Mini PC suggestions

[pistonheadforum]

It's been asked before I'm sure, but the market moves on so much I'm asking again.

Looking to replace an acient Core 2 laptop with a mini pc.

I've had a look on Amazon and there are many choices from brands I've never heard of before. I'm not sure if a Kungwa is better quality than a Subrana or any of the myriad other brands.

Requirements are fairly simple:

- Low power
- Decent build quality (no rinky-dink fans that will fail)
- Ideally fan free
- Decent power supply input (not a USB powered thing)
- 2 X HDMI outputs
- Works well with Linux
- Should run quite low temperature (it's not going to be maxed out)
- Physical size not really an issue
- RAM - 8GB minimum
- Storage - 256GB min with a decent speed (not going to be blazing fast I know) - ability to upgrade a bonus but not worth a premium
- Whatever CPU is lowest power/heat as whatever will be a huge upgrade on the current machine
- £200 or thereabout-ish

There are just so many choices that I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Anybody bought something similar? Happy with your purchase and would recommend?

Thanks in advance.

[pistonheadforum]

A couple of the ones I've been looking at

[Harpoon]

Bit of a wild card but if you don't mind an older CPU, there's plenty of refurbished HP / Dell / Lenovo options eg

https://www.stonerefurb.co.uk/lenovo-thinkstation-...

[the-photographer]

Here is one of hundreds of SFF Dell machines available

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354954938900 £180 8th gen capable of running Windows 11

[pistonheadforum]

Thanks - are these better do you think than getting one of the mini units?

Quiet operation is one of the things I liked about the laptop.

[pistonheadforum]

As mentioned it's pretty much low CPU applications that I run on Linux with only very very light FreeCAD and KiCAD work being done.

Would going for a smaller form factor traditional PC allow me to have a Nvidia graphics card (currently one in the laptop).

I don't think I'm pushing the demands of an integrated GPU but something tells me it would be better to have an actual Nvidia GPU in the mix somewhere.

Thanks for ideas.

[the-photographer]

pistonheadforum said:

Thanks - are these better do you think than getting one of the mini units?

Quiet operation is one of the things I liked about the laptop.

Yes, but check the fan noise on Youtube

If you need silence, then a NUC plus a Akasa Turing case or a specialist build will be required https://inside-tech.co.uk/product/mini-silent-inte...

[the-photographer]

pistonheadforum said:

As mentioned it's pretty much low CPU applications that I run on Linux with only very very light FreeCAD and KiCAD work being done.

Would going for a smaller form factor traditional PC allow me to have a Nvidia graphics card (currently one in the laptop).

I don't think I'm pushing the demands of an integrated GPU but something tells me it would be better to have an actual Nvidia GPU in the mix somewhere.

Thanks for ideas.

If you *need* a GPU, then another laptop GPU or an ITX mini PC costing £500+

[Harpoon]

pistonheadforum said:

As mentioned it's pretty much low CPU applications that I run on Linux with only very very light FreeCAD and KiCAD work being done.

Would going for a smaller form factor traditional PC allow me to have a Nvidia graphics card (currently one in the laptop).

I don't think I'm pushing the demands of an integrated GPU but something tells me it would be better to have an actual Nvidia GPU in the mix somewhere.

Thanks for ideas.

The Lenevo I linked to is claimed to have Nvidia Quadro P600 2GB GDDR5 in the spec'. It's a six year old graphics chipset but is/was pitched for professional use (eg CAD).

[outnumbered]

pistonheadforum said:

A couple of the ones I've been looking at

FWIW I've got one of those BKOUEN machines as a Media PC, it was very cheap in the Prime day sale. It's tiny and seems to work very well for the fairly minimal load that it incurs.

[sjg]

Bought one of the Trigkey ones for my dad to replace an early Intel NUC. Thought I'd try it out for a week, return if it was no good - it was absolutely fine and is doing a great job of the standard desktop stuff - browsing, office, etc that he needs.

[Dave.]

HP thinclients are another option.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225725548839?mkcid=16&a...

[colin79666]

Have a look at CEX. A few Lenovo Tiny machines there under £100 with a 6th gen intel core i5 up to £240 for a 12th gen. 24 month warranty. They might not have dial hdmi but if not you could just buy a display port to hdmi cable or adaptor for a tenner. I got one last year, runs Debian very well.

[mattley]

Raspberry Pi 4 B

Requirements are fairly simple:

- Low power - Very
- Decent build quality (no rinky-dink fans that will fail)Cases depending on requirements
- Ideally fan freeYes
- Decent power supply input (not a USB powered thing)No but not sure why this would be an issue
- 2 X HDMI outputsYes
- Works well with LinuxOnly with Linux PiOS and Rasbian both Debian based
- Should run quite low temperature (it's not going to be maxed out)Very
- Physical size not really an issueabout the size of a packet of fags once cased
- RAM - 8GB minimumYes
- Storage - 256GB min with a decent speed (not going to be blazing fast I know) - ability to upgrade a bonus but not worth a premiumLocal is on a Micro SD expansion is external
- Whatever CPU is lowest power/heat as whatever will be a huge upgrade on the current machinePi's ARM based so incredibly low power but ensure APM binaries are available for what you need.

- £200 or thereabout-ish£75 ish but need case HDMI mini to Std, power supply and sd card.

Pi's are a bit left field but worth a look given what you're asking for.

[the-norseman]

I've got a "Quieter 2" that I'm typing on now, running Debian, it was previously running Manjaro.

Does everything I need it to do, but it is USB powered. its got 8gb and is celeron powered.

[PaulWoof]

ive been running a beelink mini S for a year now. gets used as a 2nd pc for 7 hours a day running next to the work laptop.
Only issue is sometimes when i go to power it on it wont pick up the HDMI and i have to pull the power power cable out and plug it back in. but ive just came to live with this 2 second operation.

ive just had it on the pre-installed windows 11 and its pretty damn snappy and doesnt make a sound.

There seems to be a load of chinese mini pc's all using the n100 CPU now. dno if theres a new current best but for a while other than the more expensive minisforum pc's this was thought of as the cheaper best thing.

[pistonheadforum]

alexiv said:

Which one did you get?
Happy with your choice?

I went for the Minix Z100-0db.

Pretty happy with it - no fan and decent build quality and the case is a pretty solid chunk of metal so acts as a good heatsink.

It's not gaming machine by any stretch, but more than usable for light office work.

[pistonheadforum]

I got it with a slight discount but back to it's £269 on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MINIX-Z100-0dB-Fanless-51...

You can get a cheaper version with less RAM but I did not want to faff about opening it up. Key for me was N100 processor rather than some of the cheaper lower spec ones and I feel that with no moving parts should last a while.

[eeLee]

I have a OptiPlex 3050 Micro sourced 2nd hand with a replacement fan (£5) and 32Gb RAM (£40). Total outlay was less than £100.

Quiet, not silent, and pretty fast.

[pistonheadforum]

So I got the Minix Z100-0dB and it's been absolutely great.

So good in fact I was thinking about getting a second one.

They have released a newer version Minix Z300-0db - https://www.amazon.co.uk/MINIX-NEO-Z300-0dB-512GB-...

Do you think it's likely to perform noticable faster or will it just a incremental speed bump?

Edited by pistonheadforum on Monday 11th November 21:50