Octopus Overlords

I'm looking to replace my wife's 2012 desktop. I came across this Mini PC, Beelink J34. Now my wife doesn't use her PC for anything other than checking email, web surfing, word processing using Office and a little light image editing using Paint. So I'm thinking, maybe I don't need to invest in another desktop, maybe something this minimalist might do the trick. She does have a set of basic speakers which I guess I can plug into that headset port. Does anyone have experience with this type of PC? Any help would be appreciated, I'm moving into new ground with this.

we use mini-PCs all the time at work. she could do what she needs to do on a Raspberry Pi for $30 (not on Windows, but with a Linux OS)

why are you looking to replace that 2012 machine? the speed and capability is just fine for what she does.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:22 pm why are you looking to replace that 2012 machine? the speed and capability is just fine for what she does.

Because after I upgraded to Win10 the OS will no longer accept any updates. I've tried various solutions but none worked, the only option left is to wipe and reinstall Windows and that's too much work for an eight year old machine. The HDD is slow and I've tried replacing it with an SSD like I did with my laptop but for some reason I couldn't get the data transfer to work properly.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:22 pm we use mini-PCs all the time at work. she could do what she needs to do on a Raspberry Pi for $30 (not on Windows, but with a Linux OS)

I don't know a thing about Raspberry Pi or Linux, but Windows and I are old friends.

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 4:55 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:22 pm why are you looking to replace that 2012 machine? the speed and capability is just fine for what she does.

Because after I upgraded to Win10 the OS will no longer accept any updates. I've tried various solutions but none worked, the only option left is to wipe and reinstall Windows and that's too much work for an eight year old machine. The HDD is slow and I've tried replacing it with an SSD like I did with my laptop but for some reason I couldn't get the data transfer to work properly.

you do not _need_ a new computer - absolutely the HDD should be replaced at this point, but you've got the replacement SSD already, yes? (if not, a 128GB SSD costs about $30 now.)

all you need to do for the data transfer is copy over the user folder (Documents and such) data to a removable flash drive, put the new SSD in, reinstall Win10, move the data from the user folder over and you've saved a couple hundred dollars.

you can even copy the data over by attaching the old HDD to the machine as a secondary drive, after the SSD is installed as the boot drive and Win10 installed on it. i guarantee you this is less effort than you're thinking that it is. for the kinds of tasks she does, the perceivable speed of that desktop with the SSD vs a newer mini-PC is probably going to be roughly the same.

Actually...my man ETA Prime shows how to get Win 10 running on a Raspberry Pi:




Bleeding edge but doable.

If you're going to use Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 as a computer, use linux like the official raspbian instead of Windows 10.

You can install Windows 10 but it is almost unusable.

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:21 pm I'm looking to replace my wife's 2012 desktop. I came across this Mini PC, Beelink J34. Now my wife doesn't use her PC for anything other than checking email, web surfing, word processing using Office and a little light image editing using Paint. So I'm thinking, maybe I don't need to invest in another desktop, maybe something this minimalist might do the trick. She does have a set of basic speakers which I guess I can plug into that headset port. Does anyone have experience with this type of PC? Any help would be appreciated, I'm moving into new ground with this.

If that's all she does, why not a cheap Chromebook?

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 1:34 pm If that's all she does, why not a cheap Chromebook?

What advantage does a cheap Chromebook have over the Beelink that was posted? Since whatever is purchased is a replacement for a desktop I would assume that a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and so forth already exist. And that potability is not a big deal. Maybe Chromebooks are cheaper than when I last looked but I doubt you are going to find one less than $250.

I have a similar Beelink. It is slow to start up but when running it is fine for the tasks mentioned. I bought it to take when we went overseas because it is nice and compact and the integrated graphics are just enough to run some older games. In the end I found that while it worked for my needs it wasn't well built. After a year+ of use it has developed an annoying habit of freezing instead of going to sleep if left alone. As long as I keep working it is fine.

Personally I like a full Windows system over ChromeOS and the look of a miniPC on my desk rather than a laptop plus external monitor (I much prefer the ergonomics of monitors to laptop screens). Even so I'm not sure I'd recommend the Beelink after the problems with mine.

that seems like a good little machine. 8gb is the bottom for running win10, less than that, and its just not worth it. and the price is amazing for a machine that comes with windows on it. considering the usage you describe, its probably just fine.

I know you probably already thought of this, but make sure the monitor you have has an hdmi input.

Headphone jack should work for speakers, so long as those speakers have an external power source. I have a minipc (lenovo thinkcentre) with speakers plugged into headphone jack, and it works fine.