I finally bit the bullet and swapped out an aging laptop and a failing desktop with much smaller replacements. My initial plan was to buy two well-endowed refurbished desktop computers. Instead, I stumbled upon a new computing approach — mini-PCs.
For months, I have been curious about the performance of these 6-1/4″ by 6″ by 2″ aluminum and plastic boxes of tiny computer components. I already had two sets of large desktop monitors, HDMI cables, keyboards, and mice, so with nothing else to buy, I anticipated an easy upgrade swap. In return, I would gain more desk space and save some cash.
The numerous hours I spent researching vendors and selecting the internal components paid off. The options felt dizzying as I moved from one vendor website to another, and the decisions were daunting as I weighed the choices of mobile processors, RAM, storage types, and their capacity.
The process became a balancing act of potential performance versus price. Depending on the processor, RAM, and storage devices selected, the cost ranged from $200 to north of $600.
I discovered many enticing products with Windows 10, Windows 11, and several species of Linux distributions. Some vendors even offered configurations without a pre-installed operating system. That was a choice I seriously considered since I already had a drawer full of free Linux installation disks.
Choosing Mini-PCs: A Technology Gamble
Occasionally, for a change of pace or mobile convenience, I have plugged my Android phone into a docking station tethered to a desktop monitor, external drive, wireless keyboard, and mouse. The phone’s innards were solid enough to let me do light work and enjoy playing videos and some lightweight Android games. It almost matched the productivity of my aging laptop, dual-booted with Windows 10 and Linux.
My big quandary was the unknown hardware. Would a mini-PC perform no better than a tethered cell phone, or would it be a real computing upgrade for my home office? If the tiny new desktop device failed to perform adequately, I would send it back and follow up with a more traditional hardware selection.
I bought the CyberGeek Nano T1 mini-PC stuffed with an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor, 64GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD for $416. I ordered the model with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed.