Best products from r/MiniPCs

I went with the Libre Renegade since it was on Amazon and had prime shipping but it looks like Amazon only has the
4GB for $80 so it would be pointless to pay that much when the NanoPi M4 is $65

Looks like you can still get the 1GB version ($35) and the heatsink($4) from Love our PI but anything above that would be a waste of $ the main benefit is a solid OMV 4 build and the fact you can use any Rasp Pi case.


Here's the case I bought for $10.

I had to mod it to fit but I was able to easily mount a 40mm Noctua fan to it
So you're looking at around $50 not counting micro SD.

Then I have a 4bay Mediasonic Probox with 4x8TB shucked WD My Books(WD80EZAZ) and Easy Stores(WD80EMAZ). The 4 i purchased were all basically the same white drives which are the same thing as the 8TB reds.

Currently getting 100-110mbs and SMART actually works perfectly.

So total cost is gonna set you back $150 for everything except hard drives.

With that said, I personally would still go the same route since I know its reliable and all the kinks are ironed out.
The RK3399 boards are coming out every day so I would probably get the NanoPi M4 since it has OMV ready to go.

I have a tronsmart Vega S89-H, different box but similar hardware.

1. No clue, sorry. If I had to guess though, I'd say probably. I've encountered almost zero apps that don't work on these devices. I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard the new amazon streaming app doesn't work yet. That's about it though.
   
   
2. You can download paid apps.
   
   
3. You can change the launcher. I am currently using Holo Launcher on mine.
   
   I've also heard good things about the Minix Neo line, but I decided to go for the tronsmart because it was recommended to me by another redditor, it has good reviews on Amazon and because it was significantly cheaper. I'm not recommending one over the other, but the vega may be a good option if you want to save a few bucks. You may also want to look at any RK3288 boxes you can find, that is one of the newest chips and may have some good boxes built on it, although I couldn't find one when I purchases the vega.
   
   It isn't necessary, but I got this remote control to use with my vega:
   
   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B9996LA/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=YEA53M3RQ14Z&coliid=I3NDYOKM45H6GL&psc=1
   
   The remotes that come with these devices aren't always the best and I find this one much more useful. You can also use an android tablet or phone to control it, but I kind of like this better.
   
   Good luck with your purchase!

> Also Im pretty sure you can power the lattepanda through usbc

I'm trying to find confirmation of this somewhere, hopefully somebody has tested it. Because I'd need to power it via USB type C as well as have another USB type C (DP over USB) to then drive a display. It would seem like a common scenario, so surely somebody has tried...?

I also found this: https://www.udoo.org/ the UDOO Bolt Which would be the FASTEST one I can find as of yet. however, I can't find confirmation if it can be powered via USB type c PD as well.

No pictures as of yet. As far as mounting, the display mounts nicely without any effort in a couple of spots. The center console it fits perfectly snug on it's own due to the monitor having a protective case. Also over the steering wheel.

Further, you can mount metal slips and use the same magnetic system phones use and then mount it virtually anywhere on your dash. These things: https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Holder-Strong-Dashboard-Tablets/dp/B07583W54C

It is a pretty cool system honestly. Car gaming + Car work. Fully wifi (wifi encrypted + VPN) which auto-joins networks and auto-VPNs. Bluetooth keyboard/mouse/gamepad/audio. Works like a champ.

Right now I am using Chromecast (controlled via phone) to display video content, and then a laptop to drive the display (which is touch screen) otherwise. But I'm trying to eliminate the laptop componant.

The VisionTek may be a good compromise. It has a nice looking IR remote side. It just looses the audio options (which I'm okay with at this point).

I really like the look of the Fosmon though. It doesn't have the IR, but it does have an independent multimedia key row that would help a great deal...

It's built on the Atom X5-Z8500 SoC. According to Intel, it should support 4k video at 60fps in h.264 encoding up to 250Mbps, or at 30fps in h.265 encoding. So in theory it should handle 4k video just fine, though the limiting factor will most likely be the HDMI output (can't find any info on if that's HDMI 2.0, which if it's not you'll be limited to 24fps 4k output due to bandwidth).

This should also be quite competent for Steam streaming, though you'll want to get a USB ethernet adapter as the on-board wifi won't cut it. Something like this plugged into the USB 3.0 connection will give you a place to plug in a controller wifi dongle (either for a 360 controller, an Xbox One controller since this is running Windows 10, or a Steam Controller) plus a gigabit-capable ethernet connection.

Pretty much the only real limitation is lack of SATA support, meaning onboard storage will be the slower eMMC. But onboard storage is mostly unimportant, since you just need enough room and speed to launch simple things like XBMC or Steam. Everything else should be streamed over a network.

tl;dr: Intel's current Atom X5/X7 SoC is a beast.

I wouldn't recommend a SBC for actual, important work. Anything you're doing professionally is worth doing on good, reliable hardware - not what is basically a demo board.

Both Dell and Lenovo sell very nice, very small business-class desktops starting under $500. If that's too rich for your blood, you can get off-lease models from a couple years ago for quite cheap. A 3-4 year old dell or lenovo is still going to be more reliable than any SBC you can buy new today.

Been searching and came across this: http://www.amazon.com/Eggsnow-Fanless-Desktop-Computer-2-20Ghz/dp/B015W1NE4K/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1463092129&sr=8-7&keywords=gaming+mini+pc+i5



Looks pretty good to me, but tbh I don't know a ton about computers. I'm looking into intel NUCs now, they seem like a strong option.

Right now you can get an Intel Compute Stick off of Amazon for $35. It only has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage but it can take up to 128GB of microSD storage if you want to expand that. If I hadn't just got a RasPi Zero W I would have bought this instead as a solution for rsync backups.

Personally I think it's an alright deal for a very cheap x86 board that's 64 bit and comes with Ubuntu installed.

I feel like even a raspberry pi is sufficient for sync and backup purposes. I mean, even 386s did this like a champ back in the day running something like AMANDA.

If you don't want to setup your own cron jobs and do a something a little more turnkey, then sourdough server is an easy $30 solution, that's basically an Apple Time Machine w/o the drive hardware.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UQW1LZK

I have a test setup with these two part in it and I use it as a server. I did set it up with Windows and a external gtx960 and that was quite fun. Great little computer for web and stuff. You just have to find memory which is ddr3l and a SSD which is msata.

Motherboard with core i3 for $117 usd

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JVCW682/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482054636&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65

Case with hard drive expansion

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LOSJFMG/ref=sxts2?ie=UTF8&qid=1482054636&sr=2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65

heres the thing,

first you have to define your company infrastrcutre needs

What OS and user structure am i going to use ?
A windows server with Domain policy and profiles might be a bit harsh on those littel machines, you might find yourself out powered becuase of a badly placed or designed domain structure or domain administratior machines.

What applications am i going to use and what are their minimum envirenment ?

I work in Telco, so we usualy have our secureCRT/Putty sessions, and we use Amdocs and Remedy for ticketing, and then on top of that some clients have their own have their own interfaces, that means java, flash, javascript, Citrix Xen, RDP and other things that might need a bit more horse power.

What i would do depends on the number of machines i need, a big number of stations would mean i wouldnt bother, i would just go to dell/hp/lenovo or whoever and say "i need a lease proposal for 100 machines on a company contract"

for a small office, less then 20 boxes ?

a "decent" pure chineasium machine like a Beelink Apolo lake N4200 is 200 bucks
https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-1000Mbps-Graphics-Bluetooth-Computer/dp/B06XSDQPB1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494350745&sr=8-1&keywords=n4200+pc


The issue is that if you´re willing to go certified refurbished, you can get really good offers for really superior machines from Dell or HP

240 bucks gets you a I3 with 4gb fo ram and 500gb drives
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Optiplex-7010-Performance-Professional/dp/B06XJSKVPN/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1494351221&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=small+form+factor+pc&psc=1

Not $100 or under, but definitely fast enough: New intel Braswell Celeron Quad Core Mini PC,Fanless PC,HTPC,with 2G RAM 32G SSD Rich IO: Dual HDMI Dual LAN USB2.0 USB3.0 Wifi,4K Media Player, Sliver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01720AOMY/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_gj5QwbNTGP3P1

Any Braswell system should be plenty fast to do what you ask. This is the one I've purchased, and it's damn fast for what it is. I think there's some other N3150 Braswell systems out for even less that don't have dual lan (which was a requirement for my uses)...maybe even closing in on $150.

$100 or under with your requirements will likely need another year or two.

Edit: Swype autocorrect is lacking...

A mini STX motherboard can be had for $89 and a simple case is is like $34 and you could put a cheap Celeron or Pentium in it. Those have USB c ports built into the front of the motherboard that just poke out of the front of the STX case like raspberry pi's and you plug a power supply right into them. Maybe not super cheap, but you could get a nice set up for possible $250 or less

This board from amazon might suit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZEPZGQO - pcDuino3 Nano Lite.

It has one SATA port and gigabit ethernet. Selling for $US15 shipped (US shipping only).

The Allwinner A20 SoC on it is well supported in mainline Linux (other Allwinner chips, such as the H3 on the orange pi PC are not so well supported), so you should be able to build a decent little server.

Couple of options on Amazon that are around the budget.
https://www.amazon.com/Pentium-Processor-1000Mbps-Bluetooth-Support/dp/B06XSDQPB1
https://www.amazon.com/industrial-computer-computers-Qotom-Q190N-multimedia/dp/B012Z2376Y/