It finally happened, I bought a new PC. The last time I upgraded was around 2017 and I built it myself, this time I wanted something smaller and quieter.
While I love my M1 Mac Mini, there are so many Windows programs that I want to use, especially development stuff, that I have had to bite the bullet and buy a new PC capable of running Windows 11.
In the past I could get by with Crossover/Wine, and Virtual Machines, but with the M1 there are as yet no silver bullet solutions due to being a new chip architecture.
This is what I ended up buying and I am quite happy with it after trying it out a few days.
Beelink Mini PC Windows 11 with AMD Ryzen 3
- Ryzen 7 3750 (Up to 3.5GHz)
- Radion RX Vega 10
- 16GB DDR4 RAM
- 500GB NVME SSD
- 2x4K@60Hz HDMI
- 4xUSB 3.0
- Gigabit Ethernet
- WiFi (802.11ac)
- Bluetooth
Now, right off the bat, I know a bunch of you will be skeptical but remember this box is mainly for programming, for gaming I am not big on first-person 3D shooters, I am mostly a fan of stuff created before 1994! (And we have a Switch plus an Xbox with Game Pass for more modern stuff anyway).
So for me, having 16gb of RAM, a fastish SSD, and a decent enough multi-threaded CPU is more important than graphics, but turns out the GPU is ok. No, it wouldn't run Witcher Lord of the Elden Rings: Modern Redemption (or whatever the kids are playing these days) at 4k, 100FPS, but nor do I want it to.
It might be super small, but there still is some upgradability, RAM to 32 GB and of course the drive, and regardless, it runs Windows 11 unlike my older machines so I see this lasting me for quite a while now.
Did I mention that it is small?
Yeah, it's tiny. Even compared to the Mac Mini, which is chonky in comparison. It is not as quiet as the Mac Mini, but it is super quiet unless my face right up in its grill.
Future Tests
While it is great that it runs Windows 11, I am highly tempted to see how it performs running Linux and then try the VM route again for the Windows stuff, seeing as there is no M1 architecture conflict to contend with on this little guy.
The great thing about trying Linux on it, I can do that from a USB stick or even plug in my old USB DVD drive.
At the very least I will be trying out Batocera on a USB stick, get some of that retro emulation action to see how it compares to the excellent MiSTer FPGA and RetroPie solutions!