Mini PC

[davieG]

I'm looking to get a Mini PC to replace a terrible Acer All in one Desktop.

 

Any advice welcome as reading reviews for them provides no confidence at all.

 

Was looking for and i7 with 5/16gb and at least 500mb.

[Bryn]

Budget?

[davieG]

22 minutes ago, Bryn said:

Budget?

500ish  maybe more for the right one, but needs to be one that’s reasonably quiet and does act like heater. Would need to be upgradeable to Windows 11.

 

it was more are they any good compared to a laptop or desktop in terms of quality and performing tasks.

[Zear0]

3 minutes ago, davieG said:

500ish  maybe more for the right one, but needs to be one that’s reasonably quiet and does act like heater. Would need to be upgradeable to Windows 11.

 

it was more are they any good compared to a laptop or desktop in terms of quality and performing tasks.

What do you use it for? I have an Intel NUC which I use as my media player on the living room and its bril. Would suggest having a look at those. 

[Bryn]

You've got a lot more options if you get a proper desktop and there are smaller form factors, micro atx and such, which means you can get more in a smaller package but still get full spec components. Think at £500 you will always be compromising with a laptop or mini PC, whereas with a desktop you won't be unless you need a graphics card (basically impossible to get a decent graphics card at a sensible price presently).

 

If you don't require portability a laptop is always inferior by a mile.

[Bryn]

Having said that this doesn't look bad.

[Bryn]

I'm assuming it's showing as the same parts, upgrade the processor to a 5600G and the ram to 16GB if it's not set to that already.

 

I can't tell you much about that motherboard though.

[davieG]

1 hour ago, Bryn said:

You've got a lot more options if you get a proper desktop and there are smaller form factors, micro atx and such, which means you can get more in a smaller package but still get full spec components. Think at £500 you will always be compromising with a laptop or mini PC, whereas with a desktop you won't be unless you need a graphics card (basically impossible to get a decent graphics card at a sensible price presently).

 

If you don't require portability a laptop is always inferior by a mile.

Yeah I’ve noticed that,I’ll check this out tomorrow 

58 minutes ago, Bryn said:

I'm assuming it's showing as the same parts, upgrade the processor to a 5600G and the ram to 16GB if it's not set to that already.

 

I can't tell you much about that motherboard though.

I’ve looked at few of this barebones ones and I really don’t have the knowledge to know what to pick.

 

I understand the intel processors are better than the Ryzen ones.

[davieG]

1 hour ago, Zear0 said:

What do you use it for? I have an Intel NUC which I use as my media player on the living room and its bril. Would suggest having a look at those. 

I’ve seen those they are usually £150 plus dearer for similar specs are they that much better and reliable?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest kristianity77]

I bought a Dell Optiplex 3080SFF a couple of months ago for just over £350.  Dont read too much into wanting an i7.  An i5 or even an i3 from a later generation will be better.  This is what I bought.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403286441704?hash=item5de5bebee8:g:zS4AAOSwY6phirbB

 

Its only an i3, but its 10th generation (so still recent) and will out perform any i5 or i7 that are older.

[Bryn]

12 hours ago, davieG said:

Yeah I’ve noticed that,I’ll check this out tomorrow 

I’ve looked at few of this barebones ones and I really don’t have the knowledge to know what to pick.

 

I understand the intel processors are better than the Ryzen ones.

Nah, AMD put out excellent components these days. I think the processors are possibly actually slightly better. But you won’t notice either way I reckon, think you’d be happy with either.

 

What do you plan to use it for ? You probably don’t need an i7 or i9 unless you’re doing something like video editing, even gamers often just get an i5. Just make sure you get the latest generation (11xxx for intel).

 

I’ll have another little look tonight. That PC specialist is a good site.

Edited 22 November 2021 by Bryn

[davieG]

I'm starting to go off this idea as all the units I've looked at all have a problem with fan noise and or heat.

[Bryn]

1 minute ago, davieG said:

I'm starting to go off this idea as all the units I've looked at all have a problem with fan noise and or heat.

Can believe this. No room for a proper heat sink.

 

I fancy a micro ATX desktop is what you’re after. Full spec components but in a smaller package.

[davieG]

4 minutes ago, Bryn said:

Nah, AMD put out excellent components these days. I think the processors are possibly actually slightly better. But you won’t notice either way I reckon, think you’d be happy with either.

 

What do you plan to use it for ? You probably don’t need an i7 or i9 unless you’re doing something like video editing. Just make sure you get the latest generation (11xxx for intel).

 

I’ll have another little look tonight. That PC specialist is a good site.

This is what I have with my all in one

 

Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-7130U CPU @ 2.70GHz   2.71 GHz

4GB Ram

64bit

[davieG]

3 minutes ago, Bryn said:

Can believe this. No room for a proper heat sink.

 

I fancy a micro ATX desktop is what you’re after. Full spec components but in a smaller package.

There's not much choice with those that I can see Dell or Lenovo.

[davieG]

17 minutes ago, davieG said:

This is what I have with my all in one

 

Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-7130U CPU @ 2.70GHz   2.71 GHz

4GB Ram

64bit

Looks like I can upgrade this to 16gb ram do you think that would help?

[Innovindil]

You really need to give us a bit more information on what you want to use it for. What programs/games etc, why you want a mini one and not a proper tower etc etc

 

People just stabbing in the dark right now. 

[The People's Hero]

Don't get an i7/i9; just don't bother. The sweet spot is an 11xxx i3 I reckon; perhaps an i5 if you're running games or doing any picture/video editing?

 

Form factor will affect components and hence performance and noise. 

 

I am getting a mini-pc but only to use it as a media server type affair, attached to a TV, maybe even with a bit of game emulation. They are super for that; but they are not silent since they do not have space for a heatsink; so you tend to have fans. Some don't have fans, which makes them silent, but they they just overheat. I suspect a slightly larger form factor is better for you since you want it silent. (Its worth considering that if you're sensitive to noise; then you can definitely get a decent fan set up and motherboard with the BIOS options to set temperature triggers and fan speeds etc; so do give that thought if the noise level is important):

 

Please advise on a few things:

 

1) Where are you putting it? Is that why it needs to be small? The fact you want it small and silent makes me think you want to do similar, ie put it in your lounge/near TV? Am I right?

2) What are you actually using it for? Is it just media server ? Is it for browsing and email etc? Can you give me an idea of what programmes you typically run and use?

3) What really bugs you about your all-in-one? What is the actual frustration with it?

4) Do you need this future-proofed at all; or do you just want something good now and maybe re-buy in x years (depending on what you use it for obviously)?

5) How comfortable are you with set up? I don't mean self build, but if you had to do an OS install or if it was a case of buying a pre-built (but maybe bare bones) and some additional components; are you comfortable?

[davieG]

21 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

You really need to give us a bit more information on what you want to use it for. What programs/games etc, why you want a mini one and not a proper tower etc etc

 

People just stabbing in the dark right now. 

 

I'm actually running very little, office stuff, streaming a match. But the basics are so slow PC is so slow. I can sit there waiting for a minute for my files to open and even longer for a photo, Sometimes I launch Chrome and it can go to the toilet and back in time. I've tried cleaning it up. I have 194GB free on my hard drive. 

 

I've just assumed it's a crap PC.

[davieG]

17 minutes ago, The People's Hero said:

Don't get an i7/i9; just don't bother. The sweet spot is an 11xxx i3 I reckon; perhaps an i5 if you're running games or doing any picture/video editing?

 

Form factor will affect components and hence performance and noise. 

 

I am getting a mini-pc but only to use it as a media server type affair, attached to a TV, maybe even with a bit of game emulation. They are super for that; but they are not silent since they do not have space for a heatsink; so you tend to have fans. Some don't have fans, which makes them silent, but they they just overheat. I suspect a slightly larger form factor is better for you since you want it silent. (Its worth considering that if you're sensitive to noise; then you can definitely get a decent fan set up and motherboard with the BIOS options to set temperature triggers and fan speeds etc; so do give that thought if the noise level is important):

 

Please advise on a few things:

 

1) Where are you putting it? Is that why it needs to be small? The fact you want it small and silent makes me think you want to do similar, ie put it in your lounge/near TV? Am I right?

2) What are you actually using it for? Is it just media server ? Is it for browsing and email etc? Can you give me an idea of what programmes you typically run and use?

3) What really bugs you about your all-in-one? What is the actual frustration with it?

4) Do you need this future-proofed at all; or do you just want something good now and maybe re-buy in x years (depending on what you use it for obviously)?

5) How comfortable are you with set up? I don't mean self build, but if you had to do an OS install or if it was a case of buying a pre-built (but maybe bare bones) and some additional components; are you comfortable?

I currently have an All in one as I don't have room for a Tower and it's difficult to expand other than the Ram so I need something that doesn't take up a lot of room.

[davieG]

I've sort of taken the view to go for a sledge hammer to crack a nut approach, so spend a bit more to guarantee a decent performing pc.

[Innovindil]

21 minutes ago, davieG said:

 

I'm actually running very little, office stuff, streaming a match. But the basics are so slow PC is so slow. I can sit there waiting for a minute for my files to open and even longer for a photo, Sometimes I launch Chrome and it can go to the toilet and back in time. I've tried cleaning it up. I have 194GB free on my hard drive. 

 

I've just assumed it's a crap PC.

 

15 minutes ago, davieG said:

I've sort of taken the view to go for a sledge hammer to crack a nut approach, so spend a bit more to guarantee a decent performing pc.

The fanless mini pc's from pc specialist are around £600. If it's just for office stuff and streaming footie it should be more than capable. If you try to play a PC game on it it will probably explode but it ticks all the boxes you've mentioned... 

[davieG]

40 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

 

The fanless mini pc's from pc specialist are around £600. If it's just for office stuff and streaming footie it should be more than capable. If you try to play a PC game on it it will probably explode but it ticks all the boxes you've mentioned... 

I've looked at quite a few of them and they all seem to suffer from noisy fans or excessive heat according to the reviews.

 

Do you think if I upgrade my Ram from 4GB to 16GB it would make a significant difference?

 

 

[The People's Hero]

6 minutes ago, davieG said:

I've looked at quite a few of them and they all seem to suffer from noisy fans or excessive heat according to the reviews.

 

Do you think if I upgrade my Ram from 4GB to 16GB it would make a significant difference?

 

 

Sometimes this is challenging in 'all-in-ones', but it depends what specific processor and mobo you have. The bottleneck may be there.

 

You described it taking ages to start up / open a browser though. RAM could definitely help that, but just opening one browser window is not something that needs more than 4gb RAM.

 

I don't know if I'm just going to confuse you here, but have you looked at what is set to run when you start up? The system registry / .ini type stuff? Have you looked at what (bloat) is running at any given time? You could even trying a less demanding browser but I just can't believe it can be a browser issue; more likely other stuff going on in the background? What about decent clean up.. have you run one recently? There is some excellent software out there.

 

For snappy performance and instant reaction and quick start up (which to be fair, if you're mainly browsing/streaming is fair enough to expect) I think I'd get one of the latest i3s coupled with an SSD and 16gb RAM (but 8gb really would be plenty) and then just try to keep it clutter free. You don't even need one of the latest processors, but all this talk of i7s and i9s is pointless for what you need and the newer i3s are good. Look for '11' in the part number/ref. You could even go AMD and you might find that cheaper; they can be very good; I just don't know them as well.

 

I'm perfectly happy to have a look around for you. What's the budget? I'm assuming you already having monitor/tv, keyboard, speakers etc? 

[davieG]

5 minutes ago, The People's Hero said:

Sometimes this is challenging in 'all-in-ones', but it depends what specific processor and mobo you have. The bottleneck may be there.

 

You described it taking ages to start up / open a browser though. RAM could definitely help that, but just opening one browser window is not something that needs more than 4gb RAM.

 

I don't know if I'm just going to confuse you here, but have you looked at what is set to run when you start up? The system registry / .ini type stuff? Have you looked at what (bloat) is running at any given time? You could even trying a less demanding browser but I just can't believe it can be a browser issue; more likely other stuff going on in the background? What about decent clean up.. have you run one recently? There is some excellent software out there.

 

For snappy performance and instant reaction and quick start up (which to be fair, if you're mainly browsing/streaming is fair enough to expect) I think I'd get one of the latest i3s coupled with an SSD and 16gb RAM (but 8gb really would be plenty) and then just try to keep it clutter free. You don't even need one of the latest processors, but all this talk of i7s and i9s is pointless for what you need and the newer i3s are good. Look for '11' in the part number/ref. You could even go AMD and you might find that cheaper; they can be very good; I just don't know them as well.

 

I'm perfectly happy to have a look around for you. What's the budget? I'm assuming you already having monitor/tv, keyboard, speakers etc? 

Thanks, I use CCleaner and Malwarebites regularly where I check the registry and run the Cleaner.

 

 Start up I only seem to have IAStor Icon - Intel and Security Health Microsoft listed on CCCleaner. If I do Control Alt Delete - Task Manager there's only Chrome running as I write this.

 

Don't know anything about ini type stuff  or bloat.