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Reviews: Mini PCs

For those who don't want a laptop or a large desktop computer, the solution could well be a mini PC. Often based on laptop components, these machines don't take up much space and offer all the functionality of a standard PC.

Florent Alzieu
Updated: April 20, 2012

Energy Consumption

The good news is that mini computers don't consume much energy. Often built with laptop components, they benefit from the latest developments in energy saving technology and consume a lot less than a standard desktop. The Mac mini is a very good example, needing just 10 watts on standby and 35 watts when in heavy use—that's 10 times less than a powerful desktop computer!

Watch out though, there is a but... You need to factor in screen consumption. Although screen consumption is taken into account on a laptop, here you need to add 35 watts for a 22 inch screen and more than 40 watts for a 24 inch.

People use computers for everything from office work, surfing the web, touching up photos and editing videos to playing the latest video games. If you're looking to buy a mini PC, then bear in mind that you should mainly be using it office work, as these compact computers are great for things like word processing, preparing presentations or working online.

Mini PCs can also be used for working on photos or editing video but you'll have to make sure that the built-in processor is powerful enough to handle such uses. With an Atom processor, for example, you'll need to be very patient indeed! Gaming should be less problematic, so long as you're playing 2D games that aren't particularly demanding on graphics resources. However, if you're trying to play on a 1920 x 1200 display using advanced options such as anti-aliasing, then you'll have a lot less joy.

Multimedia server

Depending on the video and audio connections, you may be tempted to buy a mini PC for use as a multimedia server. We think this is a pretty good plan: just make sure that the processor and graphics card are powerful enough to deal with Full HD video. Adding a remote (often an optional extra) is a good idea, especially if your wireless mouse doesn't work from the couch.

Why go for a mini PC rather than a laptop?

One of the recurring problems with laptops is the quality of their screens. Panels are often shiny, give poor-quality colours and have low contrast. With a mini PC you're free to hook up the screen of your choice, depending on the connections available at the back of the computer, of course. Take a look at our monitor reviews if you need help choosing a new LCD display.

Little or no opportunity to update

You can open up a desktop (guarantees notwithstanding) and poke around inside to change any components that are outdated. This will give your machine an extra lease of life if it's getting a bit tired. In the case of mini PCs, your options are more limited. You won't, for example, be able to touch the processor or the graphics card. The RAM and sometimes the hard drive are often the only accessible components. This limits the lifespan of mini PCs somewhat, and you need to consider this before you buy.

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