this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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FYI: 849 EUR (~$910 USD) incl 19% tax for the basic configuration with AMD Ryzen 5 7535U, 8GB RAM, and 500GB SSD storage.
$799.00 USD gets you the Mac mini with the same (maybe faster?) RAM and (slightly faster) SSD.
And it very comfortably beats the 7535U while consuming less energy & staying cooler.
Definitely a deal breaker [M2 Mac mini] for Windows x86 dependant workflows; not so much for Linux users tho.
I think AMD is the only one with a real chance at matching and maybe beating Apple in the mini PC space, but pricing and architectural differences still make it really challenging.
Yeah. I saw the Mac mini in a store not long ago. I don't know about the state of Linux support for the M2 platform. I somewhat dislike Apple for nowadays soldering everything and making things so they can't be updated or repaired. And they take a crazy amount of extra money to put in a proper amount of RAM and storage. Like Apple's price explodes from 700€ to ~2000€ once I put in 24GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.
You can get the same specs as the machine in OP's post from Beelink for $480 on Amazon, so I'm not sure I would use his post as a good basis.
I agree that the Tuxedo Nano Pro is very expensive, but the Mac Mini is much more expensive. When you look at the comparable, German prices, it looks like this:
The minimum config prices from Apple look quite good, but they fleece you for the RAM and SSD capacity. And of course you can't upgrade them on your own. And of course the Mac Mini doesn't support Linux (maybe Asahi Linux will get there in a few years, but Apple certainly isn't helping).
Yes, price goes off the roof for upgrads, buts it's Apple, they're literally known for scalping their own user base since the 80's. Nothing has changed.
Mac mini will never support Linux; is the other way around. Asahi is bootable.
Eye-watering
You could get an Odroid H3+ for a lot cheaper.
And the specs would be ridiculously different.
I'd say you need to buy at least 4 of the Odroids and run them in parallel to compete with the performance of that ryzen.
You can get a Ryzen 7 mini PC on Amazon for $360. With Windows, but Linux runs fine on it.
The one I linked has a WiFi/BT card that I could not get running, but the Ryzen 5 version worked OOTB no issues.
I know you were only replying to the comment above about ODroid, and I agree with what you said. I also have several ODroids, and I have learned to dislike Linux on ARM. I have one U3 that will not power on, at the moment, so I'm a bit sour on ODroids.
Given the existence of the Trigkey offerings, what justifies the $900 price on the OP machine, do you think?
That Odroid has an Intel processor, so no Arm. But I have no issues with that. I ran a few single board computers that were okay (except for the gpu).
I don't think the price is entirely justified. Maybe you pay for the name and support a local company. And it's better integrated than on some cheap stuff from China. Idk.
Thanks for the link. But I'd have to pay an additional $85 for taxes/duties and shipping. And at this point I think I'd pay the difference to get one with the current generation of ryzen processors which have way better graphics and DDR5 RAM. This mini pc claims to have all that, 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD at a price tag of 519€.
Huh. Maybe I have the model wrong; I've had it for several years. I'll have to pop the case tomorrow and check. In any case:
whichever model it is, it's definitely ARM. I bought two at the same time for a home automation project, and one had since kicked the bucket.
Re VAT: oof. I got 64GB RAM for mine for only a little more than your taxes. That's rough. Good luck, whatever you choose.
I have no clue. I just typed in the name into google. Maybe it showed me the wrong specs. My numbers would be off then but I don't really care because I don't want to buy one be that as it may.
Hehe. Yeah thanks for the link anyway. I can find the same or a similar product on Amazon Germany and it will be significantly cheaper.
I just haven't decided yet if I want a mini pc in the first place. I always wanted one of those Ryzen 7000 in my laptop. I could use that money and have it contribute to one of those current framework laptops.
Odroid has both ARM and Intel boards in their lineup