Mini pc recommendation and help please.

elljay

Morning all

I've been looking around for a new laptop but am struggling.  I want something with a good sized screen - bigger than 15 if poss - and a good sized keyboard without number pad for my fat fingers.   The limited range available is very expensive.  I also find the screen too low.  I rarely use it away from the office desk.  

It then occurred to me that what I really want is an old fashioned pc on the floor with separate monitor to go up at eye level, nice clicky keyboard and mouse with a long tail.  Just like I used to have in the 1990s!.  So when I started looking around I saw that you can get a similar set up but the pc bit is now tiny.  However I'm now blinded by too much information.

The monitor and keyboard I can look around for myself, but I could really do with some advice about the mini pc.  I need it for home working but just very basic stuff, not huge spreadsheets, graphics etc.  I use LibreOffice, Thunderbird for emails and Chrome as browser so although I want Windows I don't need Office 365 or whatever it is.  No games, films etc, but a cd player would be nice.

Can anyone recommend something straightforward, pref easy to set up straight out of the box -  either a direct recommendation or what sort of spec I should look for?

Thanks very much.
Liz

googler

I got a used fanless base unit from an eBayer recently, I'll PM you the user ID if you want. There's loads of others selling this stuff on eBay. £45.

It's a refurbished ex-office machine, totally silent with no fans, the only thing you would miss would be the optical drive, but you could get a portable USB one to plug in when required.


Also got a larger standard ex-office base unit with internal fans, drive spaces, optical drive bay, etc. from Stone Refurb.  £50

You can determine how much hard drive space you need from current machine, just look with File Explorer. If you're doing basic stuff, then basic specs will do. Doesn't need to be anything fancy.

Windows 10 machine would do fine for what you describe. You won't need Windows 11.  

danrv

I’ve just bought a refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre M93P Small Form Factor PC from Amazon for £165.
Works straight out the box. Just add monitor, keyboard and mouse.
It’s i5, 8gb Ram with 1TB HDD with W10 Pro installed.
For the price it’s great value and will do what you need.

SFF PCs are upgradable in terms of HDD, RAM, PCIe cards etc and there are plenty on there.
This one is minimum spec these days but you could look for an i7 one with a later chipset  
version that’ll run Windows 11 when needed.
Basically you pay a little more for a later version/higher spec and it’ll be more future proof.
Some also have quicker Solid State Drives but often are smaller capacity.

Cisco001

HUAWEI MateStation S Desktop PC & 23.8" Full HD Monitor Bundle - AMD Ryzen 5, 256 GB SSD, Grey £450 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/huawei-matestation-s-desktop-pc-and-23.8-full-hd-monitor-bundle-amd-ryzen-5-256-gb-ssd-grey-10234974.html


Cheap alternative would be used PC from CEX. Then grab a cheap monitor from your facebook market place

HP Prodesk 400 G5/i5-8500/8GB RAM/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/Windows 11/B £155

https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=sdeshp400g573b&categoryName=desktops-windows&superCatName=computing&title=hp-prodesk-400-g5-i5-8500-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-dvd-rw-windows-11-b&referredFrom=boxsearch

Dell Optiplex 3070 SSF/i5-9500/16GB Ram/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/Windows 10/B £190
https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=sdesdelop307009b&categoryName=desktops-windows&superCatName=computing&title=dell-optiplex-3070-ssf-i5-9500-16gb-ram-256gb-ssd-dvd-rw-windows-10-b&referredFrom=boxsearch

And I would like to mention the PC I listed would not be allow you to add video card in future, which I don't think you need it anyway.

Cisco001

Alternatively, you can also spend £400 - 500 on a laptop like these
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/asus-x415ja-14in-i7-1065g7-8gb-ram-512gb-ssd-win10-laptop-ps49999-or-ps44999-wcode-asus10-at-argos-3912682
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lenovo-ideapad-5i-laptop-intel-i5-1135g7-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-156-full-hd-ips-graphite-grey-ps429-delivered-at-john-lewis-partners-3905823

The grab a laptop stand for £10, 1m HDMI cable, wireless keyboard and mouse & monitor.

Cisco001

danrv said:

I’ve just bought a refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre M93P Small Form Factor PC from Amazon for £165.
Works straight out the box. Just add monitor, keyboard and mouse.
It’s i5, 8gb Ram with 1TB HDD with W10 Pro installed.
For the price it’s great value and will do what you need.

SFF PCs are upgradable in terms of HDD, RAM, PCIe cards etc and there are plenty on there.
This one is minimum spec these days but you could look for an i7 one with a later chipset  
version that’ll run Windows 11 when needed.
Basically you pay a little more for a later version/higher spec and it’ll be more future proof.
Some also have quicker Solid State Drives but often are smaller capacity.

ThinkCentre M93P with core i 4th gen 
That is too old. It is 7 - 8 years

intel core i 8th gen and ryzen 2000 as bear minimum due to support of Win 11.

debitcardmayhem

Cisco001 said:

intel core i 8th gen and ryzen 2000 as bear minimum due to support of Win 11.

Bears pooh in the woods, at the bare minimum

But I agree about 8th/ryzen 2000

danrv

Cisco001 said:

danrv said:

I’ve just bought a refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre M93P Small Form Factor PC from Amazon for £165.
Works straight out the box. Just add monitor, keyboard and mouse.
It’s i5, 8gb Ram with 1TB HDD with W10 Pro installed.
For the price it’s great value and will do what you need.

SFF PCs are upgradable in terms of HDD, RAM, PCIe cards etc and there are plenty on there.
This one is minimum spec these days but you could look for an i7 one with a later chipset  
version that’ll run Windows 11 when needed.
Basically you pay a little more for a later version/higher spec and it’ll be more future proof.
Some also have quicker Solid State Drives but often are smaller capacity.

ThinkCentre M93P with core i 4th gen 
That is too old. It is 7 - 8 years

intel core i 8th gen and ryzen 2000 as bear minimum due to support of Win 11.

Yes, quite old. Wasn’t sure of the OP’s budget.
The Lenovo I recommended to someone on a very low budget who wanted it for DAW/music computer use running Cubase. Does it very well for little money.
I’ve no doubt that it would do the basic tasks the OP states, possibly for quite a few years.

Agree if budget is available then a later chipset/CPU as I mentioned would be better.

EssexExile

I used to have a PC and a small laptop for use when away from home. Both needed updating so now I've bought a new laptop which I use with a separate monitor, keyboard and mouse. When travelling I manage with just the laptop.

getmore4less

Give hp elitedesk 800 mini a look.

Better specs can take 3 drives and has usb-c

I5-8500 up from around £200

If you get second hand check the bios has not been locked.

HotUKDeals has regular posts on the mini and SFF options that pop up on eBay.

Withbellson

Cisco001 said:

HUAWEI MateStation S Desktop PC & 23.8" Full HD Monitor Bundle - AMD Ryzen 5, 256 GB SSD, Grey £450 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/huawei-matestation-s-desktop-pc-and-23.8-full-hd-monitor-bundle-amd-ryzen-5-256-gb-ssd-grey-10234974.html


Cheap alternative would be used PC from CEX. Then grab a cheap monitor from your facebook market place

HP Prodesk 400 G5/i5-8500/8GB RAM/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/Windows 11/B £155

https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=sdeshp400g573b&categoryName=desktops-windows&superCatName=computing&title=hp-prodesk-400-g5-i5-8500-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-dvd-rw-windows-11-b&referredFrom=boxsearch

Dell Optiplex 3070 SSF/i5-9500/16GB Ram/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/Windows 10/B £190
https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=sdesdelop307009b&categoryName=desktops-windows&superCatName=computing&title=dell-optiplex-3070-ssf-i5-9500-16gb-ram-256gb-ssd-dvd-rw-windows-10-b&referredFrom=boxsearch

And I would like to mention the PC I listed would not be allow you to add video card in future, which I don't think you need it anyway.

This is not accurate. You can install video cards on SFF devices. I think you are thinking of Micro devices; neither of your CEX links lead to Micro devices.
The Huawei device has only a PCIe x 4 slot. The other two PCI x 16.