My current setup consists of a Raspberry Pi 4 with 4gb RAM and a 1tb external SSD. I’m thinking of getting a used mini PC for around 100€ to replace that tho because it would give me a lot more power and especially RAM (I currently need to use an 8gb swap file). My plan so far is to get a used mini PC that’s quiet, has a built-in SSD and at least 8gb of RAM (16 would be better). Because of the built-in SSD, I could also sell the external SSD and buy an 8-12tb HDD instead.
Does anyone have recommendations for what mini PC to get or things that I should look out for?
Edit: Thanks for all the help! I decided on the Firebat T8 Pro Plus with 16gb RAM and 512gb internal storage because that really seems to be perfect for my use case.
I got an HP ProDesk 400 G2 with an i5 6500T, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD for 99€. Works beautifully, and while it’s not as efficient as a raspberry pi, it idles around 6-7w and can run a bunch of VMs with Proxmox.
Is that a mini? I love those little 1L HP’s. I run 3 G2 800’s. These are very nicely built and therefore a joy to work on, and sip power when idling. Highly recommend. Also +1 for Proxmox.
Yeah, one of the USFF or whatever they call them.
Lenovo refers to the form factor as “Tiny”
+1 for HP minis (second hand). -1 for Proxmox, LXD/Incus ftw.
How many VMs can you reasonably run with only 8GB of RAM?
Depends on your needs. I have a couple LXDs that only need 512MB each… But I did upgrade mine to 16GB.
I love the Dell Micros. I’m rocking three 7060 micros in my lab atm. All running Proxmox.
I have a couple Lenovo tiny form factors: an M700 8GB w/ J3710 running Pihole on Ubuntu server—which is total overkill in both CPU and mem; and an M73, 4GB w/4th gen i3 running jellyfin server on Mint 21.3. Certain kinds of transcoding brings it to its knees but for most 1080p streaming it’s fine. Memory is a bit tight; 8G would be better. It has a usb3 2T drive for video files that runs more than quick enough. Serial adapters are available if you want to use the console.
The latter has been running for I think a couple years. The former I just set up.
But I’ve been shopping for newer gear for the Jellyfin server. I think you could get a Dell, HP, or Lenovo 6th gen TFF with 8G and 256-512G internal SSD within your price range.
I see some EliteDesk G800 G3 (6th gen Intel) tinys with no disk for $50-70 shipped on eBay in the US. I think those look the coolest by far :)
You could find one with no disk, no ram and config as you please and probably still come in under budget.
E-
My eventual plan for the Jellyfin server is a SFF, probably an HP with enough space to fit a couple of big HDDs, plus 16G ram and a newer CPU that can transcode on the fly without lag.
With that budget I find it hard to imagine you could beat the Raspberry Pi, but please post what you do find!
Actually, I found the Firebat T8 Pro Plus, which has an Intel N100, 16gb LPDDR5 RAM and a 512gb M.2 SSD. It’s more than 5 times faster than the Pi, has AV1 decoding and a power draw of 27W (not TDP, this number is from independent tests). It goes for 146€ on Aliexpress. It’s a little more than 100€ but for what I’m getting here, I think it’s worth it.
GMKtec G3
I actually bought a similar one with the same CPU. You’re not the first to recommend a mini PC with the N100, so it seems like it was the right choice haha.
👍👍
i dont think alot of ppl need a super small comp. it comes with disadvantages. harder or more limited upgrades.
I’d say the opposite - most people work fine on what’s available in minis/tiny today (which is surprisingly a lot).
It’s us power users/gamers that need more. Even then, some minis have impressive specs.
As for upgrading, well, it’s not like you can swap in the next gen of cpu - memory and storage are pretty much all you can upgrade even in a full desktop. Even video is limited to the generation of the motherboard.
thats kinda true. (even excluding gemini lynx user like myself) comps and phones have reached overkill for most users. therefore sff is totally fine for most users.
truth is… only reason i dont have a bigger pc is that i want flexibility to move apt if my landlord raises rent. thats literally the only reason.
otherwise i would have dual socket, 8 sticks memory, full sized gpu, etc.
i dont mind not having all that. although, it could be used for something… currently it would be used for nothing.I’ve been building monster machines since… Well, a long time ago - back when cases were one color, and black wasn’t an option yet.
We all dreamt of big towers, numerous hard drives, multiple fans, so we could play whatever game we wanted.
I’m blown away at what we can do today within the volume of a box of tissues, or less, and at a price that is frankly, cheap.
my guess is: quadrennial lenovo usff/sff . the intel nuc is nice&easy to uprade the limited set of parts for ultra longterm use.
