
Speaking of buying from Dell I sent this to Steve privately, but it might help someone else in here. As a Dell employee, I get 4 or 5 discount codes every year, worth 15%, they call it the family and friends discount. You have to buy directly from the Dell website, and it applies to most - if not all - items. If anyone needs one, please let me know. FYI, I’m a technical resource, I know nothing of sales, all of what I do is away from people. -nick On Fri, Feb 21, 2025 at 10:57 D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
From: Evan Leibovitch via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
On Wed, Feb 19, 2025 at 4:27 PM D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk < talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
From: William Park via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
Man, I'm so behind. Have you compared with Intel's NUC? Is Beelink still better value?
Kind of different.
- Intel no longer makes NUCs: they sold the business to Asus
- NUCs (at least used to) only contain Intel processors, an inferior choice
There is an AMD-based NUC in the works < https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/mini-pcs/amd-powered-nuc-appears-to-be... .
Interesting but too late for Steve. Actually all discussion is too late for Steve since he already bought a Dell. But sharing knowledge is useful to list members, or at least to me.
The lag is likely due to the reality that Intel invented the form factor and the NUC brand. There have been AMD-based SFF systems in the past but from lesser-known brands.
Lots of very small form factors have been invented. My oldest tiny computer is probably an Acer AspireRevo from 2009.
AMD processors have been a good choice, off and on, for a long time. But they haven't been popular until recently.
I subscribe to a Youtube channel, ETA PRIME <https://www.youtube.com/@ETAPRIME>, that regularly does reviews of SFF PCs along with gaming devices and SBCs down to the Raspberry Pi and clones.
Fun and useful. There are a lot of other channels too. Some are careful about disclosing sponsorship (I don't remember if ETA Prime is).
The Intel-branded ones were overpriced but that has stabilized with Asus and competitors involved.
I saw no magic in the Intel brand and never bought one. I haven't really looked at Asus-branded ones but "stabilized" isn't good enough. Even Lenovo ThinkCentres are cheaper (during a good sale).
- Bee-Link is a Chinese brand that doesn't pretend to be anything else
and ... so? Do any of them pretend to be something else?
Lenovo. Asus (Headquarters in Taiwan, but how much is actually there?). Every other "American" brand has all the manufacturing and an unknown amount of the engineering done in Asia, primarily PRC.
As I understand it, The engineering/design of most computers is done by ODMs. Names you usually don't hear, but Foxconn is one.
- there is some after-sales support but an unknown amount.
It's unknown until you buy one and need support. The best support is the one you don't need. :-D
When I buy things, I like long warranties. They are a hint that the manufacturer has a long term commitment to reliability.
Firmware updates are inevitable. If none is offered, you have been abandoned.
I have gotten downloaded ThinkCentre firmware (BIOS) updates released almost 10 years after the computer was made.
My main Bee-Link computer had a firmware update (good!) but 1. it wasn't announced 2. you had to ask support for a copy 3. they required a photo of the POST screen 4. they gave me a URL for an odd HK hosting site (perhaps to avoid the Great Firewall) All that seems less than first-class.
One other difference often found is that many NUC-sized systems use laptop CPUs and RAM. While that might mean higher cost for upgrades or reduced performance, it also means that their power bricks usually consume far less than the supplies on equivalent PCs.
Yes. With power consumption comes heat and consequently noise. And throttling. And moving parts that can wear out. A lot of designing a PC these days is about cooling trade-offs.
ThinkCentre Tinys usually have processors with a T suffix which - you and I cannot buy - are power-reduced desktop chips
Lenovo Tinys use laptop bricks. My Lenovo Tinys seem a little noisier than my BeeLinks.
(The Mac Mini doesn't use a brick at all! True of certain BeeLink models too but there are trade-offs.)
At least some AMD T chips can do ECC but Lenovo has not enabled this. Rats.
I expect that the T chips support more PCIe lanes that laptop chips. They would be naturals for a NAS computer but I haven't seen them in the PC's designed for NAS software. I think they are used in several closed NAS boxes.
As I understand it, my new NAS box's performance is impacted by multiplexing the limited number of PCIe lines.
ca.camelcamelcamel.com is your friend.
Yes. Unfortunately it doesn't come with a time machine.--- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk