Advice plz: NUC recommendation

venger7779 · 27 Oct 2025 at 10:49

Hi,

My OAP parents have a Windows 10 PC that I need to replace to be able to upgrade to Windows 11. They're at an age where they don't need anything too powerful as they just use it for basic stuff, e.g.

-Web browsing (booking holidays, online banking etc)
-MS Office lightweight use (Word, Excel)
-Running antivirus/antimalware
-Printing of travel docs/photos
-Needs to have wifi and at least 4 USB ports.

Rather than a traditional AIO, tower PC or laptop I was looking at a NUC type device but have no experience of them. Budget wise I was aiming for under £600 ideally. I've seen a number of Chinese based brands but a bit wary from comments as would rather pay a little more and get a reliable brand as any support falls to me

Would appreciate any suggestions please.

Fringe · 27 Oct 2025 at 10:53

Just bought a load of HP Pro Mini 400 G9's there decent bang for your buck. £563.99 inc Vat from there site

randal · 27 Oct 2025 at 10:54

Secondhand Lenovo Tiny PC like an M90q would be my punt. You can get them on the bay for very reasonable money.

venger7779 · 27 Oct 2025 at 11:57

Thanks both for the suggestions. Had a quick look at both.
I'm thinking 16GB RAM and a 1TB HDD which with those HPs pulls the price up to c£800. I've assumed that as this is running Windows 11 I should be going for at least 16GB RAM or do these mini PCs work 'differently' and therefore you need less?

mid_gen · 27 Oct 2025 at 14:14

I bought a BOSGame P4 plus at the weekend, set it up and using it for running various things.

Ryzen 5823U 8c/16t 16Gb 512Gb for £255. No complaints, it’s happily chugging away doing stuff, runs unreal alright even with the onboard GpU.

Plenty of options for these Chinese mini pcs.

Snapshot · 28 Oct 2025 at 07:19

venger7779 said:
Thanks both for the suggestions. Had a quick look at both.
I'm thinking 16GB RAM and a 1TB HDD which with those HPs pulls the price up to c£800. I've assumed that as this is running Windows 11 I should be going for at least 16GB RAM or do these mini PCs work 'differently' and therefore you need less?

How can they work 'differently'? Mini-PCs and NUCs are generally just laptop technology so work identically to any other PC.

Rroff · 28 Oct 2025 at 07:23

mid_gen said:
Plenty of options for these Chinese mini pcs.

Personally I'd recommend the general public stick to Beelink, Trigkey, MeLE and maybe Minisforums, some of the other brands support can be iffy/potentially needs the user to be hands on, potentially have dubious security vulnerabilities or even built in malware, etc. etc.

Personally there are quite a few brands of mini PC I won't touch though established places are selling them, due to their history when it comes to security either vulnerabilities due to poor support or intentional root kits, etc. despite the latest lineups supposedly are OK on that front.

venger7779 · 28 Oct 2025 at 16:35

Rroff said:
Personally I'd recommend the general public stick to Beelink, Trigkey, MeLE and maybe Minisforums, some of the other brands support can be iffy/potentially needs the user to be hands on, potentially have dubious security vulnerabilities or even built in malware, etc. etc.

Personally there are quite a few brands of mini PC I won't touch though established places are selling them, due to their history when it comes to security either vulnerabilities due to poor support or intentional root kits, etc. despite the latest lineups supposedly are OK on that front.

This is super helpful, thanks. Will look at those first 3 brands you mentioned and try to get something from there.

Snapshot said:
How can they work 'differently'? Mini-PCs and NUCs are generally just laptop technology so work identically to any other PC.

Okay that's what I thought but wanted to check. No way 8GB RAM is enough for W11 so kinda rules out the HP options as price rockets up.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

Snapshot · 28 Oct 2025 at 20:25

venger7779 said:
Okay that's what I thought but wanted to check. No way 8GB RAM is enough for W11 so kinda rules out the HP options as price rockets up.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

I have a Surface Go 4 with 8GB RAM and W11 is fine. I wouldn't want to load it with too many applications at once but it should be okay for Office and a browser. RAM is upgradeable in most mini-PCs anyway so buy one with 8GB and stick more in yourself.

mid_gen · 29 Oct 2025 at 15:02

Rroff said:
Personally I'd recommend the general public stick to Beelink, Trigkey, MeLE and maybe Minisforums, some of the other brands support can be iffy/potentially needs the user to be hands on, potentially have dubious security vulnerabilities or even built in malware, etc. etc.

Personally there are quite a few brands of mini PC I won't touch though established places are selling them, due to their history when it comes to security either vulnerabilities due to poor support or intentional root kits, etc. despite there latest lineups supposedly be OK.

I wiped this BOSgame unit with my own windows image. End of the day it’s a £250 box that is what it says it is. From the rainforest so easy enough to deal with if I have problems.

ZXSpectrum · 30 Oct 2025 at 14:35

I have a GKTECH K8 Plus. Brilliant for the money. I managed to get it at a silly deal of £278 inc delivery with 16gb and 256gb. Has 4 USB Ports, can run on a silent mode and it is just that. I ended up upgrading it as i wanted to use it with a Oculink Dock and GPU. Might be worth keeping an eye out for a BF deal on one of those. I will say i did, same as previousl GKTECK products, flattened and reinstalled W11 using drivers from alternative sources. Its just a precaution and W11 Licences can be had for pretty cheap.