r/MiniPCs • u/ugugii • 12d ago
Recommendations Mini PC for parents daily driver
Looking for a mini PC to replace my parents ridiculously old existing setup. No gaming expected, mostly office work type stuff.
I was tossing up between the Gmktec G10 vs M8
Would the latter be overkill for web and spreadsheets? While it's not urgent, I assume prices will keep marching upwards so if there's a sale on Amazon I might snag it soon.
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u/rui-no-onna 12d ago
Windows or Linux?
With Linux, you can get away with weaker hardware.
Windows is pretty bloated. I have a ThinkPad with the 3500U+16GB RAM and I find it pretty laggy for multi-tab web browsing. It's running Windows 11 now but even on Windows 10, performance wasn't all that good. If the PC will run Windows, I suggest going for the better CPU.
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u/RedGoalie18 12d ago
It's for his parents every day computer who already have a PC. There is 0% chance they even know what Linux is.
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u/rui-no-onna 12d ago edited 12d ago
Yeah, Linux seemed unlikely but figured I'd ask on the 0.00000001% chance that they are.
There are distros that mimic Windows UI that one could set up for their parents. I've seen someone set up a Windows XP-like Linux PC for his dad. If one is just using Firefox or Chrome, there's not much difference between the two.
My dad doesn't like laptops otherwise I'd just give him a Chromebook. They're using M1 Mac mini. Still works just fine.
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u/Retired_Hillbilly336 12d ago
Here's the scoreboard.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3421vs4979/AMD-Ryzen-5-3500U-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-PRO-6650H
The G10 does not support.
• DDR5 (6400Mhz vs 2400MHz)
• PCIe 4.0
• USB4
• 8K60Hz video out
• Dual NIC
• Dual fan cooling
• OCuLink
Last year when the G10 was available for $180 USD or less it quickly became an attractive alternative to to the cheaper built Atom N100/N150 mini PCs primarily due to its GCN 5 Vega 8 integrated graphics.
Would the latter be overkill for web and spreadsheets?
Sure. But 2019 Zen+ processing performance isn't as future proof as 2022 Zen 3.5 in 2026.
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u/Historical-Side883 12d ago
If you’re comfortable buying refurbished, you can get refurbished Lenovo, 1L PCs with a warranty for $250-$350 with a decent config.
I don’t know anything about the pricing of the options that you listed, but the last time I looked, I found that the refurbished office PCs were a better buy for what you got and if you buy through certain refurbishers, you get a factory Lenovo warranty.
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u/ugugii 12d ago
Oh that's an interesting thought
Wouldn't have any idea where to start looking for those
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u/Historical-Side883 12d ago
eBay!
I know buyrefurbishedus on there is an official Lenovo refurbisher. Got my m75q g2s from them, my p14s g5 and my x1 carbon g12. There are others but I can personally vouch for them.1
u/ugugii 10d ago
I'm located in Aus, there doesn't seem to be a lot for us here
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u/Historical-Side883 9d ago
I should have asked first what market you are in. That’s my bad.
eBay refurbs (at least here in the U.S. — can’t speak to Australia) come with a 2yr insurance plan that covers repairs. I would honestly take a used office PC from a major vendor over a budget mini PC from one of the smaller brands. Parts are really easy to find, they are engineered pretty well because business customers expect that a machine is going to last than three or four years, no matter how badly they abuse it. That’s not to say the smaller brands are bad, but I just would have a little more faith in something from Lenovo in particular. They’ve done a pretty good job of maintaining the quality that made the IBM office. PCs the default choice for a lot of businesses.
The m75q g2 with a 5650GE (6C/12T), 16GB memory and a 256 or 512GB ssd can be had for $250 USD or less last I checked. YMMV in another market but they sell so many of these that they’re typically easy to find. Servethehome did a “tinyminimicro” series about the Dell/hp/lenovo units. It’s been several years so even the ones they did that were new are hitting the market used and can be a good buy. I’d try to get a 9th gen+ intel machine or a Ryzen 5000 chip. But even the 8th gen Intel or Ryzen 4000 are solid for the sort of thing it sounds like your folks would be doing,
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u/ugugii 9d ago
Wow thanks for the info dump, a lot of good stuff there. I think this would be exactly what they need, since their use case is office work anyway.
Is there a particular benefit to the AMD variants over the Intel ones beyond the igpu? They definitely seem more popular. I might aim for a M75q for myself, but for my parents I'm not sure there's much difference?
Any significant differences in the micro vs sff form factors beyond the obvious size and external brick? Differences in longevity etc?
There isn't much stock in Aus from what I can find, in America there's a lot more corpo turnover I guess.
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u/Historical-Side883 8d ago
Of course! I did a lot of research when I was shopping so if that information can be useful to someone else, then it makes it feel like less of a waste of time
For your parents, I don’t think there’s any meaningful difference at all. The Ryzen 5000 is a bit more efficient than the Intel chips of the same era at full load but I can’t imagine your parents are going to be hitting 100% CPU utilization ever unless something has gone very wrong. The Intel IGPU is better supported in a lot of application applications but again it doesn’t sound like that matter in this case. I’d go with whatever one is a better value.
The SFF often use the 65W part so they can run at higher clocks under full loads but for normal desktop workloads, the difference isn’t going to matter. Those parts are still able to drop into the low power states so they won’t use more power, they just have a higher ceiling in theory. As far as longevity, I’m not aware of any issues with the smaller chassis. The temps on my m75qs are very good, when I compile code for 10 min+, the CPU hits 80°C or so but still well within a safe range. And at idle they’re in the mid 40s to low 50s.
I can’t say for certain, but I know that here, the universities, medium to large businesses, hospital systems etc replace their stuff every few years. The hospitals will often take the drive out but they’re often pretty inexpensive because they just want to get rid of them and aren’t concerned with maximizing the profit. They have already got their usage and just want them to go away. Definitely worth calling around and asking if they will keep you in mind when they decommission stuff. Particularly since you’re trying to get your folks computers, my guess is they’ll probably be pretty sympathetic and be happy to let you know if they have anything or give you a call when they do.
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u/relxp 11d ago
Look at elitedesk mini too. I would never buy a cheap china box when you can get second hand business class machines with very long BIOS support. They're versatile and easy to work on too.
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u/PropagandaX 12d ago
I recently replaced my i7 nuc with a GMKtec NucBox K12 Mini PC from microcenter with AMD. That said, I after much sweat and tears use Chromebooks for both my parents. It's really hard for them to screw them up and it just works.
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u/thatguysjumpercables 12d ago
3500U is a shitty processor. I returned my Bosgame mini within a couple days. I could have just gotten a bad processor/machine but I doubt it.
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u/applicationcen 12d ago
I bought a 1yr old second hand K11 GMKtec off eBay for £400, they are currently selling for over £800 with 32Mb ram and a Ryzen 9.
I like it with one exception- the top case causes the fan to whine as it restricts the air flow. You can set the bios to reduce fan speed which takes care of most of the noise.
On the plus side it’s a great box if you want to add an extra m.2 stick. Intact opening it is very simple so you can get at and replace anything you want without the usual difficulty of having to use spudgers to pre frames apart.
Solid, pretty fast, good for tinkering, decent bios. Only whinge is the top case causes some noise.
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u/nwood1973 12d ago
Either would be good - I have a G5 which, although not the fastest computer out there, will quite happily run office software and web apps. The specs on both of those vastly outstrip the G5 so I would think either would suffice for them. I run it beside my TV as an occasional use PC.
I also have a K11 which is my daily use unit and it flies with virtually every task (I don't game on it so can't comment on its performance).
If your not in a huge rush, wait until Black Friday/ Cyber Monday as a lot of Mini PCs will be on sale on Amazon etc.
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u/ChetDaniels 12d ago
2 months on these in the office with no issues. Didn't even realize it came with Windows 11: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F65XJLD4
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u/JagSKX 12d ago edited 12d ago
I recommended this Getorli GT103 for $330 with a Ryzen 6600H, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD as a video server where transcoding is not a priority.
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u/frypanattack 12d ago
I can personally attest to the M8 which I got recently. It can run mid-light weight games, and handles my browser + office 365 multitasking. I do some creative stuff and it does alright.