I currently have a secondary PC that is a bit old, loud, slow.
Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU J2900 @ 2.41GHz
Core(s) per socket: 4
This PC is used to play videos, music, chat, email etc so that I do not have to do any of that on my employer provided machine while working. It has a dedicated monitor and I use barrier for keyboard/mouse.
Requirements:
Quiet
Runs KDE well
Youtube playback, fast and stutter free (current machine is a little slow)
Low energy consumption
Small form factor
Lower cost (will spend what I need to but itâs in auxiliary machine)
Canât figure out if a SBC would do the job or if I will just be disappointed. Maybe a Quartz64 Model A or LattePanda 3 Delta 864 (fan looks loud when it spins up)?
Maybe one of the NUC like boxes from Minisforum or the likes? I have a NUC for work and the fan drives me nuts when it spins up. They have this fanless option but doesnât seem like it would be much better then what I have, just newer and quiet.
Build an ITX or mATX box? Seems overkill and expensive.
If I were to get a small (extremely low power) pc these days, i would take a serious look at the LattePanda Delta 3
Itâs extremely low power, is super tiny, and if you want, you can turn it into a full fledged PC by hooking it up to an external GPU using one of the M.2 slots.
But even stock with no modifications, it will run any operating system and can easily play and output 4k video.
The fan is not loud at all, i would put it in the âbarely audibleâ class of fans - and if you put it into a little case, i donât think you will hear anything at all.
Another cool thing about the LattePanda Delta 3, you can use 1 cable directly from a monitor if the display you are hooking it up to has support for PD Charging-out up to about 15 watts then itâs good to go. It doesnât need a ton of stuff plugged into it as long as your display supports it.
Another option is the cheapest Steam Deck in desktop/docked mode. Thatâs basically a full pre-built PC and is super cheap for what it is. For what it offers, it can not be beat for price at the amount of power it gives for a fully capable self-contained PC.
The only problem with the Steam Deck is the built-in battery is a bit small to power the unit for long periods without being plugged in. But then again, I donât think that would even be a consideration for your purposes - as you would always be using it in docked desktop mode.
Yes there will be some wait to get a Steam Deck - But Valve announced they will be all caught up with all pre-orders by the end of this year. So if you put in a pre-order for the Steam Deck (5$ on Steam to reserve a unit), then you will pretty much be guaranteed to get a Steam Deck in a decent period of time)
I would consider âTiny PCâ class PCs from HP, Lenovo or Dell. Abundant in 2nd hand markets mostly contributed by corporations retiring their 3-5 year old fleets.
If you want to build your own, consider A320 or A520 based motherboard (usually come with a Intel NUC-like or Apple Mac mini like case) plus a Ryzen 3000 or 5000 series APU from AMD.
I might offend some people by saying this lol, but while the little SBCs can be a neat little toy, thereâs now way Iâd pay $150 for one when you can just pick up an entire office desktop for literally a third of the price. Dell OptiPlex, HP ProDesk/EliteDesk, Lenovo ThinkCentre, or maybe look for retail PoS machines.
(Just an example, not saying to go buy one specifically)
Or, something like the Lenovo M93p or HP EliteDesk 800 if you really want something smaller
