So I’ve been looking at upgrading my PC and it looks like I can get a better “micro” pc than my current (ancient) desktop for significantly less money than a full blown gaming rig. An example of such a rig is this.
I don’t have high gaming requirements - I play mostly old games, I think the newest games I play are from 5+ years ago.
What reasons are there for not buying one of these (over a comparable “proper” desktop)?
A “proper” desktop is cheaper to buy and cheaper to maintain. And that maintenance is actually possible.
Are they cheaper, though?
GPU prices being what they are an equivalent full size card, and the same CPU aren’t far off the full build cost of the micro unit I linked to, and that’s before cases, power supplies and whatever.
I understand the service situation; but that’s not worse than my laptop/integrated devices - and this still has some scope for replacing non-soldered parts, presumably.
I am using a 2019 Ryzen 2700 sale build ($461, not counting 1050Ti which I just carried over) and minipcs really seem lacking when it comes to GPU power. Like the one you linked to is about the same GPU performance as my card (I’ve seen a few other new-ish models with decent price use it too, despite having a moderately faster CPU than mine).
The models with a better GPU (Radeon-8060S) are in the beyond-budget category (even beyond $2K), so you are definitely being charged a premium for the small form factor (even despite potential drawbacks). Or maybe the “AI” branding is part of it…
Maybe in 5-10 more years it will become affordable. Currently, if a low-end APU is faster than your current CPU you might be better off doing getting/building with that, or some dirt-cheap used GPU (AMD Polaris card, or even saw a video on 1050Tis being $20) maybe.
EDIT: Potentially ARC if you don’t mind playing the beta tester (and at least they don’t cheap out on VRAM). Some minipc or SBC might make sense for specific scenarios though, especially if there ever are heavy sales.
Yes, always. Between 2 not second-hand machines with comparable hardware, a “normal” one would be significantly cheaper than a “mini”.
How would you break it down?
PC Partpicker disagrees with you, especially at the reduced price on the Amazon micro option - making some assumptions on equivalence between the ‘baked in’ chips and proper GPU etc.
I’d assume that economies of scale play a part too.
But I’m willing to accept that I’m wrong!