[plug] miniPC recommendations?

[Byron Hammond]

I have had success with Intel NUCs personally for home usage.
I started with a 6th gen NUC and then upgraded to a 13th gen.
Asus and others manufacture them now for Intel.
They perform well for my needs, which are home server based...
Media server (Jellyfin), Web Server, Audio Server (Navidrome) and various
others.
They are pricey imo, so you can get lesser brand chinese ones to save a few
bucks, although I don't know if I'd place as much trust in them in terms of
spyware/malware.
Some brands I know of include Beelink, BossGame, GMKTek.
There are other ones as well and they often will all advertise as on
special very often, but again, be careful.
They often like to advertise that, but do your own cost comparisons.
eBay is a known marketplace for a lot of hardware. Aliexpress is Chinese
based marketplace you might want to check, that has a lot of these things.

Best of luck
Byron

On Mon, 14 Sept 2026 at 13:40, Bruce Axtens via plug <plug at plug.org.au>
wrote:

> >  I am curious what are you trying to achieve or the type of work you
> will do with your miniPC?
>
>    - Assorted bits of dotnet development in C#
>    - I'm a maintainer and language track developer for exercism.org
>    (helped with COBOL, 8th, and Euphoria tracks and working on SNOBOL4 track)
>    - I have three Substack accounts I write into occasionally:
>       - https://calvingicebergs.substack.com/
>       - https://playingwithmyfood.substack.com/
>       - https://skipdipper.substack.com/
>    - Microsoft Teams and PowerPoint (I'm the "Order of Service" builder
>    for my church (Three Crosses WPC))
>
> That's the top four of lots of other miscellaneous activity.
>
> -Bruce.
> On 14/09/2026 11:07 am, Juneidy Wibowo wrote:
>
>
> Hi Bruce,
>
> Before getting deep into the weed, I am curious what are you trying to
> achieve or the type of work you will do with your miniPC?
>
> My office will usually cycle employee laptop every 3-4 years and I usually
> collect discarded office laptops and repurpose them by installing linux. I
> would dare say those office laptops will most likely outperform most if not
> all miniPC in the $450 range.
>
> I know you seem to suggest you want to get a new machine instead of using
> a second-hand laptops. But if you're simply looking for a machine with
> higher performance than your current one, maybe you could try asking your
> son to see if there are any good condition laptops that are being discarded.
>
> Regards,
> Juneidy
> On Monday, September 14th, 2026 at 09:26, Bruce Axtens via plug
> <plug_at_plug_org_au_rqgvlrjawc at simplelogin.co>
> <plug_at_plug_org_au_rqgvlrjawc at simplelogin.co> wrote:
>
> Hello Pluglings (for want of a better term)
>
> I'm still lurking here in the shadows. Have been for years, my son Daniel
> having been the impetus. He's now Principal Engineer for Fastly:
> https://www.fastly.com/blog/author/daniel-axtens
>
> But I didn't come here to do that. My question is more mundane: after
> years of having various second-hand laptops as my home setup for Linux I'm
> now seriously considering laying out real money for a miniPC. Does the
> group have any suggestions re manufacturer and vendor? I'm thinking
> something in the $300-$450 range.
>
> Kind regards,
> Bruce Axtens
>
>
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