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Low Cost Mini PCs

• mjcurl 2y ago
  Update: I have added the UK marketplace https://lowcostminipcs.com/uk/ https://lowcostminipcs.com/uk/ as well as keyword filters for stuff like processors. Thank you everyone for the feedback!
• RobotToaster 2y ago
  data on ECC ram support would be helpful, since it's needed for ZFS.
• mjcurl 2y ago
  The coolest ones I found: https://www.ebay.com/itm/315406551868 https://www.ebay.com/itm/315406551868 https://www.ebay.com/itm/386903851995 https://www.ebay.com/itm/386903851995 I one I ended up getting: https://www.ebay.com/itm/296370169192?var=594356150752 https://www.ebay.com/itm/296370169192?var=594356150752
  • samstave 2y ago
    That one you got is stunning value! This site is fantastic. Also - look at CyberPunk 2077 Crawler https://github.com/itsOwen/CyberScraper-2077 https://github.com/itsOwen/CyberScraper-2077 By another HNer. This site is great!. Would be cool to use it as a template for any other category of "thing" -- if you could share it.
    • xhrpost 2y ago
      Stunning value indeed, they got more RAM than my M3 I use for work. Edit: oh wait there are drop downs to change the specs, subject is max specs but initial price is the min specs. Still good though
    • lastofthemojito 2y ago
      It's a shame that people need to use this template to design these sorts of eBay search sites though. Seems like it'd be easy enough for eBay to create a tabular view where one could choose fields applicable to their search - the same table that works for mini PCs could work for smartphones or comic books or collectable coins or whatever. I suspect that doing so wouldn't be great for eBay's business though - the table is sortable, but eBay wants to sell promoted listings that are at the top of pages. And less dense search result views with big photos probably entice people to buy "shiny" things rather than specs.
    • dotBen 2y ago
      That one you got is stunning value! (it was priced for a more basic spec than in the title. If you played with the configuration the spec in the title came to $219.99. You can make your own determination whether that was as good value)
  • roshansingh 2y ago
    The one you got is so cool. Can you leave this running 24x7 and is it noisy?
• drcongo 2y ago
  A CPU arch filter would be useful (I've been on the lookout for an ARM based one), as would the ability to choose a different eBay region (I'm in the UK). Nice work though!
  • amiga-workbench 2y ago
    A friend of mine has a few Dell Kace M300's which they run Linux on. Would that kind of thing be what you're looking for? It was originally an asset management appliance for businesses. https://sudos.wordpress.com/2022/05/27/dell-kace-m300-or-fancy-paperweight-runs-modern-linux/ https://sudos.wordpress.com/2022/05/27/dell-kace-m300-or-fan...
• kyriakos 2y ago
  This is fantastic. Can you add a filter for location US/Europe/Asia?
  • rkachowski 2y ago
    seconded, i've been looking for exactly this kind of machine in EU and this would be ideal.
    • mjcurl 2y ago
      which eBay marketplace do you use?
      • gerardpg 2y ago
        Spain.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Yes, should be easy. Would it work if it used the region's ebay marketplace to get results? The following could be added: EBAY_AT - Austria (ebay.at) EBAY_AU - Australia (ebay.com.au) EBAY_BE - Belgium (ebay.com.be) EBAY_CA - Canada (ebay.ca) EBAY_CH - Switzerland (ebay.ch) EBAY_DE - Germany (ebay.de) EBAY_ES - Spain (ebay.es) EBAY_FR - France (ebay.fr) EBAY_GB - Great Britain (ebay.co.uk) EBAY_HK - Hong Kong (ebay.com.hk) EBAY_IE - Ireland (ebay.ie) EBAY_IT - Italy (ebay.it) EBAY_NL - Netherlands (ebay.nl) EBAY_PL - Poland (ebay.pl) EBAY_SG - Singapore (ebay.sg)
    • kyriakos 2y ago
      Yeah that works too :)
    • exacube 2y ago
      yes that'd be great! and if the price could somehow include the shipping rate to the country, that'd be awesome
    • prmoustache 2y ago
• transpute 2y ago
  Useful index! Suggestions: 1. encode search filters in URL, for sharing/bookmark 2. Add "Intel vPro" as a filter.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Good call, I'll encode the state in the URL. Did not come across a lot of Intel VPros in my searches. What's the use case for them?
    • transpute 2y ago
      Many of the Dell/HP mini PCs with Intel i5 or higher are vPro, because they were used in corporate environments, but it looks like this is rarely part of the eBay item description. Thanks for checking. vPro devices support Intel TXT (DRTM) to verify firmware integrity on each boot, based on user/OS policy. TXT can be used with QubesOS ("Anti Evil Maid"), Windows Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) or upcoming Linux Secure Launch in mainline Linux. vPro also supports optional remote KVM/serial management over LAN with Intel AMT, which could be considered a feature or anti-feature, depending on use case.
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        Thanks for the info! Listings often fail to mention many things, and aren't standardized, so it's quite a mess.
    • deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
• mdrzn 2y ago
  Add a location filter otherwise it's completely useless from outside USA. I clicked on a $30 Ebay link and the shipping price is US $542.06 UPS Worldwide Saver
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    True, thought of this as a test run. Other locations should be added soon.
  • samstave 2y ago
    [flagged]
• gboone 2y ago
  Would be nice if links opened a new tab. Good job.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Thanks! I think it's a better practice to not open links in a new tab i.e users should have control over their experience. But it can be subjective.
    • achow 2y ago
      Opening in a new tab has become some kind of standard UX. Regardless of that, for this kind of site it would be very useful for product spec comparison.
      • Scoundreller 2y ago
        I’m a Ctrl-click kinda guy for these scenarios.
    • samstave 2y ago
      Always open in new tab. Ill keep track of the 437 I have open in 7 different FF windows, and the couple Edge tabs to hide cookies ThankYouVeryMuch EDIT: Yes ctrl-click is too much effort. Middle-click even. (Many forget a middle click on a mouse-wheel is also a ctrl-click/new-tab button, and the thumb button MOUSE4 is back)
    • josefresco 2y ago
      Think about it this way: Will the user "lose their place" on your page if they click a link and go back? Will the user lose any filtering or search options? If the answer is yes to either, open in a new tab. I personally make this determination all the time, especially on social media after I've scrolled a lot and don't want my "progress" to be lost.
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        That makes sense to me, thank you. I have changed links to open in a new tab.
• shmoogy 2y ago
  Being able to filter by CPU (and model i.e. optiplex 3010 or whatever) would be useful here. I'm looking for a sff that has 13th gen intel cpu, supports 64gb ram as an example.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Since there's hundreds/thousands of cpus and models, how about a keyword filter field?
    • Tepix 2y ago
      Fantastic!
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        added!
  • roger_ 2y ago
    Came to suggest the same thing. I’d love to be able to filter by CPU and generation. Maybe using an LLM could help with the parsing?
  • someone13 2y ago
    It’d also be neat if there was a way to sort by the passmark CPU benchmark score: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ https://www.cpubenchmark.net/
• voidUpdate 2y ago
  oooo, this is useful! It's a pain trying to search for these kinds of things manually, and it would be nice to get a whole stack of the kind of lenovo I have haha. Just need the UK region support :P
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    UK marketplace has been added :)
• jasongill 2y ago
  Would it be possible to add a column with some kind of CPU score - for those of us who don't keep up on PC CPU advancements, it's hard to tell if an i3 5th gen is faster or slower than an i5 3rd gen
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    I did plan this, but upon getting the data, found it too difficult for the initial version. There's no standard for CPU (or most fields actually), so sellers write it in a variety of ways. But it could be done, after I compile a dataset of cpu > benchmarks.
    • nfriedly 2y ago
      I like passmark / cpubenchmark.net to get a good ballpark idea of CPU performance, because it covers a wide range of CPUs, and because it has both single-core and multi-core scores.
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        I prefer that too. Now to get data for all the listed CPUs!
• outime 2y ago
  This is neat, although I have a word of caution (even if it might be a bit obvious): it's possible to find good deals, but you should be aware of power usage. There are modern mini PCs, such as those with Intel N100 processors, that are very cheap and consume very few watts while being useful for many purposes. I personally bought a brand-new CHUWI LarkBox X, and it's been great. It cost around 100 EUR on a deal. If however power usage isn't an issue for you and you don't care about other misc stuff (noise levels etc) then you can disregard this.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Agreed, an N100 mini PC can be a great deal. They also tend to be smaller. I added a separate Intel filter that includes a lot of N100s. But it might be better to buy those new, not used.
  • josefresco 2y ago
    For those wondering (like me) the normal price for the CHUWI LarkBox X is about $190.
  • bizzleDawg 2y ago
    Does anyone have any useful rules-of-thumb or heuristics for balancing this trade off of upfront cost v.s. power cost? e.g. how much does an N100 cost to run for a year v.s. say a i5-2400s (the CPU for the first row on the linked site)?
    • mpol 2y ago
      I used to calculate costs of lightbulbs: 1 Watt running the whole year, at 0,28 eurocent/kWh costs 1 Euro per year. Until someone corrected me and it turned out that every 1 Watt 24/7 will be 2 Euro per year. In the US electric power might be cheaper. And if it's running only part of the time, you should adjust the calculation. My desktop/server runs 24/7, so I prefer having a CPU with 65W TDP over one that is 125W TDP. That might run up to 120 Euro per year difference for me (if it would be running at 100% CPU).
      • 2y ago
• molticrystal 2y ago
  It would be awesome if you included shipping in the total price(or at least for certain countries). I know bookfinder does that, as some people add an extra $100 to several hundred dollars to the price which skews the results. I think ebay technically frowns upon excessive shipping as some sellers use it to get their items higher in certain search results due to a low base price, but ebay doesn't really apply enforcement to their sellers on these soft violations most of the time. ----- It seems some of your filters like "storage type" are must include and when unchecking it all the results disappear, while others like "OS" seem like a filter and when unchecking the results increase. ------ I'm not seeing many chromeboxes in the results so maybe they are being filtered out?
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Thank you, I have fixed the "OS" filter to be must include. Chromeboxes don't come up much for the search I'm using. I think I could try a separate search for them. Regarding shipping, I'm not sure how to include it, since it requires the user's location, which would take this over the API limits. I'm going to add more marketplaces, and maybe product locations. Which country are you shipping to?
    • throwup238 2y ago
      Maybe just take an average of shipping costs to a few locations (West coast Us, East coast US, Europe) and filter out anything where the shipping cost is greater than the cost of the product itself. Or just get a shipping estimate to the same city as the seller is in.
    • Qerub 2y ago
      Adding product location would be great! As a resident of the European Union I'm unlikely to order one of these mini PCs from the USA due to import taxes and additional shipping costs.
  • chazeon 2y ago
    I think shipping costs varies wrt where you live.
• smashah 2y ago
  Amazing! A few more filters (e.g location) and this would be an amazing tool for buying locally. bookmarked!
• kylecazar 2y ago
  I had largely written off eBay some years ago after some bad experiences -- but this tool just showed me some pretty insane deals on custom PC builds over there.. Neat.
• j0d1 2y ago
  This is really neat! I would love to see something similar for laptops. I bought a used Lenovo T80s (8th generation i5 CPU / 8GB of RAM / 256GB SSD) for 150$cad on eBay to work on my product (web app) and it is working flawlessly with Debian.
• iforgotpassword 2y ago
  Maybe consider adding Fujitsu as a manufacturer. At least here in Europe they're fairly common in business environments so get tossed on ebay quite frequently. I've had very good experience with their stuff over the past decade.
  • CRConrad 2y ago
    > Maybe consider adding Fujitsu as a manufacturer. At least here in Europe they're fairly common Probably because they bought ICL (which IIRC had itself recently bought Nokia's PC business) around the turn of the century.
  • weweweoo 2y ago
    Definitely do that. Old Fujitsu thin clients make awesome DIY routers.
• wan888888 2y ago
  The joy of living in Australia: $38.00 + $710.23 shipping
  • haunter 2y ago
    Don't bother with eBay, you can get refurbsihed ones in Australia too A$115 example, https://www.australiancomputertraders.com.au/hp-elitedesk-800-g2-micro-intel-i5-6500t-2.50ghz-8~205 https://www.australiancomputertraders.com.au/hp-elitedesk-80...
    • deamanto 2y ago
      Very coincidental with this post as I just started looking into creating a home server for the first time and decided that mini PCs were sufficient for my use case (originally was going with Small Form Factor). Just bought a Dell Optiplex 7060 Micro from this website for <300AUD. I heard they were pretty decent for used PCs. The price difference isn't too far off from the USD equivalent here.
• overcast 2y ago
  Been using a Beelink SER6 Mini PC, AMD Ryzen 5 6600H, 16GB DDR and 500GB NVME for the last year or so with PopOS as my daily driver and loving it. With a portable monitor makes remote work great for $351 and $100 for the monitor!
  • InMice 2y ago
    I have a beelink, have had no problems except the original SSD in mine failed suddenly in <1 year. I'd recommend anyone getting a beelink to swap out their SSD with a crucial, kingston, samsung brand etc before putting the pc to use.
• whiterock 2y ago
  Could you add Geekbench scores? I‘d love that :)
• eskibars 2y ago
  This is awesome. I used to build a lot of stuff with various single-board computers (Raspberry Pis, etc) but realized I could get way more performance and expandability with these mini PCs if the form factor didn't require it. One other thing I'd be interested in: not just mini PCs but used office workstations. I realized that many offices were selling old workstations that were often just a few years old with things like dual Xeon chips and 64GB of RAM or more with support for a few hundred GB for only a few hundred $. Things like 2ish generation old HP Z400/Z600/Z800 series. They make for great home lab virtualization machines and can often support 2+ GPUs and a boatload of additional peripherals. I'd love to see something like this that lets you find those as well
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    I was actually going to make one for workstations, since that is what I thought the best deal was for my home server. Then I did some research, and realized mini pcs are a better deal now. Still might build it though.
• mydriasis 2y ago
  For reference, I thought I'd outline the baby PCs I use, since we're chatting about baby PCs. Maybe someone will find this useful. I use thinkcentre M92p SFFs for easy server boxes. Some things I like: - Bountiful - Cheap -- they can be had for under $100 each - Pretty powerful considering what you're paying, too! - Use common desktop parts for the most part - Accepts low-profile PCIe equipment ( network cards for ethernet, wifi; GPUs ) - Repair & replacement parts are CHEAP Some things I don't: - I've had to do some ridiculous things to get them to behave after installing Linux, like tricking the BIOS to deal with UEFI correctly - It's basically impossible to get a better power supply, so you're limited with how much each one can do. Don't expect anything better than a very low-power, low-profile GPU for example. - There's not a ton of room in the case, so if you want PCIe stuff you will need low-profile. You can definitely stuff lots of hard drives in there if you work at it, though. And, maybe someone has advice for me...!
  • haunter 2y ago
    > I've had to do some ridiculous things to get them to behave after installing Linux, like tricking the BIOS to deal with UEFI correctly Strange. I use Dell Optiplex Micros which are pretty much the same. I’ve never had a problem installing any Linux distros or hypervisors (Proxmox and XCP-NG)
    • mydriasis 2y ago
      It was so bizarre. I'd get a "No Operating System Found" message, and had to go toy with the UEFI config. Eek!
    • bitmasher9 2y ago
      I’ve bought 3 used Dells, mostly Optiplexes, over the decades for dedicated hardware for Linux based projects. They always seem like a good deal, and I surprisingly never have problems with them. These are fleet computers that get gently used during business hours that have IT departments that replace computers on a time schedule. Outside of one HDD that didn’t last a year of heavy file traffic I haven’t had really good luck with these machines.
• gizmo 2y ago
  That's very cool. I ultimately concluded that those mystery brand Chinese fanless mini pcs from Amazon (essentially laptop hardware in a tiny enclosure) offer a better deal. Minimal power usage, fast networking, real USB-C, and NVMe drive support. Old hardware is bulky, makes noise, and outputs too much heat. Even the truly tiny mini pcs -- the kind that fit in your back pocket -- are fast enough for a NAS or TV media player.
  • kyriakos 2y ago
    They are usually a lot more expensive because they come with newer CPUs.
• sodimel 2y ago
  This is cool! It reminds me of when I got my own web "server"; I purchased it (for ~50€) after reading this post[0] back in 2017. The optiplex fx160 is still running to this day. [0] http://thesizzlewo.webflow.io/blog/get-a-dell-optiplex-fx160-instead-of-a-raspberry-pi http://thesizzlewo.webflow.io/blog/get-a-dell-optiplex-fx160...
• bArray 2y ago
  For UK shoppers looking for a cheap laptop, the Dell Latitude E7240 is a solid machine [1]. For about £50-£60 delivered you can get a 12.5" machine with a ~4th gen i5, 4-8GB of RAM and an SSD. It's great for Teams/Zoom and the keyboard is very nice to type on. My personal one has 12GB of RAM (4+8) and two SSDs (there is a spare slot for a half size M.2. inside). You can abuse the hell out of them and they take it. [1] https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Dell%20Latitude%20E7240&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&rt=nc&_udhi=100 https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Dell%20Lati...
• xhrpost 2y ago
  I've been loving the recent attention to mini PCs here. I've had hobby projects put off for a while as I tried to find the best R-Pi clone, only to buy one and struggle just to get it to boot. Then I pick up a used mini PC on ebay for like $42 shipped, power cord and everything and even a 500gb SSD. Now I have a server running at home and am actually working on projects again, oddly for probably less than what a Pi clone costs after you buy enough accessories to use it.
  • deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  • roflmaostc 2y ago
    difference might be that a Raspberry Pi consumes < 10W. An old PC draws easily 5-10 times more energy. Depending on your location, the yearly cost of running a Pi is around ~10$. The big machine then 50-100$. So energy wise, a small power efficient machine might be more expensive but the running cost could be lower.
    • throwaway984393 2y ago
      Not only excess power draw, but excess heat, which then needs more power for the AC to cool the home
      • switchbak 2y ago
        I have a little Intel i5 behind me all year long, and I don't notice any effect on the temperature of this (small) room. 12 watts is not a lot of heat to be dumping. This is really small fry compared to other HVAC efficiency concerns, and definitely not an issue outside of summertime temps in most locales. My Threadripper on the other hand - I had to move that into the crawlspace as it was: a) loud as hell, and b) basically a space heater that also does useful compute. 160w idle, ~280w full tilt - that thing is very noticable.
        • brewtide 2y ago
• amelius 2y ago
  Is it possible to run Linux on all of them (so remove existing Windows)? If not, maybe add a checkbox for it.
  • bityard 2y ago
    Linux will run on basically any x86 box. The question of "how well?" is mostly down to the fact that some GPUs and wifi chips have substandard support due to their manufacturers' refusal to document their driver interfaces.
• amelius 2y ago
  > I would like to add power usage, noise levels, PCIe slots but that data is hard to find. Maybe you can use an LLM to extract that data from reviews? Anyway, I'd like to know if I can use the system for a home cinema, so it should be able to decode 4k resolution in real time (and shouldn't be too noisy). It would be nice if there was a checkbox for that usecase.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Reviews aren't common due to many listings having 1 item in stock. What would the requirements for your decoding be?
    • amelius 2y ago
      > What would the requirements for your decoding be? Well, it should just play 4k content from various sources (and so various formats), using Vlc. > Reviews aren't common due to many listings having 1 item in stock. I suppose you could use a (Google) search to find reviews elsewhere on the internet, based on the product name. Then feed them to ChatGPT, and ask it to summarize various things and build a JSON structure out of its findings. Maybe ChatGPT can even do the search for you.
• preciz 2y ago
  Probably GMKtec is cheaper and better. I own one. https://www.gmktec.com https://www.gmktec.com
  • bloomingeek 2y ago
    Yes and Yes! I have two of them and just ordered a third, great machines.
• phkahler 2y ago
  I really want a new motherboard form factor that gets rid of the graphics card slot and assumes integrated graphics. It should also aim to reduce the height of the back panel a little bit. Maybe allow 4 DIMM slots (ECC preferred). I just upgraded my Mellori-ITX to 64GB RAM and have a 5700G to drop in there. This is possibly the best SFF config you can do in an AM4 socket: https://github.com/phkahler/mellori_ITX https://github.com/phkahler/mellori_ITX BTW we need USB ports ON TOP so you can plug stuff in without pushing the PC around the desk. Storage, not permanently attached stuff.
• indigodaddy 2y ago
  The eBay sellers who do the customization/price thing makes some of your price results misleading/unreliable as the price will be more on those than the base you have listed.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    I found that to happen sometimes, so I marked customizable listings. But I think I was able to parse most of them to show the specs for the selected variation, not the parent or the title.
• riledhel 2y ago
  I've recently bought this Intel N100 mini pc https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005006727722225.html https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005006727722225.html and it's amazing. It even came with win11 preinstalled, an unexpected surprise for me. 16G RAM and 512G SSD for 100 euros, great deal.
• mech422 2y ago
  Gotta throw in a mention of my fav: Odroid H2/3/4(1) $125ish for an SBC with Intel N/J series CPU, DDR4/DDR5, up to 32G RAM, SATA, Dual Ethernet etc. I have the old H2+ series and LOVE them :-) 1: https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4/ https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4/
• breakds 2y ago
  I am currently using a Beelink SER8, a very decent powerful mini PC for its price. It is also the most quiet mini PC I have used.
• haunter 2y ago
  You can probably find better deals from PC shops selling refurbuished enterprise PCs (Lenovo, Dell, HP)
• nashashmi 2y ago
  I have been looking into mini pcs. The niche I want is a USB c powered hand sized pc. I have only found two on Amazon so far, one has a small screen and another close to the size of a small dock. But they are both underpowered with Celeron processors. I just need something that i can take from one desk to another that carry docking stations.
  • universa1 2y ago
    I wanted to recommend Minisforum, as I have a um560, that is powered through usb-c. But that is not available anymore... So those kind of machines exist... You could get a frame.work laptop in an external case, slightly larger than hand-sized, though.
    • nashashmi 2y ago
      In addition to minisforum, there is mele. Mele makes celeron based usb c powered mini pcs. Quite compact. Serves as a good thin client. And lightweight business pc. Ideas are circulating in my head for a custom solution.
• sulandor 2y ago
  YES!!!! Usable ebay interface - very nice! would be great to have a filter for country of origin/shipping
  • InMice 2y ago
    Makes you think about how most website are just junky interfaces atop relatively simple tables of data.
    • mjcurl 2y ago
      Oh, how I wish I had better access to the eBay data .. currently they limit you to 5k requests per day.
    • sulandor 2y ago
      "value added and removed here"
• steeleyespan 2y ago
  Would have loved to see this site a few months back. I ended up buying Dell optiplex refurbs thinking they were minis, but they were big lol. Edit: Nevermind - mine are the same size as many of the listings here with DVD drives. I was thinking of micros.
• simplecto 2y ago
  Websites like this talk to my heart. Strong early 2000s vibes of nerds just putting it out there. Love this, thank you!
• agg23 2y ago
  This is really nice, and I just did this analysis myself. It seems like the tool is missing some of the better deals, like Optiplex 3070 with 9th gen i5s for ~$100, entire working system included (this is what I ended up buying).
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    eBay uses a 'best match' sort on the results, perhaps that's why it was missed. What did you search for when you found this one?
    • agg23 2y ago
      I believe I looked up common machines with good prices, then searched for those individually, which obviously isn't going to work very well for this tool.
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        I'll try to include some custom searches for 'good' models.
• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
• darkstar_16 2y ago
  the data needs a bit of a cleanup. I see N100 showing up with "Intel 100", Intel Alder Lake N100" and just "3.4 GHz" in various places.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Is this for the CPU column? That's actually one I spent the least time on, since there was so much variation with how sellers entered processors. I'll take a look at it, thanks.
    • mjcurl 2y ago
      Update: cleaned up CPUs a bit.
• davidjade 2y ago
  Cool. It would be great to be able to filter Intel vs AMD. Or perhaps even by processor family.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Sure, how about a keyword filter instead? That way you can filter by whatever instead of big filter lists cluttering the UI.
    • davidjade 2y ago
      That would be good. Easy enough to filter Intel vs AMD that way as well as a particular CPU.
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        added!
• heraldgeezer 2y ago
  I love it. But its been a bit of a "secret" that office PCs that are 3 years old are still very very good. I hope tech bros dont ruin this. Also lol at power consumption voes.
  • tracker1 2y ago
    There are some refurbers that will take office PCs and put a modern-ish GPU, upgrade the PSU etc. That said, Mini PCs don't offer PCIe expansion most of the time, so a GPU upgrade isn't an option. Less appealing compared to new options.
    • heraldgeezer 2y ago
      I mean those optiplex typ desktops. Now everyone gets laptops or big workstations anyways. Mini PCs are for POS and singage.
      • tracker1 2y ago
        You can get some relatively high end Mini PCs... I mean, around $600 you can get what would be a $2k laptop (minus screen/kb/touchpad). And current gen laptop CPU/iGPU are better than desktop just a few years ago.
• pjc50 2y ago
  Site is currently timing out. If it's actually static, stick it behind free Cloudflare. But still - nice idea, thanks for the Show HN. Does anyone know what the right searchplace is for media storage PCs? I'm considering getting something in this area that's a bit more sophisticated than a NAS but not a huge project to maintain.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Actually I did stick it behind Cloudflare..not sure why it would time out, since it's just an html page.
    • pjc50 2y ago
      Huh, turns out to be a problem at my end, probably due to corporate firewall.
• eternauta3k 2y ago
  Are you the same guy from https://diskprices.com https://diskprices.com ? Awesome tools! Would be nice to have ebay.de as well.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    No, just was inspired by diskprices, thought it's great UX. I will be adding more marketplaces, .de included.
• thelastgallon 2y ago
  An option to filter by ECC RAM would be super helpful.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    I wanted to add this, but that data is almost never entered by sellers.
• pdimitar 2y ago
  Instant bookmark, thank you! Wishlist: please allow filtering by Intel / AMD CPUs and Intel / NVIDIA / AMD GPUs. It's IMO important to know how many open drivers can the buyer use on Linux / BSD.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Another person mentioned this, so I will add this as soon as I can.
• skadamat 2y ago
  I love how simple this site is. It's fast, no navigation, etc. Kudos!
• bloqs 2y ago
  Cant recommend anything based on intel N100 enough. Power draw is about 13w but absolutely excellent performance. Bought several "Firebat" ones from AliExpress
• Tepix 2y ago
  Very cool. Can you add support for eBay Germany (ebay.de)?
• eterps 2y ago
  I would love to see something like this but being able to sort on price/performance ratio (f.e. based on a CPU performance index in comparison to the price).
  • calvinmorrison 2y ago
    seconded. I cant keep up with all the variants on intels naming scheme.
  • buescher 2y ago
    What I'd really like to see is the curve! There's usually two "sweet spots", right? The minimum you should spend, and what you should expect at that point, and the point of diminishing returns, and what you should expect there.
  • jll29 2y ago
    ...and MIPS/Watt!
• FloatArtifact 2y ago
  sorting based on the processors, release date, or by performance single slash multi-core would be interesting.
• DownrightNifty 2y ago
  This is super cool! Now if only my ISP would give me a static IP address so I could expose port 51820 on one of these things and life would be perfect.
• baggachipz 2y ago
  Very cool. It would be helpful to allow search on processor architecture and power draw as well.
• whywhywhywhy 2y ago
  You should have a filter for processor, feel the difference between ones like N100 and usual low end Intel processors is huge. Might be cool to list them with benchmarks too for people who don’t want to do research.
• wscott 2y ago
  On the website itself, "OS" "Included" and "Not Included" is strange. I don't see that I need "Not Included", unchecking "Included" should show you everything but instead it shows you nothing. I don't see the value of "no os included" verses a copy of Windows that I will overwrite. So I would just have an "OS Included?" checkbox.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Agreed, changed it to an extras filter.
• chazeon 2y ago
  Core count is something I would add to the table. These mini PC are good for hobbyists, they are cheaper, stable, faster and easier to maintain than Arm SBCs I have get four of them since pandemic. I can’t wait to see what happen when hyperscaler retire their A100s/H100s.
• layer8 2y ago
  This is only of limited usefulness if you want to buy a new mini PC (rather than specifically a used unit from eBay). For example, many current fanless models are not listed. Just searching for “fanless mini pc” on Amazon.com gives many more (and some cheaper) results. This might be a task for an LLM-supported scraper looking at a number of online marketplaces, retailers, and manufacturer sites. Then, conversely, you could link to matching eBay listings. It would also need a mechanism for users to submit spec corrections.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Definitely made more for buying used mini pcs.
• botro 2y ago
  I have found that laptops with cracked or scrached screens offer a much better value in terms of newer hardware. The battery acts as a built in UPS. For example this laptop: Dell Latitude 7400 Intel i7-1165G7 16GB 256GB NVMe SSD Is $180 shipped. https://www.ebay.com/itm/266969891671?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=W75yzYUGS_6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=5b35ROjpRdO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY https://www.ebay.com/itm/266969891671?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid...
• distant_travelr 2y ago
  Dude, why are the filters not url encoded??? This makes sharing a specific config to my mates so annoying
• VikingCoder 2y ago
  ETA Prime has some advice on making a gaming machine out of cheap old PCs: "You Can Build This Powerful Ultra Low Cost SteamOS 3 Gaming PC For Only $150" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFIgQ9zgXOk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFIgQ9zgXOk Optiplex 7020 with a tower - not a "Small Form Factor." "This Super Low Cost PC Runs SteamOS 3 Better Than The Steam Deck!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myye5o0y2Jw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myye5o0y2Jw
  • detritus 2y ago
    Thanks for this! I've been meaning to get back into games but only keep a laptop at home and I had no idea that I could make a machine that could capably serve my needs for <£300 (32Gb Win10 i7 6700 with 256gb SSD (!), OK 2nd hand GPU) I spent my younger years always having The Best Machine I CoUlD afFord, but fifteen years later I just want something 'good enough' and it's nice to know I needn't spend over a grand to do so. Thanks again!
    • VikingCoder 2y ago
      Yeah, to be honest, I followed one of these build guides, and got a second hand GPU, and it didn't fit in the case. I tried to "make" it fit with some shears. It died. No surprise. So then I bought a new cheap GPU, and the machine seems to work pretty well. My kids play Minecraft and StepMania on it. https://www.newegg.com/dell-7020/p/N82E16883165773 https://www.newegg.com/dell-7020/p/N82E16883165773 - $160 https://www.amazon.com/Power-Express-Video-Cable-Adapter/dp/B007Y91B80 https://www.amazon.com/Power-Express-Video-Cable-Adapter/dp/... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3QSCLR4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3QSCLR4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_... - $101 - this one fit! But I found more videos I had bookmarked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTAzwKiQ7Ns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTAzwKiQ7Ns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLQ8NDbMEUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLQ8NDbMEUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97enzfkRg2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97enzfkRg2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvNS4M3o85o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvNS4M3o85o ALSO, while we're chatting - I picked up this Chromebook: ASUS Chromebook Plus, CM3401 14" 2-in-1 Laptop with Google AI - AMD Ryzen 3 7320C - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Ponder Blue, Model CM3401FF-R3128BLX. I got it in "Open Box Good" condition for $199.99. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-chromebook-plus-cm3401-14-2-in-1-laptop-with-google-ai-amd-ryzen-3-7320c-8gb-memory-128gb-ssd-ponder-blue/6553121.p?skuId=6553121 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-chromebook-plus-cm3401-14-... I kind of love it. Convertible to tablet (keyboard folds under.) Runs Android apps, including Disney+, can download Disney+ shows. HDMI out. I believe the HDMI out works for Disney+ which is a surprise and a treat. Runs Linux. I installed Visual Studio Code, .Net Core, etc. Because it's a "Chromebook Plus," it has an App Shortcut to install the Steam Installer. (!!!) I installed Balatro, and the touchscreen works awesome. I installed both Android Minecraft (works well on the built-in screen but for some reason has frame rate problems on the external display?), and also Minecraft Java through the Linux. Haven't tried too many other Steam games yet. I tried to install Path of Exile, but it seems to completely not work. For $199.99, the thing's a beast.
• renewiltord 2y ago
  This is cool. I frequently have a need for this. I also would love if there were a site for low power PCs.
• bluepuma77 2y ago
  It would be great if it would support other eBay sites than just .com, not everyone is in the US :)
• guelermus 2y ago
  Nice. Could you please add also the postal costs to the sort? My very first trial showed me a 38$ PC with 500$ postal cost. I'm located in Europe, but still ???
• ethanpil 2y ago
  This is wonderful i'll be using this a lot. Would be great to see a filter for Tiny vs Mini as well as CPU. AMD/Intel and i3 i7 i9, etc, maybe even generation, etc
• bflesch 2y ago
  now do the same for europe with € prices...
• SoftTalker 2y ago
  A bit meta but nice job on the site design. Dense but very readable, filter controls are clear and with a minimum of unnecessary decoration. I wish more people still designed websites like this. Reminds me a bit of McMaster-Carr.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    credit to diskprices.com for the inspiration.
  • jd3 2y ago
    Had the same initial thought; the site design is simple and straightforward, but info dense and easy to navigate, similar to craigslist.
• atentaten 2y ago
  This is great. I wish there were something similar to find hardware to run AI models locally.
• NelsonMinar 2y ago
  Neat! I'd love a column for external disk I/O type. I've been trying to build a NAS on a new N100 miniPC but am foiled by the fact that the devices all only have USB ports for I/O. And USB is not reliable enough to run ZFS with a heavy load (kernel errors). I'd love to have something with eSATA or some sort of PCI option.
• ck2 2y ago
  Are old capacitors still a problem on modern PC motherboards? A decade ago they would only last a decade which would make some of these boxes near EOL
• yegle 2y ago
  It would be great if the results can be filtered by the CPU generation. I'm specifically interested in replacing my 8th Gen mini PC and won't want to buy anything older than 8th Gen.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    I've added keyword filters so you can include/exclude keywords.
  • ilikepi 2y ago
    Seconded. You can do this on eBay by choosing specific CPU models, but it would be really helpful to filter more broadly. "Intel 8th gen" for sure, but it could also be useful to be able to combine that with, say, "Intel -T series" or "Intel i5".
• bschmidt1 2y ago
  I've been using a $35 rpi4 for years, it's been a significantly better experience and cost ($0 after initial purchase) than any abstracted PaaS/IaaS I ever tried, and performance is significantly better than the free or hobby tiers. With no need for regional deploys or to have devs contributing from all over, there's not a huge need for cloud. Also kinda nice knowing all my customer data and other PI is at my house instead of at Google's or Amazon's house. Remember when Twitter and GitHub were storing passwords in plain text for years? So yeah... the peace of mind of knowing a 22 y/o at their first job is not making security decisions with my data and infra! Let alone the fact these companies sell your data including your IP - you agree to it in their terms. Beyond this stuff, I always found the UX of IaaS like AWS/GCP/etc. to be a nightmare, particularly the IAM experience. Not just navigating their awful dashboard pages, but learning their brand-specific jargon, managing service accounts, staying up-to-date on latest marketing and service breakdowns for every little thing - it quickly takes over your attention (and budget). Not to mention, using IaaS feels like devolving from a modern developer to an early 00s IT specialist. AWS feels less like "infrastructure" and more like a modern take on cPanel but with far less visibility/control over the server. I digress... in 2021 I copy/pasted my "mono-server" setup from Heroku over to the Pi 4 with vanilla Raspbian and it's been running 24/7/365 ever since. It powers 15+ APIs/backends including a booking engine for a local business in SF, some real-time socket servers for games, and there's both a SQL (postgres) and NoSQL (mongo) server running too. I attached a touch screen that shows the console output in fullscreen, and I velcro it to my wall. It looks like a smartphone charging on my wall or a smart thermostat or something, but it's nice to be able to walk up and see how things are doing. Feels better than checking any dashboard. I've had to restart it only twice over the years. A couple times it just stopped responding to requests, though didn't appear to be frozen. I could stop it and npm start again but nothing. When this happens, have to fully restart and run IPTABLES stuff again to put it back online. However - that's mere minutes spent each year rather than spending significant time every single day in an IaaS or PaaS. Thanks for sharing this awesome list, I'm due for an upgrade pretty soon and I am so glad to see so many low cost options. My hope is that more developers get into these mini PCs around the world, and I imagine a future where the Big Cloud providers play a much smaller more specific role (government data, public domain computing) rather than being the de facto platform for hobby/startup projects. Even things like regional deployments and distributed/"serverless" computing can be accomplished with networks and proxying without giving it all away to a major cloud provider.
• martin_a 2y ago
  Are those boxes powerful enough and a sensible solution to get a little NAS up and running?
  • bityard 2y ago
    Depends on what "a little NAS" means to you, and what interfaces you need. But in general, most any PC made in the last 20 years would work for as simple and small storage server.
    • martin_a 2y ago
      Well, something like network mounted 4 TB of space for photos, some movies, stuff like that?!?
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        Definitely. Bottlenecks will probably be network and storage type. You can probably get a cheap mini PC and add some disks to it.
• gkfasdfasdf 2y ago
  Very nice! Would be nice to filter by NVMe as well. Also, one of the listings didn't come with a power adapter which was some custom lenovo thing. Finally, you totally should include your affiliate link.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    I added keyword filters, hopefully you can use that for NVMe. About the affiliate link: eBay doesn't take in registrations for the country I live in.
• jll29 2y ago
  I like your prototype, and people are already giving fantastic hints to make this even better; information about the geographic location of the offer would be my priority (EU). This is particularly useful from an environmental point of view - all these machines can serve a good purpose for decades to come. Mini PCs use less energy, and every used machine re-used means one PC less built, saving minerals and energy. I recently installed a DELL Micro-PC, which I intended as an X11-Terminal. It turns out that it's also a fine machine for most local work like editing and email (except machine learning and heavy development work), so more beefy machines can stay off.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    I have added a UK version. More EU countries coming soon.
• tracker1 2y ago
  A lot of these things are pretty great for general use, home server, game emulation and htpc duties. From the N100 at the relatively inexpensive, to the Ryzen 8000 series at the mid-range with top tier cpu capabilities and decent igpu to the relatively high end monsters. Except for gaming duties, if someone wants a desktop experience, monitor, kb, mouse then mini pcs are awesome.
• htk 2y ago
  I had a laptop running Windows for 12 years as my home server, hidden in a closet. It ran a couple of c# apps as a service and was an ftp server as well. Last month I decided to buy a raspberry pi (4B 2GB) to scratch multiple itches (arm processor, linux, low power consumption) and it replaced the server without a hitch, and better than I thought! No weird splash screens from windows after updates, 2GB is vast for me when running headless, dotnet apps ported with minimal effort, and the list goes on. Only downside is the USB can only power one external 2.5" hdd, and I didn't want to add a powered usb hub.
• shortformblog 2y ago
  Given how dominant AMD-based options are from a new machine standpoint (you can get a pretty good 5000-series U-grade processor for less than $250 on Amazon) I’m kind of surprised by the lack of AMD options on the list. This is a useful idea though, but I wonder if the lack of AMD may be hinting at some variable that hasn’t been considered?
  • supertrope 2y ago
    Most used PCs for sale started off as business machines. They usually buy from the big brands that can provide enterprise warranty support and volume discounts. AMD released Ryzen in 2017. Add up the time for AMD to convince Dell/HP/Lenovo to design, qualify, and release an AMD model. Add the time for significant uptake into the market. Finally add three years for the AMD PCs to get retired from office use.
    • shortformblog 2y ago
      I think you misunderstand my point: Obviously, that is true. But if you actually do a search on eBay, there are literally thousands of mini PCs. See: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ryzen+mini+pc&_sop=12 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ryzen+mini+pc&_sop=12 Yet the website here seems to only show less than 100. I’m saying its method of organizing the data is not accounting for the fact that there are thousands of AMD mini PCs for sale on eBay.
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        I'll add a custom search for that, thank you!
• windexh8er 2y ago
  This is great! The one thing I'd say is that the market is rife with non-mainstream brands. As an example "Beelink" [0] and "Minisforum" [1] are very commonly referred to and have a lot of great models, but they're not well represented here and often times offer better value depending on what the buyer is looking for. My recommendation would be to expand the vendors into the popular non-mainstream brands. Easy ask, but harder to execute on your side - so I get it. Also, AMD is crushing this market - but AMD is pretty under-represented here. There are also some great N-series Intel machines that are highly popular and you can get on AliExpress [2]. Or even more US focused brands under this umbrella like Protecli [3] [0] https://www.bee-link.com/ https://www.bee-link.com/ [1] https://www.minisforum.com/ https://www.minisforum.com/ [2] https://www.servethehome.com/fanless-intel-n200-firewall-and-virtualization-appliance-review/ https://www.servethehome.com/fanless-intel-n200-firewall-and... [3] https://protectli.com/ https://protectli.com/
  • tonymet 2y ago
    I took a risk on a Beelink and so far it's been the best piece of hardware I've owned. Affordable, quiet, reliable, excellent performance, versatile for development & light gaming. I did a thorough audit for bloat- spam- & mal-ware due to their reputation, and it came up much cleaner IMO than my HP. Given that they compete in price with Raspberry pi with far more capability, everyone should have one.
    • rfoo 2y ago
      [flagged]
      • dangus 2y ago
        It’s interesting to me how when a Chinese company makes a great product at a great price they get accused of being too incompetent to rip their customers off with customer-hostile features like their Western brand counterparts. But when Western companies load up their hardware with spyware and adware they are smart and savvy at business. Isn’t this a little bit backwards? The correct statement is that Dell and HP too incompetent to make money off their computers without spying on their customers. Maybe at some point we have to just drop the dogwhistling and admit that the Chinese hardware market is a dynamic, competitive market that seems to focus on delivering useful products to their customers rather than trying to make public shareholders happy by squeezing every last time out of them to the edge of their tolerance for such inconveniences.
• ornornor 2y ago
  Pretty neat! Any plans to make it work for people not living in the US too?
• blueferret 2y ago
  What a great idea! I love checking DiskPrices; the structure does lend well to mini-PCs (another interest of mine). Bookmarking this for my next shouldn't-grab-this-but-price-is-too-good impulse buy.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Thank you!
• bityard 2y ago
  I'm guessing this was inspired by https://labgopher.com https://labgopher.com? A lot of these are not what I would call "mini," but I like the idea. Is it a static list of manufacturers/models? If so, I feel like it would be worth putting that on GitHub so that the community can help maintain it. For example, I know there many fanless PCs on the market but the site is only showing me three and they are all fairly expensive. Any plans to add websites besides eBay? When I am hunting down a SFF PC for a project, I generally try to at least look over what is on offer from AliExpress, NewEgg (clearance), Dell Refurbished, Lenovo Refurbished, Microcenter, and a variety of websites for second-hand business IT recyclers.
• ensignavenger 2y ago
  This is great, but the prices aren't accurate for the products listed. As an example, I filtered by the cheapest 64GB model, clicked on the link, and found that to actually get the 64GB it was multiple times the cost listed on the site. This was because if ebay's "variant" option, which is often misused by vendors. I don't know if the ebay API allows you to check for variants to ensure that the price you are listing is the price for the actual variant listed or not?
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    The eBay api doesn't tell you which fields are variable, so you have to do that yourself. Do you still have the link?
    • ensignavenger 2y ago
      https://www.ebay.com/itm/145913221554?var=444968896814&amdata=enc%3aaqajaaaaohov3kp08idx%2bkz9mfhvjkljglmiu3zv%2fprtkjrgsothnckjuqchptwaij0ngoktlta85kuejbqzcx871ypsnmisnp8fvc https://www.ebay.com/itm/145913221554?var=444968896814&amdat... The price listed on the website under 64gb is for the 8gb variation. Most of the other 64gb minis I listed that I checked were actually the 64gb version.
      • mjcurl 2y ago
        Thanks! I'll take a look.
  • inversetelecine 2y ago
    Also in my quick glance, it didn't account for shipping costs either.
• atlgator 2y ago
  A filter on socket/gen would be useful. Otherwise, it's a great tool! Thanks for sharing.
• winrid 2y ago
  I've always wanted to do something like this but for laptops too, and allow sorting by passmark score to find the best values.
• dbs 2y ago
  Neat. Can you add a filter for international buyers? Non-us
• catchmeifyoucan 2y ago
  This looks great! I love the Cragislist like UI for this!
• otterpro 2y ago
  I'm waiting for next year, when the prices for old (intel 6th gen and below) mini-pc are expected to plummet, due to Windows 10 becoming obsolete. It would be sad to see them becoming e-waste, but hopefully some of us will grab them as they make great linux-based home servers. Also, I have bought a lot of mini-pc and those with Intel 6th gen CPU seems to offer the best bang for bucks, at least for my needs. (I don't really need powerful system, since I"m mostly using them for dedicated obs streaming or light video encoding or homeassistant).
• rmac 2y ago
  can we get a highcostminipcs plz
• j45 2y ago
  This is a great idea. I ahve a similar set of searches on eBay for when I was buying these things. You should consider putting some affiliate links in so this continues to exist and grow. You are helping people save money, which doesn't cost them anything, and if anything makes ebay make less. I have a ton of ideas for htis that I use to narrow it down even more - starting with the CPU can be a good place. Generation, wattage, etc.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Unfortunately eBay doesn't take in affiliates from my country.
• whall6 2y ago
  + $45 shipping :/
• bloomingeek 2y ago
  I wonder if this is kind of a semi-panic selling because of Windows 10 supposedly going away next October 2025? (Except MS holding us hostage for a yearly fee!) Fantastic gathering of used PC's, but buyer beware, there are a lot of options that are worth studying before purchasing.
• styfle 2y ago
  I haven’t bought a Windows PC in 10 years so I thought it was time to upgrade the old tower I had in the closet. I stumbled across Mini PCs and was surprised at how cheap they were so I brought one. Turns out they were lying about the clock speed, citing 3.4Ghz when it was actually 1.7GHz. I contacted their support to say the description was wrong but they said it was right. Don’t buy from KAMRUI.
  • art-not 2y ago
    refund/chargeback?
    • bloomingeek 2y ago
      On eBay, always check each individual seller for their return/refund rules. Most give 30 days, you pay return shipping, but not all.
    • styfle 2y ago
      I did get a refund thankfully
• throwaway4220 2y ago
  I’m fascinated that a static site generator makes this! Is this a new concept?
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    Not really. I just thought it would offer better performance and keep the stack simple. If you like I can elaborate.
• mikeocool 2y ago
  This is great —- my world has mostly been Mac laptops and cloud servers for the last 15 years, and recently decided I wanted a physical server in my office to use as a dev box. I ended picking up a 5 year old Dell Optiplex SFF on eBay for $75. I added a few sticks of RAM and a new SSD, installed Ubuntu server, and it’s been great. Super fun and easy to pop open and work on. I sort of want to start grabbing these for anyone I know who needs a basic computer.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    They do work great as basic computers! Something to give to an older relative perhaps.
• squarefoot 2y ago
  I still didn't move my main PC to a mini one because it's not that old and I don't feel like relegating it under a table, but migrating everything else to mini PCs (music, servers, firewalls, media players, ...) was the best choice ever; even the FreeBSD based NAS runs wonderfully on one of these small boxes. Unless one needs specific interfacing capabilities (GPIOs for instance) or serious performance which would need optimized airflow that only a bigger case could allow, the Mini PC form factor wins almost everywhere. Great site, I'd love if it also took data from EU countries Ebay sites too, as buying from the US from here would inflate costs too much when adding overseas shipping and taxes.
• butz 2y ago
  It would be very helpful to know which PCs support power over USB-C and video, e.g. I can connect it to display with single cable.
• dotBen 2y ago
  Lenovo ThinkCentre M Series (minis) are an absolute sleeper and way better value than Raspbery Pis. I run one in my home network closet with a bunch of docker containers on for home networking, crawler projects that need to run from a non-datacenter IP address, homelab experiments, etc. Cost me $100 'used' (open box), SSD, decent RAM and even a copy of Windows I didn't need. Install *nix, run it headless, good to go. You can go cheaper but at a certain point who cares if it's $80 for an unknown brand or $100 for Lenovo, etc. Small form factor, it can tuck in with wherever you store your router, or buy an aftermarket rack kit if you run rackmount network components like I do. OR 3D print one https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4769452 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4769452 Eg https://www.ebay.com/itm/186591932407 https://www.ebay.com/itm/186591932407 - this is a great project server that can probably run tons of docker containers (depending on what you are doing).
  • BizarroLand 2y ago
    Just know that Lenovo has set up a bootlock on these systems if a non-branded wifi card is detected in them. If you're just plugging in an ethernet cable and tossing it in a closet, you're fine, but upgrades are very limited.
• rpcope1 2y ago
  It would be nice to see which if any of these support coreboot. There's a big hole that was left behind when PC Engines left the market for a reasonably open low power x86 system that runs coreboot and has a much lower possibility of baked in back doors while sporting the sort of hardware that you can just plug in and leave alone for years on end.
  • hnuser435 2y ago
    Yes! I'd love to be able to filter by systems capable of running open source firmware.
• pmlnr 2y ago
  I've been running my services on a single Lenovo M600 tiny for years now. Low power, fanless, runs great.
• brk 2y ago
  Why is PC BIOS still such an absolute shit show? Seemingly similar products from the same brand will have wildly different BIOS options and functions. Want to auto power on? Good luck with support for that being documented anywhere, and even if it is documented, the odds that the actual unit supports it is 50/50 at best it seems. Want to customize boot options? You may or may not get the options you need. Fan speed controls, clocking options. Every unit seemingly has been shipped with its own unique set of BIOS options supported, no two are ever the same.
• Peaches4Rent 2y ago
  Any chance this can have a country filter?
• bhelkey 2y ago
  The main place I wanted a small PC is in my entertainment stand. I tried using such a PC in my living room as a media console. My plan was to use steam's 'Big Picture Mode's along with an Xbox controller to give a console like experience. Instead of buying console games, I would get access to my extensive steam library. Games not on steam can be manually added to the steam launcher. In practice, I ran into enough problems to abandon the idea. The controller experience didn't have enough support. A Bluetooth keyboard/mouse combo helped but eventually I just went back to using a Chromecast.
• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
• shagbag 2y ago
  This one has a huge hard drive: https://www.ebay.com/itm/326247919423 https://www.ebay.com/itm/326247919423
• plugger 2y ago
  Wo-we's AMD A9 miniPC is $79 USD new, has 8GB RAM, a 128GB M.2, and a Win10 license. I've been running one as a geostationary satellite ground station for close to a year now and it's great! It also doesn't have the heating issues that the Raspberry Pi 3+ I replaced it with did. https://www.wo-we.com/collections/mini-pc https://www.wo-we.com/collections/mini-pc
• hakfoo 2y ago
  A filter for "has a PCI-E slot" might be interesting. I can see a popular use case being "advanced home router" and that means adding a few 2.5/5/10GbE sockets.
• sanatdangol 2y ago
  This is super nice!
• stickfu 2y ago
  The true low end box
• RecycledEle 2y ago
  Excellent web site/tool! I wish there was a similar site for Xeon-processor based systems.
  • mjcurl 2y ago
    https://labgopher.com/ https://labgopher.com/ ?
• josephb 2y ago
  It would be great to be able to add some additional data beyond the listings to augment decisions. For example passmark scores or power usage for an identified CPU. I see there is very little standard format in the listings, so might need some logic to extract/guess at CPU versions etc.
• shadowtux 2y ago
  This is an awesome site. It would be awesome to also have the shipping location to the buttons so it would be easier to narrow down the shipping price.