Mini PC

[Thysanoptera]

I placed an order for MBP 14, maxed out, on paper should be enough for my single machine. Took my MBP 13 with me this week on a trip, just to make sure I'll be comfortable with MacOS on ARM, figured the only thing I can't do is to spin a x86 VM. Fml, somebody from the office messed up and I need to do just that, in Hyper-V of all things. It never happened before, in 20+ years. Normally I would do it at home/office and just bring it with me. I'm gonna VPN home to one of my PCs and do it on it, download only the soft I made and deploy it on customer site from a barebone copy I have with me.

I almost went to BB to get Surface Pro 8, but I don't need a screen, just something that I can remote into, work and download 30GB from. Can't do it over hotel wifi obviously. I saw some of those mini PCs, like puck sized, with Atom or laptop CPUs, kind of like mac mini. Does anybody have any experience with them? I need something as small as possible, 8GB RAM, powered by USB-C, to cover my butt in case it happens again. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 

[keeper]

I think the windows technical guys on here may discount this idea, but i’ll throw it in.
Synology NAS that you could install a VM then log into it and start it up when required.

Synology Inc.

Centralize data storage and backup, streamline file collaboration, optimize video management, and secure network deployment to facilitate data management.

www.synology.com

 

[mi7chy]

Take a look at Asrock. Not USB-C powered but they have versions with DASH out-of-band management.

https://www.asrockind.com/en-gb/4X4 BOX-4800U

https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/Jupiter X300/index.asp

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-4x4-box-4800u/p/56-158-069

 

[Thysanoptera]

I’ve found my insurance policy. Quad core, 8GB, full length nvme slot plus some emmc storage.

MeLE Mini PC Fanless Quieter2Q Celeron J4125 Windows 11 Pro Micro Computer 8GB 256GB Small Desktop Servers with Gigabit Ethernet PXE Dual HDMI 4K Unlock BIOS on Industrial Astrophotography Webcast

MeLE Mini PC Fanless Quieter2Q Celeron J4125 Windows 11 Pro Micro Computer 8GB 256GB Small Desktop Servers with Gigabit Ethernet PXE Dual HDMI 4K Unlock BIOS on Industrial Astrophotography Webcast

www.amazon.com

The USB-C is just fixed 12V, not PD. I’m going to need some dongle to convert PD to fixed 12V.

 

[mi7chy]

Cool little mini PC but is it powerful enough for virtualization? J4125 is about 5.5x slower than 4800M. When I think of VM I think server loads. Are you virtualizing desktop or server? Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[Thysanoptera]

Cool little mini PC but is it powerful enough for virtualization? J4125 is about 5.5x slower than 4800M. When I think of VM I think server loads. Are you virtualizing desktop or server? Let us know how it works out for you.

That won't be a production machine, that's just to prep a VM in an emergency or view backup, not run in anger. I'll have it on Friday, you can almost buy two of these for the cost an upgrade from 16 to 32GB RAM on MBP lol.

 

[Thysanoptera]

An update. I got my MBP 14, and I am in awe. Just completed my first week on the road without a Windows laptop at all. Unbelievable machine. Here's my travel setup:

Not visible is Netgear wifi extender, that I use to hook up to hotel wifi (on one band) and keep my toys hooked to the other band, visible to each other. MiniPc works great, no issues, it is really fast, it is that small box next to the lamp with Wintel stickers. Doubles as mediaPC connected to TV. I'm super happy.