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ebay - Lenovo ThinkCentre M90n Nano, i3-8145U, 8GB, 256GB SSD, Win 10 Pro, 1 YR On-site Warranty $299.99

$299.99
+8 Deal Score
15,627 Views
i3-8145U Processor
Windows 10 Pro 64
8 GB DDR4 2666MHz (Soldered)
256 GB PCIe SSD
1 Year On-site
Integrated Intel® UHD graphics
Wireless - US English
Wireless Mouse
Intel® 9560 802.11AC (2 x 2) & Bluetooth® 5.0

Ports/Slots
Front
2 x USB 3.1 (Gen 2)
USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2)
Headphone / mic combo
Rear
2 x USB 3.1 (Gen 2)
USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2)
DisplayPort
RJ45

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-T...4406268493
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Deal
Score
+8
15,627 Views
$299.99

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Joined Apr 2018
L3: Novice
> bubble2 140 Posts
70 Reputation
ThriftyHalibut7655
10-30-2020 at 11:27 AM.
10-30-2020 at 11:27 AM.
This would make an absolutely killer low power Plex server since it supports Quick Sync. Just slap on an external storage drive and you're golden.
Reply
Joined Sep 2013
peekaboo!
> bubble2 10,341 Posts
912 Reputation
alxshanti
10-30-2020 at 11:31 AM.
10-30-2020 at 11:31 AM.
Quote from ThriftyHalibut7655 :
This would make an absolutely killer low power Plex server since it supports Quick Sync. Just slap on an external storage drive and you're golden.
Never thought about that. So I could just hook up a series of external drives through a hub and configure a plex server that way?
Reply
Joined Apr 2018
L3: Novice
> bubble2 140 Posts
70 Reputation
ThriftyHalibut7655
10-30-2020 at 11:37 AM.
10-30-2020 at 11:37 AM.
Quote from alxshanti :
Never thought about that. So I could just hook up a series of external drives through a hub and configure a plex server that way?
Yes, ensuring the drives had their own power, it would work fine. You'd keep Plex installed on the SSD though, which means all your metadata and transcoding scratch space would stay there. Just your media files would be on the externals.
Reply
Joined Sep 2013
peekaboo!
> bubble2 10,341 Posts
912 Reputation
alxshanti
10-30-2020 at 11:55 AM.
10-30-2020 at 11:55 AM.
Quote from ThriftyHalibut7655 :
Yes, ensuring the drives had their own power, it would work fine. You'd keep Plex installed on the SSD though, which means all your metadata and transcoding scratch space would stay there. Just your media files would be on the externals.
Very enticing, considering I have a couple of USB 3 external docks for my drives. I was about make a move to a NAS, but this might be a more versatile option, certainly more affordable. I'll need to get a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.
Reply
Joined Apr 2018
L3: Novice
> bubble2 140 Posts
70 Reputation
ThriftyHalibut7655
10-30-2020 at 01:14 PM.
10-30-2020 at 01:14 PM.
Quote from alxshanti :
Very enticing, considering I have a couple of USB 3 external docks for my drives. I was about make a move to a NAS, but this might be a more versatile option, certainly more affordable. I'll need to get a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.
I do this exact setup with a NUC. But I also have a NAS for the actual storage.

Please keep in mind that the advantage that Quick Sync has is that you can have many many streams active in Plex at the same time. This is good for sharing out Plex with friends.

If you don't share it out and use it by yourself or just your family, it may make more sense to actually build a NAS. Then just have its CPU do the transcoding for you in Plex. The only reason I went with a NUC and no longer run Plex on the actual NAS is so I can handle 10+ streams concurrently.

As far as 'more affordable', you can build a NAS out with reasonable specs that you can put your drives into that'll run Plex just fine for about the same price as this mini PC.

There are wonderful guides out there for how to do this on the cheap. I recommend this one to start out with: https://forums.serverbuilds.net/t...-125/667/5
Reply
Last edited by ThriftyHalibut7655 October 30, 2020 at 01:16 PM.
Joined Mar 2018
L6: Expert
> bubble2 1,427 Posts
424 Reputation
MinhLe_GB
10-30-2020 at 09:33 PM.
10-30-2020 at 09:33 PM.
I posted this before, on lenovo website directly. and got no love!
Reply
Joined Mar 2018
L6: Expert
> bubble2 1,427 Posts
424 Reputation
MinhLe_GB
10-30-2020 at 09:34 PM.

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Joined Jul 2006
L6: Expert
> bubble2 1,479 Posts
565 Reputation
psg190
10-30-2020 at 09:57 PM.
10-30-2020 at 09:57 PM.
Quote from MinhLe_GB :
I posted this before, on lenovo website directly. and got no love!
256gb SSD versus your 128GB SSD.
Reply
Joined Mar 2018
L6: Expert
> bubble2 1,427 Posts
424 Reputation
MinhLe_GB
10-30-2020 at 09:59 PM.
10-30-2020 at 09:59 PM.
Quote from psg190 :
256gb SSD versus your 128GB SSD.

ah ah ok.
Reply
Joined Oct 2006
L4: Apprentice
> bubble2 329 Posts
57 Reputation
YwVJZXkD
11-01-2020 at 06:03 AM.
11-01-2020 at 06:03 AM.
Everytime I see these I forget how small they are. Soldered ram is definitely a trade off, so not for everyone. SFF models are also pretty small and usually more upgradable but this is like half the size of those. Pretty amazing.
Reply
Joined Sep 2007
L6: Expert
> bubble2 1,374 Posts
160 Reputation
rsx1285
11-01-2020 at 07:44 AM.
11-01-2020 at 07:44 AM.
Will this be suitable for just basic web browsing and printing for parents?
Reply
Joined Jan 2011
L1492 ARMADA INVENCIBLE
> bubble2 3,485 Posts
465 Reputation
toromac
11-01-2020 at 07:52 AM.
11-01-2020 at 07:52 AM.
Quote from rsx1285 :
Will this be suitable for just basic web browsing and printing for parents?

Yes. Got one for father in law with a deal on the 32 inch lenovo 1440p monitor. Whole setup for not much over 500 bucks. Perfect for his needs.
Reply
Joined Jul 2012
L6: Expert
> bubble2 1,501 Posts
262 Reputation
jaeun87
11-01-2020 at 09:02 AM.
11-01-2020 at 09:02 AM.
Pretty amazing how small these are. My parents could use something like this
Reply
Joined Sep 2013
peekaboo!
> bubble2 10,341 Posts
912 Reputation
alxshanti
11-01-2020 at 02:22 PM.
11-01-2020 at 02:22 PM.
Quote from ThriftyHalibut7655 :
I do this exact setup with a NUC. But I also have a NAS for the actual storage.

Please keep in mind that the advantage that Quick Sync has is that you can have many many streams active in Plex at the same time. This is good for sharing out Plex with friends.

If you don't share it out and use it by yourself or just your family, it may make more sense to actually build a NAS. Then just have its CPU do the transcoding for you in Plex. The only reason I went with a NUC and no longer run Plex on the actual NAS is so I can handle 10+ streams concurrently.

As far as 'more affordable', you can build a NAS out with reasonable specs that you can put your drives into that'll run Plex just fine for about the same price as this mini PC.

There are wonderful guides out there for how to do this on the cheap. I recommend this one to start out with: https://forums.serverbuilds.net/t...-125/667/5
Thank you for that. I really appreciate the detailed explanation! Yeah, I'm in a far different place that you are, only using Plex to watch movies with the family in the living room. No multiple simultaneous streaming or trascoding on the fly. So I probably don't need the power of a NUC. But I was thinking it could be an alternative to a NAS. I could just plug my external docks into it and go from. I also like the fact that it would much easier to add/remove drives, use different-capacity drives, etc. etc. I don't get the redundancy of a RAID array of course, and that is something to think about. Building a NAS box on my own. I don't know, man. I'll look into that. Thanks you.
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