How to Choose a Small and Multi-Purpose Mini PCs in 2022
In addition to desktops and laptops, there has always been a category of "petite" mini-PCss in the home PCs market. Earlier, however, due to technical and craftsmanship constraints, the performance of mini PCs was relatively poor, and sales were tepid. As the performance of Intel's main NUC miniPCs (Next Unit of Computing) has become more and more prominent in the past few years, more and more miniPCss of different brands have gradually entered the homes of ordinary consumers.
Why choose a mini PCs, the reasons are nothing more than the advantages of small size, low energy consumption, convenient placement, and flexible handling. Here is some Reasons to choose a mini PCs.
A mini PCs can be regarded as a PCs with slightly higher performance and slightly better expandability than a notebook PCs, but without a monitor.
Compared with a traditional desktop PCs, the mini PCs is only about 1/6 of the volume. Compared with a notebook PCs, the thickness of the mini PCs is about 4 times that of the former, but the top surface area is almost only 1/3 of the notebook PCs. Although the overall energy consumption of mini PCss is higher than that of notebook PCss, it is at least 30% lower than that of desktop PCs.
In terms of weight, a mini PCs is slightly heavier than non-thin and light notebook PCs, lighter than most gaming notebooks, and more convenient for daily movement. It can even be hung on the back of an LCD TV as the input source of the TV. A A complete PCs is much more powerful than a smart set-top box.
In order to reduce power consumption, miniPCs usually do not use or support high-end and most powerful CPUs, and generally cannot install high-performance discrete graphics cards. Hard drives and memory also use laptop accessory versions to save space and reduce heat generation. Therefore, it will be difficult for a mini PCs to cope with video rendering and other tasks, or to play large-scale games of the AAA category. But what ordinary notebooks can do, mini PCss can do better, even playing 4K and 8K videos with hardware decoding is no problem.
Mini PCs on the market today can be divided into two categories: finished machines and barebones. The finished machine means that all PCs components and operating systems have been installed in place, and you can use it when you buy it and connect it to the monitor. For example, Apple launched the Mac mini in 2005, and Intel's NUC series can also be used when it is turned on. The barebones system includes the chassis, power supply, CPU and motherboard (including the graphics card part). The memory and hard disk are purchased and assembled by consumers according to their needs. After the hardware assembly is completed, the operating system needs to be installed at the end.
Purchase Notes
Regarding the purchase of mini PCss, in addition to brand preference and after-sales service quality, consumers need to carefully study the following four aspects according to their own needs.
CPU
For the CPU, taking into account energy consumption and heat dissipation, the Intel and AMD CPUs used in mini PCss are usually the models whose numbers end with U or start with N (Intel). The former is actually a commonly used model for notebook PCss, so its performance is also comparable to that of notebook PCss. The latter is a lower-end model, which was once used by Intel for "netbooks" and Wintel tablets. It is no problem to cope with Internet access and light file processing work, but higher demands cannot be satisfied.
However, there are now mini PCss that can support desktop CPUs, and there is no big problem in replacing desktop PCss.
I/O Ports
Due to the limited size of mini PCs, there are definitely fewer external I/O ports than desktop PCs. Within the budget range, it is definitely not wrong to choose the model with the most interfaces. If the keyboard and mouse are not connected to the mini PCs using Bluetooth, at least one USB port must be occupied, plus daily mobile storage devices, card readers, etc., more than three USB ports are the minimum requirements. In addition, it is best to have a USB3.0 Type-C interface so that high-speed peripherals can be connected, or multiple monitors can be connected.
Output Ports
Mini PCss are basically equipped with an HDMI display output port as standard. The common HDMI input port is 1.4 or 2.0 (2.1) standard. It is best to choose the 2.0 standard, which can well support 4K and above display output. If the mini PCs is to be connected to an old-fashioned monitor, it is best to have a separate DP interface, which can be directly connected to the monitor. If not, you need to buy an HDMI to DP cable separately.
Wireless Connectivity
Basically, mini PCss have RJ-45 ports for wired network connection, which can be used by plugging in the network cable. However, it is strongly recommended to choose a mini PCs with a built-in wireless network card. Consumers can place and use the mini PCs in a suitable place according to their own needs.
If the mini PCs does not have a built-in wireless network card, it is also recommended to purchase a wireless network card (usually the M.2 wireless network card used in notebook PCss) under the condition that the internal space can be installed. Now the wireless network card is often integrated with a Bluetooth module, which is convenient The connection between the mini PCs and the bluetooth keyboard and mouse, bluetooth audio, mobile phone and tablet.
We recommended some Best miniPCs that you need to consider!
Beelink U59 Mini PC
The Beelink U59 is a compact desktop PC featuring an 11th generation Intel processor, providing a mixture of performance and efficiency that makes it perfect for Gaming, budget PC, and more. The compact body of this mini PC desktop is perfect for living room entertainment setups or occupying very limited spaces in your office. Weighing only approximately 395 grams and sizing up at 42 x 124 x 113mm, it is lighter AND smaller than most laptops.
Underpinning this performance is an Intel Celeron N5095 processor. Clocking at speeds of up to 2.9GHz, this quad-core processor can go the distance whether it be editing spreadsheets, sending emails, coding apps, and more. Loading times will become a thing of the past with this intel NUC, with a fast M.2 NVMe SSD and DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM. You’ll enjoy seamless multitasking and stable performance no matter what tasks you throw at it. Expandability is not an issue either, with space for a 2.5-inch SATA III SSD or HDD inside of this NUC, you can store hundreds upon thousands of music, movies, photos, and more.
Four USB 3.0 ports provide versatile input/output options for data storage and connectivity, and two HDMI 2.0b ports allow simultaneous 4K video for watching videos in eye-popping clarity on two displays at once! For those who want to go with a cable-free Intel mini PC, the Beelink U59 has you covered. With Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.1 out-of-the-box, rest assured that no matter where you place it, this mini PC will keep up without skipping a beat.
CHUWI RZBOX
CHUWI recently released the RZBOX Mini PC , "the only one in the world," according to the company, with the high-performance AMD Ryzen 9 4900H processor . The system uses an industrial-style all-metal case, characterized by extremely compact dimensions. On this page we indicate some of the salient features of the chassis and its performance in terms of thermal dissipation.
One of the keys to this Chuwi RZBOX is that the brand has partnered with AMD for its CPU . In addition, no just any series has been chosen, but the firm is committed to the RYZEN 4900H series, which is known for offering a performance equal to or better than 90% of the world's processors and with a superior cost-performance ratio. Both brands have also confirmed their partnership, so we can expect the firm's products to have a strong AMD presence.
This Mini PC is a highly versatile option, since it can be used to work, study, browse, view online content, but it is also a good option to play games. Since it is very powerful, with that AMD CPU. In addition, it makes use of an AMD Radeon Vega 8 GPU . So we have the best of AMD in it and we will have a good experience when playing at all times. To maintain its temperature properly when we are using it, this mini PC has a series of fans that will allow it to function properly.
The Chuwi RZBOX comes with Windows 10 installed as standard, but the firm confirms that it will soon update to Windows 11 , so you can enjoy all the news of this new operating system. It has DDR4 memory support of up to 32 GB and in terms of connectivity, in addition to WiFi and several ports, we also have Bluetooth 5.2 in it.
MINISFORUM EliteMini HX90
Minisforum Elitemini HX90 is a high performance mini PC specially designed for game enthusiasts, brings powerful performance with future fast technologies to power everyday computing for you. Powered by AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX and AMD Radeon™ Graphics. And it is that inside this EliteMini shines a Ryzen 9 5900HX that we have already seen working hard on some gaming laptops. A development with ZEN 3 microarchitecture manufactured in 7 nm processes and offering 8 cores and 16 processing threads with frequencies from 3.3 to 4.6 GHz, which can be overclocked by its unlocked multiplier.
Like the rest of AMD APUs, it includes a GPU integrated in the die, a Radeon RX Vega 8 with 8 compute units and a working frequency of up to 2,100 MHz. With dual HDMI output and Display Port, this mini-PC can power up to four 4K monitors. Focused on games, it should be noted that it does not have Thunderbolt ports to connect dedicated graphics that can further increase its potential with titles that require the highest graphic power. For all the rest, this Minisforum EliteMini HX90 will be left over. It can equip a total of 64 Gbytes of dual-channel DDR4-3200MHz memory and has support for triple storage drives, one M.2 2280 PCIe SSD and two SATA to connect SSDs or hard drives.
In an attractive body made mostly of carbon fiber, with compact dimensions in a 19 cm square, it can be placed horizontally on a desk table, vertically with an included base or behind a monitor with its VESA mount. The company claims to have beefed up the CPU fan section and other components "to effectively transfer heat directly out of the system for cool, quiet performance . " Leaving aside the Thunderbolt we talked about above (which would only need a part of users), its connectivity is remarkable for its size. An Intel AX200 module provides Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 , while the 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet connector is perfect for wired connections. It offers five USB 3.0 Type A ports, one USB-C port, the audio outputs, two HDMI and two Display Ports.
