You usually don’t need a PC that small. For this price ($250) you can just get a Beelink with a better CPU. Or an older model mini PC for $120.
Don’t let these manufacturers convince you that you need their latest and greatest whatever.
I’m still buying the older NUCs on eBay for crazy cheap prices and slapping in new nvme drives which have been cheap along with cheap RAM. I end up with 32gb memory 1tb cluster nodes for like $175. Works great in the KVM, VMW, and HyperV lab deployments I need to test in my home labs. I will say that with the AV1 codec support this is interesting as a Jellyfin server though with connection to my NAS. It’s been tough getting cheaper codec capable CPUs.
But the form factor is gorgeous!
That said, do you mind if I pick your brain as you appear to be quite learned on the subject. What do you think of these? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B096FQGLDK
Compare the stats for the CPU, memory, and hard drive. Every one is slightly different, so I can’t tell you what to get.
Form factor usually doesn’t matter. You’re not going to be looking at it all the time and showing it to people. It’s a desktop.
They’re trying to trick you into not just comparing the specs and deciding on price. Pick a decent brand so you know the chipset is good and just look at the stats.
Pick a decent brand so you know the chipset is good and just look at the stats.
Is Minisforum a good brand? Do they use quality parts in their miniPCs?
Thinking of picking up one of those for server duty.
I have an 8530 Intel atom, 8gb ram 128gb stick…they’re useless(to me). Very fun to toy with.
This stick is much much more powerful and useful.
Idk I don’t see the point if I have multiple laptops, multiple desktops, multiple cellphones. Samsung Dex on current phone. Raspberry pis, plenty of stand alone emulators. PSP, PS vita, 3ds, 2ds, NDSL, DS, commodity SOCs, steam streaming boxes, ect…I have them all. I can assure you, it’s all the same. It will always be the same. Nothing changes, nothing is new. Arm, x86/x64 has been around for decades almost being able to be counted in multiples of 30. They have all accomplished what they have needed. And stagnated. I don’t doubt it’s more powerful. I do doubt it’s much more useful than anything I’ve listed.
Probably no Linux support. That’s always to be expected.
Really? I thought Linux could run on pretty much anything?
You’re thinking of Doom.
I’m still on the hunt for an affordable mini PC with a decent GPU. Everything I’ve seen is well into the $1500+ range. I’m not talking about getting a 4090 or anything. Like, if I could find a mini PC with an 8G 2070, I’d be happy.
I just want to play games on my TV for around the same cost of a PlayStation or Xbox… And be able to do it with a mouse and keyboard if I want. If I wanted to use a controller 100% of the time, I’d just get a console, but I don’t.
Why not buy a Steam Deck?
Because it will be permanently connected to my TV.
It seems silly to buy a handheld that will never be used as a handheld.
I don’t think it’s silly. It does what you want and is reasonably priced.
I understand your point. I’ll examine the option.
I’ll need to get a dock for it so I have all the required ports, but that’s not a big deal. It just adds cost, so I’ll have to factor that in.
I just need the system to be small enough to tuck in behind my TV, so it doesn’t end up being an eyesore. I don’t think that poses a huge issue for the steam deck.
you can buy a mini pc with the new ryzen apus that are more powerful than the steam deck
Do you have any pointers? I’ve been an Intel and Nvidia guy for a really long time, so I have a hard time making heads or tails of what generation or power I can expect from an AMD CPU/GPU/APU from the model number.
If you could give me any idea what to look for it e avoid, I’d appreciate it. Apparently the APU in the steam deck was not officially released outside of the steamdeck, so it doesn’t have an official model number.
id recommend a Ryzen 7 8700G, it has the best integrated graphics out of any cpu ever. (quite a bit better than teh steam deck)
Check out Miniforums HX90G/HX99G. Might be exactly what you’re looking for.
I am currently still using my HX90G daily and when travel more than a week
This is one that is on my radar, a bit on the more expensive side, at least compared to the console alternatives, but that’s expected. You always get a discount with a console since they’re counting on profits from game sales to make up the difference.
Performance is slightly better than the Intel/1070 combo I’m using in the interim. The current system is a huge eyesore, which is why I’m trying to replace it.
Before finding this gem, my front running idea was to pair a framework main board with a thunderbolt eGPU, but buying even a used GPU with the cost of an enclosure was going to add more than $1000 to the cost. It’s likely more performant than even the minisforum options and others, with the ability to swap the GPU for upgrades, but I’m not sure how likely that is in the first place.
The current system is older and in a medium tower case, it’s a full custom build. Way too big to hide and needs pretty much everything upgraded, so rather than keep the eyesore and spend the money on a new main board/RAM/CPU/SSD etc, getting a smaller and more descreet system is preferable.
The HX-whatevrG definitely will be much better in term of look and size.
I would not go the eGPU way. Interested from the first time it was a thing, and still now, and still no buy. They are stupidly expensive, and tbh, a fucking eyesore. They are size of a normal SFF case, but now you lose all the benefit on performance. And the small one from GPD with a 6600M? Cost nearly the same as my HX90G, and even for oculink, it is still have less bandwidth than my HX90G.
