Let's talk about: Mini PC's

[White Out 403]

I didn't really consider this as a home media solution, so hoping for some feedback before I take the plunge.

So far I'm looking at:
https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...9SIA66K6V56804

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...82E16883221438

I just want to watch streaming media on it, and be able to stream hockey games on chrome browser so I think I need at least 3 gigs of ram but also a decent CPU.

Should I just go shield, or, are these mini PC's even better?

[fundmark19]

I would just get a shield. Considering I can do everything streaming wise that I need on a fire stick the overkill of a shield should future prod you for anything

[CETokyo]

This ($344) is just over your $300 target but it would provide a lot of flexibility.
It is a small Win 10 PC.
https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...-182-_-Product
The Shield is also good....I just felt I had more flexibility with a PC.
The Zotac or Asus would also likely work well
I live in Japan so your prices are a bit better than what I can get.
The NUC I set up (Kodi) is being used in a beach-side hotel bar and has been working well for the past 2 years.
I plan to play with a tiny Raspberry Pi as a Kodi server next - it has limits but I think there are less limitations as each new version is released.

[FlameOn]

Mini PCs will give you future flexibility and browser support. Android development is getting there. I used to use a Zotac mini-PC but dropped that after for shield because I wasn't really using any of the functionality.