I need to get a new pc and am deciding on a mini pc to save space. I want to use it for non-intensive games (indie and possibly switch emulation at highest) and to do light office tasks (browser, obsidian, libreoffice and random hdd file management.)

I don’t know anything about mini pcs and there’s so many out there. Youtubers say that the Amazon ones aren’t good and another site I saw is very pricey for a nice one with 32gb ram which I do not need. As long as it has 16gb, a good amount of ports and isn’t going to die on me within a few years, I’m happy. If possible to upgrade ram/ssd that would be better.

Currently, I have $600 saved and rather not spend much more than that if possible.

Current accessories I have:

  • Keyboard (Wired and bluetooth)
  • Wireless mouse
  • Dell S2721HS 1920 x 1080p 27" monitor (no speakers, mic or webcam)
  • Basic usb-c dongle for my tablet (power usb-c, hdmi, regular usb) for now
  • Bluetooth/aux Speaker
  • Bluetooth/aux Heaphones

Also, any recommendations for which distribution to use? I have used Ubuntu and Mint before and am willing to use other OS as well as the gaming ones.

  • narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee
    10·
    8 months ago

    Does it have to be a mini PC? For $600 you could assemble a pretty decent full size PC with performance levels similar to or ahead of current gen consoles.

    For distro, I can recommend Fedora (KDE Spin if you care about VRR) as it strikes a good balance between reliability up-to-date packages (fairly recent kernels).

    EDIT: If you need to save space, consider how much you need to save. You could go for an ITX build for example, which can be quite compact (although bigger than what I would consider a mini PC).

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
      5·
      8 months ago

      And a full size PC will be much cheaper to upgrade later.

      An ITX build would increase the costs a bit for motherboard, case, and PSU (an extra $100 or so), but I think the space savings is worth it. A GPU is also an option, and you’d need an external one for a mini PC, which isn’t ideal. Get an APU at first, and then a decent GPU later if it doesn’t hold up for $200 or so.