Which budget mini pc to get? (reddthat.com)

submitted 8 months ago by Blueneonz@reddthat.com to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.ml

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I need to get a new pc and am deciding on a mini pc to save space. I want to use it for non-intensive games (indie and possibly switch emulation at highest) and to do light office tasks (browser, obsidian, libreoffice and random hdd file management.)

I don't know anything about mini pcs and there's so many out there. Youtubers say that the Amazon ones aren't good and another site I saw is very pricey for a nice one with 32gb ram which I do not need. As long as it has 16gb, a good amount of ports and isn't going to die on me within a few years, I'm happy. If possible to upgrade ram/ssd that would be better.

Currently, I have $600 saved and rather not spend much more than that if possible.

Current accessories I have:

Keyboard (Wired and bluetooth)
Wireless mouse
Dell S2721HS 1920 x 1080p 27" monitor (no speakers, mic or webcam)
Basic usb-c dongle for my tablet (power usb-c, hdmi, regular usb) for now
Bluetooth/aux Speaker
Bluetooth/aux Heaphones

Also, any recommendations for which distribution to use? I have used Ubuntu and Mint before and am willing to use other OS as well as the gaming ones.

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[-] narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Does it have to be a mini PC? For $600 you could assemble a pretty decent full size PC with performance levels similar to or ahead of current gen consoles.

For distro, I can recommend Fedora (KDE Spin if you care about VRR) as it strikes a good balance between reliability up-to-date packages (fairly recent kernels).

EDIT: If you need to save space, consider how much you need to save. You could go for an ITX build for example, which can be quite compact (although bigger than what I would consider a mini PC).

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

And a full size PC will be much cheaper to upgrade later.

An ITX build would increase the costs a bit for motherboard, case, and PSU (an extra $100 or so), but I think the space savings is worth it. A GPU is also an option, and you'd need an external one for a mini PC, which isn't ideal. Get an APU at first, and then a decent GPU later if it doesn't hold up for $200 or so.

[-] Tramort@programming.dev 2 points 8 months ago

This is good advice

Look at logicalincrements.com to budget different levels of hardware

this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024

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