[SIC] Really good Ryzen mini PC

keith

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hi, is anyone running a miniPC 24/7 as a headless node / terminal ?

Initially was thinking of Pi4, but the OS pushes me off, so was thinking of going MiniPC + Win10 route
 

stillgottheblues

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From an after sale support standpoint, Lenovo is of course better. But if you consider the cost, there are better value alternatives. That's my personal opinion.
Better designed and better support. Sometimes, a few OEM had hear issues due to structure. These are not always mentioned in reviews.
 

watzup_ken

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Better designed and better support. Sometimes, a few OEM had hear issues due to structure. These are not always mentioned in reviews.
Better support, I agree. Better design, not always the case in my opinion. If you compare design at a given price, I would think it is possible that the lesser brand may offer more because we know that we are also paying a premium for the brand. So if you are looking at the low end like this Maibenben MiniPC with a Ryzen 5 2500U, I don't think Lenovo have any skin in the game at this price point. Like most big brands, I would expect something like a Celeron Silver kind of build at this price level.
 

stillgottheblues

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Better support, I agree. Better design, not always the case in my opinion. If you compare design at a given price, I would think it is possible that the lesser brand may offer more because we know that we are also paying a premium for the brand. So if you are looking at the low end like this Maibenben MiniPC with a Ryzen 5 2500U, I don't think Lenovo have any skin in the game at this price point. Like most big brands, I would expect something like a Celeron Silver kind of build at this price level.
By design, I mean the internal and casing, not in terms of looks.
 

yusoffb01

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hi, is anyone running a miniPC 24/7 as a headless node / terminal ?

Initially was thinking of Pi4, but the OS pushes me off, so was thinking of going MiniPC + Win10 route
i used to use n3150 itx pc (20w). After it died I use n3450 triangle mini pc (10w) for 2 years. then recently bought j4105 mini pc. Weekly traffic about 3TB, or 12TB a month 😁
For 10w desktop if u on 24/7, at 25cents per kwh, it costs less than $2 per month
T2pRb9b.jpg


Also have an $18 orangepi powered by the 5w usb of huawei ont
DmH39xW.jpg


Provides 3 level of filtering via
1) blocklists for adverts, malware, spam, tracking, mining, botnet
2) regex for keywords or tld blocking
3) Cisco umbrella for websites i missed out
yJTQzRF.jpg


Iu0mMc0.jpg

Almost half of unnecessary traffic is blocked at home for 20+ devices without breaking any functionality.
 
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watzup_ken

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By design, I mean the internal and casing, not in terms of looks.
I don't quite get what you mean here. Are you implying design or build quality here? I have not mentioned anything about looks in the first place. From what I see, the design of the Mini PC from Maibenben is no different from a good old Intel NUC. The parts used on the motherboard, I am not too sure.

FYI, I am not against Lenovo in anyway. I recently got a M75q Gen 2 for my dad, and I think its well built and easy to upgrade. I would have gotten one for myself, but that product has EOLed. I have not received my Maibenben Mini PC, but at least from what I see online, I don't think it is anyway inferior in terms of design. Also, they are not like for like comparison because the M75q is likely more compact, runs a 35W processor, but cost a good 300 bucks more.
 

Bishio

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Hope the Ryzen 5xxx apus will be available for the mini or nano PCs soon
The very small form factor of Mac mini, Lenovo, minisforum PCs are really attractive to people like me who don’t game, just videos and work
 

keith

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I don't quite get what you mean here. Are you implying design or build quality here? I have not mentioned anything about looks in the first place. From what I see, the design of the Mini PC from Maibenben is no different from a good old Intel NUC. The parts used on the motherboard, I am not too sure.

FYI, I am not against Lenovo in anyway. I recently got a M75q Gen 2 for my dad, and I think its well built and easy to upgrade. I would have gotten one for myself, but that product has EOLed. I have not received my Maibenben Mini PC, but at least from what I see online, I don't think it is anyway inferior in terms of design. Also, they are not like for like comparison because the M75q is likely more compact, runs a 35W processor, but cost a good 300 bucks more.
thanks for sharing.
 

watzup_ken

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Hope the Ryzen 5xxx apus will be available for the mini or nano PCs soon
The very small form factor of Mac mini, Lenovo, minisforum PCs are really attractive to people like me who don’t game, just videos and work
Then you prolly don't need to wait for the 5xxx series APUs. I find even the existing Ryzen 3 4xxx APU to run really well for work, and videos. I would have chosen a Mac mini M1 but I am struggling to use it for Excel work for work because I am too familiar and used to the shortcut keys on Windows. So I am actually a lot slower when using my MacBook Air M1 which I got for work. :LOL: That's why I decided to get the Maibenben Mini PC for work usage.
 

Bishio

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Then you prolly don't need to wait for the 5xxx series APUs. I find even the existing Ryzen 3 4xxx APU to run really well for work, and videos. I would have chosen a Mac mini M1 but I am struggling to use it for Excel work for work because I am too familiar and used to the shortcut keys on Windows. So I am actually a lot slower when using my MacBook Air M1 which I got for work. :LOL: That's why I decided to get the Maibenben Mini PC for work usage.

i don’t mind to wait for 5xxx since it’s new and better performance.
Just hope prices are not too high haha.
I have never used Mac and probably will be slow to get used to it so windows for me.
 

watzup_ken

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i don’t mind to wait for 5xxx since it’s new and better performance.
Just hope prices are not too high haha.
I have never used Mac and probably will be slow to get used to it so windows for me.
Its faster no doubt due to the the Zen 3 processors in it. But If you can find a system with a Ryzen 4xxx series APU at a cheaper price, I would recommend just going for the Ryzen 4xxx system (since you can't buy the standalone chip unless you don't mind buying tray ones). There is no difference in terms of the GPU, and depending on what kind of work you are using it for, the Zen 3 CPU may not make a tangible improvement in terms of user experience.
 

rainbow99

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For the M75q Gen 2, my unit's fan generate loud noises randomly when the resource usage spikes. It seems no settings at the BIOS or any preinstalled Lenovo applicants to manually control the fan speed. Can check if anyone else has the same issue? Thanks
The desktop's cpu utilisation can randomly spikes for no reason. Like even just doing norton system scan, the utilisation hits almost 100% attributable to norton, and the fans run very loudly. After scanning for a while, it still hovers between 70% and 80%. A bit concerned if mine is a lemon set.
 

watzup_ken

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The desktop's cpu utilisation can randomly spikes for no reason. Like even just doing norton system scan, the utilisation hits almost 100% attributable to norton, and the fans run very loudly. After scanning for a while, it still hovers between 70% and 80%. A bit concerned if mine is a lemon set.
Historically, I've never like using Norton Antivirus because its a resource hog amongst all the AV software, but 100% utilization is unusual. From what I observe, when I first start a scan on any AV software, the CPU utilization will be at its highest, and will slowly trend downwards, so what you mentioned sounds reasonable. I recommend if you remove Norton and try Windows Defender to see if the issue persist. Do also check what else is running in the background. The spikes are normal because while we may not be running something on our end, the system still have a lot of processes running in the background.

The loud fan in my opinion is to be expected, though I am not sure about other's experience. At 1 litre, the chassis is very small and flat. As a result, the fan and full aluminum heatsink is also very small for a 35W processor. If a 35W processor is under load in a laptop, the fans will be audible.Which was why I opted for the Ryzen 3 instead of going more high end. In my recent 2 encounters with Lenovo laptops, the fan curve can be very aggressive to kick the fan into high gear which is very loud. Just watching a video on Youtube is enough to get the Ice Lake U based laptop's fan to run at high speed. Unfortunately, I bought this for my parents, so not able to validate how hot and loud it can get. May be can hear what others who bought this have to say.
 

claypot_king

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Then you prolly don't need to wait for the 5xxx series APUs. I find even the existing Ryzen 3 4xxx APU to run really well for work, and videos. I would have chosen a Mac mini M1 but I am struggling to use it for Excel work for work because I am too familiar and used to the shortcut keys on Windows. So I am actually a lot slower when using my MacBook Air M1 which I got for work. :LOL: That's why I decided to get the Maibenben Mini PC for work usage.
If the rumor is true, wait for ryzen 6000/7000 APU lagi better as it will be the first RDNA based APU.
 

watzup_ken

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If the rumor is true, wait for ryzen 6000/7000 APU lagi better as it will be the first RDNA based APU.
Technology will get better over time. So at some point, you will need to make a decision to get or not. If one can keep waiting, that means he/she actually don't need it at all.

There is no doubt RDNA will indeed be much faster than Vega clock for clock, if we compare RX 5700 XT vs Vega 7. But that is prolly another year or 2 down the road.
 

watzup_ken

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