Mini PCs

I have one similar to this (have had it several years), biggest downside was the graphics card options, also some limitation if you want to change/upgrade some other parts
 
As fundy said,upgrading can be very limited but if you buy with the knowledge that its a cheaper pc in the first place, keep it 3-4 years, sell it for buttons and buy a new one, its not a bad economy.
 
I build a lot of these mini PC systems. They are a a great, more powerful alternative to a laptop where portability is not key.
They can also be configured to relatively high specs.

However, its not just as simple as that. They suffer from thermal issues, being smaller and so usage and, more importantly, positioning play a big part. .

So many people ask for a small build and then want to put it in a cupboard or a drawer with little to no airflow, then wonder why its slowing down.
 
GreiginFife said:
I build a lot of these mini PC systems. They are a a great, more powerful alternative to a laptop where portability is not key.
They can also be configured to relatively high specs.

However, its not just as simple as that. They suffer from thermal issues, being smaller and so usage and, more importantly, positioning play a big part. .

So many people ask for a small build and then want to put it in a cupboard or a drawer with little to no airflow, then wonder why its slowing down.
Click to expand...

I'll let you know tomorrow when it arrives but all the reviews on the one above seem very good.
As for its position, it will sit on a shelf so plenty of room around it.
I'm looking forward to an improvement on my 2013 Core i3
 
bobmac said:
I'll let you know tomorrow when it arrives but all the reviews on the one above seem very good.
As for its position, it will sit on a shelf so plenty of room around it.
I'm looking forward to an improvement on my 2013 Core i3
Click to expand...

NUC's run hot, don't be surprised if you get thermal throttling. It won't do any damage, it's what it's supposed to do. They are passively cooled so shelf is probably a good location, small fan next to it in summer won't hurt either.
 
It's the AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 2500U
I don't think it's super fast but 16g of ram and 512 ssd will be an improvement on my old laptop
 
Last edited:
bobmac said:
It's the AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 2500U
I don't think it's super fast but 16g of ram and 512 ssd will be an improvement on my old laptop
Click to expand...

The 2500u isn't a bad APU, still comes with Vega 8 graphics which beats Intel's HD620 hands down.

Whilst the core speed is slower, you benefit from 2 more physical cores and 4 more logical cores (4 core 8 thread over 2 core 4 thread) which will make multitasking better.

The Ryzen utilises the memory better too, so overall its not a bad option.

It will beat most similar spec'd laptops for price if not performance.
 
Ethan said:
I have a Mac Mini with the M1 chip. Impressively fast and easy to work with.
Click to expand...

Never fancied a Mac.

Well my new mini PC is all packed up, ready to be returned.
What a racket, the fan was louder than my old destop.
So I'm back on the hunt again.

How hard can it be to find a ...
Silent running machine
Two video outputs
8/16 g of ram
256/512 SSD
A decent processor i5/ Rryzen 5
Under £600
:(
 
bobmac said:
Never fancied a Mac.

Well my new mini PC is all packed up, ready to be returned.
What a racket, the fan was louder than my old destop.
So I'm back on the hunt again.

How hard can it be to find a ...
Silent running machine
Two video outputs
8/16 g of ram
256/512 SSD
A decent processor i5/ Rryzen 5
Under £600
:(
Click to expand...

Easy if you self build and use the right cooling solution.
I did say NUCs run hot, the CPU most likely passive cooled and it was a small chipset fan that you were hearing.

The main issue with NUC builds is they use laptop chips and processors that have lower thermal thresholds and so either a) need constantly cooled or b) throttle and run slow.

What size limitation do you have (if any) as "mini" can come in many guises?
 
GreiginFife said:
Easy if you self build and use the right cooling solution.
I did say NUCs run hot, the CPU most likely passive cooled and it was a small chipset fan that you were hearing.

The main issue with NUC builds is they use laptop chips and processors that have lower thermal thresholds and so either a) need constantly cooled or b) throttle and run slow.

What size limitation do you have (if any) as "mini" can come in many guises?
Click to expand...

Any size realy, desktop, laptop, mini pc, dont care as long as it's quiet, can connect to a monitor and a tele and can play You tube vids.
I almost have the perfect solution...a Lenovo laptop but it only has one video output. :(
 
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