3 ms·

A Lenovo M92p is about 6x the price of a RPi, and the noise/form factor can't possibly be compared. If you really want to compare a 200$ desktop with a 40$ SoC

A Lenovo M92p is about 6x the price of a RPi, and the noise/form factor can't possibly be compared. If you really want to compare a 200$ desktop with a 40$ SoC then you should aim for stuff such as those mini PC's/thin clients from Asus, which nowadays even ship with Ryzen processors.

tyingq 6y ago
The $40 SoC isn't $40 after you the drive, power supply, enclosure, etc. There's a parts list in the article. I don't think the 4GB bare RPi is $40 anyway, it's higher. And a used Lenovo Tiny is easy to find for much less than $200. $100 shipped without an SSD, $140 with one. You're exaggerating both ends.
- Legogris 6y ago
  You can go cheaper, though. Parts from Ali: Stackable plastic frame for 4 pis + basic heatsinks ~= 5$ MicroUSB PoE injector (removes the need for PSU) ~= 3.5$
- rumanator 6y ago
  > The $40 SoC isn't $40 after you the drive, power supply, enclosure, etc. That's true, but we can break cost down easily. Right now there are RPi4 packs with power supply, enclosure, and both passive and active coolers for less than 15$. Storage depends on your taste, but you can buy 64GB USB pen drives or micro SD cards for less than 10$, or 1TB external HDD for less than 50$. Thus for a total less than 100$ you can have a brand new server up and running. I'm talking about stuff you can simply add to your shopping cart and get it shipped to your doorstep in a few days with zero research. These prices were literally taken from the first search result that popped into amazon. Better yet, this option involves zero time wasted betting on whether end-of-life hardware still has a few months left in them.
numpad0 6y ago
Lenovo regularly tries to fill ThinkCenter Tiny quotas by orders at the costs for their internal reasons. That’s what he’s talking about.
fomine3 6y ago
For the purpose of home server, SFF PCs are enough small to put on side of the router and almost zero noise. It a bit costs but it features decent storage, great CPU, reliable LAN. Even x6, $200 is cheap.
test1235 6y ago
>noise There's no way you can do much on the rPi4 without active cooling - mine gets uncomfortable hot doing some basic web scraping, never mind server duties.
- rumanator 6y ago
  > There's no way you can do much on the rPi4 without active cooling. You'd be surprised. YMMV and of course your local climate and your usage patterns do dictate how hot your gear runs, but in my experience adding a small 1$ heat spreader does allow my RPi4 to chug along without going over 60C. Heck, even placing it on the side or placing a coin stack over the processor is enough to keep it running along without ever throttling. Of course if you're constantly running 100% CPU loads then you start to need cooling, whether it's your laptop or desktop or even servers.
- bullen 6y ago
  You just need the right heatsink: http://move.rupy.se/file/pi_4.jpg http://move.rupy.se/file/pi_4.jpg This one is sold out and out of production now though and I had to trim it because it was made for the 3+
- ThrowawayR2 6y ago
  There's an oversized passive heatsink available for the RPi4 now: https://www.coolipi.com/ https://www.coolipi.com/ Ought to be adequate at full load without a fan for anything short of a tropical climate. Not inexpensive, though.
microbass 6y ago
I bought an 8GB M92p for €50, and a compatible 4c/8t Xeon for €20 .It makes a great little server. Of course, I also have an RPi 4 for other uses.

tyingq 6y ago

The $40 SoC isn't $40 after you the drive, power supply, enclosure, etc. There's a parts list in the article. I don't think the 4GB bare RPi is $40 anyway, it's higher. And a used Lenovo Tiny is easy to find for much less than $200. $100 shipped without an SSD, $140 with one. You're exaggerating both ends.

Legogris 6y ago
You can go cheaper, though. Parts from Ali: Stackable plastic frame for 4 pis + basic heatsinks ~= 5$ MicroUSB PoE injector (removes the need for PSU) ~= 3.5$
rumanator 6y ago
> The $40 SoC isn't $40 after you the drive, power supply, enclosure, etc. That's true, but we can break cost down easily. Right now there are RPi4 packs with power supply, enclosure, and both passive and active coolers for less than 15$. Storage depends on your taste, but you can buy 64GB USB pen drives or micro SD cards for less than 10$, or 1TB external HDD for less than 50$. Thus for a total less than 100$ you can have a brand new server up and running. I'm talking about stuff you can simply add to your shopping cart and get it shipped to your doorstep in a few days with zero research. These prices were literally taken from the first search result that popped into amazon. Better yet, this option involves zero time wasted betting on whether end-of-life hardware still has a few months left in them.

numpad0 6y ago

Lenovo regularly tries to fill ThinkCenter Tiny quotas by orders at the costs for their internal reasons. That’s what he’s talking about.

fomine3 6y ago

For the purpose of home server, SFF PCs are enough small to put on side of the router and almost zero noise. It a bit costs but it features decent storage, great CPU, reliable LAN. Even x6, $200 is cheap.

test1235 6y ago

>noise There's no way you can do much on the rPi4 without active cooling - mine gets uncomfortable hot doing some basic web scraping, never mind server duties.

rumanator 6y ago
> There's no way you can do much on the rPi4 without active cooling. You'd be surprised. YMMV and of course your local climate and your usage patterns do dictate how hot your gear runs, but in my experience adding a small 1$ heat spreader does allow my RPi4 to chug along without going over 60C. Heck, even placing it on the side or placing a coin stack over the processor is enough to keep it running along without ever throttling. Of course if you're constantly running 100% CPU loads then you start to need cooling, whether it's your laptop or desktop or even servers.
bullen 6y ago
You just need the right heatsink: http://move.rupy.se/file/pi_4.jpg http://move.rupy.se/file/pi_4.jpg This one is sold out and out of production now though and I had to trim it because it was made for the 3+
ThrowawayR2 6y ago
There's an oversized passive heatsink available for the RPi4 now: https://www.coolipi.com/ https://www.coolipi.com/ Ought to be adequate at full load without a fan for anything short of a tropical climate. Not inexpensive, though.

microbass 6y ago

I bought an 8GB M92p for €50, and a compatible 4c/8t Xeon for €20 .It makes a great little server. Of course, I also have an RPi 4 for other uses.