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I've been trying to find one to replace my 10 year old i5 NUC, but there's so many mini-PCs! My wish list is a bit exotic, but I'm using it as a general purpose

I've been trying to find one to replace my 10 year old i5 NUC, but there's so many mini-PCs! My wish list is a bit exotic, but I'm using it as a general purpose home automation, photo backup, video hosting device, and I also want to run some startup idea websites on docker images. I'd like: 32GB RAM (upgradeable to 64). Low power usage (<10W idle). Good video transcoding support for Plex. Needs to support 2 internal and 2 USB hard drives for BTRFS, so I can lose 1 drive without any problems and 2 for the critical data.

AdmiralAsshat 3y ago
Same here. In fact I've been using a fellow Ars Technica-recommended HP Stream Mini [0] as my Kodi box for many years, with an upgraded Wifi chip, extra RAM, and an SSD, but it's getting long in the tooth and Windows 10's frequent unkillable, non-deferrable background upgrade/virus scan processes make the damn thing unusable half the time. I keep meaning to blow the Win 10 install away and try installing Linux Mint or something, but it keeps falling into my backlog. I do wish NVIDIA would release a new Shield already, as that would probably solve my problems, but the last one they released is like five years old at this point. [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/cheap-functional-upgradeable-hps-stream-and-pavilion-mini-desktops-reviewed/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/cheap-functional-upg...
- bigtech 3y ago
  I bought an N100 mini that looks just like the Ars picture, but it's branded from Beelink as an S12Pro -- it does all of this and more. Mine is in the living room with the HDMI attached to my TV, but I RDP into it for most things. I installed WSL and and initially ran Plex from Docker, but switched to Windows native as it is simpler to setup and maintain.
  - jtwaleson 3y ago
    The N100 doesn't support 64GB memory I believe.
    - rbanffy 3y ago
      Maxes out at 16GB IIRC. 64GB is in the small server space for Intel.
- bombcar 3y ago
  I used Kodi for quite awhile, but now running Jellyfin on my main (NAS) server and just using Infuse on an Apple TV provides quite the similar interface, and simpler.
bombcar 3y ago
https://www.servethehome.com https://www.servethehome.com did some reviews of various "off-lease" miniPCs that may be worth looking at (if you've not already): https://www.servethehome.com/?s=mini+pc https://www.servethehome.com/?s=mini+pc might find some.
wlesieutre 3y ago
ASRock's 4x4 BOX could fit the bill. It can fit an M.2 and a 2.5" SATA drive, though they recommend not using a SATA drive due to airflow. If you're not loading it heavily that might not be a problem. https://www.anandtech.com/show/18794/asrock-industrial-4x4-box7735ud5-review https://www.anandtech.com/show/18794/asrock-industrial-4x4-b... AMD's APUs are great for this form factor, but I think the Plex transcoding support is a YMMV situation.
- jtwaleson 3y ago
  Found these too, though I can't really find the recent versions in retail (in EU at least). Also not sure how bad the power draw is.
  - wlesieutre 3y ago
    Page 8 has power testing https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph18794/PowerConsumption_pcons_loadidle.png https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph18794/PowerConsumpt...
rbanffy 3y ago
64GB is not common on these small machines, but clustering them is very easy. I run a cluster of 4 RPi Zero W's with Docker Swarm. Certainly good enough for playing with mini and mainframe emulation. I also have a stack of HP thin clients that will be turned into a beefier cluster.

AdmiralAsshat 3y ago

Same here. In fact I've been using a fellow Ars Technica-recommended HP Stream Mini [0] as my Kodi box for many years, with an upgraded Wifi chip, extra RAM, and an SSD, but it's getting long in the tooth and Windows 10's frequent unkillable, non-deferrable background upgrade/virus scan processes make the damn thing unusable half the time. I keep meaning to blow the Win 10 install away and try installing Linux Mint or something, but it keeps falling into my backlog. I do wish NVIDIA would release a new Shield already, as that would probably solve my problems, but the last one they released is like five years old at this point. [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/cheap-functional-upgradeable-hps-stream-and-pavilion-mini-desktops-reviewed/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/cheap-functional-upg...

bigtech 3y ago
I bought an N100 mini that looks just like the Ars picture, but it's branded from Beelink as an S12Pro -- it does all of this and more. Mine is in the living room with the HDMI attached to my TV, but I RDP into it for most things. I installed WSL and and initially ran Plex from Docker, but switched to Windows native as it is simpler to setup and maintain.
- jtwaleson 3y ago
  The N100 doesn't support 64GB memory I believe.
  - rbanffy 3y ago
    Maxes out at 16GB IIRC. 64GB is in the small server space for Intel.
bombcar 3y ago
I used Kodi for quite awhile, but now running Jellyfin on my main (NAS) server and just using Infuse on an Apple TV provides quite the similar interface, and simpler.

bombcar 3y ago

https://www.servethehome.com https://www.servethehome.com did some reviews of various "off-lease" miniPCs that may be worth looking at (if you've not already): https://www.servethehome.com/?s=mini+pc https://www.servethehome.com/?s=mini+pc might find some.

wlesieutre 3y ago

ASRock's 4x4 BOX could fit the bill. It can fit an M.2 and a 2.5" SATA drive, though they recommend not using a SATA drive due to airflow. If you're not loading it heavily that might not be a problem. https://www.anandtech.com/show/18794/asrock-industrial-4x4-box7735ud5-review https://www.anandtech.com/show/18794/asrock-industrial-4x4-b... AMD's APUs are great for this form factor, but I think the Plex transcoding support is a YMMV situation.

jtwaleson 3y ago
Found these too, though I can't really find the recent versions in retail (in EU at least). Also not sure how bad the power draw is.
- wlesieutre 3y ago
  Page 8 has power testing https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph18794/PowerConsumption_pcons_loadidle.png https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph18794/PowerConsumpt...

rbanffy 3y ago

64GB is not common on these small machines, but clustering them is very easy. I run a cluster of 4 RPi Zero W's with Docker Swarm. Certainly good enough for playing with mini and mainframe emulation. I also have a stack of HP thin clients that will be turned into a beefier cluster.