Hope this helps, let me know if you need to know anything else in the comments.

It's amazing how small computers are getting these days, I like that you can mount them behind monitor or Flat screen and not take up so much room. I believe They will keep getting better and better. Great Video!!

You missed one VERY important point: Does the Mini PC come with a properly licensed copy of Windows 11? I bought one and immediately realized something was wrong when it asked for three security questions rather than my Microsoft login during the initial setup. That's a strong clue that you're not getting a proper license, and enough for me to return the unit. Also look at the product description. Does it say "Windows 11" or something like "W++11"? Another strong clue, and something to be careful about!

This was a lot of good information and gave me a lot to think about. Thank you.

Great job on this. Best part was actually being able to see inside of them.

Great tips! Thanks for the video!

Excellent content. Thanks a stack 👍👍

Well, I was looking for a Mini PC, but what I got was a Dell 9020 Mini Tower that was a refurbished one, with an older CPU, a 4th Gen I7. But that CPU is the same I have on my 2009 ASUS ROG Gaming laptop, and I am very happy with it, so I accepted that CPU for my PC. But that PC was loaded with RAM, 64 GB of DDR3, and 2 SSD drives, one that is 256GB for boot, and a 2 TB SSD for storage, and an ASUS 1660 Video card with 6GB memory. So I think I am really loaded, and I am not using it for gaming at all, I am using it to do Embroidery Designs, and that machine can do EVERYTHING I want it to do, and at a very fast pace, and using six different Embroidery software programs at the same time. Plus I can open 60-80 different sessions, each of it for different embroidery designs, and I can switch between them at will and without any wait. It has plenty of HDMI, USB2.0/3.0 ports, ethernet, Windows 10 PRO, that ASUS video card, plenty of RAM, and a large SSD I had a special USB Multi-port strip that connects that PC to my 20 different embroidery machines of my custom embroidery business. And I only paid 180.00 dollars for it. So I am happy with it. But my point is that I followed all those tips given here in this video, and now I am a happy owner of something that satisfies me, that has High Quality components, and without spending a lot. By the way, that machine is running two 21,5 Touch Screen monitors from ASUS, and as I said, I am very happy wit it!!!!!! Thanks Britec!!! Your videos are as always AWESOME!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing a comprehensive guide! Appreciate your effort in collimating the essentials of byung a mini/micro PC.

Excellent, and succinct! Thank you very much Sir!

Great tips,thanks.

:0 😀 WELL DONE and MUCH Appreciated for next purchase :) ALL the BEST and Cheers from across the Pond!!! :)

Great video, thank you. Subscribed. One suspects the typical buyer understands 'You get what you pay for' but still wants Value for Money. The big risk is a brand impersonating itself as competent when it's not, and I recognise about 10% of mini PC brands. My question, and perhaps you've covered this already, is with manufacturer support, e.g. DELL has SupportAssist, offering drivers and (if under warranty) a helpdesk. There's a premium for this, but it's a good thing. The warranty period and warranty coverage is important. My second question is about the unit's lifespan window. Laptops are expected to last 3-5 years; Desktops around 3-8 years. A mini PC?

Hello, thank you for this video. Please, what do you think about Blackview MP60 Mini PC

You should check user reviews. Based on the reviews i found that some brands have higher failure rates than others. In my opinion that is one of the most important factors in selecting what manufacture you select.

I get GR9 Beelink i9 64 Ram, 1, M.2, 1 sata SSD, and 1 sata III SSD, I have on it all the heavy games from steam and yesterday installed Diablo IV I played them without any trouble FPS over 120, I'm really happy with my mini pc it was for $600 bucks! 👍Ok!

Great review.

I reckon any specs nowadays are good for a simple HTPC right? Good videos btw 😊

Great video, I found a Minisforum based on Ryzen 4500H, 5 core, 16 GB, 500 GB NVMe for $300 usd. almost no heat, works really well, absolutely quiet and very fast!

Could you please advice me on what I would need in a mini to use for video editing. Or even recommend to me please. David

Thank you Britec for all your useful videos! Having said what you stated in this video, I wondered which company would allow a potential customer open up a mini pc and look what's inside BEFORE he pays for the mini pc ! Having purchased the item, open it up at home. then return it to get a refund will be a big hassle too!

Well researched and comprehensive content, thanks for sharing. I use a Raspberry pi at moment but want to get a mini pc that I can have Windows on one drive and a Linux mint version on a second drive and be able to choose which to boot say in bios boot option. I'm having a hard time getting an answer to can it boot from a second drive if I put say an SSD in a spare slot. I want to keep the Linux totally separate from Windows so I'm not looking at dual booting from a single drive. I'm learning Python and basic image editing so not looking at high spec gaming gear. Any suggestions of suitable mini pc world be helpful. And thanks again for posting this and your other uploads.

Before I got a Chinese Mele Quieter2 mini. Adding a Kingston Nvme I expected fast storage. It's only doing a quarter of what it can do. I then discovered it's a device with PCIe 2.0. Still fine for average use, but no SSD will ever be fast in there. I hope the newer ones at least have PCIe 3.0 or better. It can be very hard to find the correct one for the right price. Probably even more difficult than the laptop/pc market.

thank you 😀👍 🙏

Damn 3/4 million subscribers should be more but I remember 1/4 million and I thought I found a hidden gem still holds true👍

excellent stuff all you need to know right in that video thanks😀

Ya warranty and support is key. Contacting support and seeing how fast they respond to and solve issues is key. If you have issues and support requires RMAing the device half way around the world you are going to be without a computer for a while. If you have to send it out of country for repair customs declarations have to be filled out and shipping can be a killer.

#1 has to be how loud it is. Loud fans on some mini pcs makes them unusable for media pcs. I got a pantera Pico pc and it's so high pitched and loud even under low loads.

very informative video! - got a little confused though so I shouldn't buy Chinese brands? but minisforum and beelink are both from Shenzen, CH - and Crucial seems to be manufactured there too

I like these smaller PCs, but they do lack a bit of power, and they're no replacement for a gaming PC, but if you just want to do the basics, a mini PC, Mac mini, or Chromebox, would do the job nicely. Plus, it always depends on what you need, or want. 😁

Can't go wrong with GEEKOM. Totally satified with the i7 version.

Yes it did help and I wish I'd watched this before I bought a Minisforum UM580D. I watched other reviews and bought the UM580D based on those reviews. It lasted 6 weeks before it completely died. Luckily, even though it was out of the return period, Amazon allowed the return and I got a refund. I'm now looking for a replacement. It's to be a direct replacement for a ancient AMD Athlon desktop and all it's used for is browsing, email, VLC, KZfaq and some Graphtec cutting plotting software. The Graphtec software is Windows, but everything else is Ubuntu. Any suggestions?

The thing is who owns the company. Crucial has a factory there, but it is not chinese. They will make what the parent company wants. The point is: parent company reputation. Some brands send nice units to youtubers for review… and when you buy it, components are different. Bait and switch.

Have any newer models with 13th Gen CPUs come out yet? Thankls.

the power consumption its the big reason i want mini pc

Which budget mini pc would you recommend for video editing and streaming

Some manufactorers (cough Lenovo cough) are vendor locking Ryzen processors to one particular machine, which means it wont accept other CPUs. While that might not sound like a big deal, it will be if you decide to upgrade your system. If youre in the second hand market, getting an older machine can be bit risky since there arent many Ryzen 5 GE processors being sold brand new anymore and you want to beef up your old Ryzen 3. Bottom line - check if your system can be upgraded. A solution can be to yank a CPU from another Lenovo machine but stars will have to allign for you to find one second hand CPU with right criteria.

The best tip i could give is that a deck or similar device will be a beast if you don't need that much performance

What models do you recommend for smooth 4K movie streaming?

I've got the Geekom with i3 processor, silent and super quick boot, so impressed. I only use it for work. I really hope it lasts a few years.

The nipogi that i was given has no ram stick at all. I just took it apart today to harvest the SSD before discarding the rest. The ram must be a chip on the board so one thing that you should know is, does it have actual Ram that can be replaced?.

I find if you raise the mini-pc off the ground 3inches .The heat dissipates at a faster rate. I did this with my Bee link . Glad I did

Hi what processor is best for emulation for DOS games (Blood, DN3D, Shadow Warrior) and ROM emulation up to PS2 - ARM or x86? What is the minimum GPU for decent emulation?

Would this work for sim racing set up?

You are correct about the 1st two questions. What is the device going to be used for? A game machine? A desktop for general computing?

Having a closer look at GEEKOM IT13: can I plug an amp i.e. LEPY LP-2020 (with 2 speaker) into the headphone jack, and it will work?

Will it last for over a week, is something to consider. Will you get the blue screen and the (end of the road) failed to reinstall. At that point it is a coffee table coaster.

Good info, funny how allot of them are identical

Good video, .

One big thing missing here for people looking. On AMD is Vega graphics vs Rdna 2 Graphics. RDNA 2 Graphics in just 6 cores R5 family can beat Vega 8 Graphics in and 8 core for Graphics. RDNA is the way to go for gaming.

Thanks for the Video. I'm about to buy Intel M9 Mini PC for Office Uses. I need advice for the Good/Suitable Monitor to use,,, Please advice....

Wish there was docking stations with these that can allow the mini pc be transported from office to home, as not to have peripherals and monitors plugged in and out of them constantly.

They are interesting for sure... but for now I'll stick with my Fractal R5.

I actually have two mini pc's , both are beelink , one is a ryzen 9 6900 HX 8core 16thread 32gb dual channel ddr5 sodimm 2 m.2 nvme ssd's 1tb and 500gb I use that as a gaming server and I have a ryzen 5 5600h 6core 12thread 32gb ddr4 dual channel sodimm and a 1tb 2.5mm SSD with a desktop GPU adapter plugged into the m.2 port for a AMD RX 6700 XT 12gb desktop GPU and a apevia 80 plus gold rated 650w PSU 9 120mm argb cooling fans powered by adjustable digital PSU , dual monitor 31" curved 200hz dpcabled and all of the trimmings ....and gravy😊..... I love and approve of mini PC'S

Can any of these run msfs2020 like the xbox series x?

Very good advice. However, what I need is ANSWERS to questions such as: BRANDS to stay away from and why. Mini PC vs Laptop or desktop. You started when you mentioned Kingston & Crucial RAM vs no name. That's good... but perhaps there's a no name unit that has crappy RAM that you can swap out for good RAM and now have an excellent PC. We need a good IF-THEN type flowchart. Example: Q1: Will you be "gaming?" If the answer is YES, then follow this arrow; if NO then follow that arrow. The answer to that question alone should divide the pack in half. Do you want top notch Video quality? If YES, then here are the best, forget the rest. Do you need FAST performance (CPU to RAM to storage of large files and databases, etc) or is standard speed OK? That should eliminate another chunk. Soon we should be down to a half dozen models to choose from.

One of the things that annoy me is that some of these mini PCs have worse cooling then a laptop. Some just cool the processor, but the M.2 or 2.5" SSD will be hot as heck and start to throttle. I want a Minisforum Neptune HX80G and I think it has the right amount of cooling. Meanwhile the UM790 Pro, a lot of people are saying the M.2 drive is over heating pretty bad.

Do these mini pc have audio/ or an microphone?

Good job...

I need a mini pc for word, so I can access a webcam and so I can do normal online browsing. Which one would you recommend

Can you use them to play music via mps so that you need an 3.5" output for speakers. I have not seen one with a 3.5 plug socket on it.

can you explain about a jack pc ? and compare it with today's mini pc .

I pulled the trigger on the Beelink SER5 Pro and definitely the best bang for buck among the lot.

Is that a 9V Battery socket? What's that for?

❤ to the 👉 point🎉

I had no idea, i wouldnt get one for the lack of gaming power. My Ryzen 7 , RTX 3090 does just fine. I was wondering if you could do a video explaining similarly to this video about Raspberyy Pi devices.

My old laptop died, I just want something for web browsing, video streaming (Netflix) and occasional games such as War Thunder. What mini pc would be best for that?

Do these mini pc's have sound and microphone?

I just wanna be able to update my ssd firmware if its able to do it

You don't need branded hardware - if the price is very good and they publish the specs. Yes, open the PC and see if the specs match! But an "unknown" brand can be just fine. Yes I agree totally, don't pay a premium for it! Some "premium brand" parts are counterfeit as well. Better to test parts, or watch KZfaqrs who open them up and test them.

maybe i missed it, but what about noise level? are they all on the same level? Is it quieter than budget notebook or SonyPlaystation 5 running CyberPunk?

I have a question, does mini pc can be used to laptop?

What is your opinion of Geekom's MiniAir 11 11th Gen Intel Celeron - N5095 8GB RAM+256GB SSD?

Also with "passive cooling" it's gonna need a fan blowing on it.

How about hx99g

I am looking for a budget pc with usb pd.

Cool!

Would Just Like A Mini That Lets Me Replace My Tower Had Enough Of Power Sub Station Fan Noise Time For Silent Running Thank You

Hi what's the difference between pc and mini..seems like they are equal, that is in general if you spec them 1 to 1 understanding one is a mini. Also general purpose so KZfaq, streaming, work

the most important point are the ports ??????? metal or plastic??

just bought a geekom spec' i9, 32ram wifi 6, thunderbolt

Can I connect a mini pc to a HP All in One computer?

Do you know the smaller these pc's become, the more prone to disaster they are bcuz those tiny circuits give out. Casual actions, like just turning the pc on can cause a small surge that blowz it 🤔

The are only 2 reason to buy mini pc : 1. Its smaller than any other pc/laptop 2. The power usage is much less than pc. Other than that, buy used pc and get the same performance / better with much cheaper price.

Beware of the HDMI version. Only a few minis have "real" HDMI 2.1.

Just one question that has been bugging me, I keep hearing people that most of mini pcs have 2-3 years lifespan, what do they mean by that? Does it mean that by 2-3 years, they will stop working and I will need to buy a new one? I'm thinking of getting one for gaming, since I heard they can be powerful for gaming or should I just get a regular PC that is guaranteed to last more years? Please answer.

What about minisforum B550 mini pc is any good ?

Just build yourself a custom PC in a full-tower case, and all the negatives presented with mini and micro PCs will disappear.

Beeline off Amazon S12 for $140 plus tax I believe the motherboard is OZW with Intel Celeron N95 20watt (from review on line, can raise) 4core 4 thread, 8 GB RAM OZW 2100or 2300, I think, 256 GB M.2 NVME 2280 OZW SSD. Windows 11 Pro. Works fine. But compulsive toddler and bothered by not finding information on OZW beyond builds two brand mini pc and components. Upgraded to Crucial 16 GB 3200 RAM (made in Mexico, there have been changes at/to Crucial) Do not know if I needed 16 GB over 8 GB or if 3200 helps much or any. Seems a minor improvement. Cost $30 and tax shipped. Contemplating Crucial P3 Plus M.2 NVME 500GB SSD (cacheless) probably faster more endurance more reliable? OZW? possibly hotter. No one seems to be writing about heatsink for mini pcs. Did I mention I get obsessive and built computers long ago... Looking at a good rated $9 heatsink but may be too tall, looking at laptop.specific heatsink too. Also Crucial P5 Plus 1TB M.2 NVME SSD probably more heat but not for my uses, has cache, more speed and more endurance $50 plus tax. 500GB not enough cheaper... Price your brands, and holidays sales. Both P3/P3 Plus and P5/P5 Plus are Gen 4 listed as Gen 3 compatible. Genre I think they run hotter, have not tried yet. Crucial and Samsung come with useful software for monitoring etc. Web says Beeline will if asked send you code key for clean install. For clone need M.2 NVME 2280 adapter $14-40, I think I will purchase around $18 or $24. $18 is mentioned as used. $24 has heatsink for use as portable drive does not get as hot supposedly. I expect if you purchase more expensive ones you will get the name brand RAM and M.2 NVME 2280 SSDs reviewer has seen. I think I got the OZW for the$140 discount price? And as stated works fine and the faster increased RAM install seems to make very little difference for my uses. This is replacing an I5 2500 computer W10 built in 2012 very well. Hope this helps?

6:35 Everything nowadays is from China, Taiwan etc. Can't get away from that. That Crucial memory module that you pulled out is also made in China. Not everything made in China is necessarily bad or low quality.

👍

Everything you said applies to any computer you buy, laptop, desktop or mini.

i need mini pc CHEAP less than 150$ i looking many have less than 100$ aliexpress, what can use my CAD/CAM drawing only, workshop computer and internet only. what have good ? Vcarve vetric software or freecad etc, windows 7-10 about have inside.

I wonder when a mini pc will be able to run games on then I will switch

Just Wish I Stayed On At School When My Mother Told Me LOL

I didn't know these existed until a week ago and thought they looked cool. I was wondering if they would be alright for watching movies from an external drive that's going to be attached to a wifi router or stream from prime or netflix.

Looking for a mini pc to play all my retro games on. But I keep hearing most mini PCs get too hot for retro gaming

I want it to do everything.

When did they start putting USB-C ports in them?

Beelink is not a good MINI PC. At first its okay, but later on, the built-in wifi and bluetooth always disconnect and the worst part, after a year they shutdown because of heat. It would be better to build your own pc, its cheaper and easier to repair.