Top 5 Mini PCs Under $250 So Far...2023
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- In this video we take a look at the top five minis under $250US in 2023. These budget mini PCs are my favorites at the time of this video. All are compared via performance analysis, pricing and more. These best five are available on Amazon US and elsewhere.
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Amazon US Links
► GEEKOM MiniAir 11: amzn.to/3GlkbTx
► Beelink Mini S12: amzn.to/3t5Z04S
► Beelink EQ12: amzn.to/3tjbFRL
► Chuwi Larkbox X: amzn.to/3RjQ45o
► Morefine M9: amzn.to/3ZTyMyD
Buy these minis:
► Amazon Australia: amzn.to/3rcroks
► Amazon UK: amzn.to/3CODTFt
► Amazon Germany: amzn.to/46soyby
► Amazon Canada: amzn.to/3NT0VSd
► Amazon Other Countries: amzn.to/3NsNlmT
► Aliexpress: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DFV...
► eBay: ebay.to/30oMKc2
Indepth Reviews
Blackview MP60: • A Mini PC Newcomer! Bl...
Morefine M9: • Alder Lake N is Finall...
Meenhong JX1: • USB-C Powered Budget M...
GEEKOM MiniAir 11: • NUC Killer? GEEKOM Min...
Beelink Mini S12: • I Didn't Expect This.....
TOPTON N9N: • DDR5 Chips Inside! TOP...
Beelink EQ12: • The Budget Mini to Bea...
Morefine M8: • Best Mini PC under $20...
Kamrui GK3 Plus: • Worth it? Kamrui GK3 P...
Chuwi Larkbox X: • My New Favorite! Chuwi...
00:00 - The Candidates
01:38 - Number 5
03:36 - Number 4
05:14 - Number 3
06:23 - Number 2
07:50 - Number 1
09:10 - There's More - Věda a technologie
This is spectacular timing! I've been needing a comparison video between all these mini PCs
Great video! I just picked up a beeline mini s12 on sale from Amazon for $120 USD. It was an amazing deal and despite some drawbacks, I love the option to replace the storage and RAM later down the line.
omg thanks u so much for this i needed it !!!
I like the idea of these mini pc over many of the SBC offering for Klipper 3D printer options. Here lately they can be similarly priced but more readily available. Especially if you don’t mind the used market. Load it up with any flavor of Linux and go.
Great video with all the relevant data you need to make the right decision. Oh hail King Mini
I found a SER5 Beelink 5500u 16GB Ram/500GB SSD for $289. Great deal and outstanding bang for the Buck. The EQ12 is great but a 5500u for 50-60 bucks more is a no brained.
what can you emulate/ play w the 5500u? have you installed batocera in it? thinking of getting it
Chuwi got my choice with 12gb DDR5 as well as Wifi6 and N100 CPU at $190. It is all-round champion for everyday use and occasionally retrogame playing.
And the black on white like a storm trooper
what kind of emulation have you done on it? thinking about getting the chuwi
if they just doubled the ram, 12gig is so wimpy but the case looks amazing
I was thinking about getting the 4T hyper base lite external drive and it has PS3 games. Will the chuwi handle them? I was considering the GMKtec. And the trigkey he mentioned at the end.
Same for me, it's already at minimum 15% cheaper.
The USB-C power is a killer feature, and the 12gb of RAM is a sweetspot for a low powered device like this. It keeps the SSD from getting wrecked by all the page files.
It's a really nice all versatile machine, although if you don't use the USB-C charging or the media decoders on intel, a ryzen 5 5500u pc for 220 is a better buy.
Lots of cheap Ryzen deals right now because 2 generations-old chips are effectively AMD's budget range. There is something rewarding about having an N100 Intel, in terms of being amazed at how far they've kept and how a budget processor is such a nice option these days. Then you remember that a 5600u costs about 50 dollars more and can actually game as well.
Agree about the MoreFine, though; really sweet little machine at a bargain price!
Great reviews, thank you. It would be fantastic to see also a review of sub-400 USD mini-pc
I plan to do one soon
Good lookin on the Trigkey deal! They have 5800H 32gb ram 1tb nvme for $380 available too.
Rob, I'm psychic!! I knew the Morefine M90 had a leg up going into this because of that metal case. And it's a nice machine, though the cooling issue would bother me. For anyone considering the Beelink 5500U I bought both the 5560U and the 5600H last fall and they were a lot more than this for a negligible performance difference. (I should point out that I messed up the SATA cable, and while I didn't think I'd ever use a 2.5" drive, I asked Beelink for a replacement, offered to pay, and after some communications difficulties, they understood what I wanted and sent a replacement at no charge very quickly. Having said all of that, if I knew I wouldn't need a SATA drive, I'd sure look at units with that extra little fan.
Didn't expect it to be at that price. My M9 is still chugging along nicely.
I've had a Chuwi from Amazon for several years. It does some lite video editing. I added extra memory. Its fine.
The problem with all these is reliability (sudden death), fan noise (tends to get worse with time), and 4 USB ports is often too few. I got Neosmay AC8 with N5105 processor for $200 with 250GB M.2 SATA SSD - fanless, does not heat up too much, snappy enough for documents, internet, videos. I don't play games and don't care for such performance. It also has 6 usb ports, which comes in handy. Extremely satisfied so far. For additional $45, I bought 500GB M.2 SATA SSD and external usb 3.0 enclosure to clone the internal drive and have a backup if it dies suddenly - will simply transfer the external SATA to the internal slot. It doesn't have bells and whistles but it just works well and reliably so far. My previous fanless mini PC was Quieter 3C, which had constant problems in everyday usage - could not synchronize sound on videos, sluggish, one HDMI port not working, and only 4 USB ports that were often not enough and with suspiciously low transfer speed from USB stick. Either I got a lemon, or in general the quality is low and people that write reviews do not use them as an everyday PC. I found only one review amongst many, that mentioned Quieter 3C was not synchronizing audio with video and that they could not solve the problem but connect an external sound bar through the sound output. Apparently, something is wrong with the audio processing through the HDMI ports, which makes me think the motherboard is sluggish or defective in some fundamental way.
Buying from Amazon makes most of these points moot. RMA is always hassle free if you get any issues even a year in.
@@KvotheMMA It is not "a moot point" when your PC with all your data dies suddenly with negligible chance of data recovery. You clearly do not understand the return policy of Amazon. Read the negative reviews there to see what actually happens when one of those PC fails.
@@ExtaTerThat’s odd then, what’s the issue? If it’s not the ssd then you can just take it out and profit
I was smitten by the Chuwi larkbox after your review (and one more by another youtuber, which talked about the USB C charging). The n100 fits my needs for a project just perfectly fine.
AMD has been getting more and more competitive, inching down to that magical 200$ pricepoint with their full blooded zen 2 cores and vega iGPUs. I wonder if intel can stay ahead of that development, but for now I'm perfectly happy with my purchase.
What model do you recommend for smooth 4K streaming?
Which one of these would be good for dj using serato?
amazon coupons are crazy, but also component prices are dropping like crazy, it is inexplicable
I bought Mrroute M1 Mini PC from Amazon a week ago. It's super small, and the N305 performs very well
How is it for emulation?
Just returned my m2 mini mac for the scaling issues which should i get between the morefine m9 and the trigkey ryzen 5 since i am in the US . my main use is for online college classes
Do all of these mini PC's have BIOS support for RTC scheduled power on?
would the fan noise be disruptive for us music producers... ? trying to find s budget mini pc to help me get back into creating
Nice may friend
Number five is best. 2 ram slot, low heat. The 1gb eth is not an issue as I have a 2.5gb usb laying around.
Just my 2 cents
Definitely going to get the Chuwi Larkbook X N100.
Looking forward for $300 and above Top Mini PCs, Even tho N100 was enough for my usage. Just wanna know how will the N305 compare to Ryzen Chipsets Mini PCs.
N305 gets a thrashing from 5000 series czcams.com/video/VqiG1nAxzMA/video.html. Compared against the 5625U. Shouldn't be too different with the 5500U. Needs a price drop.
Hi thank you for the best reviews on mini pcs. What about chatreey t8 n200? Is that better than the n100?
Unfortunately I haven't tested an N200 that's been cooled properly so I don't know its proper CPU performance. It is faster on the graphics side.
I want an instant erase flash drive! Plug in and wipe everything! Flat in seconds with multiple over writes!
Thank you very much for the excellent video. To watch Netflix 4K, will the N100 processors be more interesting compared to the N95, or I will not notice any difference in this case?
Will be the same as they both have hardware decoding on chip.
Thank you @@Robtech
Hey Robtech! You're the Mini Maniac I watch even when I'm not shopping for a new Mini. The thing is I am shopping for one now. I just purchased the Beelink Sei 12 with the 12th Gen Intel 12550H. It's a honey in the sense of general speed on the desktop, playing 60 fps CZcamss, and having an almost silent fan. I'd simply get another one if prices weren't so prohibitive at the moment. I got one for $330 but I'd love something like it for under $299. I"m not a gamer or video editor but it is critical it has absolutely no problem with anything CZcams throws at it (like my Sei 12) -- i.e. -- NO DROPPED FRAMES. (Sure, it can drop one here or there, but you know what I mean.) Is there a Ryzen Mini that can do the same for under $300? Thanks if you see this and reply.
The N95 and N100 have Intel's Quicksync hardware decoding for various video formats. I tested a 4K60fps AV1 file using Firefox and no frames were dropped for the 5 minute video. I haven't done this same test with the cheaper Ryzen units, so I'm not sure how they do.
Thanks Sir. I'll look into it! Have yourself a Holly Jolly. @@Robtech
did any of these have dual channel ddr5 either soldered or as fillable ram slots? i'm looking to make a batocera/emu elec box and i'd like ddr5 dual channel to help the gpu
Alder Lake N CPUs don't support dual channel
What about the Trigkey Green G5?
Seams very similar with the Beelink EQ12. Which one is less noisy?
Same manufacturer. Different brand
What is the best budget mini pc with uhd630?
Minisforum UM480XT hands down no.1 $189 barebones
Which device would you prefer if the price were on similar level? Beelink EQ12 (180eur/1year warranty) or Morefine M9(210/2years warranty)? What I like on EQ12 is 2nd fan which keeps SSD temperature on very low level. Advantage of the M9 is faster NVME transfer. I'm looking for a mini pc for home automation which will run 24/7 for several years 10+. Do some of these devices have significantly better hardware design that allows them to run without issues for several years?
I'd go with EQ12 at same pricing. Hard to know reliability on these units. The only minis I'm confident in for 24/7 use are Intel NUCs (now discontinued). If reliability is the most important factor, the Intel NUC 11 Essential is a decent option. Sadly, won't be updated to N100 CPUs, so performance is outdated.
The bee link s12 looks like the one i want but what is that piwer cable? I know i can get an adapter but ive just never seen that before
If you buy off Amazon you'll get the one for your region. The one in the video is a UK plug.
These companies saw this video & upped the prices 😂
@Robtech hey can you tell me whether or not these mini Pcs have a FPANL port on the mother boards?
It's not something I look out for, so I don't remember. But in each review I open up the mini and show the board, so you could check that way if there's one that's of interest.
Why are all the links going to small USB flash drives?
What do you think about Trigkey N100 mini PC? Does the brand name really matter here if the specs are the same?
Trigkey is a rebrand of Beelink so it's fine. But otherwise yep ot does matter, all perform differently (temps, noise & performance) and some are bad.
they all do this, but the guts is what counts.
Hoping you're still looking at these comments all of these seem great but I'm just looking for a mini pc that can run 4k streaming services and has a good cooling system not planning on gaming or doing anything crazy just mainly web browsing and typing up documents which would you recommend for an average joe like me?
www.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/comments/11vfmhm/would_the_n100_be_suitable_for_plex_and/
@Robtech - I just ordered the Morefine M9 from Amazon. Is there anything I can do to improve cooling of the M.2 SSD? Thanks, cheers!
I suggest you put a silicone heat conduction block, so that the heat conduction effect is much better
Can you play any modern games on it ?
The Geekom has only one RAM-unit? But then one can prop up the little thing a bit more for little money with another unit?
One 8GB stick yeah. You could always add another if you need more. The new N series CPUs only support one slot.
Will the beelink let me stream my ps5 game play from obs
Does anyone know the mini PC that has the external graphics card hook up? Thanks.
whats a good mini pc that can run fortnite close to ps5 specs
Are these good for editing video for Social Media platforms like Instagram and TikTok?
They do okay for simple 1080P videos. Depends on the amount of effects though
do a review on morefine m6s please
Might be one coming up
What do you think of the TRIGKEY with a 12th Gen Intel N100 with 16GB of DDR5 and 500GB of PCIE1 memory at $160 (after tax)? After finding your video, I'm debating between this one and the cost associated, and since you recommended the TRIGKEY at the end, this one doesn't seem bad at all. Would love to hear your perspective. Thank you :)
The Trigkey units are manufactured by AZW, same as Beelink minis, so should be fine.
@@Robtech Thank you!
Minisforum UM560 runs circles around these for same price point. Not sure what you mean that there aren't ryzen mini PCs in that price range. look at the minisforums
Look again at the title of the video and then check the price of the UM560.
@@Robtech I see what you're sayin.. Although I can get the barebones and add 16GB RAM and a cheap 256gb NVMe for $300 total and the Ryzen 5625u is about 3x the total CPU performance as the N100 but not 3x the price. But that would be bang for buck still.. not under $250 so maybe that's a different video..
UM560XT But I agree
If I wanted to play a single 4k video on a loop and that's ALL I needed the mini pc to do, what would be the best mini pc for that?
Any from 1-4
Can you tell me please
if i wanna sometimes play in CS what is option better ?
TRIGKEY Mini PC Ryzen 7 8 Core 16 Thread Micro Computer W11 Desktop 5800H（Up to 4.4GHz）
\\\ or \\\\
TRIGKEY Core i5 11th Mini PC W11 Pro Desktop PC 11th Gen Intel I5-11320H(Up to 4.5GHz) 16GB DDR4 500G NVME ???
or what you can recommend under 400$ for gaming and not tower?
im noob in pc always use mac
thanks
I'd go with the 5800H
which one makes sense for media server?
I was looking at this video for the same reason. I see you posted this 1 month ago. Did you come to a conclusion or still looking ?
I know it's a long shot, but is there any at all that have 10gbe Ethernet? Thanks!
I haven't seen one yet. Very unlikely at the budget end
which is better in your opinion? beelink ser5 or beelink eq12?
SER5
@@Robtech any variance between amazon listings? found one for $230 but there are also listings for ~$400 🤨
The ones around $400 are probably the SER5 MAX, which is a different unit with the Ryzen 5800H. The Ryzen 5560U mini has been around $230.
I'm pretty jealous at the US prices. But there is no VATax on the price right? Or how does that work for online shopping? Here all prices are including tax. Even though the euro is stronger than the dollar it's still a higher than expected price even adding VATax. Before Brexit good deals could be found on ebay from the UK. Now the EU adds 21% VATax to it sadly.
Yeah, no sales tax in the US unless in California
Which one is good for office work ? If someone can answer me thank you
Any you like from 1-4 or the GEEKOM MiniAir 12 now (not 11)
I can recomend the Genmachine for me it works with ryzen 3550h or 3750h processor abaout 120-150 bucks games are work not bad on it im a bit dissapointed these item is not on the list cause the ryzen break the Intel shi.. =D but nice information video
That CPU came out in 2019. I only look at the last two years.
@@Robtech make sense but anyway its still in perfomance better its more a shame for the product they dosnt have anything done good in perfomance =D
by the way its giving never versions about the genmachine with newer processors from ryzen i only say take a look its worth it ;)
I'd have to buy it to review it which I no longer do as I can't keep up with what's being send to me. If Genmachine offers to send me something, happy to review it.
Can any of these play modern games at all ?
An N100 can play GTAV at around 30fps at 720P. So, no not really.
You got the jokes!
I don’t know much about pcs but can someone recommend me a good mini pc for gaming?
What about ATOPNUC Mini PC Windows 11 Pro, AMD Ryzen 3 3250U 8GB RAM 256GB SSD I bought last month for $129 on Amazon. I guess you missed it.
3250U launched in 2020
Bottom 5 Mini PC's when? :)
Is that something people want to see? 😅
@@Robtech Some people just wanna see the world burn, mate.
Prices here in Canada are far higher
still waiting deskmini 2023 🙂
Me too!
Lookijg for a mini for running Roblox for my kids. I understand Roblox can be just fine with a potatoe pc, so are minis a good option for me?
I've heard Roblox runs fine on the previous generation chip, so should be fine on the N100
@@Robtech Yes I figured, thanks for confirming, great videos !
I can fix the bios stuff
Video good. Product links, less. Amazon links all retrieve the same page.
Your links are bit messed up.
Okay, fixed. Thanks
Are they windows 11 compatible?
They're all running Windows 11
A fanless Asus n100 just launched at 200 dollars
I doubt you can get very demanding performance with any contemporary processor. Passive cooling cannot cool reliably anything more than 10 Watts so they either have to throttle the processor performance when it overheats or let it run at higher temperatures, which increases the likelihood of all the electronic components dying faster from overheating. That's why I got a fanless N5105 - it is limited to below 10W. The N100 can reach 25W...
That'll be barebones for that price. I'd like to grab the N200 model for myself.
Minisforum UM560XT $219 and makes all of the 5 you mention look like kid toys
No memory, storage or OS and there's time involved to get it up and running. Apples and oranges comparison.
🤙🏼🤙🏼
There seem to be no mini pcs with HDMI 2.1. A deal breaker.
HDMI 2.1 for what exactly?
@@Robtech I'd guess 4K with decent refresh?
Not use intel i series processors
I am wanting to get the hyper base lite 4T that has 21 PS3 games. Will the trigkey for 240 dollars play them? If not what mini PC will? I was thinking about the GMKtec thanks for the advice if you see this.
The Trigkey can play a bunch of PS3 games at full speed at 720P, but depends on the game. They vary a lot in their performance needs.
ROB!