tech Miniature PCs

[Amalgamation]

Has anybody ever looked into miniature PCs for practical use? I'm amazed how small they are. I looked at a brand called GEEKOM, seems some options come equipped with Intel 7 or better, and AMD components.

Might get one just to find out how far it can take games and other software, if it doesn't meet expectations I'll just stuff a fuck ton of emulators and tv episodes on it 🤷 I don't need anything crazy though.

No matter what it'll likely perform better than the laptop that has served me over the past five years, and that's all I'm really looking for as I may as well take advantage of Black Friday deals.

 

[mrln]

i was looking into getting a new laptop. this apple macbook air i have,its going on 9yrs now,this xmas.
im pretty much tech illiterate. this apple has been good to me and has security and all that shit. i just turn on and go. no need to worry about anything. as far as i know. the battery isnt lasting that long anymore.

 

[Amalgamation]

i was looking into getting a new laptop. this apple macbook air i have,its going on 9yrs now,this xmas.
im pretty much tech illiterate. this apple has been good to me and has security and all that shit. i just turn on and go. no need to worry about anything. as far as i know. the battery isnt lasting that long anymore.

I'm slightly tech illiterate and usually only remember what to look for when I've reread content regarding the interest.

If you like any gaming don't do the miniatures as I've read they don't have a dedicated graphics card, but for me it helps explain the small size. Trying to go as small as possible, for this thread I was caught by the fancy brand names.

I'm cool with it if this becomes a recommendation thread for what you need. I don't use Apple so I'm just throwing shit at the wall; if you're willing I'd look into replacing components yourself, but I also don't know shit about those laptops.

 

[K.I.T.T.]

For the money and performance, you can build your own PC and install Linux on it.

 

[Bloodandmoonlight]

Has anybody ever looked into miniature PCs for practical use? I'm amazed how small they are. I looked at a brand called GEEKOM, seems some options come equipped with Intel 7 or better, and AMD components.

Might get one just to find out how far it can take games and other software, if it doesn't meet expectations I'll just stuff a fuck ton of emulators and tv episodes on it 🤷 I don't need anything crazy though.

No matter what it'll likely perform better than the laptop that has served me over the past five years, and that's all I'm really looking for as I may as well take advantage of Black Friday deals.

I'm opting for the asus rog ally handheld specs look pretty impressive.

 

[lechmich]

They are good for media streaming but so is rasberry pi

 

[User_1485320153521]

I've heen thinking about doing the exact same things, I've been looking through NewEgg just to get vague inspiration.

 

[ConeZone]

I have built a fair number of systems in the mini-ITX form factor but for anything smaller than that (pico and mobile ITX are a real hassle and I don't enjoy them) I am a huge fan of Lenovo's IdeaCentre and ThinkCentre lines. Stay with me for a second; yeah, I know these are those dumb tiny computers you find in offices and schools. But they're quite powerful on their own and very useful for many things when not bogged down by being a sub-component of a corporate network.

For what you're doing it may be viable. But the pricing on the Geekdom stuff you've posted looks better. For what it is worth, check out some of the more "mundane" manufacturers of mini computers because you may find a better offering than some of these boutique storefronts. Check into Lenovo, HP, Intel and MSI. I see them all over the place, hiding in plain sight.

Anyway, I use these tiny computers for all sorts of things. Most of the TVs in my house have one fastened to the back and networked into the media drive. I keep one in the garage on a little mobile setup so I can bring it right in close when I'm working on a project. They're great! It's definitely a bonus though; this sort of thing is above and beyond normal use.

 

[Amalgamation]

I have built a fair number of systems in the mini-ITX form factor but for anything smaller than that (pico and mobile ITX are a real hassle and I don't enjoy them) I am a huge fan of Lenovo's IdeaCentre and ThinkCentre lines. Stay with me for a second; yeah, I know these are those dumb tiny computers you find in offices and schools. But they're quite powerful on their own and very useful for many things when not bogged down by being a sub-component of a corporate network.

For what you're doing it may be viable. But the pricing on the Geekdom stuff you've posted looks better. For what it is worth, check out some of the more "mundane" manufacturers of mini computers because you may find a better offering than some of these boutique storefronts. Check into Lenovo, HP, Intel and MSI. I see them all over the place, hiding in plain sight.

Anyway, I use these tiny computers for all sorts of things. Most of the TVs in my house have one fastened to the back and networked into the media drive. I keep one in the garage on a little mobile setup so I can bring it right in close when I'm working on a project. They're great! It's definitely a bonus though; this sort of thing is above and beyond normal use.

If I was going to buy one it would be from Intel now, however I bought a Dell Optiplex 9020. My gaming is mostly done on consoles unless I'm playing something like bonk.io, but that's not something which hogs resources. So, this ole Dell tower does everything I want for now.

I am interested in your media drive, can you explain that to me? I've pondered getting a bunch of old shows and movies then keeping them somewhere easily accessible, but don't know what this looks like without using piratebay and stremio to view the torrent files as needed

 

[Super Kirbo]

I used to just download full movies and just play em with vlc media player

 

[2Guys1Knife]

I have indeed looked into quite a few miniature laptops. I'm a huge fan of the 90's clamshell PDA's so naturally I'd be into mini laptops. I'm not too well known with the brands out there, though. As for practical uses, I'm sure they're a great "go anywhere" machine. But the size of the screens and keyboards are a main issue, just like 90's PDA's. I'd definitely recommend getting a Microsoft slim folding bluetooth keyboard to use in extension of the build in keyboard if you intend to write a lot. Maybe bring an HDMI dongle if possible so you could attach it to a TV at a hotel or when visiting friends / family.

I'd rather go for a Planet Gemini Android device. Granted, it's Android but can also run Linux. But I do intend on picking up a mini laptop down the road sometime.

 

[Htos1av]

FILE servers, ONLY!!! We have them in the legal office I work for. Rendering some PDF's is almost as CPU intensive as video.

 

[[MERIT]]

I used to just download full movies and just play em with vlc media player

Yeah, paying for digital media is retarded when you can get it for free using torrents. I have a few 1 TB SSDs full of media. I plug them into my smart TV or BluRay player and watch them on the big screen.

 

[K.I.T.T.]

Has anybody ever looked into miniature PCs for practical use? I'm amazed how small they are. I looked at a brand called GEEKOM, seems some options come equipped with Intel 7 or better, and AMD components.

Might get one just to find out how far it can take games and other software, if it doesn't meet expectations I'll just stuff a fuck ton of emulators and tv episodes on it 🤷 I don't need anything crazy though.

No matter what it'll likely perform better than the laptop that has served me over the past five years, and that's all I'm really looking for as I may as well take advantage of Black Friday deals.

I just bought a Legion Go. Neat little PC.

 

[Htos1av]

At my attorneys' office, we use them to do simple file serving on the LAN.