Any experience with the various "mini pcs" on Amazon?

[facw]

@dejock Not officially supported by Windows 11 if that matters to you. Means you would stop getting OS updates in ~2.5 years if that matters to you. Unofficially it probably would work fine on Windows 11 though (I have a laptop with a Win 11 installed that's running Windows 11 fine)

[Bandit]

@dejock I am pretty sure I bought one from the same batch. No issues for me except a rumbly cooling fan. It does everything I need which I act as a cheap basic computer. I do wish it had more computing power because it struggles with video above 1080p.

[100percentjake]

Refurb Thinkcentre Tiny. They're, like, $300. I sell them to clients all the time and they're pretty much flawless. Most come with 1x8GB stick of RAM, add another stick and you're set. I think they're typically 8th gen i5s or thereabouts, and since it's a Thinkcentre they'll have Win10 Pro licenses with them.

[bison78]

@dejock

Build a new PC around something like this:
https://www.mini-itx.com/~J3355B-ITX

[GrindIntoSecond]

@dejock I found an older Lenovo small Form factor business desktop on Facebook market for $70. Its i7 4590 4 core, 16gb memory, runs near silent. It’s my router now but is super capable for what you want to do as it is a full desktop chip and memory set.

There’s lots or great deals on very capable office equipment and newer SFF desktops like that one. $200 can get you a nice item off Craig’s or Facebook market for a local meeting/buy at a coffee shop.

[dejock]

@100percentjake have a model number I can hone in on?

[dejock]

@bison78 I have no desire to piece everything together, fix compatibility issues, and spend hours finding drivers at this point. I’m fine swapping a hard drive or something, but builds don’t appeal to me at all.

[bison78]

@dejock said in Any experience with the various "mini pcs" on Amazon?:

@bison78 I have no desire to piece everything together, fix compatibility issues, and spend hours finding drivers at this point. I’m fine swapping a hard drive or something, but builds don’t appeal to me at all.

Installing Linux Mint would probably be very easy. No searching for drivers.

[RallyDarkstrike]

@dejock said in Any experience with the various "mini pcs" on Amazon?:

2025 isn’t that far away, and a lot of these cheap dell/hp boxes don’t run the minimum required 8th(?) gen chips required to get the Win11 upgrade

Yup, which is why I suggested giving Linux a go on it!

Unless you NEED specialty software, you can get Firefox and Chrome on it, there's LibreOffice for Microsoft-compatible office suite, Spotify...Discord....Telegram...streaming services like Netflix work in-browser, Thunderbird for email if you want client software, etc

Lots of very similar alternatives to things like Photoshop as well (Krita/GIMP).

[RallyDarkstrike]

@Nibby said in Any experience with the various "mini pcs" on Amazon?:

llook for the hp elite minis and the thinkcentre ones

Seconded! HPs are easier to get ahold of replacement chargers for as a note (at least to me) because Lenovos often had their weird proprietary rectangle plug thing.

[RallyDarkstrike]

@dejock said in Any experience with the various "mini pcs" on Amazon?:

Hmm, for $125 (plus whatever usb Bluetooth and Wi-Fi adapters cost) this kinda sounds like an ideal starting point: https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-EliteDesk-800-G3-Mini-i5-7600-3-5GHz-16GB-RAM-256GB-SSD-Win-10/185771249327?hash=item2b40d44eaf:g:WqIAAOSwA7Fjc~QC&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAwI2sAhqZ30k4Z3Y80f7zjhJeZSs0/vQYjcdiKKXBX3zfpmV+0rGq+LHamWTBaruBoOXYk1cpyZdzOJd2hw45dAJpA8wg3txvGfvLRssgyWVGTzgSNJYBGtD3Vw4oV5m8A5uERAmEdnm9GpyyyNohe8xKGAQUgFcbk4Yf4jFd+I4NB+knuiM3XRot6AEbs4vE/ChEI6C756mGmyXapLMhIPch0C+a8cc94H7gEqXGlDLr5EvXApQsynPMBSkeYgQiRQ==|tkp:Bk9SR5SlspzeYQ&pageci=c4e34300-7ef2-405b-a5a2-22a8e1385adc&redirect=mobile

Any apparent red flags with this?

Looks good to me - no OS installed though if that matters to you, so you would have to install your own (and it may not come with a Windows license key FYI)

[RallyDarkstrike]

@bison78 said in Any experience with the various "mini pcs" on Amazon?:

@dejock said in Any experience with the various "mini pcs" on Amazon?:

@bison78 I have no desire to piece everything together, fix compatibility issues, and spend hours finding drivers at this point. I’m fine swapping a hard drive or something, but builds don’t appeal to me at all.

Installing Linux Mint would probably be very easy. No searching for drivers.

Seconding this as well - with the little HP EliteDesk 800 G1 I bought everything just WORKED after I tossed Mint on it. No tweaking things hardware-wise or having to sort out drivers. Only caveat is the one I have DOESN'T have built-in Wifi, but I just use a USB Wifi dongle.

[Tripper]

@WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4 +1 I have a 11 year old Mac mini that is still completely functional. It’s my only home pc actually, and my F1 streaming device. I just bought a brand new one at work for testing and it’s faster than some of the $1500 plus dells I buy for $600