this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2024
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The price seems pretty good. I don't really know much about mini PCs. Do you think there is a better alternative?

Update: ok, not price efficient. Noted 👍

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[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 30 points 6 days ago (20 children)

You can get a Ryzen mini PC for less than $200. Depends on what is worth to you in cost.

[–] tahoe@lemmy.world -1 points 6 days ago (18 children)

What’s great about Mac minis is that they’re extremely power efficient since they’re ARM machines, so if you live somewhere like in Europe where power is expensive, it can save you a lot of money. They’re usually completely silent too.

Depending on their needs, I’d suggest OP to get a used M1 Mac mini, they’re great value for money.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago (9 children)

You may want to check your specs again. The Ryzen APUs are very power efficient and run the same stretch as M3 (reported): 15W-45W

Though the more realistic at the wall measurements of the 2023 Mac Minis pretty much seem to have it pegged at a solid 15W-25W min under normal service workloads. The reported "idle" measurements of the M* chips being at 6W are literally just saying "if it has power", and unrealistic considering you can't even run them without a the GPU being engaged somewhat without a fully headless software configuration.

[–] stuner@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I would disagree with idle power not being important for a home server. Most of the time, your system will be doing very little and wait for something to happen. I also don't think a typical server has a display attached. Wolfang explains this quite well: https://youtu.be/Ppo6C_JhDHM?t=94&si=zyjEKNX8yA51uNSf

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I'm not saying idle power is unimportant. I'm saying the M-Class chips can't ever go idle with a minimal set of features NOT being engaged, because they're going to be more engaged in general vs other chips that can run truly headless. macOS doesn't allow for that.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yup. My old 1st gen Ryzen desktop system isn't particularly power efficient, but it idles <50W (I think closer to 25W, but I haven't measured for a while). And that's a desktop class chip from 7 years ago with two HDDs and a discrete GPU and PCIe wifi card, so it's not winning any awards for efficiency. Even at that, it's barely a blip on my power bill.

An AMD or Intel laptop-class chip should be able to get to 10W or so idle, and not spike too much with basic tasks. And those can be had for $200-300, less if you're okay with older chips. Run Linux headless and it'll likely stay below 15W at the wall most of the time.

Pretty much exact. Lots of reviews to back that up without me spouting about it.

[–] stuner@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I don't have one (and I don't want one), but Anandtech measured the M1 version at 4.2W in idle. https://www.anandtech.com/show/16252/mac-mini-apple-m1-tested I think you can also get that from other Mini PCs (e.g. NUCs).

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Cool, so the version from many years ago related to OP's question...how?

[–] stuner@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's an Apple Silicon Mac Mini. Do you have a particular reason to think the new one is less efficient?

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yes, because each one has been. Just because it's "Apple" and you think it's better every iteration is a mistake on your part.

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