<div dir="ltr">I have had success with Intel NUCs personally for home usage.<div>I started with a 6th gen NUC and then upgraded to a 13th gen.</div><div>Asus and others manufacture them now for Intel.</div><div>They perform well for my needs, which are home server based...</div><div>Media server (Jellyfin), Web Server, Audio Server (Navidrome) and various others.</div><div><span style="background-color:transparent">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.</span></div><div>Some brands I know of include Beelink, BossGame, GMKTek.</div><div>There are other ones as well and they often will all advertise as on special very often, but again, be careful.</div><div>They often like to advertise that, but do your own cost comparisons.</div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Best of luck</div><div>Byron</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, 14 Sept 2026 at 13:40, Bruce Axtens via plug <<a href="mailto:plug@plug.org.au">plug@plug.org.au</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div>
<p>> I am curious what are you trying to achieve or the type of
work you will do with your miniPC?</p>
<ul>
<li>Assorted bits of dotnet development in C#</li>
<li>I'm a maintainer and language track developer for <a href="http://exercism.org" target="_blank">exercism.org</a>
(helped with COBOL, 8th, and Euphoria tracks and working on
SNOBOL4 track)</li>
<li>I have three Substack accounts I write into occasionally: </li>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://calvingicebergs.substack.com/" target="_blank">https://calvingicebergs.substack.com/</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://playingwithmyfood.substack.com/" target="_blank">https://playingwithmyfood.substack.com/</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://skipdipper.substack.com/" target="_blank">https://skipdipper.substack.com/</a></li>
</ul>
<li>Microsoft Teams and PowerPoint (I'm the "Order of Service"
builder for my church (Three Crosses WPC))</li>
</ul>
<p>That's the top four of lots of other miscellaneous activity.</p>
<p>-Bruce.</p>
<div>On 14/09/2026 11:07 am, Juneidy Wibowo
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px">
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px">Hi
Bruce,</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px">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?</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px">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.</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px">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.</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px">Regards,</div>
<div style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px">Juneidy</div>
<div> On Monday, September 14th, 2026 at
09:26, Bruce Axtens via plug
<a href="mailto:plug_at_plug_org_au_rqgvlrjawc@simplelogin.co" target="_blank"><plug_at_plug_org_au_rqgvlrjawc@simplelogin.co></a> wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Hello Pluglings (for want of a better term)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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: <a href="https://www.fastly.com/blog/author/daniel-axtens" style="word-break:break-word" rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.fastly.com/blog/author/daniel-axtens</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Kind regards,</div>
<div>Bruce Axtens</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
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