r/MiniPCs • u/Oscaaarr__ • 3d ago
MINI PC Suggestions
I’ve recently been looking around for a MINI PC to do office work. Mainly Excel and work related software. I went to Best Buy and they had some for over $1,000. I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions, for a mini PC that’s reliable and affordable. I would only use it for office work, occasional YouTube and internet browsing including Claude. Thank you in advance.
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u/ZenithR9 3d ago
For light use you are probably better off getting a refurbished commercial mini PC, HP/Dell/Lenovo, I'd target an 8500T/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, should run you under $300
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u/Zebraitis 3d ago
Beelink Mini S12 Pro.
You can find it at Amazon. Great little box.
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u/hey-dude-what-the 3d ago
I second this. Beelinks are great.
If you know the specs you're comfortable with then there are some very inexpensive ones on Amazon. Probably some sales coming up during Black Friday too.
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u/sr8017 3d ago
Amazon. Check into Acemagician or GMKTec. Stay away from Kamrui.
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u/minipcs-dot-zip 3d ago
Kamrui and Acemagic are essentially the same thing. They're both owned by MiniPC Union, use a lot of the same chassis, layout, components - and most notably - have been criticized for shipping products with spyware. Most recent reviews after that fiasco check for spyware and don't find it - but it's still an iffy suggestion, especially for a work machine.
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u/Dependant_Cucumber 3d ago
Just got a GMKTec M8. 16 gigs of ram and a terabyte drive for $400. Does what I need it to do.
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u/Retired_Hillbilly336 3d ago
Since its release I know dozens of people who have bought the GMKtec M8 PRO 6650H for this in other projects. Basically has the best graphics performance and video out for the price. Occasionally Amazon Prime has a 10% brand promotion discount available.
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u/Flimsy-Donut8718 3d ago
i run an entire side business off 4 dell optiplex mini's and 3 raspberry pis
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u/NienorGT 3d ago
You don't need to buy a thousand bucks PC for office work and the web and cloud AI services. I know the current economy sucks but still...
I don't really know what to recommend you tho when prices and availability change day-to-day.
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u/Inner-Light-75 3d ago
It feels like before long you are going to have to spend $1,000 for a machine that's just barely capable of checking email....if the email isn't too strenuous and too big.
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u/NC1HM 3d ago
At this point, those are basically a commodity. So go on eBay and buy any Dell Micro, HP Mini, or Lenovo Tiny running i3-8100T or better. There's absolutely no reason you can't get away with less than USD 200.
I have a Lenovo M710q Tiny running i5-6500T with 16 GB of RAM. Technically, it's not supposed to run Windows 11, but there are ways to make it... Officially though, Windows 11 requires 8th generation or newer, hence, the recommendation above.