[Android Stick & Console AllWinner based Computers] Moolok:
After a few hours of fiddling with Minix Neo X7 I must say I'm impressed.

Firstly I downloaded the latest (2013_08_22) stock firmware 004. Flashing went right the first time. I had read about problems with Windows 8 drivers but with the firmware came a folder which contained drivers for all Windows operating systems. I simply installed the 64bit drivers for Win 8 before I connected the X7 to my PC. After that I started the flashing tool, connected the X7 to PC with the USB OTG cable that came with the unit, used paper clip to press and hold down the recovery button behind the unit and powered it on. The flashing tool recognized the unit and I proceed to flash the new firmware. All went well.

The next step was to connect the unit to a viewscreen, soundsystem and turn it on. For testing I used my 24" Benq G2411HD LCD. It's 1080p. I used the HDMI cable that came with the X7. I also connected my FiiO E07k/E09k dac/amb music system with USB 2.0 cable to X7 (with AKG K601 headphones).

After that I powered the X7 on and pretty quick I was looking at Android homescreen. Then I hit the first (and so far only) problem: I couldn't get my wireless Logitech K400 keyboard and M705 mouse working. They are Unifying devices. Regular wired USB mouse worked fine as well as my wife's non-unifying wireless keyboard/mouse. That was a bit dissapointing. X7's own remote worked well but it's pretty limited. Luckily I have ordered an air mouse with keyboard.

I set up the screen on 1920x1080 60Hz. Looked fine. As a sound device the X7 recognized my external dac/amp with no problem and set it up as default output device.

Adding a Google account was no problem. Then I visited the Google Play Store and downloaded some updates and apps.

For video testing I installed BSplayer (retail), for audio TuneIn Pro and PowerAmp (retail).

I tested video playback with Xvid and x264.mp4 (SD), x264.mp4 (480p), x264.mkv (720p) and x264.mp4 (1080p). Playback was fine with all, no jittering or struttering. The .mkv file had no sound but that probably was because of my dac since my desktop music setup is for 2ch stereo music playback only. All tested files had external subtitles in .srt format and I'm used to name video files and subtitle files like "video.avi" and "video.srt". I forgot to test a .mkv file with embedded subs. I'll do that some other time.

Music playback worked without problems too. I played some netradio stations with TuneIn (mostly 1.FM stations with 64k AAC), mp3@320kbps and FLAC files with PowerAmp. All sounded good. FLAC's didn't work with X7 native player (unsupported).

I didn't try much the X7 stock audio/media players since I have purchased above mentioned apps from Play Store.

I still haven't tested my home's LAN and Windows SMB shares but I suspect no problems since my phone and tablet manages them allright. X7 have good wifi. Didn't try the ethernet connection. All three USB 2.0 ports work fine as well as mini USB port. Still haven't tried the card slot and I don't have an amp with optical sp/dif so can't try that out. Also unit's own headphone/mic connections are untested by me.

As for media center or an alternative to HTPC the X7 is a fine and excellent option. As for replacing a desktop PC... well, not there yet I'm afraid but close.