A Pi 5 PC Or A No Name Amazon Mini Desktop?
Getting The Most For Your ~$200
The Raspberry Pi 5 is an impressive beast compared to it’s predecessors, and can make a half decent solution for a low powered desktop PC. The price is also bigger than other Raspberry Pi devices, so that by the time you’ve added an M.2 adapter, case and other accoutrements you will spend around $200. Amazon sells a variety of low cost mini PCs for about that same price, which made Ars Technica curious to see if they were a better investment for a tiny desktop replacement. They ordered a Bosgame B100 for $170and a GMKtec NucBox G2 for $180.
The two devices both use the Intel Processor N100, with four E-cores, the difference is the Bosgame uses DDR4 while the GMKtex uses DDR5. The two mini PCs ship with Windows 11, sometimes Pro and sometimes not, which is a great deal even if all you want is another Windows license. That didn’t stop Ars from testing out Linux however, with mixed results. Take a look at how they configured the mini PCs to get the most out of them, and how their performance and quirks compare to a Pi 5.
Though you do need to roll the dice on low-to-no-name brands like Beelink, GMKTec, Firebat, BMax, Trigkey, or Bosgame, it's actually possible to buy a reasonably capable desktop system with 8GB to 16GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage, a Windows 11 license, and a workaday x86-based Intel CPU for as little as $107, though Amazon pricing usually runs closer to $170.
Dechromed chormebox. An Asus CN62 is a great little box. Super cheap, easy to dechrome, and easy to use as any other x86 PC. Small, limited internal expansion (already has good WiFi, video out, and USB3 ports), but it has two memory slots and a dual bus processor. As long as you’re okay with a relatively slow dual-core Haswell chip, they’re awesome. Normal barrel jack labeled 19V, but I’ve happily run them off of way less. The 5V regulation on the USB is the first thing to go at around 7.5V. So, any 9V or higher supply should be just fine. And they don’t use much power. I ran Prime95 on one to test power draw and I couldn’t get it over 15W.