Mini PCs Database
minipcs.org
minipcs.org
- number and speed of ethernet ports - if you want to build a opnsense router for example
- number and kind of video outputs - if you want to build a media pc
- MSRP
- passive vs active cooling
- power draw
- USB ports and USB version
- m2 nvme and sata connectors
- m2 lte (key b) connectors
all of those could be filters - see pcpartpicker as an example of good ui
One thing you didn't mention that I'd like to see is what, if any, PCIe slots there are. This is pretty rare in mini PCs, and I've only seen it on the Minisforum ms-01 (https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-ms-01)
A Minisforum uses far less power and can be decked with some (3) NVMe. It also has TB4, and a PCIe slot, which can also be used for NVMe/SSD, as well as the one where the WLAN is in (miniPCIe?). Thinking of putting my Coral accelerator in there, though it probably gets quite hot. I suppose the TB4 you could use to attach a bay of SATA drives to the machine, or to use a TB4 case for a NVMe.
End conclusion is this:
"At the end of the day, if you are looking for a P-core enabled high-performance mini server or workstation, the Minisforum MS-01 is probably the best out there right now."
The review is why I bought the damn thing. But I didn't go for the most expensive option and bought my own RAM and NVMe for it. NVMe I went with a Samsung PM9A3 for filesystem consistency and heavy writes with Proxmox. For RAM I just went with w/e. It isn't ECC, but also not as bad as non-ECC.
Is the machine perfect, no it isn't. For example all the power saving stuff does not work if you want to use the I226-LM NIC 24/7 and that is a bummer. Also, it took 3 months to arrive (approx 1 month longer than advertised). But other than that? Great machine.
You are misquoting. The next sentence does not say such.
The quote is "At the end of the day, if you are looking for a P-core enabled high-performance mini server or workstation, the Minisforum MS-01 is probably the best out there right now.". After that comes a new part of the article, concerning Where to Buy.
What you quote is mentioned in the article, but taken out of context by you. The full quote however is:
> The Minisforum MS-01 is a really awesome machine. Let us simply say that first. It is hard to make a system that pleases everyone. For one, I might want more RAM capacity and a lower-end CPU. On the other hand, this is a $619 list price CPU (Core i9-13900H) that comes in a system with a SSD, RAM, multiple network ports, chassis, and so forth for $829. That is a lot of extra components for $210. While I may want a lower power processor, I am not sure how much better of a value it would end up being.
In other words, it is actually a compliment. But the Core i9-13900H is the most expensive option. I didn't go for that one. Besides, I also put in my own SSD and RAM (and SFP+).
* assuming no coil whine or PSU clicking
For more processing power, a large case with quiet fans (e.g. Noctua) and a massive CPU cooler is the way to go, but isn’t completely silent (depending on load and environment noise level), and you’ll have to build it yourself.
Examples:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c07588846 — HP EliteDesk 800 G8 (Intel 13th gen)
https://support.hp.com/ee-en/document/c06045012 — HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Desktop Mini (Intel 8th gen)
Also discussed recently:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40867709 — The Cheapest NAS (sigwait.org) — 2 weeks ago, 298 comments
That seems interesting for retro-computing, but not really for anything current running on them. Be it for lacking instruction-sets, or peripheral ports.
OTOH, I got good experience with the Intel NUC boxes. Got good experience with HP and Dell's slim PCs, which have slightly bigger form factors and are good for heat dissipation.
I keep wanting to upgrade to something shiny or attempt to consolidate since my Dells are on some hilariously old chips (4th gen LTS "T" series i7s) but man they just keep chugging along, it's hard to justify.
Actually the early ones were not very good with the Windows 10 they had, and a fresh reinstall left you needing drivers that only came from their provided restoration images.
After about a year they were not useful for that any more with only 16GB of drive space and 4GB of memory soldered in.
After our IT guys replaced them with Dells, I repurposed by installing Windows 11 in Compact Mode from the command line and dedicating for spectrometer use which is not going on the internet.
Minix is still there with more powerful units which are quite a bit more expensive.
I would look closely at support downloads for little things like this, I still had to get some of the drivers for W11 from the (now externally saved) original W10 images from 2016.
Also it's cuter.
In the end, Intel gave up on the whole idea and sold NUCS to Asus, which means I'll never have another NUC, sadly (I wouldn't support company with as bad customer service as Asus).