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And what sort of spec? I used to build computers but am totally out of it nowadays with all the processors etc.
Just need a small desktop PC, don’t need a screen or keyboard/mouse. Want it for general office stuff and surfing web etc.
Would need a fast USB connection as I do a lot of file transfers from external drives (backups), be wireless for internet, have windows OS (which one is best - is 10 ok?).
A small chassis would be REALLY good and something simple looking.
I’d like a Mac Mini but I can’t afford one and don’t need one, so a cheaper (£200-300) PC option would be best.
Dell outlet? or normal sales?
Win 10 is about as good as it gets really, they got it sorted now. For basic web you don't need much power at all
I used to build computers but am totally out of it nowadays
Just remember:
Bigger numbers = better
Smaller numbers = better
I’d think about building a intel nuc if you can get a generation old set you might just build in budget. That will give you the Mac mini form factor.
If not a refurbished unit from dell?
Either way to make it snappy I’d look for ssd instead of spinning hard drive and 8Gb of ram as a minimum.
I was looking at "stick PCs" a while ago. Tempting if you are just doing web/office type stuff.
If you are happy to stick in a ram stick and a hard rive then have a look at an Intel Nuc
https://www.ebuyer.com/search?q=nuc
I got one of the Bean Canyon i5 NUC with a Samsung EVO 970 m2 ssd, much faster than the ageing desktop it replaced, Windows 10 installed from a USB stick in about 3 minutes though this spec would be closer to £500 than £300
Smaller than a Mac Mini and just as powerful.
Refurbed Dell or HP Elite Desk - they come in a variety of sizes, from very tiny, to full desktop. We have the ones that are just a bit bigger than the monitor stands at work - they go for a song on refurb sites. The newer Elite Desk G1's have SSD's. £200-£300 depending on spec.
The problem with NUCs, Micro form factor PCs and especially sticks is that whilst they may say "i3, i5" or whatever, the performance isn't really on par, we use them for tucking behind desks or TV for display, but unless you desperately need to save a relatively small amount of space there's really no point to them.
Dell make a nice little SFF Vostro, it's a proper desktop not the guts of a laptop in a box, most are Wi-Fi enabled and you can even squeeze in a sff GPU for some gaming if you want, not that you need it for video - even the most basic 8th Gen i3 can handle 4K video with the right display.
The problem with NUCs, Micro form factor PCs and especially sticks is that whilst they may say “i3, i5” or whatever, the performance isn’t really on par
Thats because they are normally the mobile variants not the desktop ones!
The 8th Gen mobile i5's are pretty nippy, using https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php to compare them the i5-8259U is on a par with some Ryzen 5 desktop chips.
I know that for sustained performance it's best to get a desktop chip but I'd imagine for most peoples needs they are more than good enough.
What about something like this with the 8gb ram, SSD options selected? £166 with Win 10 and WiFi.
The small size is a big bonus.
The problem with NUCs, Micro form factor PCs and especially sticks is that whilst they may say “i3, i5” or whatever, the performance isn’t really on par, we use them for tucking behind desks or TV for display, but unless you desperately need to save a relatively small amount of space there’s really no point to them.
The OP does say it's only going to be for general lightweight use and they'd prefer something small.
I had a micro form factor PC laying about and hooked it up as a media box. It works fine. You could easily argue that the opposite is true - if you don't need the additional power and upgrade flexibility, there's not much point to a desktop.
Sorry my last post was meant to include this link. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F223336726208
Novatech would be my first port of call
They have been building pc's for over 25 years, had my current set up from them for 8 years and its been faultless
Plenty to choose from and you can build your own with them
https://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/minipc/
Ebay.
Er-indoors needs one at present and you can get a basic spec desktop (normally a Dell or HP) with variable specs (Processor/Memory/HDD/Pre-loaded OS) with or without Monitors and peripherals for relative peanuts on the bay of flea, I assume they're all ex-corporate lease units.
If going current gen you won't even need an i5.
Quad core i3, 8gb ram and an SSD drive is plenty.
Everything for the last few generations has had Usb3.1ports, the number depends on the board. But things like mouse and keyboard are fine on say USB2. So you can save any USB 3 ports for faster file transfers etc.
Just general office stuff, like Google Docs etc? Surfing?
Just a £34 Raspberry Pi and plug it into back of monitor. Could probably power it off monitor’s USB port, too!
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-3-b-plus
If you *really* want to, I guess you could buy a case...
Rachel
Just general office stuff, like Google Docs etc? Surfing?
I need a hard drive, I have looked into those options but they won’t work for me.
Mattyfez - is the “Intel i5-3470t 2.9Ghz 3rd gen” one I linked to ok then?
The processor naming is just bonkers, I just can’t make any sense of it.
Yeh that will be absolutely fine for general office /Internet duties.
Get something with an SSD drive though, although SSDs are really cheap at the moment anyway so you could buy an older i5 system and sling a cheap SSD into it for £20.
What are the AMD processors like nowadays?
Not as good as Intel, but for general office work and surfing it'll be fine*
*it might be noisier in terms of running the fans though, I'm not fully up on the AMD/Intel stuff, but when I bought my new gaming PC a year ago I went with intel as they run cooler, and so are quieter (and AMD weren't cheaper enough to justify the difference in performance for gaming)
Got a couple of these at home - both have SSD and 8gb - one is a media pc under the TV (Kodi etc) and the other is in my 'Bar Top Arcade'. I also have a much older HP in the garage for streaming music, and as it's a normal HD, it's slow at booting - might upgrade it as it's the only PC/laptop we have that doesn't have a SSD.
We also picked up a refurbed Lenovo Think Station for general browsing/word/email - about £300, but it's incredibly quick as it has a Zeon server processor and an Nvidia Quadro graphics card - total overkill, but it was cheap and a full desktop size. They were around £1,500 new.