So I’ve been looking at upgrading my PC and it looks like I can get a better “micro” pc than my current (ancient) desktop for significantly less money than a full blown gaming rig. An example of such a rig is this.
I don’t have high gaming requirements - I play mostly old games, I think the newest games I play are from 5+ years ago.
What reasons are there for not buying one of these (over a comparable “proper” desktop)?
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So, imagine your machine is one of those Dell Optiplex contraptions of the 2000s and even early 2010s.
Those machines sucked for the reason that, their components were tightly compacted, very little wiggle room to do anything in, upgrading anything was next to impossible because everything had to be low-profile to even fit into the case, everything was a dust/heat nightmare waiting to happen.
Just so many vulnerabilities in those machines are exactly what you could be facing if you go this route.
Three concerns:
- Heat - Will degrade faster and perform worse than it likely can because it will throttle itself
- Upgradability - Looks like only SSD and Memory are serviceable.
- Warranty - How is customer service? I have heard mixed reviews on most mini PC manufacturers.
There is nothing wrong with that PC but there is an opportunity cost to be aware of - upgrades.
A PC like that is static - you pay £600 and you get the PC, but after a few years if you’ve out grown it then you need to get a whole other PC. It’s the same with laptops.
However if you spend the £600 on a case, a motherboard, a cpu with a gpu, ram and storage you have a full starter PC. You can even save money by not paying for windows (built into the price of the mini PC) and get Linux for free. PCs are modular and any component can be upgraded and switched out at any time later.
So in a couple of years you may decide the PC is slowing down, or you’re out growing it, and you can swap in some more RAM or upgrade the CPU. Or you decide you can afford a dedicated graphics card, you can just buy the card and slot it in, and every £ goes into getting a great graphics card instead of starting again from scratch
Think of it like this: if you buy an all in one device you might spend £600 now and say another £600 in 3-5 years if you need to upgrade and fully replace it, and probably are still very limited in what you can get. A replacement will still have integrated graphics and still be behind cutting edge games, and just be a newer version of the same problem you have now. But with a full PC build you might spend £600 now for an OK PC and in 3-5years time you pay £600 just to add a great graphics card and have something way better than any mini PC. Or you spend £400 now and £200 in 2 years and £100 in 3 years and £500 in 4 years and gradually keep the PC how you want it without having to start from scratch. You end up with a decent PC now and gradually something powerful but without the upfront cost and without “wasting” money having to get a new device with a new motherboard, new cpu, new power supply, new RAM every time.You want an uplift .
It’s a crude example but the point is a full size PC can be expanded and switched up continously, and you can adapt it, and likely get something far better for the same money long term, while a fixed spec all-in-one device can serve a purpose for now but then needs total replacement when you outgrow it.
Building a full PC from scratch is easy - genuinely it’s plug and play, and only takes a bit of basic research to see what components are best to buy. There are loads of tutorials on how to put it together. Meanwhile your money goes much further over the longer term as you’re not having to buy a whole new PC everytime you need/want an upgrade - you can instead focus your money on the bits that need to change.
Even if you get a prebuilt tower PC now (ATX or Mini ATX) your money will go further AND you have something that you can upgrade and adapt. Although I think building from scratch is the best option as prebuilt Pcs are a false economy - they save money with cheaper components and you pay for labour on the build, when you can build it yourself for free and put every £ into better components.
Don’t be intimidated by building a PC - it’s nowhere near as difficult as it seems, and is an easy to obtain skill but worth learning as it’ll save you money, and allow you to fix and problem solve if you ever have problems in the future.
If.you have a PC now - even if it’s a pre build from a manufacturer - you can very likely open it up and start upgrading it now, and your money can go much further.
At that point just buy a Steam Deck.
What’s the benefit of that Vs this? I don’t care for portability and I like the option to at least crack this open and expand a few bits (if I need to).
A lot of those mini PCs don’t really have enough graphics power, even for older games. I have one and unless it’s something really low powered like Stardew or something, the experience is not great.
The Deck is designed for gaming, and it can double as a desktop PC.
A “proper” desktop is cheaper to buy and cheaper to maintain. And that maintenance is actually possible.
Are they cheaper, though?
GPU prices being what they are an equivalent full size card, and the same CPU aren’t far off the full build cost of the micro unit I linked to, and that’s before cases, power supplies and whatever.
I understand the service situation; but that’s not worse than my laptop/integrated devices - and this still has some scope for replacing non-soldered parts, presumably.
I am using a 2019 Ryzen 2700 sale build ($461, not counting 1050Ti which I just carried over) and minipcs really seem lacking when it comes to GPU power. Like the one you linked to is about the same GPU performance as my card (I’ve seen a few other new-ish models with decent price use it too, despite having a moderately faster CPU than mine).
The models with a better GPU (Radeon-8060S) are in the beyond-budget category (even beyond $2K), so you are definitely being charged a premium for the small form factor (even despite potential drawbacks). Or maybe the “AI” branding is part of it…
Maybe in 5-10 more years it will become affordable. Currently, if a low-end APU is faster than your current CPU you might be better off doing getting/building with that, or some dirt-cheap used GPU (AMD Polaris card, or even saw a video on 1050Tis being $20) maybe.
EDIT: Potentially Arc if you don’t mind playing the beta tester (and at least they don’t cheap out on VRAM). Some minipc or SBC might make sense for specific scenarios though, especially if there ever are heavy sales.
Are they cheaper, though?
Yes, always. Between 2 not second-hand machines with comparable hardware, a “normal” one would be significantly cheaper than a “mini”.
How would you break it down?
PC Partpicker disagrees with you, especially at the reduced price on the Amazon micro option - making some assumptions on equivalence between the ‘baked in’ chips and proper GPU etc.
I’d assume that economies of scale play a part too.
But I’m willing to accept that I’m wrong!
Can we persuade you towards a Steamdeck?
Main thing with those is a lack of extensibility and support from Chinese manufacturers.
At worse you buy one of those, find its limits and then upgrade to something else and use it for homelabing. I have some of them for that purpose.
