NUCs with two DisplayPort ports

Hardware Hub Laptops & Netbooks
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Hey all,

Why are all SFF PCs well-equipped with HDMI, but most of them only come with DisplayPort as an afterthought it seems like? Does anyone know of a good device I can buy with two DisplayPort Ports. (I’ve found tons with USB-C with DP Alt mode, but I’d rather have one with dual full-size DP ports). I do not want a dGPU, but an AMD APU is fine because those are still wildly efficient chips.

For some context, I have one of the L1Techs DisplayPort KVMs, but my NUC-like PC, which I use as an energy-efficient HomeLab thin-client because it’s got a 10 Gen Intel Mobile chip, has one DisplayPort and one HDMI port. I then got a StarTech DisplayPort splitter not knowing that it would halve my DisplayPort Bandwidth. The problems really became apparent when I upgraded my old ultrawide VA panel to an OLED display.

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Why? HDMI is pretty much the standard consumer display output and a lot of micros are used with TV’s.

Dell and HP business class micros are your best bet. They have a lot of models with multiple DP output.

Example model:Optiplex 7000 Micro | Dell USA

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Those business class micro PCs also far, far outsell the NUCs aimed more at enthusiasts. Once you start looking for them you find those little things all over the place.

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My HP Z2 Mini G1a has a pair of mDP ports.

mDP is annoying though. The ports are DP 2.1, but there are no certified mDP-to-DP adapters on the market which support DP 2.1.

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Zotac have some options too, e.g. https://www.zotac.com/us/product/mini_pcs/magnus-en275060tc-barebone

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I mean, I’ve already stated what I use it for, and I stated why dual DisplayPort matters to me. IDK hat else to tell you. My current mini pc wasn’t something I went out and intentionally purchased though. I got it by happenstance and now I really like having it.

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Sorry should have been more clear the “why” was me restating your “Why” back as a way to answer the question lol

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I ended up buying

Edit: I’m hoping I can get a 2.5G nic to put in that modular port on the back. If not, it’s not a huge deal - I’m using a USB A to 2.5G adapter currently. Plus I think I can swap my NUC’s current memory, NvME drive, and 2.5" SATA drive over to this machine as well.

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So it arrived today, and I just wanted to share my preliminary thoughts and impressions.

First, I was surprised to see that Dell had included their usual cheap keyboard and mouse in the box given this thing’s nature as “refurbished”. But, I have seen worse included peripherals from Dell equipment at work.

I figured out how to open it up. I was on my lunch break so I didn’t have time to look it up. Immediately, I was met with a rather nice 2.5" drive tray. Yay. I took it out and set it aside.

I was disappointed to see a 2230 NVMe because I wanted to replace it with my old NUC’s 2280. Immediately, I found a little fuzzball inside. Nice refurbishment job, Dell.

It took me a little while to find the SODIMM slots, but eventually I spied them under the blower style CPU cooler. Initially, I started taking off what I would later discover was the heatsink before I noticed some little clips for the fan. This thing is really nice to work in given its tiny footprint.

I took out the single 8Gb Kingston stick, got my old NUC, took it apart, and pulled out its 32Gb kit, and put that in the Dell.

I decided to finish what I’d previously started on the heatsink, and take it fully apart on a hunch that Dell forgot to refurbish the thermal interface material.

I was right. It was solid rubber. Also, I was surprised to see a socketed chip rather than a BGA chip. I honestly do not know what CPU socket this is. It’s better than LGA 1700, honestly. After cleaning everything up, I reapplied some fresh thermal paste, and reinstalled the CPU heatsink.

One last thing before I cinched it all up, I wanted to see if I could use the WWLAN slot as a secondary storage slot, so I took out the WD NVMe, and that’s when I noticed that there was room for 2280. Yay!

I took a couple pictures as I put everything back together.

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I am having network issues at work. I’m going to try uploading those images again, later.

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What could be causing this thing to only read each SODIMM as being 1/2 the size of what they are in reality? I looked up the specifications on Dell’s website and this thing looks like it supports up to 64Gb of memory.

P.S. I’ll have to remember to get those pictures uploaded at some point.