Mini PC, which one to choose?

[rugueBit]

Hello,

I'm once again asking for recommendations!

Years ago I bought my first Thinkpad (a T430) which soon I upgraded with new memory and storage. Knowing nothing about these machines this forum has helped me a lot choosing the best laptop I could get for my needs at that time. Now I've decided to do an "upgrade", though not to a new laptop.

I'm looking for a small pc to connect to a 24" screen, maybe a second one in the near future.
In detail:
- it needs to be small sized,
- have a good processor with decent cooling system
- but be as quiet as possible.
- external gpu is not necessary,
- and a moderate cost.

My re-search so far:
The first thing I looked for was "mini pc" and many consider the Minisforum to be a valid option. I'm not sure about this though.
Then I found out about the ThinkCentre line-up, specifically I was looking at the M series Tiny.

Any comment is appreciated!

P.S. Used units recommendations are more then welcome as long as they are not too old generations like my T430. Olso, as I understand it I could potentially use my laptops ram and ssd to upgrade the Thinkcentre machines, is that correct?

[RealBlackStuff]

Have a look at the Lenovo M900 Tiny.
I got one (with the i5-6600T CPU) to replace my desktop tower.
(The CPU is socketed, so can be upgraded).
They are all over eBay for very reasonable prices.

There are newer (but a lot pricier) models available as well, such as M910, M90Q or M75q (AMD).

[axur-delmeria]

Alternatives would be the HP Prodesk 400/600 and Elitedesk 800 Mini G3 and newer (G3 has Skylake CPUs), Elitedesk 705 G4 and newer (AMD Ryzen, the older ones are Kaveri/Bristol Ridge), and the Optiplex Micro 3040/5040/7040 and newer (Intel Skylake and newer).

[Boy2006]

Depend where you are from and what you want to do with.
Month ago I want a very low power Pc for my Sleeping Room, Kitchen, Livingroom who can play Youtube in Full HD.
I got them recommend: Fujitsu Futro S930/ S920. Sadly the Dual Core Version:
GX-424CC GE424CIXJ44JB 4 25 W 2 MB 2,4 GHz 2CU 655 MHz / 800 MHz DDR3-1866 0 – 90 °C
GX-222GC GE222GITJ23JB 2 15 W 1 MB 2,2 GHz / 2,4 GHz 2CU 655 MHz / 800 MHz DDR3-1600 0 – 90 °C
The are a bit laggy with the Win10 Embeddet (pls Note there is no Key included).
I would recommend to buy the GX-424CC Version + Ram where you can give 2GB for the Graphic Card (!!!) so you can even play Games from the 90tis and early 2000.
Theoretically are the fan less but I recommend a 40x40 Noctua when you do some more heavy stuff like play old Games.

[mikemex]

Have a look at the Lenovo M900 Tiny.
I got one (with the i5-6600T CPU) to replace my desktop tower.
(The CPU is socketed, so can be upgraded).
They are all over eBay for very reasonable prices.

This. I've got three, excellent machines.
I also got them with 6500T processors and I upgraded them with 6700T (4C/4T -> 4C/8T).
They have an original Windows 10 license built-in. Can be made to run Windows 11 without issues.
They've got built-in WIFI and there are some accessories to customize the ports (mine came with extra DisplayPorts).
There is a VESA mounting bracket with a port replicator and DVD-RW drive.
You can just attach it to the back of a monitor to make an All-in-one.
For me, the DVD-RW is enough reason not to get a newer one. (I rather have an optical drive than not having it).
You can get quality chargers off eBay. Not many machines use the square tip type nowadays.
Uses DDR4 RAM. Up to 64GB.
All upgrades and accessories are super cheap.

P. D. If you get one beware that the M.2 slot has very poor ventilation and a NVMe (PCI Express) SSD will overheat.
If you insist, buy a good heatsink. Myself, I just use them with a regular SATA SSD.

[TheForgottenKing]

Have a look at the Lenovo M900 Tiny.
I got one (with the i5-6600T CPU) to replace my desktop tower.
(The CPU is socketed, so can be upgraded).
They are all over eBay for very reasonable prices.

There are newer (but a lot pricier) models available as well, such as M910, M90Q or M75q (AMD).

Other variations of these have full x16 PCIe slots, which are perfect for installing low-power slim graphics cards such as the NVidia RTX 4090.