @ 10:04p

The bad:
These use proprietary parts that HP won't sell you (such as the power supply)
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/wiki/index.php/Replacing_the_Pow...

The good:
I learned the hard way as my power supply died 10 days inside of the 1 year warranty that their tech support is quite good.
Also had my unit been out of warranty I understand that the chassis would have been repaired for under $100 shipping included which is comparable to the price of buying an off the shelf power supply.

I also learned that even though these units have a semi non standard method of folder storage and cross drive duplication. You can mount the drives in a standard windows PC and access every thing you have on them by showing hidden files and folders. So if your system goes belly up years from now and you don't want to fork out the price to refurbish it you can easily recover all your data.