Solved Looking for a "mini" PC

Hello everyone,

I am looking for a medium budget mini-PC. It must have the following specs:

Intel/AMD - I don't care
Must have 8 cores and 16 threads
Must be DC powered (like 12 Volts)
Memory and SSD capacity doesn't matter as long as we have options

I've been looking at the NUC, but they are pretty expensive. My budget is $1000 to $1200 per unit. (or less)

I am hoping that someone knows of something. I have been looking at Newegg, but they don't have a lot of offerings.

Appreciate any help the lot of you can give.

I bought my mother-in-law a Beelink mini PC. She's had no issues from it. Here's a model that has the specs you're looking for:

@Catnip

...and it must have 16GB of RAM or more.

Beelink $820 - $1200

NUC $800 - $1200


I believe they're all DC power via a converter block.

Here's what Copilot recommends in your price range:

This table compares the three recommended mini PCs side by side for easier review.

I believe it meets your other criteria (RAM, SSD, etc.).
HTH,
--Ed--

Ed Tittel said:

Here's what Copilot recommends in your price range:

This table compares the three recommended mini PCs side by side for easier review.

Product	Processor	Price	Shipping	Rating	Best for	URL
Minisforum UM890 Pro	Ryzen 9 8945HS	$951.00	Free shipping	4.2 stars from 10K+ reviewers	Dev work, virtualization, GPU-accelerated desktop workloads, and strong multi-monitor support	store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um890pro-mini-pc?variant=45607692796149
Beelink SER9 Pro	Ryzen AI 9 HX 370	$1,149.00	Free shipping	4.4 stars from 900 reviewers	Productivity, light content creation, multi-VM setups, and AI-accelerated workloads	amazon.com/Beelink-Desktop-Display-Bluetooth-Computer/dp/B0DHNK7D1Z
Minisforum AI X1 Pro	Ryzen AI 9 HX 370	$1,179.00	Free shipping	4.3 stars from 637 reviewers	AI workloads, dev environments, multi-display setups, and premium chassis/cooling	amazon.com/MINISFORUM-Pro-AMD-Ryzen-HX370/dp/B0F58MZBR4

I believe it meets your other criteria (RAM, SSD, etc.).
HTH,
--Ed--

Click to expand...

The Beelink SER9 Pro is $869.00 on Amazon. It's a good deal.

Wait, that's US Dollars. I see Catnip is in Canada. Sorry!

EDIT: I see why there's a difference in price. The Beelink Copilot references is an AI mini pc. The link I provided isn't AI.

Whatever you buy, purchase one that has a point of presence in the US. I have a Beelink and the ONLY way to contact them is in China through their forum page. They have no support pages for their devices, drivers, or uefi bios. Mine came with a volume license for 11 Pro. I didn't like that so purchased Pro just to make sure I wouldn't have a licensing problem later.

I 'll also point out that many mini brands do not have fans. These little suckers run hotter than regular PCs so keep that in mind. My Beelink has 2 tiny, tiny fans which are very loud and mostly useless because they are so small. They get to full speed just when running windows update. I repasted my cpu, set a external usb fan to blow into it and at idle my temps still run 70 degrees. It doesn't take much of a load to get to 100.

If I was buying one at todays prices I'd go with an HP Pro Mini PC. At least they are a USA company that has a semblance of customer support..

glasskuter said:

.I have a Beelink and the ONLY way to contact them is in China through their forum page. They have no support pages for their devices, drivers, or uefi bios. Mine came with a volume license for 11 Pro. I didn't like that so purchased Pro just to make sure I wouldn't have a licensing problem later.

Click to expand...

Yes, Beelink has a support forum Beelink Forum . They respond promptly for any support queries. After purchasing a Beelink MiniPC SEi12 while on a visit to USA (May 2023) and activating it in India in Jun 23, I registered in their forum. Though it is a Volume licence, if you request for the activation code enclosing a picture of the label at the back of the MiniPC (Model and Serial Number ) they will send you the activation code in a private forum message. I have it, in case I need to reinstall Windows and activate it. But so far there was no need for it .(My MiniPC has also been updated to the latest Secure Boot Keys automatically.)

Some Mini PCs from BeeLink have a 19V supply but older models have a 12V one but lower specced CPU. I have a camping gadget that will provide 19V from a car battery.

Thank you everyone. I shall pass this along. I have a friend looking for the same thing and I'll let him know as well. I am sure his IT department will be happy with the results. Mine too.

Thanks all.