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How to Find the Best Windows Mini PC
The term “microcomputer” has its origins in the 1970s—the “micro” of the personal computers emerging then lay in stark contrast to the room-size mainframe beasts of the day. But fast-forward 40 or so years, and—oh, micro, how you have changed!
Indeed, most of the acceleration toward super-small in desktop PCs has happened over the last decade. Of course, it’s still easy enough to find ordinary business boxes and hulking power towers packed with big video cards and multiple drives. But starting with the “small-form-factor” (SFF) PC revolution of the ’00s, many desktops have gone from half-size towers to compact cubes to, in their most extreme reduction, sticks not a whole lot bigger than a USB flash drive.
A big reason why? Graphics acceleration and other essential features, handled in the past by separate chips or bulky cards, have been subsumed under the CPU. Nowadays, small-ification is getting to the point where you can’t go all that much smaller. You need to leave some space for ports to plug in a thing or two.
Mini PCs: Defining Degrees of Small
As a result, we’re seeing some clear stratification in the market for tiny desktop PCs. The very smallest PCs might be termed the “stick class,” vanguarded by the Atom-CPU-powered Intel Compute Stick we first reviewed in early 2015 (and again in its refreshed, Cherry Trail Atom and Core m3 forms in 2016), followed by similar sticks from Lenovo, Asus, and others. These are really only suitable for display/signage use or extremely basic applications, and after a promising debut a few years back, have not seen much evolution or momentum. You can still find them on the market, but they have failed to have a major impact.
The models next up in size are a bit more dynamic, a bunch we might term the “NUC class.” NUC stands for “Next Unit of Computing,” an initiative by Intel to spur the development of very small Windows-based desktop PCs using its mobile-centric processors. The chip giant has released a series of NUC-branded mini-PC kits in its own line, and several of the traditional PC-component makers have followed suit with similar models (Asus with its VivoMini line, for one).
The NUC PCs and their ilk tend to be around 5 or 6 inches square. Separate from those is a host of PCs that are undeniably small but follow their own shape and size rules. Zotac, a major player in small PCs (and one of the category’s unsung early innovators), offers a huge range of Zbox PCs that range in size from a fat smartphone to a bulky Discman. Shuttle, too, is another small-PC pioneer, offering machines in a host of shapes, and on the macOS side of things, the venerable Apple Mac Mini (last updated in late 2018) is a sleek square silver box with rounded edges.
Bare Bones or Ready-Configured?
Not all mini PCs ship as complete systems; more so than any other class of PC, they tend not to.
Especially in the case of Intel’s NUC kits, Shuttle’s small PCs, and many of Zotac’s Zboxes, you get what amounts to a PC kit: a tiny chassis with a motherboard pre-installed (in some cases, a soldered-on processor is in place, as opposed to a socketed one), plus, in most cases, wireless connectivity built in. To complete the kit, you have to shop for and install a storage drive (a hard drive and/or a solid-state drive, depending on the model) and RAM modules, and install your own operating system.
This arrangement is what’s called in reseller lingo a “bare-bones PC.” You’ll want to make sure you know what you are getting. In some cases, a given mini system is sold in bare-bones form, as well as in pre-configured versions with storage, RAM, and Windows present.
You need to factor those parts and a Windows license (unless you plan to use…
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