Best mini PC availabel just now

subbytna

subbytna

subbytna

Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2008
Posts
11,777
Location
Lisburn
Any ideas on a good brand I should look at for a mini PC? I'm talking something like : Beelink AMD Mini PC

...or similar size and performance. Would be used for emails, music streaming and some word processing. NOT A GAMING PC. I'm thinking of getting one for a family friend. She's older so needs something simple and small for her needs and I think this type of "mini pc" would suit her well.

All I need is a brand that is reputable and makes a mini pc that won't overheat and throttle the rear end of it to the point it's basically rubbish.
 
for that basic use they are fine, but if you are hammering them they can be LOUD and HOT and need periodic fan cleaning. Also make sure you understand that some of the Chinese mini pc have CPU that are missing their neural network and cant throttle the same. I think off the top of my head its the 8745S and 8745HS are special binned chips of the 8845HS and possibly few others.

Support can be either good or non existent if something goes wrong. Of the three Beelink, GMKTek and Minisforum, I have read Beelink has best support of the three mentioned, who knows tbh.

If you want something with better cooling and power but needs separate case and psu, you can get BD795I SE and build around that, but its way overpowered for what you want.

there are few other options like the ASROCK Desk mini but I believe the older ones X300 do not doffer S3 sleep mode, so they cant be put into sleep mode. So sure to check before you buy.

There is also Lenovo ThinkCentre M series Tiny PC, for those basic tasks I am sure you can find something second had and with everything already included for cheap.

ASUS nucs but they are expensive and mostly intel CPU and support only god know what its like( can be slow be warned)

another options is to buy miniITX motherboard and with a low power CPU, with a mini itx case like Inwin case. This is what I did for both my parents many years ago and 10 years down the line they are still working. I am now upgrading them again, stilk keeping the case but using low power AMD CPU with IGPU but ram has gone up so much that I think its best to buy a mini-PC as soddim ram is still quite cheap.
 
Last edited:
subbytna said:

Minisforum UM790 Pro - gearing towards this​

Click to expand...

If you are thinking of spending that kind of money consider the Micro (i.e. QBM1250) line on the Dell Outlet - pretty decent little boxes, better support than these generic brands, and unless you get unlucky the refurbished ones are usually pretty much as new if not basically new (just avoid the ones tagged as dented, etc.).

EDIT: One thing to keep in mind - the standard Micro has HDMI out and can be optionally powered from USB-C (can't remember if you need the optional extra USB-C module or not for that functionality) the Micro Plus has only displayport outputs (unless you spec the additional HDMI module) and can only be powered by the DC port.

EDIT2: One of the few other brands I'd consider personally is MeLE - so far they've been pretty solid little boxes with probably better support than Beelink, etc.

On the UM790 - the 7940HS is a pretty decent CPU with plenty of performance for desktop tasks, while likely not needed here the integrated GPU performance is respectable for what it is as well - basically what is being used in most of the gaming handhelds.
 
Last edited:
subbytna said:
Any ideas on a good brand I should look at for a mini PC? I'm talking something like : Beelink AMD Mini PC

...or similar size and performance. Would be used for emails, music streaming and some word processing. NOT A GAMING PC. I'm thinking of getting one for a family friend. She's older so needs something simple and small for her needs and I think this type of "mini pc" would suit her well.

All I need is a brand that is reputable and makes a mini pc that won't overheat and throttle the rear end of it to the point it's basically rubbish.
Click to expand...
Apple Mac Mini M4.
 
I got my parents a refurb dell 7070 USFF pc, very small 9th gen i5, 8gb ram (dropped another 8gb I had lying around) and 256gb nvme for ~£200 delivered.
Had similar requirements their 3rd gen i3 dell finally gave up the ghost and they just wanted something small to sit and work.
 
She's loaded so I'm thinking a nice high end mini PC. She's not fussed about the cash aspect of it. Just needs to be fast and small
 
subbytna said:
She's loaded so I'm thinking a nice high end mini PC. She's not fussed about the cash aspect of it. Just needs to be fast and small
Click to expand...
What about the Framework Desktop? It uses the AMD Ryzen™ AI Max 300 Series, is small, hugely fast and customizable, if not very cheap.
 
JollyJamma said:
That seems very poor value for money IMO.
Click to expand...
Yes its really not the best but the market for cheap small computers doesnt have many players in it at all outside of the tiny mini PCs running n100s and such. Quick check on rainforest and the beelink with n100 is £169 and this beats it quite handily with some advantages like I grabbed the ssd from their old machine and just plopped it in the spare sata bay.
(also came with a terrible keyboard and mouse.)
Cheapest PC that wasnt a mini pc I could from a reputable retailer was £399.
 
subbytna said:
She's loaded so I'm thinking a nice high end mini PC. She's not fussed about the cash aspect of it. Just needs to be fast and small
Click to expand...

I'd definitely give the Dell Micro (Plus) a consideration then - you can also spec a decent range of accessories with them and on site support. Or even one of the slim variants if it doesn't have to be ultra small.
 
Last edited:
subbytna said:
She's loaded so I'm thinking a nice high end mini PC. She's not fussed about the cash aspect of it. Just needs to be fast and small
Click to expand...
wait how loaded we talking about here, like spend £2000 on pc and not care? if YES

£2000 - then Minisforum MS-S1 MAX, Beelink GTR9 Pro or Framework Desktop with the ryzen AI Max 395+ and it makes a good gaming desktop but this waste of money if not gaming or using it for specific purpose.I was considering this option for a compact AI machine for myself at one point.

or

£1000- asus nuc 15 pro plus Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 285H this is the bells and whistles ASUS NUC

or

but the most sensible option is honestly what Rfoff suggested above, the Dell Micro Plus PC which has good after sale service or just spec something less than £500-£600 you don't need anything crazy to just surf the internet, no point wasting money. Even that is an OTT budget for just surfing the net. Your original UM790 pro and some ram and 1tb nvme and you are good to go, if you go this route just make sure you buy the correct ram as I have heard they can me funny with ram sometimes and try to buy dual sticks.
 
Last edited:
Rroff said:
Yeah I can't remember details off the top of my head but better to buy the ones specced with RAM than barebones as they only like certain Kingston sticks or something.
Click to expand...
totally agree, its best to buy one with RAM and SSD included so you don't have to go on ram buying/trying spree.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom