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What do people think of mini PCs?

Seem to be quite good deals on them. Brands I have never heard of (Beelink ??)

Even the Mac mini m4 looks decent at sale price (I know f all about macs and don't know my way around them, but I'm sure I can learn:))

Was looking at something called a Beelink ser8. I'm so out of my depth on the technicals. I also noticed everything seems to come with some AI chip bullshit nowadays. Is that a thing now??

https://www.bee-link.com/products/beelink-ser8-8845hs

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Discussion

tanel 1mo ago

what about mini PPs?

asking for a friend

TheRupertDamnit 1mo ago

Those work well with the TinyGiny brand.

tanel 1mo ago

their Va China model's launch was also interesting

TheRupertDamnit 1mo ago

nostr:nprofile1qqsrg8d45l36jv05jz2as2j2ejfee79xw2fmreqhnl2ttsz5f38u9mcpr4mhxue69uhkummnw3ezucnfw33k76twv4ezuum0vd5kzmp0qyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnddakj7qgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctckedwd0 any insights?

Kajoozie Maflingo 1mo ago

yeah, the new CPU's have AI coprocessors to be "windows copilot" compliant.

Digital Panhandler 1mo ago

I have a beelink I use for a start 9 server. Had no issues

Bill Cypher 1mo ago

Beelink is king from what I've seen, gmktek seems to be ok too. Other brands are more risky.

I've got a ryzen beelink running proxmox with a USB DAS as my home server. Pretty happy with it.

My biggest warning would be many have random limits on what can and can't be upgraded. Just check before buying if you plan to upgrade. An example is n150s are limited to 16gb of RAM.

The Beave 1mo ago

Buy a 1L form-factor tiny PC from lenovo, HP, or dell.

You get better driver support and if you are savvy, you can buy used and get rally good hardware for less or comparable prices.

The driver support is the most important thing and I prefer lenovo since they have very excellent Linux compatible drivers, which some of the minipcs have trouble with.

If you want to run containers and VMs, you'll want a "real" processor with virtualization baked in from the start.

running bitcoin 1mo ago

I have a couple HP pro desk micro w 16gb ram and they are great. I got them off Amazon for pretty cheap

Ryan 1mo ago

I have used Beelink PC, good for the price 💯 I currently have one as a mini server, and another as a tv PC.

nostr:nprofile1qqsp3yzapfwkyw4cr2vt4xx9s27474lj2pkxhqyfqh79n826pv3fkzqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhszrnhwden5te0dehhxtnvdakz7qg3waehxw309ahx7um5wghxcctwvshshkuc7l also has some experience I believe.

node 1mo ago

That beelink mini pc is amazing. Way faster than that “premium pi” lmao. Value for the price is incredible

node 1mo ago

I use mine as a start9 server. I upgraded the ssd. Next server I need will be a beelink 1000%

7fqx 1mo ago

No one seems to use them as their main pc lol.

node 1mo ago

Soon I think I’ll use one for my kids.

Ryan 1mo ago

My tv PC is pretty much my main PC these days fwiw. I have a slightly older one, ser5 with 32gb RAM. It's fine for anything on desktop, and light Steam gaming and emulation up to the Xbox/PS2/Wii generation. I'm assuming a newer one would be better 👍

node 1mo ago

Start9 is always on. Always in use 🫡

Gets more mileage than my Mac lol

ChadF and 33 others 1mo ago

I've got 3 of then. 2 are Start9 nodes and one is running Ubuntu server and they have been great so far.

Ancap Revolt 1mo ago

Mac minis are great deals but I recommend using Linux. I believe Linux will stick long term.

It depends what you want to do.

A mini PC won’t be good if you want to game or host local AI. The new Steam Machine will be good for gaming, but it’s a step short of a full pc. You could probably put a different Linux distro on it though.

You want to ditch windows. Just buy a gaming laptop and put Linux on it

Petulant 1mo ago

Beelink is a top tier mini PC brand. I like them. Awesome for running Umbrel + Bitcoin Node.