Comments on: Budget Mini PCs to Get Everyone Connected at Home: one for each child in the family https://www.colourmylearning.com/2020/04/budget-mini-pcs-to-get-everyone-connected-at-home-one-for-each-child-in-the-family/ Try Our Forum Sat, 12 Nov 2022 20:35:36 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Mike Hritz https://www.colourmylearning.com/2020/04/budget-mini-pcs-to-get-everyone-connected-at-home-one-for-each-child-in-the-family/#comment-46697 Wed, 15 Jul 2020 09:01:13 +0000 https://www.colourmylearning.com/?p=143618#comment-46697 I generally agree with your commentary on which components are the most important in a mini PC. I do question recommending specific models, however, because the landscape is constantly changing. In my experience, you generally get what you pay for (I have three of these mini’s myself), and I think the best way to choose is:

1) Get the best processor available. At this writing (july 2020) that would be the celeron N4100 series.
2) Definitely get 8GB of memory. You will be disappointed by how Windows 10 crawls with just 4GB.
3) Go for a 128GB (or better) NVMe SSD. You will need to keep your unused drive space as high as possible for best performance, and the NVMe variety is the fastest available. Don’t defragment an SSD, it’s unnecessary and it hastens the demise of the drive.

You should be able to find several such candidates to choose from between $200 and $250 on Amazon. Some with added features such as a high speed usb-c connector (good for external expansion), additional M2. SSD slot, and SATA drive connector. And don’t forget to check the daily deals under the Computer category on Amazon. There are good $20+ off bargains at least once or twice a week.

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