MACO

I would say it boils down to if gaming is more important than features. A lower watt CPU should also run much cooler. That 125H was hitting 90C. The GMKtek does look like its built well. I went with a Ryzen 9 Pro 8945HS. Has 2 nvme slots plus Oculink and will smoke the Intel in games. Cost is about

dell/lenovo/hp are most reliable mini/micro pcs since they are backed large companies and easier to find support ( parts/software/compatibility ) , they are long livers if you are looking for specs regardless of the brand or partsminisforum/ aoostar / gmktec / geekom / beelink i have some lil exprie

This becomes a budget and long term expectations thing. Have someone at church that went through this recently and ended up with the "barebones" 24GB Aoostar MACO PRO 6850H. They were looking for modern performance and both Intel i226V Ethernet and AX200 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth for better Linux distro suppo

The absolute best option I've seen for a starter server is the Aoostar Maco R7. You get a decent 8c/16t CPU with an ok integrated GPU, plus 24GB of LPDDR5 6400, all for only $339 USD on Amazon right now. That CPU with that zippy RAM will outperform anything else near that price point. But you'll nee

I ended up going with the Aoostar Maco (6850H version with storage).Dual USB4 and for much less on their site, local warehouse as well. Lets see if this goes well...

I liked it so much i got the entry level MACO 6850H coming tomorrow to try next. Only $300 on Amazon for bare bones with 24gig LPDDR5 or with a 1TB drive and OS for $430. I have a nvme drive on hand and Win11 Pro key so it will be interesting to see how that goes. The Win11 Pro install on the MACO 8

Light gaming you can do with integrated 780M graphics or higher. Most of those types of Minis will have a spot for an additional NVME drive and USB4. You can pretty much cover all those bases with a Ryzen 7 8845HS or Ryzen 9 8945HS. They often include Oculink too for external video upgrades later. M

Aoostar MACO 8945HS has similar/slightly better specs for $640 on Amazon. The Oculink does not take up a NVME spot on the MACOs. GMKtek has similar minis between the MACO and Minisforum in pricing. 8945HS and 8845HS are both super close in real world speed and benchmarks. The H255 based minis will b

Here's what I've seen recently. Someone in town was looking at N305/N355 minis for a home lab but was concerned about real world performance. Ended up with a $300 (at the time) 24GB Aoostar MACO PRO 6850H from Amazon. Had dual Intel i226V NIC, Intel AX200 Wi-Fi, USB4 and up to 3x Gen4x4 NVMe SSDs us

Should be able to get into the Ryzen 7 6800H and 6850H with 680M (2200mghz) for $400-430. 16gig if its DDR and 24gig non upgradable LPDDR. The LPDDR is usually faster speed too. For me, the faster version of the 680M iGPU is about as low as i would go. It has faster DDR5 and faster clock speed too b