That looks interesting, and I'd like to give it a go, but sadly it's sold out at the moment. I'm in England, so if there is some strange reason for it not being available in the USA, then it probably wouldn't apply to me, though.

This is the same hardware as the GMK NucBox that ETA Prime reviewed. You can look at those videos to get an idea of its performance.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query= … rime+GMK+NucBox

They are available on the US Amazon for ~$200 if you search for "GMK mini PC J4125" and are interested in just the hardware, not all the illegal pirate games the other one is sold with.

SScorpio wrote on 2021-12-17, 21:23:

This is the same hardware as the GMK NucBox that ETA Prime reviewed. You can look at those videos to get an idea of its performance.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query= … rime+GMK+NucBox

They are available on the US Amazon for ~$200 if you search for "GMK mini PC J4125" and are interested in just the hardware, not all the illegal pirate games the other one is sold with.

I see, thanks. My reason for being mildly interested in this is that it's small enough to conveniently take with me when I'm working away from home, and it runs PC games as well as emulators. I know there are many other similar systems, but the thing that attracted me to this is just that all the hardware is together, and it looks good, especially the controllers. Not great reasons for choosing a PC based purchase, admittedly, but I long ago lost my interest in sourcing individual PC peripherals, and since Youtube made this look capable of running the games and emulators that I want, and I like the design of the mini-keyboard with built in mouse pad, then it would have been an impulse buy for me if it had been in stock.

Granted, everything that the Retrostation PC can do, I can already do with my laptop and XBox 360 joypad (well, if I get the wireless mini-keyboard, I mean), but having a system I only use for TV-based gaming might actually get me more interested in gaming again (like many people, in these Covid times, I'm tending a little towards depression and disinterest in my hobbies). So I'll have a look at the model you suggest, and probably get that and a mini-keyboard with mouse pad (and probably stick with my XBox 360 controllers, as they are my faourite).

Kerr Avon wrote on 2021-12-18, 14:53:

I see, thanks. My reason for being mildly interested in this is that it's small enough to conveniently take with me when I'm working away from home, and it runs PC games as well as emulators. I know there are many other similar systems, but the thing that attracted me to this is just that all the hardware is together, and it looks good, especially the controllers. Not great reasons for choosing a PC based purchase, admittedly, but I long ago lost my interest in sourcing individual PC peripherals, and since Youtube made this look capable of running the games and emulators that I want, and I like the design of the mini-keyboard with built in mouse pad, then it would have been an impulse buy for me if it had been in stock.

The GMK Minis I said are on Amazon for ~$200 are complete PCs like you want. They are 2.5"x 2.5" and 1.7" tall, so going by pictures it's smaller than the Retrostation PC. The controllers and keyboard the Retrostation PC is bundled with are just cheap generic things sold on Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress, etc.

The keyboard appears to be a Rii i8 Mini Bluetooth keyboard that's on Amazon for just under $25. Though check out the slightly upgraded Rii i8+ which has d-pad moldings so it might be more comfortable to use as a game controller and it costs a dollar more.

I can't find that exact controller coloring, but the "CIPON Wireless Controller" for $12 is the same ergonomic mold that looks like the wireless Logitech PS2 controllers to me.

The only thing the Retrostation PC has over it is the 2TB drive, which is likely a 2.5" HDD. The GTK has a 256GB m.2 SSD. If you are playing your own retro PC games, that should be plenty of storage.

Thanks for the reply, my main interest was in the hardware including the funky keyboard and controllers. When coupled with a 2TB HD made this version a good deal just for the hardware.

I have found systems that sort of resemble these machines with an older i5 inside.

I wonder if anything AMD with “good enough “ integrated graphics exists to make this do more than 2006 and older Windows/ dosbox games ?

It’s sort of a shame that integrated graphics is more useless than ever on the Intel front

Oh and bespoke “illegal “ don’t care but I do like the front end to the emulator suite reminds me of a customization of the emulationstation but with lower system requirements