When a friend or family member wants to buy a computer, they obviously come to me. Of course, they come more often when they have a problem, especially with their cell phone, but that’s another story. For a long time, if you don’t ask me for something to play, I recommend several Mini PC and to choose them I always look three aspects: type of storagesystem of refrigeration And connectivity.
Currently, most of these compact computers have very powerful and versatile processors. The good news is that they take up very little space and you can even install them directly behind the monitor, leaving the table clearer.
When it comes to options for friends and family, as well as the deals we make, I have identified three critical points for me. First, I look at the type of storage unit and its capacity. Then, I pay close attention to the cooling system and airflow. Finally, I pay a lot of attention to the connectivity that the system offers us.
Type and capacity of the storage unit
This is the first step in my selection and I promise you that it allows you to download almost half of the solutions on the market. I always look for the main disk to be at least an M.2 PCIe 3.0 SSD. Ideally, it would be PCIe 4.0, but it is not yet as widespread in Mini PCs. In addition, the storage disk must have a minimum capacity of 512 GB.
It is very important to check that the SSD is based on the PCIe interface, you have to be sure, because many hide or hide that it is indeed M.2 SATA SSD. Also, I usually look at the second M.2 slot that many include, because it is usually SATA instead of PCIe. I do not know the reason for this, since most mid-range processors support two M.2 PCIe SSDs without problems.
Cooling system features
Cooling is something that few people pay attention to and that is a mistake. There are many mini PCs with few air intakes, which prioritizes aesthetics over proper cooling. It is always interesting to have the processor running at the lowest possible temperature in order to be able to offer maximum performance.
I pay attention to whether it has good air intakes on the sides and that the hot air comes out the back. Most of these systems use heatsinks similar to those of laptops, which is not a bad thing. I have to say that I prefer them with a 120mm PC fan, but these are usually worn by those with an AMD Ryzen APU that supports gaming.
Basic, good connectivity
I have to say that this point is also conflicting and ends up discharging many systems. Mainly, I look at the number of USB ports and their version, as well as the version of Wi-Fi connectivity. The HDMI and DisplayPort version does not seem so relevant to me, since most will opt for 1080p resolution.
I always look for at least two USB-A ports on the front and four more USB-A ports on the back. If you have a USB-C on the front, the better, but that doesn’t seem critical to me either. Also, I make sure that at least the two front ones are USB 3.2 Gen 1, to get good transfer speeds.
Another aspect I look at is Wi-Fi connectivity. There is a fight here, because in many cases it is not labeled as Wi-Fi 5, 6 or 6E, but rather as b/g/n. For me this is already a bad sign, because what it indicates to us is the Wi-Fi 4 version and does not support the 5 GHz band, introduced in Wi-Fi 5 (ac). Do not buy a mini PC other than Wi-Fi 5 (ac) or higher. Ideally it would be Wi-Fi 6 (ax) but there are still few systems that support this standard.
I don’t forget the RAM
The previous three points unload more than half of the Mini PCs on the market. Thus, those that meet these parameters usually already meet the minimum recommended amount of RAM. More precisely, we say that any modern computer should have at least 16 GB of RAM. I have not found a system that meets the previous three points and has less than this amount.
If we talk about the standard, it will depend on the processor you are using and the year of manufacture. It is still normal to see computers of this style equipped with DDR4, but the first DDR5 are already beginning to appear.
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