Looking to get a Mini PC for blender, CAD, and maybe some drone simulator. The reason I need a mini pc is I drive for work and im always in the truck (F-250). It has a couple 120v outlet but I don’t have a lot of room. Iv done my research but was wondering if anyone has one that they would recommend. I understand it’s gonna get pricey and my budget is 800-1100
Personally, I’d just go with a “gaming” laptop. Mini PCs are kind of niche and especially if you want graphics performance, so bang for the buck isn’t gonna be great, you could probably get an equivalent laptop for cheaper.
I’d do something like this. Blender has good benchmarks if you want to ballpark performance of different chips.
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Agreed. I use a few mini PC’s and Raspberry Pi’s, and if you’re running any kind of gaming program you’ll be very disapointed…
You could build out a decently powerful SFF PC using a mini-ITX motherboard, especially if you go with hardware that is one generation back. Nvidia 3000 series video card, Ryzen AM4 CPU, DDR4 memory, etc. You should be able to keep it under $1k with no issues, and it’s all in stock on the shelf at Microcenter.
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Concur. Mini-ITX will be the way to go.
I’m leaning to the laptop option now. The dell g15 looks like it’ll do what I need. I’ll do some more research but most might go with it. Thank you
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Ok after doing a deeper dive, Iv started to go with a laptop. Im noticing that there are a ton of options and the dell g15 is a good option. But was wondering if anyone runs the dell g15 for rendering. I’m also moving my budget to 2500 if I can do payments on it. I’m looking at the Asus artpro p16. Any one have experience with this one aswell?
If you settle on Dell, take a look @ their outlet page. Sometimes great deals on scratch/dent/refurb, still full warranty if that matters to you, and like most electronics, time of year can bring the best pricing. Also, this inventory tends to move fast, so have a price/spec in mind and squeeze that trigger fast if it’s what you want (but don’t get caught up in the hype & buy something you don’t want just cause it looks like a good deal!).
https://outlet.us.dell.com/
e.g.
(and I’d look for WindozePro, not Home, but probably not worth more than $100 or so since that’s “rack rate”, I believe, and shopping around/being patient can you get a license for a lot less).
Adding - if you don’t already have one, a second monitor will likely be a very large WANT - USB-C driven are quite nice these days, being USB powered etc. so just 1 cable. Or a docking station (my preference, so you can use a decent keyboard/mouse, too). A slightly out of date (2023) discussion here Portable monitor recommendations?
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If you are open to buying used, I have a laptop I am looking to sell. (Best Buy: GIGABYTE 15.6" 4K OLED Creator Laptop Intel Core i7-11800H 16GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 1TB SSD AERO 15 OLED KD-72US624SP)
For full disclosure, this particular laptop model has a known issue where the thunderbolt port does commonly stops working (likely a defective thunderbolt controller). The port still functions as a USB-C port but does not recognize Thunderbolt devices. I submitted a credit card warranty claim and got $750 back (which is what Gigabyte wanted to repair it) but on further thought it doesn’t make sense to do that because the laptop is fully functional otherwise. I’m planning to sell the laptop and just buy a new one.
I’ve seen a similar laptop listed for $900 on eBay but I’d be willing to knock it down to $450 or so as that would let me buy a similar laptop replacement when combined with warranty payout. Do note that it would be sold as-is but would be happy to let you inspect it however you like.
Edit: Oops, replied to the wrong person
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That sounds like a good deal. Have you had any other problems other than the port issue?
Only issue that I’m aware of is the port issue. It has a very nice screen (probably the best ive seen so far on a laptop as it was intended for creators - 4k OLED pantone validated). But when combined with power brick its too bulky/heavy (about 7 pounds) to be convenient in a backpack. The older CPUs are also a lot less power efficient so it doesnt have the 8-10hr battery life typical of newer laptop. I hate feeling like I desperately need to find a power outlet. So I am currently using a more powerful desktop at home and a thin and light with no GPU but it cant run solidworks which is annoying.
I find myself away from my desk more and more often, so I’d like to buy one of those new thin and light ones with a GPU and replace both. I want it to have USB PD so that it can run off of a portable battery bank as well as thunderbolt for my docking stations and thunderbolt drive.
Edit: in your case the Dell g15 laptop plus charger weight is like 1-2 ounces heavier and you mentioned you have an outlet handy where you want to use it. So the drawbacks that annoy me might not be an issue for you.
Ok Im definitely interested. I’m gonna be back on the road Wednesday and will be returning Saturday or Sunday. Are you free tomorrow?
Yes, I’ll be in tomorrow afternoon in Science doing a few things. I can go ahead and bring the laptop for you to check it out.