From: William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org>
That model is outside my price range, but a cheaper model - https://www.amazon.ca/MINISFORUM-NAB6-Lite-i5-12600H-Computer/dp/B0D1VLLKXZ (679) looks interesting.
My idea of what Mini PC's should cost has been thrown out the window by RAM and SSD prices, tariffs (somehow US tariffs seem to affect what we pay), and panic. I've not been a fan of Intel processors for a while. That's not a veto, just a weighting. One issue is power efficiency and the consequent noise. I don't know if the currently latest generations overturn this pattern. This particular processor is a couple of generations old. That's not a veto either. This one comes with 32GiB of RAM (generous), surely in the form of two DIMMs. Unfortunately, it is DDR4. I like 2.5G ethernet being built-in. Two ports is a bonus but actual use of this feature seems rare. This machine seems too powerful for router applications. It could allow better clustering, I guess.
What is your feel of MINISFORUM's quality?
There are now a million mini-PC vendors. My impression (note: not factual) is that Minisforum does more engineering than most of the brands but they sometimes get it a little wrong at first (in the past, anyway). Cooling seems to be a challenge for all vendors. Firmware isn't frequently updated. Minisforum might be better that average at that. Most of the Chinese brands of mini PCs are very similar and might well come from the same factory. Not Minisforum, as far as I've noticed. Nice metal cases feel good but I'm not sure that has any technical value. Machined metal feels better than sheet metal.