Best Mini PCs 2019

Tom's Guide ^ | October 15, 2019 | Brian Westover

[fireman15]

Power in the palm of your hand

[fireman15]

We "cut the cord" from the cable company 4 years ago and have been using various devices and services to stream video from the internet since that time. I was looking into what was available this year for that purpose ahead of "black friday" and came across what is almost a new category of computing devices.

I have already "hacked" various FireTV and other "streaming" devices to get more functionality out of them and realized that they actually are more capable than one might imagine. But their our now a lot of devices available that come with Windows 10 pro pre-installed. Typical units come with Intel multi-core processors, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, with slots for adding a 2.5" hard drive or SSD, several USB 3 ports, a couple HDMI video outputs in a tiny size for around $140 with free shipping with Amazon Prime.

Of course these make capable Linux boxes as well although most of them are fanless so they would likely choke on processor on processor intensive tasks. And of course most productivity apps that you can get to run on your Android phone will also run on a FireTV device, but I have to admit that these are fascinating to me.

[mountainlion]

Windows 8 broke me of my loyalty to windows and somewhat to HP.

[wbarmy]

Because we have a VR headset (Oculus Rift S), I have been looking at computers with the DisplayPort hookups. They are so much better than HDMI since they also carry the sound input to the monitor or the headset.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

FireTV is descent. I prefer my Raspberry Pi’s as Kodi boxes. The new Pi 4 is very nice but needs good ventilation but even my Pi 3 B+ boxes beat my 4k FireTV stick. The new Pi 4 even makes an acceptable desktop replacement with dual screen capability for non-intensive desktop stuff. Browsing, email, Youtube, Office stuff. Its about the size of an altoid tin. On top of that it is dirt cheap.

[ShadowAce]

Tech Ping

[ShadowAce]

They are so much better than HDMI since they also carry the sound input to the monitor or the headset.

Uhh--so does HDMI. It's what I use.

[wbarmy]

Ouch, mispoke myself and now I feel like a noob.

All I have really noticed is that my videos seem to run better on the DisplayPort connections.

[GOPJ]

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-mini-pcs,review-2760.html

What Do Mini PCs Cost?

“Mini PCs range from small project PCs for under $50 (£50/AU$75) to compact desktops that can cost $1,000 or more. Stick PCs are the most versatile, and generally cost between $100 (£100/AU$150) and $200 (£200/$AU300), and will work with most TVs or monitor...”

---

cheaper than I thought...

[fireman15]

Windows 8 broke me of my loyalty to windows and somewhat to HP.

I can certainly understand that. But unlike some Windows devices most of these are intended to be fairly easy to use with Linux, etc...

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Occulis S requires display port. Why they didn’t just allow mini or micro HDMI is beyond me. Oh well... engineers. Must be some VR Porn standard involved or something. ;-)

[Hostage]

Bkmk

[fireman15]

I am holding off for the “Black Friday” “lightning deals”, but here is one that I have been considering... It’s currently $140 with a coupon.

“Beelink
3.8 out of 5 stars 87 Reviews
Mini PC Beelink BT3-X 4GB RAM LPDDR4 64GB eMMC Intel Apollo Lake Celeron Processor J3355 HD Graphics 500 Dual Screen Display 4K Desktop PC, VESA Mount,Dual WiFi”

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06XD7K9LH/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=AMSFF11DD0K5A&psc=1

[Openurmind]

Man I hate HP as a base to work from... I’m in the process of trying to see if I can cure this one I am on now by starting from the BIOS up with a linux firmware BIOS flash and OS. I think with HP it starts with the BIOS.

[fireman15]

They are so much better than HDMI since they also carry the sound input to the monitor or the headset.

HDMI has both audio and a return channel for audio that display port does not have. But there are inexpensive adapters that can convert one to another quite easily.

[Bob434]

fireman, what do you paw per month wwith all the various services you now get? I looked into cutting and found ity would be almost as expensive to get what we wanted and would be less convenient ie would have to search times asnd dates as shows show up at diff times than on regular cable

[bigbob]

Raspberry Pi, $35.

[dhs12345]

We have both an Apple TV box and an Intel Nuc and love them both. The Apple TV is great for a simple, no nonsense intuitive, interface and is fairly well supported with apps. The Intel Nuc is a fully functional “mini-PC” with a complete OS and is the size of a small text book. You can mount the Nuc to the back of the TV and so it is completely invisible. The technology now allows for NAND flash drive instead of disk drive which makes the Nuc very compact and low power.

We use an infrared keyboard with embedded mouse touch pad with the Nuc and the Apple TV box comes with a very slick remote.

[Bob434]

cheap, but laptops are pretty low in price now too and more powerful i believe - the thing to consider i think is power per cost unless one values size over power- i haven’t looked into the small pc’s, maybe they are quite powerful, but i don’ t see how as they don’t have room for larger vid cards and ram etc?

[wbarmy]

As I said, we have been using the DisplayPort for the VR and it seems to operate much smoother than the HDMI for the monitor.

[gibsonguy]

Display port was actually superior to HDMI but HDMI won out. l think Display port starred as a Apple proprietary tech.