Which mini PC to get?

Philtor

Philtor

Philtor

Soldato
Joined
20 Nov 2009
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Hi Folks

I have been looking into replacing my ancient desktop with a mini PC but not sure which is best.

I don’t game on the PC and would mainly be used for general stuff such as printing documents, burning the odd disk (I have a USB burner) and managing my music collection etc.

I like the look of them Lenovo mini PC’s and can get a reasonable spec for under £200 it seems.

That said, they seem to appear on the members market from time to time so are they carp?

I want something completely silent and reliable but also fast enough to run Windows 10 and possibly 11 with ease (I'm on the fence with Windows 11).

What would you suggest? :)
 
This is the model and spec I had been thinking about for reference.

£129 delivered seems ok. Just need to add my wifi adapter which I already have.


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It'll be that cheap because officially it doesn't support Windows 11. As per the add it's possible to get Windows 11 running on it, but normally at a compromise of security. If you're not bothered by the increased security that Windows 11 can offer over Windows 10 then carry on, but Intel 8th gen (I think Ryzen 2nd gen) or above with TPM 2.0 is a requirement for Windows 11.

Edit: Just re-read your first post. If you want to stick with Windows 10 - that's all good, but it's going EOL Oct 2025 so no more security updates. I'd recommend moving to 11 or linux going forward.
 
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had a look on the well known auction site (sorry admins if I'm not allowed to mention that - please just remove this) and it looks like you can pick up Dell Optiplex USFF (Ultra small form factor - which is basically the same as the Lenovo M710q) 6th gen from £25 and 8th gen from ~ £150. I'm sure these are much the same as the Lenovo and if you keep an eye out you could find the same elsewhere, but I have used the Dells and they are good and quiet providing you don't throw everything you have at the CPU for sustained time.
 
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Minstadave said:
I'd be tempted to picking up one of the N100 based mini PCs direct from China for £100ish.

16GB RAM/512GB storage is impressive for the price.
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China then say ‘all your data belong to us’ :D

I know Windows 10 is going EOL but they need to fix Windows 11 before then imo.

If you are not gaming with a PC then I firmly believe the small form factor kit is the way forward these days rather than a small tank with fans inside :D

Tempted to pull the trigger on that Lenovo above but will have a think and check out the suggestions :)

Thanks for the input guys.
 
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I've tended to buy MeLE mini PCs - though still a Chinese company behind it but not seen any security concerns with them or noticed any spyware, etc. some of the lesser known brands are riddled with malware out the box and/or worse have hardware level vulnerabilities or dubious hardware level functionality (probably intentional).
 
Haven’t bought anything just yet but thinking I might need to spend a bit more for something decent.

I like the look of them little Lenovos but the CPU’s in them are all quite dated.

Not that I would be doing any demanding stuff with it mind.
 
Why buy something so old? Does 6th gen Intel even officially support Windows 11? Eventually, you'll want to move it off of Windows 10. Feels like painting in to corner, unless you're happy to go Linux.

You would be better off buying one of the many cheapish mini-PCs with a 5th gen Ryzen mobile CPU.
 
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Emlyn_Dewar said:
Why buy something so old? Does 6th gen Intel even officially support Windows 11? Eventually, you'll want to move it off of Windows 10. Feels like painting in to corner, unless you're happy to go Linux.

You would be better off buying one of the many cheapish mini-PCs with a 5th gen Ryzen mobile CPU.
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Given what it will be used for, i’m not wanting to spend much being honest.

The EliteDesk i’m looking at runs Windows 11 like a dream!

It’s not officially supported by M$ but i’ll not lose any sleep over that and will be running Windows 10 anyway for now.

Maybe even Linux later on…
 
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Not officially supported, but working now. MS have been clear enough that this won't be the case for some future Windows 11 updates though.
I'm no fan of Windows 11 myself, but I know at some point my 10 devices will need something else.

I guess as long as it's cheap as chips, given the extreme age.
 
Even quite a bit of modern hardware potentially isn't supported by future Windows 11 updates :( bunch of clowns working on that OS IMO.

Personally I wouldn't be buying hardware that old though now - some of the newer CPU/SoCs used by these PCs are significantly more power efficient - the J4125 based system (performs similar to the old Core 2 Quads like the Q6600 and Q9550) I use for general file backups/syncing idles at sub 2 watt drawn from the wall and rarely uses much more than 2 watt average under nominal use, 4-10 watt if doing a bit heavier weight web-browsing or something on it (just as a benchmark).
 
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Search for cwwk or Topton on aliexpress or google, Cwwk do some fanless passive mini pcs anything from N100-300 to higher end intel/AMD 7840 series mini pcs and well priced.

You can get away with N100, but I have tried it and its performance is not really there for a daily mini pc imo, if you are surfing multiple sites and YT etc it can struggle a bit but you can't expect too much from an N100 budget cpu so sort of depends how much apps and things are going on in the background.

Always do a fresh Windows installation with an MS downloaded iso.
 
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