I Got Myself a Mini PC

[easysurfer]

I bought a mini-PC off of ebay.

Slapped on an install of MX-Linux and ready for business.

I'm smiling at the diminutive size as it's really not a whole lot larger than an external DVD writer.

 

[acronymous]

Nice! I'm planning a mini PC build with the best low power AMD APU I can find. Probably post holiday season to buy discounted components.

 

[Freedom56]

I have one and I'm running the latest Ubuntu LTS. It's in my garage and I use it to browse the web for auto repair or other repair information. It consumes very little power and is ultra compact. It also runs browsers faster than Windows.

 

[ls99]

I think I will go that route when my over 10yo Sony Viao all in one dies. So far the thing is fast enough and chugging along fine.

 

[easysurfer]

My plan with this is remotely control and hook up a webcam to check in on my cats when I'm away. I've been using a laptop but that wasn't working right. This is even smaller than my laptop as when done will be just PC (no mouse, monitor or keyboard) along with the webcam.

 

[Freedom56]

My plan with this is remotely control and hook up a webcam to check in on my cats when I'm away. I've been using a laptop but that wasn't working right. This is even small than my laptop as when done will be just PC (no mouse, monitor or keyboard) along with the webcam.

You should consider using a FOSCAM pan/tilt camera or any IP Camera. The connect to your router via WIFI and you can use your router's port forwarding to access the camera from anywhere in the world though your phone or any web browser.

 

[easysurfer]

You should consider using a FOSCAM pan/tilt camera or any IP Camera. The connect to your router via WIFI and you can use your router's port forwarding to access the camera from anywhere in the world though your phone or any web browser.

Is FOSCAM a brand name? Actually, I started out with a pan/tilt camera and android app that was working for a few years. But seems the app became unreliable. Looking at another pan/tilt type camera saw that it was using the same app. Gets me that the app "improvements" and often changes jazz things up.

So, my thought is I'd rather have a reliable feed (remote into computer to run a simple webcam) than have the surprise, app no longer works deal. Had that sort of working on a laptop but laptop was quitting on me. Not sure if was because of battery (or Dell ) or what?

I remote into a desktop all the time as was thinking, if I could hook up a desktop...then the light bulb turned on. Get a mini-pc!

 

[njhowie]

A couple months ago, I picked up one that is palm-size to do a project for my sister/BIL's shop. Running standard Windows 11.

It's got 2 HDMI ports, one we were using to drive the big screen display in their shop. Used a Logitech wireless touchpad keyboard they keep in a drawer for whenever they need it. We mounted the PC on the wall behind the TV in the shop so there aren't any visible wires.

 

[easysurfer]

A couple months ago, I picked up one that is palm-size to do a project for my sister/BIL's shop. Running standard Windows 11.

It's got 2 HDMI ports, one we were using to drive the big screen display in their shop. Used a Logitech wireless touchpad keyboard they keep in a drawer for whenever they need it. We mounted the PC on the wall behind the TV in the shop so there aren't any visible wires.

Looks sweet!

Does your mini-pc have hold have a sata connection? The one have does and I have just a 160GB HDD installed. Some smaller mini-pc's I believe don't even have enough space to hold an internal drive. Personal preference I suppose.

 

[njhowie]

Nice! I'm planning a mini PC build with the best low power AMD APU I can find. Probably post holiday season to buy discounted components.

I'd recommend that you don't waste your time. Just go on Amazon - there are a good number that are ready made - just plug it in, setup the OS, and you're good to go.

This is the link for the one we purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B1DGVTJV

We purchased a few months ago, so there are likely more available now, probably more powerful, maybe lower priced. If you are looking at it as a project, then sure, go for it. However, if you want a solid working unit out of the box with no hassles, headaches, or effort for a very good price, just buy it pre-built and be done with it.

 

[njhowie]

Looks sweet!

Does your mini-pc have hold have a sata connection? The one have does and I have just a 160GB HDD installed. Some smaller mini-pc's I believe don't even have enough space to hold an internal drive. Personal preference I suppose.

I didn't open it up, but the specs say it has one internal M.2 SATA SSD connection and one SATA HDD connection for a 2.5 inch HDD/SSD. It came configured with the M.2 SSD installed.

 

[acronymous]

I'd recommend that you don't waste your time. Just go on Amazon - there are a good number that are ready made - just plug it in, setup the OS, and you're good to go.

This is the link for the one we purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B1DGVTJV

We purchased a few months ago, so there are likely more available now, probably more powerful, maybe lower priced. If you are looking at it as a project, then sure, go for it. However, if you want a solid working unit out of the box with no hassles, headaches, or effort for a very good price, just buy it pre-built and be done with it.

I usually enjoy building from scratch (nerd cred!) but I will probably check out prebuilt with a focus on good thermal engineering

 

[Freedom56]

Is FOSCAM a brand name? Actually, I started out with a pan/tilt camera and android app that was working for a few years. But seems the app became unreliable. Looking at another pan/tilt type camera saw that it was using the same app. Gets me that the app "improvements" and often changes jazz things up.

So, my thought is I'd rather have a reliable feed (remote into computer to run a simple webcam) than have the surprise, app no longer works deal. Had that sort of working on a laptop but laptop was quitting on me. Not sure if was because of battery (or Dell ) or what?

I remote into a desktop all the time as was thinking, if I could hook up a desktop...then the light bulb turned on. Get a mini-pc!

I have been using FOSCAM for a while but not their cloud service. The pan/tilt is nice to have versus fixed cameras.

https://www.foscammall.com/collections/buy-1-get-1-foscam-camera

 

[Jerry1]

I've spent some time looking at these small PC's. I like the idea of tucking it behind the monitor and having it disappear. Only thing is that I'm not sure it will do what I want. Do these things have the ability to run a couple programs and surf the web? Generally, the most resource intensive thing I do (which isn't much), is run Quicken, a spreadsheet and a web browser while I'm doing my financial stuff. Seems like they would work just fine but I'm hesitant. Bonuses would be if they had no fan, or at least minimal fan noise and if they had 4K graphics - just for a quality screen, not for gaming.

ETA - Oh, and I'd want it to run Windows, which is probably the biggest resource use of anything I would like to run.

 

[easysurfer]

Just did some measuring of my mini pc.

The pc only takes about 20W to run.

 

[jollystomper]

Thanks for the info! I have got an old mini-desktop with a older version of Windows Server, maybe I'll just get a mini pc to replace it. It will get me back some desktop real estate.

The majority of my systems are on KVM switches, so a mini pc should play well with that.


I would look at one with at least 16GB memory, as I do a lot of virtualization/container stuff.


Added to the BTD list...

 

[RobbieB]

I'm thinking about one for the boat.

 

[njhowie]

I've spent some time looking at these small PC's. I like the idea of tucking it behind the monitor and having it disappear. Only thing is that I'm not sure it will do what I want. Do these things have the ability to run a couple programs and surf the web? Generally, the most resource intensive thing I do (which isn't much), is run Quicken, a spreadsheet and a web browser while I'm doing my financial stuff. Seems like they would work just fine but I'm hesitant. Bonuses would be if they had no fan, or at least minimal fan noise and if they had 4K graphics - just for a quality screen, not for gaming.

ETA - Oh, and I'd want it to run Windows, which is probably the biggest resource use of anything I would like to run.

Check the link in my reply above to the one we purchased from Amazon. Meets all your requirements - comes pre-installed with Windows 11, fanless, dual 4K HDMI, wifi, bluetooth, etc.

 

[skyking1]

I have been using Zoneminder for many years for camera duties. It will work with many brands of camera, many different protocols, and has very good motion detection.
My largest install was a mix of 25 IP and analog cameras at a 24/7 care facility, and it would record about 200,000 events over 6 weeks on a RAID 1 pair of 1 TB hard drives.
The smallest is my home file server, a little low power ( 10 Watt TDP ) AMD . It can handle about a half dozen big cams doing motion detection before it gets a little bogged down. Motion detection is CPU intensive if it is handled on the server. If you can use Axis Cams I can set it up to have the camera do the motion detection and then trigger a recording event.
You can also get cams that will push a motion event to a file server. The down side of that is you lose the slick interface for reviewing recordings.
https://zoneminder.com/

 

[camfused]

This is mine:

I use Macs, but I wanted a Windows 11 box just for fun, and to keep up to date (and did not want to run a VM). Works great, for me.

It's a GMKTEK Nucbox5, with an N5105 processor and Windows 11. And, it really is that small!

 

[NW-Bound]

Wow, more toys.

I did not know about the N5095 and N5105 CPUs. Their benchmark numbers are better than I expected. Make these mini PCs very viable Windows machines.

 

[Sunset]

I like the eufy camera's, I connect it to my 2.4 ghz wifi and access it via the phone app whenever I want to look in real time.
It also records events and sends me alerts (if I want, as has lots of settings).
It is 2K so nice and clear.
They are cheap and easy to set up, no fussing with the router.
This is the type I have ( I have 2) https://us.eufy.com/collections/wired-cam/products/t84001w1

 

[easysurfer]

I've spent some time looking at these small PC's. I like the idea of tucking it behind the monitor and having it disappear. Only thing is that I'm not sure it will do what I want. Do these things have the ability to run a couple programs and surf the web? Generally, the most resource intensive thing I do (which isn't much), is run Quicken, a spreadsheet and a web browser while I'm doing my financial stuff. Seems like they would work just fine but I'm hesitant. Bonuses would be if they had no fan, or at least minimal fan noise and if they had 4K graphics - just for a quality screen, not for gaming.

ETA - Oh, and I'd want it to run Windows, which is probably the biggest resource use of anything I would like to run.

The used mini pc I got is able for my need. I5-4570T 2.90GHz processor, 8GB RAM, wifi. I think the max RAM possible is 16GB.

With that said, I'm not ready to switch over to mini as my main computer anytime soon. I like having a tower with peripherals and a graphics card.

 

[ERD50]

The used mini pc I got is able for my need. I5-4570T 2.90GHz processor, 8GB RAM, wifi. I think the max RAM possible is 16GB.

With that said, I'm not ready to switch over to mini as my main computer anytime soon. I like having a tower with peripherals and a graphics card.

I've been tempted by these. But so far, I stick to a laptop as my 'desktop' (with external/extended monitor, keyboard and mouse).

I just like the idea that my laptop has a built in UPS (calms my nerves when doing a large copy/install), has the option of being portable, and can be a neat stand-alone unit to repurpose when I upgrade.

But they are tempting.

-ERD50

 

[camfused]

If you are buying a used PC, be aware of the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11. Windows 10 will be unsupported in 3 years.

For example, the above mentioned I5-4570T will not run Windows 11. Sure, you can hack an installation of Windows 11 on almost any PC, but MS may close that hole sometime.