A desktop computer (often abbreviated desktop[1]) is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply, motherboard (a printed circuit board with a microprocessor as the central processing unit, memory, bus, certain peripherals and other electronic components), disk storage (usually one or more hard disk drives, solid state drives, optical disc drives, and in early models a floppy disk drive); a keyboard and mouse for input; and a computer monitor, speakers, and, often, a printer for output. The case may be oriented horizontally or vertically and placed either underneath, beside, or on top of a desk. Personal computers with their cases oriented vertically are referred to as towers. As the majority of cases offered since the mid-1990s are in this form factor, the term desktop has been retronymically used to refer to modern cases offered in the traditional horizontal orientation.[2][3] FYI The Asus PN50 is our “bare-bones” mini PC pick for people who don’t mind buying and installing their own memory, storage, and operating system. We’ve also added information about the ongoing chip shortage. If you want a desktop PC rather than a laptop for working or learning at home, if you don’t plan to play high-end games, and if you want to choose your own monitors and other accessories, consider a mini PC rather than a full-size desktop computer or an inflexible all-in-one. Mini PCs are fast enough for anything other than high-end gaming, and unlike some laptops, they include all the ports you need to connect multiple monitors and your favorite keyboard and mouse. Normally, we’d recommend Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M70q Tiny, and if you can get it for $800 or less, we still think it’s the best one you can buy. But the ongoing silicon chip shortage has created months-long shipping delays for the M70q and many other mini PCs. For as long as this situation lasts, the best mini PC is the one you can actually buy right now, so check our list of other good mini PCs if you need something now and can’t afford to wait.  Good performance, lots of ports, a reasonably quiet fan, and easy upgradability make the ThinkCentre M70q Tiny the best mini PC for most people. *At the time of publishing, the price was $838.
Lenovo sells several ThinkCentre mini PCs with the same basic design, including the M80q Tiny and M90q Tiny, but the M70q Tiny offers the best combination of price and features. The front panel has one USB Type-C port for newer accessories as well as a Type-A port for older cables and USB drives. On the back, it has one DisplayPort and one HDMI port so you can easily use multiple monitors (if you order a custom configuration, you can add more USB-C, DisplayPort, or HDMI ports). Its fan is nearly silent in everyday use and tolerable under more intensive workloads. And for easy upgrades later on, you need to remove only one screw to access its M.2 storage and two memory slots. It’s normally just a bit more expensive than the M70q, but the ProDesk is just as fast and has an additional front USB port. *At the time of publishing, the price was $890.
If the ThinkCentre M70q Tiny is out of stock or our recommended configuration costs more than $800, or if you just want an extra front USB port, get the HP ProDesk 400 G6 Mini PC instead. It’s normally more expensive than the M70q, but it’s just as fast. If you order a customizable model, you can add an additional DisplayPort, HDMI port, USB-C port, or VGA port to the back, a 2.5-inch drive bay for another hard drive or SSD, and an extra pair of USB 2.0 ports to connect more accessories. The customizable model also includes a generous three-year warranty by default. CTL’s Chromebox has the same processor and ports as other cheap Chromeboxes but twice as much memory as other similarly priced models.
Thanks to Google’s Chrome OS, the CTL Chromebox CBX2 is faster than a similarly priced, $300 Windows PC at browsing the web, handling basic word processing, and playing movies. But unlike a Windows or Mac computer, a Chrome OS device (mostly) can’t use desktop apps. In fact, the app you use for almost everything on a Chrome OS device is the Chrome web browser, and your device has to be connected to the internet for most tasks. The CTL Chromebox CBX2 includes twice as much memory as other similarly priced budget Chromeboxes we considered, and it has plenty of ports. A somewhat cheaper version with 4 GB of memory is available (and you can upgrade the memory later, if you want), but we think most people are likely to be happier with the extra speed and responsiveness that 8 GB of memory offers. A “bare-bones” mini PC includes just the motherboard and processor in a box—you need to supply your own memory, storage, and operating system. We like the PN50’s speedy AMD Ryzen processors and good port selection, which includes USB-C and a microSD card slot. *At the time of publishing, the price was $463.
A “bare-bones” mini PC comes without memory, storage, or an operating system, so it’s not ready to use out of the box. But if you’re comfortable installing these things yourself, it’s often more economical to buy a bare-bones system, especially if you need a large SSD, for storing big video files or games, or 16 GB of memory, for editing high-resolution photos and videos. We like the Asus PN50 bare-bones mini PC because its AMD Ryzen processors offer good enough performance for everything from web browsing to light gaming, and because the PN50 squeezes in all of the ports most people will need (including a microSD card slot on the front). The latest Mac mini has fewer ports and is less upgradable than its immediate predecessor, but Apple’s M1 processor offers excellent performance, and the system’s fan is whisper quiet even when you’re editing photos or videos or compiling code. *At the time of publishing, the price was $700.
If you prefer macOS, get the Mac mini with Apple’s M1 processor. The Mac mini is one of Apple’s first computers to stop using Intel chips, and the result is a surprisingly fast and energy-efficient mini desktop with enough processor power to edit video and compile code, as well as sufficient graphics performance to keep a pair of 4K monitors feeling fast and fluid (we can emphatically say this was not true of Mac minis with Intel’s integrated graphics). For everyday browsing and general use, an M1 Mac mini with 8 GB of memory is good enough, though if you plan to use yours for professional photo and video editing or app development, you should step up to 16 GB of memory; you can’t upgrade the Mac mini’s memory and storage after you buy it, so you need to make that decision up-front. But the new Mac mini has fewer ports than the Intel-based model it replaces, and none of those ports are accessible from the front. The Mac mini is also quite a bit larger than most of the Windows mini PCs we tested, and Apple’s internal storage upgrades are pricey enough that you should look at an external hard drive or a portable SSD if you need more space. |
The trend is toward larger desktop tower form factors.
Postagens relacionadas
direito autoral © 2024 mesadeestudo Inc.
