Powerful Cheap ChatGPT-based Voice Assistant
A few weeks ago I semi-jokingly posted about some cheap WindowsPC based "alternatives" to the lates Mac Mini M4s. It was only semi-joking, since I was really planning on buying a few of those for my own small scale home cluster experiments. But before gutting them I decided to try to see how capable they are as Windows desktop machines, and the first thought I had was to see how well they work with the latest OpenAI voice assistant. Considering that these are very cheap low-end machines, I was really impressed with the results. Here I'll share my setup. (Warning - several affiliate links incoming.) The simplest PC that I got was Beelink Mini S12, with Intel N100 processor, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and 500GB SSD
In order to set it up properly I had to disable networking and login without using my Microsoft account. But afterwards I was able to link it with my account, and it worked just fine.
I also ordered the following USB headset:
The headset uses both a USB connector and a standard audio I/O jack.
Then I downloaded the ChatGPT app from the Windows store, logged in with my credentials, and pressed the audio button for voice interaction, and voila I have a really impressive voice interaction assistant for under $200!
ChatGPT voice mode is currently available on iOS, Android, MacOS and Windows, and if you haven't tried it already you should - it is what Alexa, Siri, and all the other such assistants promised to be but never delivered.
The above setup assumes that you have an extra monitor, keyboard, and mouse laying around, but if you don't, a few very cheap and effective options are also available. For the monitor, a very simple solution such as the following portable monitor are available:
And for the keyboard and mouse, there are many great options available. I am partial towards Logitech products, such as this combo:
It is also possible to get a proper microphone and speakers for this setup, but I have not explored that option yet.
That's it! A very simple and functional setup that gives you access to a very powerful AI voice assistant. Let me know what you think.