Looking for best mini pc around $150-200

[JonEhh9571]

We do a lot of data center deployments and sometimes we need a quick box to get network online or dhcp / pxe boot servers etc. Sometimes we use them as OOB management. So I would like to build some type of standard little box / pi / mini pc to take to each build. I would like something portable and light. Don't wanna carry a supermicro sc512 pizza box in our suite cases every deployment.

Requirements
- 4 core arm or x86_64
- 4gb ram
- sdcard 256gb or m.2 ssd or nvme 256gb
- 1x 1gbps ethernet (can be 2+)
- 1x 10gbps sfp+ (can be 2+) (please be decent driver and nothing we have to compile)
- Support Ubuntu/Debian/pi Debian variant
- Less than 75-100 watt power draw

Optional but nice to haves
- Wifi onboard. Antenna can be back or internal. All the dcs were at have very good wifi. The wifi chip driver must be popular and support various flavors of linux. Don't want any issues here if we have to hop on a wifi connection. No download/compile driver. So need a wifi chip/driver that is well supported and just works.
- Other o/s support. Maybe in future we might want to run proxmox or vmware esxi. Would be nice to support those other o/s with common hardware/drivers.

Bonus
- If power supply/input supports c13 (standard server power supply connector) input and can handle input of 100v to 250v. Not a requirement because we can get c14 to nema 5-15 adapter easily and just plug in whatever ac -> dc brick.

Looking to buy 5-10 of these in the next few weeks.

 

[alaricljs]

GMKtec M5 Plus was $198 when I snagged it a couple weeks ago. Ryzen 7 5825U 8 core, ddr4, 2 m2, in-built wifi w/ internal antennas, dual 2.5Gbps Rtl nics, hdmi and DP, 65w brick. Recycle outbound laptop ram and ssds.... Or find something even cheaper.

 

[dandanio]

I picked up one of these (in fact I got a 5800U), added a 64 GB of ECC DDR4 RAM and it runs wonderful under ESXi 7.0 with the community network drivers vib added. Pay attention to network cards, most are not compatible with VMware. Highly recommended.

But, in your case, a RPi 3B would be enough no? Add a PiKVM and it gets you a machine I'd take into a DC (sadly, I do not go into a DC anymore, thanks cloud!)

Let us know what you picked.

 

[JonEhh9571]

The tricky part is the 10g sfp+ port

 

[JonEhh9571]

Any thoughts on affordable single port or dual port 10g SFP+ card or mini pc that has this built in around this budget?

 

[BlueFox]

Mini PC at that price with integrated SFP+ is a tall order. Standalone NICs are very cheap though.

 

[Promit]

The only* Mini PC with SFP+ 10G onboard is going to be the Minisforum MS-01 and that's going to run you $400 before memory or drive. Your next best bet is to find something with an onboard PCIe slot that you can add a NIC (like a $20 Mellanox ConnectX-3) to. This will take some finagling but your starting point for that reference is here: Lenovo Thinkcentre/ThinkStation Tiny (Project TinyMiniMicro) Reference Thread | ServeTheHome Forums
Note that the price point puts you in used territory, which is going to further complicate acquiring 5-10 units. Is it doable, yeah probably. Is this a good use of company time, though? I would push for the capex of $550/ea kitted out brand new MS-01s and not do this.

* I suppose you can try this china generic "MOGINSOK" https://www.amazon.com/MOGINSOK-Firewall-Appliance-N100-4xIntel/dp/B0CYH1Q7XG/

 

[KevinR]

Three of CWWK's "soft router" mini pcs have SFP options. You might consider those.

Search: 4 results found for "sfp"

cwwk

cwwk.net

They'll also be on Ali and might be on amazon.