Question Is this mini PC suits me?

erik8thw

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I want to buy a new mini PC for non lagging web browsing and programs, light video editing and rendering, light-to-no gaming experience.
  1. Is 8GB RAM / 240GB SSD good enough for me?
  2. Based on this datasheet: HP EliteDesk 800 35W G2 Desktop Mini PC, Is it easy to obtain the parts of i7-6700T and 32gb ram and upgrade to them in future?
  3. Is the fan quiet? I hope the fan not revving up suddenly when using
  4. Can I use it for the next several years or forever?
 
What are your expectations...particularly as regards speed?

Small PCs are more prone to heat and fan noise issues. How much does that matter to you?

How do you react to disappointment? No problem or serious rage?

If you ever will want 32 GB RAM, you are probably better off getting it when you buy the machine, rather than upgrading later.

It could last 20 minutes or 20 years. Little way of knowing.
 

erik8thw

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I would say no to that one lasting several years. Not enough ram, or storage, and an old cpu. What kind of budget do you have?
My budget is around $550.
What are your expectations...particularly as regards speed?

Small PCs are more prone to heat and fan noise issues. How much does that matter to you?

How do you react to disappointment? No problem or serious rage?

If you ever will want 32 GB RAM, you are probably better off getting it when you buy the machine, rather than upgrading later.

It could last 20 minutes or 20 years. Little way of knowing.
What are your expectations...particularly as regards speed?
I want to open open 2 or more live streams in the background, open 10 or more tabs in the browser, and render a video in the background at the same without lag.

Small PCs are more prone to heat and fan noise issues. How much does that matter to you?
Heat doesn't matter to me because I'm not a hardcore gamer. Fan noise does matter to me. I don't want fan revving up suddenly when using.

If you ever will want 32 GB RAM, you are probably better off getting it when you buy the machine, rather than upgrading later.
Is 16GB RAM enough based on my expectations above?
 
Heat doesn't matter to me because I'm not a hardcore gamer. Fan noise does matter to me. I don't want fan revving up suddenly when using.

If you were indifferent to heat on an ordinary self-built desktop PC, you would likely have a lot of control over fan speed in the BIOS and could reduce it as needed to satisfy your aversion to noise.

But that's not a self built and is not an ordinary desktop. I'd be suspicious as to what level of fan speed control HP might allow you in the BIOS.

The fan is presumably small diameter, which typically implies higher speed than you might like. And it may well be difficult to replace it with anything significantly different.

Small PCs just make a lot of compromises....like laptops. Hard to say at what point you'd have serious regrets.

I'd pound the net for reviews of that specific machine.

Short of reviews, not sure how much impact 16 GB RAM might have rather than 32 for your specific tasks.
 

erik8thw

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Not going to happen with that.
I don't perform those tasks at the same time mostly.
You could build out a capable system starting with something like this:

ASRock DESKMEET B660 Intel 12th Gen Mini PC Barebone System Supports a discrete ITX Video Card slot, CPU, Video Card , Memory, Storage are not included 8 Liter compact size - Newegg.com


There are a lot of super small, even NUC sized devices (and specifically the AMD flavors) that could do this quite well.
I can't put it in my luggage if I want to move out. How about this mini PC available in my country? It is easy to carry around.

Beelink SER5 Pro AMD Ryzen 5 5600H Mini PC Windows 11 DDR4 NVME SSD 32GB RAM 500GB WIFI6 BT5.2 Dual HD Gaming Computer.
 

logainofhades

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erik8thw

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That would be a much better choice, over that old 6th gen i7 system.
If I open 2 or more live streams in the background, open 10 or more tabs in the browser, and render a video in the background at the same time, can Ryzen 5 5600H and 16GB RAM handle them?

The price difference between 16G 500G and 16G 1TB is $26. Should I just go with the 16G 1TB option since the difference isn't huge?

Can I downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10?
 
Video rendering will take up as much CPU as the system will get, but it should work OK, just will be slower overall. The extra space may be worth it if you are saving large video files.
Going from 11 to 10 depends on if the vendor has drivers for the system or you can check on the components individually to check. Should not be an issue though, I don't know of any Win 11 only hardware yet.
 

erik8thw

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That would be a much better choice, over that old 6th gen i7 system.
Video rendering will take up as much CPU as the system will get, but it should work OK, just will be slower overall. The extra space may be worth it if you are saving large video files.
Going from 11 to 10 depends on if the vendor has drivers for the system or you can check on the components individually to check. Should not be an issue though, I don't know of any Win 11 only hardware yet.
I don't edit and render videos mostly and I'm not a hardcore editor. So Ryzen 5 5600H and 8GB RAM can handle them? Do I need 16GB or 32GB RAM?

What do you mean by "I don't know of any Win 11 only hardware yet."?
 
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