Except they lack enough USB ports.
For anything serious you need at least dual monitor support and preferably 3 so you can display CAD schematics, PCB layout and datasheets all at the same time.
It depends on the model/options you pick (can be hit or miss on eBay because businesses often go for the bare minimum when buying in bulk), for example the HP 800 G2 I have includes 6x USB Type A and 1x USB Type C. It also has 2x DisplayPort outputs and a VGA one too, so I'm running 3x monitors on mine.
The newer ones with Thunderbolt means you can slap a dock on there and have heaps of USB ports. They can also use the "full" 65W desktop parts as well so they're not dinky little 5W Atom CPU's from the netbook era or anything, maybe you are confusing them with the old "thin clients"?
For a workbench PC (not the home office workstation) they are an excellent choice because they're so common to find on eBay used cheaply. Of course if you want to go all out and drop a grand for a brand new one with an 8 core Ryzen, by all means go for gold.
USB hubs still exist if there aren’t enough holes.
I don’t think I’ve used any more than an i3’s worth of PCIe recently even on workstation builds. Only thing is in servers with lots of DAS enterprise SSDs which is a notable and large exception to what a workstation usually consists of as they usually cost house sized amounts of money.
It does not take much to exceed commonly available PCIe expansion. Most motherboards now will not support more than 2 big expansion cards and many are now down to only 1, which makes for a problem if you plan for a RAID HBA, fast networking, and the GPU. Back when I built my Phenom II system, even the lowest cost motherboards supported 3 big PCIe cards at a minimum.
I thought I might get around it this time with one of the Pro series of Ryzen APUs so no GPU is required however they are only available through the Chinese grey market.
What I ended up doing is finding one of the increasingly rare motherboards which support PCIe splitting. Had I not, then I would have had to move up to Threadripper at considerably higher cost.
If you need processing it’s waaaay cheaper to rent it from Amazon if you can as you’re paying by the minute.
My main workstation is a 16gb laptop. Anything that doesn’t fit gets sent to Amazon.
Even if I trusted Amazon, my available internet bandwidth and transfer caps make a remote solution untenable.
A monitor arm is absolutely fantastic to help reclaim valuable bench space. I used to scoff at the idea of spending say $100 on an arm but it makes a huge difference being able to reposition the monitor if you're working on something huge. You can often find a VESA mount as well for the ultra small PC's.
I like putting my mediocre woodworking skills to use to make monitor shelves restoring the desk area they would otherwise take.
Great thing about those tiny PC's is the low idle power usage, usually in the 8-12W range, so you don't feel that guilty for leaving them on while collecting data or controlling instruments. I do have a load of Z820 workstations and the ~70W idle is just so wasteful.
There are a lot of things to recommend small form factor PCs.
USB hubs still exist if there aren’t enough holes.
I would recommend using a USB hub whether needed or not. It might save the computer from an accident and it will certainly save the port on the computer from wear and tear. They can also be had supporting the higher power charging modes where computer ports do not.
They can also be had supporting the higher power charging modes where computer ports do not.
Most USB PD hubs I have seen only support PD on the port connecting to the PC, which is not very useful for a desktop.
There are a lot of things to recommend small form factor PCs.
Yep. I also gave a few. I wanted to add that the reason they can be cheaper than full desktop computers or laptops was not one of them, for me, and the approach I personally suggested relied on Mini-ITX motherboards, which gives you options for building something pretty powerful already. And yes, passive cooling is pretty nice. But don't expect such a config to be cheap.
I would recommend using a USB hub whether needed or not. It might save the computer from an accident and it will certainly save the port on the computer from wear and tear. They can also be had supporting the higher power charging modes where computer ports do not.
Yes. You can of course plug "permanent" devices on USB ports directly on the computer, but for those ports to which you frequently connect and disconnect stuff on your bench, possibly including your own prototypes, a HUB is definitely a good idea. And, of course, it allows you to put the computer itself anywhere you like.
You can get a decent quality clamp on monitor mount for way less than $100 and wall mounts are even cheaper.
There are a lot of things to recommend small form factor PCs.
Yep. I also gave a few. I wanted to add that the reason they can be cheaper than full desktop computers or laptops was not one of them, for me, and the approach I personally suggested relied on Mini-ITX motherboards, which gives you options for building something pretty powerful already. And yes, passive cooling is pretty nice. But don't expect such a config to be cheap.
I do not currently have any but for me the big advantage of a small form factor system would be maintainability compared to a laptop, plus of course a much better selection of features. The keyboards, displays, and limited expandability of modern "stylish" laptops make me want to puke.
So folks just an update... Thanks millions everyone for your much appreciated input. So what did i do.... ? Well... i've just completed a build & installed a fully legal copy of Win 10 Pro onto a "barebones" Gigabyte Brix miniPC. (How very not a real tech for me to use Win eh? I own too much test kit that sadly only boogies on Windose so i'm stuck). I love the smallness of the thing... This exercise would be the most dosh i have ever splashed out on hardware.... I went gangbusters with the RAM at 64GS, a 1TB M.2 for the C-drive and 4TB SSD. Yeah this is the 1st time i have not spent the hours hashing up some old secondhand huge-hours run Watt-monster dunger into a machine at home. Sure my Lab come w/shop has really only seen a Surface Pro 3 & all the silly junk hanging off it for dual screen etc which all now lies in an old cardboard box looking for a new home once i transfer the stuff on its SSD i need off it.... I know i have gone the wrong path to some extent but past experiences has seen me just pile up the data sheets by the 10s of thousands & the service manuals publications & of course the designers' papers on 100s of subjects etc... it goes as messy as the bench gets at times. So i'll pull the data on the Surface across soon but seriously my final question, what oh so important 'bestist' electronics S/W should i now put on this thing.... I'm even stalled at Browser choice because my old fave Firefox has become a bloated nightmare... As always any advice truly appreciated...
Pete I have some SW goodies here if you want to drop by with a reasonable size USB stick.
So folks just an update... Thanks millions everyone for your much appreciated input. So what did i do.... ? Well... i've just completed a build & installed a fully legal copy of Win 10 Pro onto a "barebones" Gigabyte Brix miniPC. (How very not a real tech for me to use Win eh? I own too much test kit that sadly only boogies on Windose so i'm stuck). I love the smallness of the thing... This exercise would be the most dosh i have ever splashed out on hardware.... I went gangbusters with the RAM at 64GS, a 1TB M.2 for the C-drive and 4TB SSD. Yeah this is the 1st time i have not spent the hours hashing up some old secondhand huge-hours run Watt-monster dunger into a machine at home. Sure my Lab come w/shop has really only seen a Surface Pro 3 & all the silly junk hanging off it for dual screen etc which all now lies in an old cardboard box looking for a new home once i transfer the stuff on its SSD i need off it.... I know i have gone the wrong path to some extent but past experiences has seen me just pile up the data sheets by the 10s of thousands & the service manuals publications & of course the designers' papers on 100s of subjects etc... it goes as messy as the bench gets at times. So i'll pull the data on the Surface across soon but seriously my final question, what oh so important 'bestist' electronics S/W should i now put on this thing.... I'm even stalled at Browser choice because my old fave Firefox has become a bloated nightmare... As always any advice truly appreciated...
Hope it works out well for you. Years ago I went with a small form factor (NUC, etc.) PC, and have never looked back. I've bought at least 10 of them over the years. I love how it takes up so little space on my desk/workbench and is easily accessible (I'm bound to be plugging things in and out of it at least on a daily basis) and I can easily take it with me wherever I go and just find an HDMI monitor, keyboard, mouse and I'm good to go. Taking my work home at night is as simple as slipping the PC into my bag. Laptops have never been adequate for me, with a small screen, fixed crappy keyboard, and annoying touchpad.
Pete I have some SW goodies here if you want to drop by with a reasonable size USB stick.
Will take you up on that Rob. Working this weekend so will give you a call next week. Pity i burned up a bit more of my budget on the Workbench PC than i really intended & would have preferred to have aimed it at real test gear if you get my drift! Cheers pete
Pete I have some SW goodies here if you want to drop by with a reasonable size USB stick.
Will take you up on that Rob. Working this weekend so will give you a call next week. Pity i burned up a bit more of my budget on the Workbench PC than i really intended & would have preferred to have aimed it at real test gear if you get my drift! Cheers pete
Looking forward to it Pete and so is the wife as she follows you a bit on the social media stuff.
