Chinese Mini-PCs

[GeoffF100]

I read that Intel is not making any more NUCs. Perhaps it is not surprising with competition like this:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004195098008.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005819292975.html

The SZBOX has an Intel N95 with 8G + 256GB NVME for £118.78. The TRIGKEY has a Ryzen 7 5800H 16GB + 500GB NVME for £240.61.

The SZBOX comes pre-installed with W11 pro. A retail W11 license would cost more than the whole package here. It is not much more expensive than a Raspberry Pi 5, once you have taken account of the additional stuff you need to make it work. The SZBOX is Linux compatible, but will need an up to date Kernel. It looks like a job for Ubuntu 23.10 Luna Lobster. The N95 is a 12th Generation quad core processor that is faster than my 8 year old i5, which is still doing a good job, but also consuming much more power.

The TRIGKEY also comes with W11 pro. Linux compatibility is not specified, but I expect that Linux will run. It does not come with a UK power plug. (Neither do the Intel NUCs.) This box is awesomely fast.

Both boxes sold by AliExpress and have free shipping from China, with money back guarantees. Amazon also sells these Chinese boxes. Amazon has reviews, but they are mostly for other mini-PCs that have little in common with the box being advertised.

[GeoffF100]

One snag:

"For items delivered from outside the European Union, you may be subject to additional charges for VAT and, when applicable, customs duties in your country. If AliExpress is obliged by law to collect VAT, you will see the VAT inclusive price at checkout. For more information about these costs, please contact the tax and customs authorities in your country."

The all up price will be rather more than the advertised price (2.5% + 20%). I did not think they were allowed to do that.

[Julian]

Wow. Even with VAT those are some pretty keen prices. My previous PC was an Intel 8th gen i7 NUC and I replaced it almost exactly 2 years ago with a Ryzen 5900HX mini PC from a Hong Kong company (Morefine). I paid a NUC-like price for my Morefine at the time but have been very happy with it - it's actually more reliable than my previous Intel NUC was. (My NUC had a couple of very frustrating issues putting my display into and out of sleep mode and I was never able to fix the problem completely.)

I can think of one potential issue with some of the really low-cost NUC-like PCs (or potentially any super-cheap PC regardless of form factor) and that is the availability of BIOS updates. At the price points of the products linked in the original post I would imagine that the motherboards aren't custom-designed by those particular manufacturers but are probably a subcomponent used by a number of manufacturers sourced from some other very likely also Chinese manufacturer so it's probably not all down to SZBOX or TRIGKEY (for example) to create BIOS updates but depending on how good each seller is at monitoring for updates and hosting them on their own support sites it might take a bit more effort and digging on the buyer's part to keep the BIOS up to date compared to the sort of slick procedures a company the size of Intel was able to offer. My experience with Morefine BIOS updates has been OK but nothing like the ease I had with my previous Intel NUC. Morefine does host BIOS updates on a pretty basic shared drive location (Google Drive I think) but there's a bit of unzipping an update package, getting various files in the right place and then and editing a .BAT install script to fix the pathnames in order to get a BIOS update to install properly.

- Julian

[GeoffF100]

I have never had to install a BIOS update. I do not know whether that is good fortune or missed opportunity. Here is a more widely distributed N95 box that has lots of genuine reviews on the web, and a UK distributor:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GMKTec-G1-Mini ... B0C5XYLQFH

The BIOS for that box had to be updated a couple of years ago to install Linux, but Linux installation now seems to work out of the box. There is a Q&A here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK_Lx-FvDFQ

Some of the links have expired, but are probably no longer needed. At £250, it probably will not be cheaper than using an equivalent Gigabyte or MSI box, if they ever materialise, but it does have W11, if you want that.

[CliffEdge]

Dell advised me to update my PC once. I followed the instructions and it bricked my PC. Had to have the motherboard replaced. Never again. What can be worse that that?

[ReformedCharacter]

Dell advised me to update my PC once. I followed the instructions and it bricked my PC. Had to have the motherboard replaced. Never again. What can be worse that that?

Yes, it happened to me once about 25 years ago when I was helping a friend build a PC. All went nicely until I decided to show him how to upgrade his BIOS with a floppy disk. I'm sure it's a much safer process now but it bricked the motherboard which entailed a late Saturday afternoon hunt for a replacement.

RC

[GeoffF100]

I have noticed that there is a £40 voucher for the GMKTec G1, which takes the price down to £201. That is much more attractive. My 5th Generation i5 is plenty fast enough, but is being overtaken by these quad core processors that used to be called Celerons. There will come a time when my PC gets bogged down with slower system software. That will be the time to jump.

[qwaszx]

The TRIGKEY is now £280. Must be all the views you’ve generated Geoff!

[Infrasonic]

Dell advised me to update my PC once. I followed the instructions and it bricked my PC. Had to have the motherboard replaced. Never again. What can be worse that that?

Yes, it happened to me once about 25 years ago when I was helping a friend build a PC. All went nicely until I decided to show him how to upgrade his BIOS with a floppy disk. I'm sure it's a much safer process now but it bricked the motherboard which entailed a late Saturday afternoon hunt for a replacement.

RC

Some MB manufacturers like Gigabyte do dual BIOS setups so if there is an issue with the new one you can revert back to the old.

Other bricked BIOS repair options here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAyM8zIdpFE

Some of these Chinese NUC's have locked custom BIOS' which will make running things like Linux difficult to impossible.
Other issues are lack of support if things go wrong making warranty claims a lottery, or the licences for Windows being a bit 'unconventional'.

There's a ton of reviews on YT highlighting the pro's and con's of them. It's a definite caveat emptor situation.

[GeoffF100]

The GMKTec G1 looks the safest buy, with lots of reviews from reputable sources, the Amazon 30 day cash back guarantee and a UK distributor. Nonetheless, a used PC from eBay with the same performance can be bought for £50. You pay a lot to have a neat little box on your desk (or bolted onto the back of your monitor).

[Infrasonic]

Another eBay option is to look at the ex-corporate branded (Dell, Lenovo, HP) mini pc's that are being sold for spares as non working with locked BIOS' issues due to lost passwords etc, it is possible to get them unlocked so if you don't mind taking a punt...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmI88hltohk&t=1s

[GeoffF100]

Not a mini-PC, but here is a keen deal if you want a fast new build:

https://www.punchtechnology.co.uk/produ ... esktop-pc/

The processor and motherboard are the same as the Explaining Computers Best Value Ryzen PC Build:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up4o9QQHJuY

Great price of £320 including VAT.