A Mini PC To Replace The Desktop
Mini PCs have come a long way in recent years, with many models now replacing traditional desktops. This is due mainly to the APUs which are CPUs with integrated graphics, some of which can even play PC games. But my interest in mini PCs is purely aesthetic and practical – I need a tiny PC in the living room which can be hidden out of sight, yet powerful enough to stream and play videos up to 4K.
Since decommissioning my second gaming PC and acquiring the third bedroom as my private den, I rebuilt said gaming PC with a Ryzen 5600G APU, 32GB of RAM, and a 500GB NVMe and plonked it next to our TV in the living room. It’s definitely overkill and looks way out of place next to the TV, which is I why I’ll replace it with a tiny little box.
Streaming Over A Mini PC
The choice of mini PCs today is mind-boggling, so after weeks of research and a serendipitous event in which a customer needed a Windows 10 reinstall on his own Beelink mini PC, I’ve decided to buy either a Beelink or Minisforum unit. Anyway, back to the customer – I was delighted that he brought it over because it meant I was able to take a good look at it, not to mention running a few tests on it.
This particular Beelink mini PC was an Intel Celeron N5105 four-core iGPU, 8GB of DDR4, and a 500GB SSD SATA M.2. I was very impressed with its performance and it sailed through several YouTube videos at 4K with no issues. I didn’t have time to load up a 4K video directly from its drive, but it performed all other tasks seamlessly, bearing in mind that this customer uses it exclusively for office tasks.
With two HDMI ports, two USB 2.0, two USB 3.0, an ethernet port, and Wi-Fi, it has everything one would need for streaming and other basic tasks. However, I will go for a more powerful model, namely a Beelink Ser 5 with a Ryzen 5 5560U 6 core APU with Radeon integrated graphics, 16GB of DDR 4 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe. This model costs around $300, comes with a VESA mount so that it can be mounted to the rear of the TV, and even allows for a SATA SSD to be added internally in a provided bracket.
In the end, I’ll probably go for the Beelink Ser 5, Ryzen model because Minisforum, although some say are probably higher quality, the Beelink option is more economical. Besides, I won’t be gaming on it because it will be used exclusively for streaming, videos, and TV viewing through a browser. And, with the prices of mini PCs ranging from under $200 up to a whopping $900, it wouldn’t make sense to spend huge sums on a gizmo that will simply be used for TV viewing.
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I would think the novelty of it is ok as long as you do not plan to upgrade anything or expand , then I think it would be a SOB.
No thanks , I will stick with my tower.
Thanks for your comment, Ed.
I already have several towers, one of which is a full gaming tower, so this mini PC will not be replacing anything, except a tower in my living room, as explained in the article.
Neither can I see myself needing to upgrade it, since 16GB of RAM and a Ryzen APU is more than powerful enough for streaming, which is all it will be doing.
Hey Mark,
Since you just want it for streaming, why not just get a streaming device like a FireStick or a Roku for a fraction of the price?
Not so much fun though, John!
I also looked into these mini pc’s this year, to possibly replace my aging towers, when /if they break down. Was also very impressed with the specs. See no reason why not to get one, Mindblower!
Thanks Marc
A few months ago I bought an MSI Cubi MIni PC. 16GB Ram, I7 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1255U processor and it came with a Samsung OEM M.2 drive which I upgraded to a 500 Gig Samsung 980 Pro I had sitting idle. I just had to buy a Win 11 O/S which I got from a reputable discount key store.
I am blown away by the power of this little beast. It hasn’t missed a beat and it does everything I throw at it with ease. I still have my gaming PC and a couple of laptops gathering dust but apart from some occasional gaming on the gaming machine the little Cubi is now my daily workhorse for absolutely everything else including this comment ! Apart from it being obviously limited in the types of Hi-res 3D games it could play (has the better Intel Iris XE Graphics) I do not see any real difference in speed between this and my gaming machine for all admin stuff. It is snappy and responsive and that is not surprising given it’s I7 12th Gen CPU.
I looked at the Beelink but wanted something with a bit more oomph than the cheaper Celeron version and I am glad I did pay the extra for more power so highly agree that you should look at the beefier Ryzen option Marc (but also consider the Cubi’s specs for the price). My Cubi cost me $ 699 AUD at the time and I see it is now already $50 cheaper at
$ 649 AUD. The only thing I needed to add as I said was an operating system and being a 12th Gen it is fully Windows 11 compatible with all the TP/M bollocks and has Thunderbolt 4 and Wifi 6. Runs absolutely cool with a quiet built-in fan that only kicks in when I am doing serious disk I/O.
I feel like I am writing an ad for MSI so I’ll shut up now but will finish by saying that unless you need a machine capable of gaming I heartily recommend you look at these mini PCs when you need an upgrade. The only additional point I have is that you will probably need a USB3 hub if you have a lot of external USB accessories like me.
Cheers to all
Reg
Thanks for your great recommendation, Reg and I’m well chuffed that you’re delighted with your mini PC.
I’ll check out Cubi for August!
Add me to the mini PC revolution! My long time desktop PC died with years worth of work! For a few months I tried unsuccessfully several programs that were supposed to recover files but didn’t work. So, I bought another desktop PC and it died from the manufacturer’s update %%^&*$# Needing to register for a different health care plan on the final day, I quickly bought a mini PC. in December 2023. It was delivered the next day! Amazingly that mini PC works great. I easily connected my modem, printer, keyboard, mouse and a couple of backup drives. Plus fortunately, I had backed up on a backup drive several times but I last backed up two years ago. Now, I backup often! I also downloaded my website files from my web host’s backups.
Do you see the need to start clean by deleting all previous portions to start clean before reinstalling windows 11? I will purchase a mini soon, and that is my plan. Could take extra time if need to search for drivers.