Trend-KAMRUI via Amazon has
KAMRUI AK2 Plus Mini PC (AK2PLUS) on sale for
$150.45 when you clip the $30 off coupon on the item page and apply promo code
ZU8V38U4 at checkout.
Shipping is free.
Thanks to community member
davidj8281 for finding this deal.
Specs:- 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake-N100 4-core, 4-thread (0.80GHz Base / 3.4GHz Boost) Processor
- 16GB DDR4 RAM
- 512GB M.2 Solid State Drive
- Intel UHD Graphics
- Gigabit Ethernet 2.4G+5.0G dual-band WiFi 5 + Bluetooth 4.2
- Windows 11 Pro
- Ports:
- 2x HDMI 2.0
- 2x USB 2.0
- 2x USB 3.0
- 1x RJ 45
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1. No m.2 slot, only SSD. This is a significant bottleneck
2. No USB C connector
3. Only has wifi 5 (we are almost at wifi 7!)
Some other things that are normal but good to know for this price range, RAM is soldered on and the fan seems like it could be quieter.
For a few bucks more you can go with several other vendors that don't have the first 3 limitations noted above. I for one think the $20-$30 more could get you a better N100. I see why it's on sale.
During normal PC usage including boot and application start the bottleneck isn't SSD speed, it's seek latency, which is similar between PCIE ssds and even the very old now seeming SATA ssds. Difference in boot to windows is literally like two seconds.
Don't let the throughput numbers fool you. On that or the WiFi technology. WiFi 5 is totally fine for pretty much anything anyone would wanna do with this box. Don't be fooled into thinking you need stuff that you don't.
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i also run plexkodiconnect with arctic fuse skin on the shield so that may have put even more stresses on the shield on top of the plex server bloat. ever since the switch everything works flawlessly. another plus is i paid $170 for the g5 when there was a $70 coupon. the nvme drive, ddr4 ram and wifi card are all removable and an 2 x 2.5g port along with usbc might be worth it for some even at current $200.
As long as you're not transcoding, the only limitations are storage and network speeds.
I have no doubt it would be fine for a home lab and light use. I haven't had the time to dig too deep into things but my gut is leaning towards just sticking with LXC or Docker. Redundancy is nice, but extra complications and overhead isn't ideal. It's not like the lack of high availability hurts me much when it comes to microservices. It would still be nice to keep things going if a system failed, though.
Far easier to maintain and a lot more fun to mess around with.
After coming off Docker, Proxmox feels like a dream.
You should definitely install a lightweight Linux distro instead of trying to host on Windows 11.
Any tips on how to look only at Mini PC's lightning deals? When I go to the computer section it shows all PC's and peripherals. Too much to look thru.
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During normal PC usage including boot and application start the bottleneck isn't SSD speed, it's seek latency, which is similar between PCIE ssds and even the very old now seeming SATA ssds. Difference in boot to windows is literally like two seconds.
Don't let the throughput numbers fool you. On that or the WiFi technology. WiFi 5 is totally fine for pretty much anything anyone would wanna do with this box. Don't be fooled into thinking you need stuff that you don't.
If you're a grandma or a non-techie, and you don't know what we are talking about, sure, save $30 by not having features that don't matter to you.
I have a large amount of data I process with my mini-PC. I don't have a hardwire to where I am running it. I like to maximize wifi connectivity and leverage the wifi 6 router I have when moving 100-200gb files across the network. I like being able plug in a USB-C thumb drive to my pc or an external m.2 SSD and not be limited by older USB standards. And if your dealing with these large files, having an M.2. drive inside the system is very helpful if you had to make a copy, night and day to older tech.
So yeah, I pointed these things out because they matter to me and they may matter to others.
I have a mini pc from a different brand and it's running my docker and home assistant server. Even with a dozen services it doesn't struggle a bit, and I have never felt like I should have spent $30 or $50 more and got the "better" model.
The model I ordered was going to come barebones either way, but it was $250 on Amazon or $170 and two weeks by boat on Ali.
For another $170, I loaded it up with 64GB of RAM and a 1TB NVME from reputable companies.
When you get the preconfigured options with these mini PCs, the RAM and NVME drives are usually bottom of the barrel in terms of performance and quality. That might be fine for most things you'd want to do with this, but you can often save a little by installing it yourself.
If that sounds like too much of a hassle, there's also the price watcher on 3C or setting up deal alerts on SD as well as Amazon and Brickseek.
Anyone know which is more powerful and how much more energy does the i5 4590t use per day?
Anyone know which is more powerful and how much more energy does the i5 4590t use per day?
All things considered, your overall experience will likely be significantly better.
As for power consumption, if you ran both systems 24/7 for a year with constant load, the 4590T would cost an average of $110 to run, while the N100 based system would top out at around $30.
The processors themselves use 35W and 6W respectively, but I was factoring total system consumption.
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So the first thing I recommend anyone does is immediately wipe it and install a fresh OS. Because if they're gonna to do tacky code changes like that, who knows what else they'll do?
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