Looking to pick up a mini pc as a secondary computer for web, video and possibly light music production. Watched quite a few UTube Vids on the subject and was impressed by how far they've come. Though not sure how 'accurate' these videos are in their opinions. Has anyone actually owned/used any of these ? Most are capable of general things, but I'd like something - if possible - fast enough to handle light music production as well. Music would be mostly audio guitar tracks (Amplitube, S Gear, Overload) midi drums (EZDrums, BFD) and synths (Diva, Cherry, ect)
Thanks...
Recomendations for a Mini PC
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 74 posts since 20 Dec, 2014
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- KVRAF
- 15532 posts since 13 Oct, 2009
I own a bunch of them from super cheap to moderately expensive. They are my goto when I need a little box for something. I have a dedicated Maschine mini pc with a mini display tucked into my modular that's using a modern celeron. I use a higher end intel with a quadcore 11th gen as a music/video machine on my work desktop.
I regularly use the $100ish refurbs as dedicated linux boxes for whatever task I need at the time.
For most of them, the takeaway is that they are a laptop grade processor in a small box without a display. So, if a laptop with the same processor will get the job done, then so would the equivalent mini pc. For me, a big concern is what kinds of drive expansions that they have. The little HP 1-liter units can have a 2.5" as well as two M.2s internally. One thing that you have to be careful with on the refurbs is that you might sometimes have internal parts missing or a slightly different config than what's advertised.
I regularly use the $100ish refurbs as dedicated linux boxes for whatever task I need at the time.
For most of them, the takeaway is that they are a laptop grade processor in a small box without a display. So, if a laptop with the same processor will get the job done, then so would the equivalent mini pc. For me, a big concern is what kinds of drive expansions that they have. The little HP 1-liter units can have a 2.5" as well as two M.2s internally. One thing that you have to be careful with on the refurbs is that you might sometimes have internal parts missing or a slightly different config than what's advertised.
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- KVRist
- 182 posts since 26 Jun, 2021
I use something 2 gens older than below for all of the above.
Cherry Audio synths still crackle on my 12th Gen i9 main system though... They're the worst.
HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini Business Desktop - 8th Gen Intel 6-Core i7-8700T Processor up to 4.00 GHz, 16GB Memory, 512GB Solid State Drive, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) (Renewed) https://a.co/d/9lFXetX
Cherry Audio synths still crackle on my 12th Gen i9 main system though... They're the worst.
HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini Business Desktop - 8th Gen Intel 6-Core i7-8700T Processor up to 4.00 GHz, 16GB Memory, 512GB Solid State Drive, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) (Renewed) https://a.co/d/9lFXetX
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 74 posts since 20 Dec, 2014
Thanks for the replies guys.
I came across the GTR7 PRO 7940HS it claims a single core score of 2517 ( at the 6.00 minute mark on the video) which I believe is key for DAW work and has 32 GB DDR5 Ram @5600 Mhz. Just wondering how it is in real world use. I'm going to look further to see what else is out there. But it seems they've come a long way from those slow mini pc's from years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_izYY-m65Ds
I came across the GTR7 PRO 7940HS it claims a single core score of 2517 ( at the 6.00 minute mark on the video) which I believe is key for DAW work and has 32 GB DDR5 Ram @5600 Mhz. Just wondering how it is in real world use. I'm going to look further to see what else is out there. But it seems they've come a long way from those slow mini pc's from years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_izYY-m65Ds
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- KVRAF
- 3065 posts since 4 Jan, 2005
I heard the fan noise can get loud on those mini PCs . I record with microphones , so I have steered away from them , but I'm am still interested in them ??? I thought about going Mac mini but the upcharge for 1tb ssd and 16gb ram , turned me OFF ... Right now I'm thinking about getting a tower PC i5 13400 16gb 1tb . Either HP , Dell , or who ever ? Or just build my own .
