Mini /Tiny PC —recommend one for me based on my requirements

[Smiley_lauf]

Hi there

I am planning to start a home office. Small contracting work. Use case: document editing, spreadsheet management and some light statistical analysis (using built-in Excel tools and some third-party packages like SPSS and Stata). Small and medium data sets. No gaming. Email and internet access WiFi and Bluetooth to connect to Zoom meetings.

Ideal: Core i7, at least 10th Gen, RAM must be upgradable to max 64GB. SSD or M.2 solid state. (HDD is fine as I already have a 2.5” SSD which I can replace). Must-have a Type C outlet for my 4K screen. I have a keyboard and mouse so no need for this.

Brands: Lenovo, NUC or Dell.

Refurbished is fine.

Can you point me to reseller or outlet that can help me?

 

[aktiv]

Cape Town based - ship anywhere

Universe Direct | Your One-Stop Tech & IT Hardware Store in South Africa

Save big with Universe Direct, South Africa’s #1 store for premium reconditioned laptops, desktops, and IT hardware. Quality-tested, budget-friendly tech for home, school, and business.

www.universedirect.co.za

 

[sand_man]

https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?forums/combo-multi-item-sales-full-systems.13/

 

[KleinBoontjie]

Carbonite is a good place to get good refurbished SFF/MFF for good price.

Brands: Lenovo, NUC or Dell.

Lenovo and NUC is good choice, I just don't like how Dell underclock their CPU's. Like they want you to buy a new PC every two years. Me personally will replace Dell with HP Elitedesk on that list. Just my opinion.

 

[Smiley_lauf]

Carbonite is a good place to get good refurbished SFF/MFF for good price.


Lenovo and NUC is good choice, I just don't like how Dell underclock their CPU's. Like they want you to buy a new PC every two years. Me personally will replace Dell with HP Elitedesk on that list. Just my opinion.

Thanks. I noticed that too. I did not realise HP also does a mini PC. Will do some searching.

 

[Smiley_lauf]

https://carbonite.co.za/index.php?forums/combo-multi-item-sales-full-systems.13/

Thanks again! I checked Carbonite (have purchased a few items already from the resellers there) but did not see any mini PC links or on sale. They are hard to find.

Takealot has a few but a very pricey even for entry-level machines.

 

[backstreetboy]

Mac Mini

 

[Smiley_lauf]

Cape Town based - ship anywhere

Universe Direct | Your One-Stop Tech & IT Hardware Store in South Africa

Save big with Universe Direct, South Africa’s #1 store for premium reconditioned laptops, desktops, and IT hardware. Quality-tested, budget-friendly tech for home, school, and business.

www.universedirect.co.za

Thanks for this much appreciated.

 

[Smiley_lauf]

Mac Mini

Thanks somehow I had a feeling you would make that recommendation

Thought about that option, but wanted a more versatile system: Windows and Linux OS. Also way outside my price range.

 

[Smiley_lauf]

Take a look at this on TaL:

Refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Tiny i5 10th Gen 1TB SSD 16GB Memory available to buy online at @TAKEALOT We offer fast, reliable delivery to your door.

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South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.

www.takealot.com

Searched the price checks and some are way above this tag, is this worth the buy?

 

[backstreetboy]

Thanks somehow I had a feeling you would make that recommendation

Thought about that option, but wanted a more versatile system: Windows and Linux OS. Also way outside my price range.

You can get a M1 one for R8k on FB marketplace.

 

[Tacet]

Thanks somehow I had a feeling you would make that recommendation

Thought about that option, but wanted a more versatile system: Windows and Linux OS. Also way outside my price range.

I'm always on the lookout for old machines to run Openhab on. Currently I'm using an old Mac Mini with Debian. I don't know if the newer ones are more difficult to load Linux one, but that ones was pretty simple. No idea what model - it's about 13-15 years old.