As some have spotted, whilst the HP EliteDesk 800 G2 I purchased was specified with a 6500T i5 CPU (the Amazon listing appears at 1:35), the unit I received has a 6500 CPU, which has a 65W rather than 35W TDP (thermal design power). So the machine is a bit more powerful than its claimed specs, but uses more energy. I should have looked more carefully at what Windows reported at 12:18. My apologies. Things were rather hectic when I was making this video.
The i7 version of this has been my step dad's daily drive for the past 3 years, he does audio editing at a professional level with it too. These are very underappreciated PC's.
I wish they were under appreciated. Used to get these things cheap for small company phone SBCs and other similar functions when Pis and single board computers went bananas. Now everyone uses them and the prices have gone up.
@@ragingbombast Facts! They used to be cheap AF, I know my old boss loved me when I showed him the 2 year old refurbs saved like 800usd a PC, most of these are old lease machines tbh.
@@Commiehunter12 not true, we keep developing technology that gets faster and faster using less power. For example the 486 DX4 100mhz used 2.6 watts, so let's use this as a metric, if you scaled that 2.6watts per 100mhz to the current 3.2ghz you get nearly 84 watts(forget that level of tech CAN'T got that fast) for what is done currently at 35 watts
One year ago I bought an HP ProDesk G5 for £150 with an i5 9500,8GB RAM and 256Gb SSD. I love the 6.5W idle power consumption because it runs 24/7 as a webserver.
Good. Now I have ZimaBoard 216 which is not powerful enough when needed, three days ago I ordered used/refurbished Fujitsu Q956 with i5-6500t, 128gb ssd (very likely nvme) and 8gb ram for 130EUR. Because SSDs, RAMs and euros are cheap right now I'm almost considering to upgrade it to 512gb or 1tb ssd and 32gb ram and it will be just slightly worse than i5-4590 computer I used year and half ago and was quite happy with it. Larger PCs usually have better specs for the same price, I hope I won't regret it, because any upgrade can complicated (such as adding sata ssd or 2.5" drive, because it has proprietary power connectors)
It is interesting how low of a power draw simple computers have now. I just bought a cheap new laptop with a Celeron N4100 in it, it almost never draws more than 13 watts and that includes a 14 inch monitor. If I have it connected to my large office monitor it draws less than ten watts. It isn't the most powerful CPU in the world but it plays 1080P streaming video and is decent enough for simple internet use. It likely won't be my daily driver but it is light, compact and useful enough if I need to take a computer somewhere.
@@mharris5047 Until you are looking for a 4K gaming machine for flight simulator. Getting something power efficient is just not there yet. Probably I have to wait two hardware generations for that. I don't want a noisy +300Watt system for gaming. I own a Prodesk 400 G4 I5 32 Watt and an Elitedesk 800 G4 I5 65 Watt. Affordable from auctions. Building a comparable Mini ITX system from second hand parts will be more expensive because of shipping costs. I also built a Haswell I7 T series machine myself in 2014. Still a useful NAS because of PCIE with NVme adapters and the sata connectors. Not economically viable to replace that one yet.
In case you haven't been flooded with comments already, those HP hard drive mounts were widely used in different HP models and can be procured second hand from Amazon and the like. I did so myself years ago for an HP mini tower I was using as my media PC.
We are using about 15 of these kind of small PCs HP/Lenovo/Dell in our business. Cheap and fast enough to run our warehouse program and other things on them. Saved us a lot of money
Similar here. All the computers in our factory are very similar to this type of computer. They're all from HP. Recently the attached printers were from HP as well, but they have been replaced by Canon's.
I’m glad the they are being repackaged and cleaned up ready for resale. A lot of companies don’t bother and just send them off to a recycling facility. Thanks for today’s video Chris, as always be safe and healthy.
A _recycling / refurbishment facility_ is probably where these are from. They will have standard disk images ready to install onto these machines, because they probably bought hundreds of them. All my computers, except for the Raspberries, are ex-business machines. Unless you are a die-hard gamer that really needs power , even ten year old but high spec machines can be had for pennies on the pound, and are more than capable. Buying new computers is a mug's game.
@@sarkybugger5009 Although, if you can find an ex-business low profile computer with a good processor, there are some pretty decent low profile graphics cards that can handle gaming. Sure, you might have to turn the settings down, but it can make for a low cost gaming solution.
My company was acquired a few years back. We had just had a tech refresh and the workstations we had where maybe a year old. Hexacore Intel i7 with NVME SSD's at them time. We got new machines (also Dell btw) and the old ones got recycled. It was just their process. Apparently cheaper than actually wiping them and re-installing. Meanwhile, politicians all over the world is trying to tax us to death because of the climate.
They are leases, leased from HP, etc. to large companies/educational institutions. Once the lease is up they are mass exchanged for a newer model and these go off en mass to (possibly) be cleaned/refurbished and sold off. I've got several and I'm pleased.
ServerHome talked about this little PC awhile ago. Back then I got 4 of these babies and now I plan to add 2 more to my clusters. Here are some of my takes who actually own a bunch of these sub 1L PCs. 1- Most of the G2 comes with Windows VL, some even comes with Win10 PRO which doesn's required you to pay extra $$ to get a genuine OS. 2- Be aware of the m2 for wireless connectivity. Not all card works with G2, only those wireless that are whitelisted by HP. Alternatively you can get a mod BIOS for walkaround. 3- Be careful of the blue screws for the 2.5" hdd tray, from what I understand, there are 2 kinds of threads, one for 3.5" and one for 2.5" but the exterior is the same blue rubber shock absorvant washer. So be careful when you buy those screws or you are gonna ended up like me with a crap load of screws that looks exactly the same but doesn't screwed onto the 2.5" disks. 4- vPro, this is one those hidden gems, it's basically an IPMI which is really cool if you plan to use it as a server. 5- Power hack, the i5 6500T is low power enough to ditch the gigantic brick that passes for power supply. You can go to Aliexpress and find a USB type c to barrel connector for HP and then purchase a 65W type C GaN power charger. I used it on 6500T and it has no problem booting it up. 6- Second ethernet hack, this one is the best, it is great to have an additional ethernet port if you want to transform G2 into a server, like using it as Pfsesne or OpenSense, you'll get more performance comparing to an USB 3 gigabit ethernet. This works by pulling the second display port module, and install a daugther board with a RJ45 socket which is connected via JTAG to an m2 module connected under the HDD tray, there are 2 options to choose from one by realtek and one by intel, I recomend the intel chipset. Be aware that doing this mod you need to take out the second small fan to fit the m2 module, and you will be sacrificing the nvme for a second eth. I'm running a small cluster of 4 G2 with HA Proxmox and so far I have zero complains. Also tried with an i7 6700k which is rated for 91W, strangely the original power brick can actually run it, although the temps are a little bit high. It's just crazy that all SBC prices are so jacked up, you can litterally get on of this for roughly the same price, the perfomance difference is astronomical.
This is an heroic post. THANKS A TON for all of this additional info! I figured I'd just "go crazy" and get 4 G4's for like a proxmox cluster & HA, but obviously the G2's are quite a bit cheaper, esp in volume. I'm also interested in the 2nd eth port..
I watched this from a HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Micro, that I bought as a second hand machine from a PC recycler, I upgraded the ram and am running Ubuntu 22.04, it's a great little machine, and with 3 monitors it's great for programming and desktop stuff, when I need compute power I have proxmox servers for that, and I don't game, so this was a good low cost way to power a few monitors
These are a great deal because they are light, small, and easy to ship. The older SFF desktop pc's still weighed like 10lbs and took a big box to ship, so you couldn't find such great deals. All my pc's are old office lease office hardware. I have a few mini Dell PC's like this, they are nice for what I need, and they even have socketed cpu's... I believe this HP should also.
@@volvo09 I have several HP SFF (not the USFF like in this video) computers. They tend to last at least ten years and I have one that has a Pentium 4 HT CPU from 2005 that still booted up when I played with it last year (2022). At $100 I would say they are an excellent deal even if they only run Windows for 2 1/2 years. I usually pay about $150 when I buy one but my main computer was actually $50 in 2020, it has an i3 4th generation in it. I put $100 or so into it upgrading it to 16GB RAM and a large hard drive, though (I won't count the second large HDD used for backup purposes only).
I was using a little lenovo i5 based mini pc at my previous work for a while. Those mini PC are totally underrated. They are so convenient, cheap, and totally capable of the most common tasks.
Intel came out with the mini PC motherboard and T series CPU to combat the Mac Mini on the PC side, and almost all of these "1 liter" PC uses the exact same internals.
@@tbrowniscool nice!!! did you do anything special to them to make them work in hospital environment? things like disabling USB to prevent people hacking the devices by using some usb flashdrives, wifi using certificate authentication ? (or wifi disabled at all?) lock bios? disk encryption? what about CPU fan? had any issues fans failing? i am asking this because i am looking for similar device for schools on budget for a lot of children while budget is around 200$ per device (excluding monitor/keyb/mouse). and main purpose is to have it running basicly 24/7 in classes while keeping maintenance and hacking (preventing kids breaking or hacking O/S) as low as possible..
@@benjaminshtark5977 Yes we use a custom windows image that disables USB use etc. All machines use bit locker and locked bios of course. All machines use wifi and if they are wired up that's a bonus. We do no physical changes to the machines. Edit: we are spending about £400-600 per desktop and about £700-1200 per laptop btw. Yeah make sure you order the right machine and have the knowledge for a custom windows image. Ideally flashed from a usb stick or network point. How many machines are you thinking of. Kids can't break what we have but out budget is over a million pounds a year on windows licenses!
@@tbrowniscool well, its a voluntary project, licenses for ms windows are provided for free basically. we only need to get the proper hardware. i was thinking about either this device or similar from Lenovo or Dell.. The main usage will be for kids to learn programming and school projects. currently the requirement is for a pilot run for 80 machines... (2 full classes + some spare machines.)
For the longest time I had one of these, but later switched to the newer G2 design with the Ryzen 5 as a server. Absolute beast 4C/8T with 32GBs of DDR4 ram. Powerful micro server. :)
It's nice to see these machines finding homes where they can continue to be useful and reduce e-waste. I really enjoy these sorts of videos showcasing the great value here. Thanks!
BEWARE when buying these machines! VERY carefully read the listings. The manufacturers' and sellers' terminology varies, inconsistently and often erroneously regarding 'SFF' and 'USFF'. Ordering an 'SFF' machine without looking closely, may result in a larger form factor than you are expecting. Happened to me.
Crazy we seem to be totally in sync! I am at my mum's and I just refurbished an HP Compaq 6000 small-form factor from about 2007. I got rid of Windows, (and the HDD it was sitting on) upgraded the 2GB DDR3 Ram for 8GB (for pennies) and installed Lubuntu on a 512GB SSD. Works like a charm now, very responsive, even plays HD TH-cam without problems. I'm tempted to upgade the processor for the highest spec one it will take, a Core 2 Quad 9500, for £11. It also has a Display Port which surprised me, I didn't know it was so old!
We are in sync indeed! And I get the impression -- both from the comments here, and more generally, that we are far from alone. Refurbished SFF business hardware is I think a rising maker/enthusiast trend.
@@ExplainingComputers Perhaps because it's so easy to get hold of compared to the Raspberry Pi, and also outperforms it with many tasks, especially with desktop internet browsing.
These are great. I pieced one together a couple months ago to use as a Minecraft server among other things. 32GB DDR4 RAM, i7-6700T, 1TB Samsung 970 Pro NVMe SSD, Intel AC Wi-Fi, and switch out the second display port expansion board for a serial port. 😎 Cheers.
I've got one of these as my TV pc / media center. I picked up 16GB ram for £20 from cex along with a 512GB nvme SSD for £40. The last upgrade I've gotten is a i7 6700T as a processor upgrade again from cex. The pc itself I purchased from Cash Generators for £50.
@Chris Brisson It's a normal socketed desktop processor. I purchased the exact same system as Chris is using from cash generator for £50. I re pasted the processor when I upgraded it to the i7 6700t. The I5 that I had in the system I traded in for 16gb ram.
These are such gems. I have a whole array of these with i7 att home for proxmox lab usage with 32 gb ram in each, + ssd, nvme AND 2,5 gbit networking for ceph. The i7 versions often comes with vPro for remote management. So much awesomeness in a little box!
It's always encouraging to discover that you have twice as many fans as you thought, isn't it? When the original board dies, the box might be recyclable to a container for another SBC.
@@matsu1994 Nope, the motherboards of these 1L desktops are proprietary and slightly smaller than mini-ITX. It's quite easy to find replacement motherboards for them though.
As always, great content. For basic computing needs this is a great way to go. Performance per dollar spent can't be equaled. I'm somewhat biased here as I love to take older hardware (10 years or less) and use those machines as my daily driver for both Windows and Linux (also a Zorin user). I currently have the HP Z series workstations ranging from the Z230 to the Z440 with a Z420 sandwiched in between. And let's not forget Dell Optiplex and Lenovo Thinkcentre. Both companies have great products in their business class portfolio that can't be beat in performance per dollar. Thanks again for sharing!
@@giuliobuccini208 Any time you install Linux on any PC there is the possibility for incompatibilities. Some Linux distro's have better chances for success, such as Zorin. There are two versions of Zorin, a paid version and a free version. Of all the distro's I've personally installed, Zorin seems to give the most consistent result. Normally you'll probably have some difficulty with graphics and/or audio. And typically somewhere on the web there will be a resolution described that works. Even with the few hiccups I've had, I still prefer Linux as my daily driver. If I need windows I have VM's that can solve the problems. Now, the laptop can be a real issue due to the proprietary nature of the drivers. Desktops, on the other hand, seem much easier to get everything working. Good Luck!
I bought 6 of them! They are cheaper than a Raspberry Pi! 1 is my regular computer and the other I have Proxmox vm running Home Assistant. I paid $109 each.
These small devices are very interesting, and their prices make them very attractive in many situations: from small workstations at home (especially under Linux) to Nextcloud servers... And as they are quite easy to find, they represent a very relevant acquisition option. And digital recycling is a great initiative... Thanks for the presentation!
Per usual another fine video. I discovered SFF systems a while back and picked up a ThinkCentre barebones computer. It came with the motherboard. No RAM. no disk. no PS and no CPU. I had to add all that and I was amazed that it worked when I got it together. I had a disk but I bought the rest of the parts used on Ebay. I figured at least one of the pieces would be junk, but I was wrong. It's been running for about 2+ years with no hiccups.
I picked up a similar secondhand EliteDesk model a year ago or so for use as HomeAssistant server, and in the wake of the global RPi-shortage it turned out to be a solid choice. They are of "enterprise HP" build quality, and definitely value for money. Plus being x86, you don't need to cross-compile any custom software. Fun detail: mine was lacking precisely those two drive bracket knobs as well! 😆
Thank you for this video. This gets me thinking about used equipment, more than I otherwise might. And I REALLY look forward to your upcoming 'Windows 11 on older hardware' video. Once again, you really come through for the 'little guy/gal'. ☮
I have a few of these little workhorses running various OSes which I purchased from Microcenter and packaged in considerably smaller boxes. 😁Blessed Easter to all who celebrate. Stay well!
Hi Chris, great to see Mr Scissors making a welcome return. I have been using these particular units at home for a few years. We have 3 in the house, one running a laser cutter and the other two performing basic internet and office tasks. They are i5's fitted with M.2 drives and the performance is superb. Even though they have fan cooling they are virtually silent. I'd recommend these to anyone for running basic computing tasks.
I have two 800 G3's and two 600 G2's and they are Fantastic! When I started my quest to downsize and to make a quieter, less heat producing room, I discovered these on ebay and now I can't stop ordering them to use for various things!
I've just received one and I am already itching to buy even more of them. The homelab bug is hitting hard. I'm not even sure exactly what I am going to run on the Proxmox cluster I am planning to use these for. I just know I need to do it :)
Very true, I bought a renewed Lenovo Thinkcentre tiny PC for my father a year or so ago to replace a mini-itx machine he was using, when I set it up he asked where the computer went, he was amazed with the tiny size of it. It was a bargain.
I remember getting a box 3 times that size at work, there was another box inside with the gray foam padding as well, and all it had in it was a sheet of paper. I believe it was from HP and was just a list of terms and/or licensing agreement.
I purchased a elitedesk 800 G3 a month ago and installed Tiny 11 on the M.2 It works great and super a super fast boot up time as well. Amazing performance for the cost. This is an awesome video! Thank you for all the great information.🙂
I recently bought the same machine with wireless connectivity for £75. It came with 500gb SATA HDD. I upgraded it to SATA SSD and added M.2. Now it's running Windows and Ubuntu. Even though I'm a Mac user I like trying other operating systems now and then. As over all the machine is very good and worth for the price I paid.
My son and I messed around with renewed SFFs and laptops for years. Plus, I repaired or rebuilt used systems for years due to affordability. What I valued about that experience was my experimentation with over 20 OSs to determine usability and preference. Many people do not need the powerful systems that they purchased due to desire not need. Which channel was the most influential and informative over the years - Yours! Thanks, Christopher!
For the same reasons you pointed out in the introduction I recently bought a similarly powerfull refurbished Thinkpad for around 190 euro's. Installed Fedora Silverblue on it and it works like a charm.
We live off grid with 24v dc batteries. Our two second hand small footprint HP 800s have run for years without problems. A 24v to 19v converter from Ali runs them without even getting warm so low drain and we leave them on a lot. One is Linux and the other Win 10.
Thanks for this video. I needed a PC for myself and my son. I now have the same model as you in this video and my son has the Lenovo equivalent. What a good PCs they are and I got them for around £80 each. Both have i56600t CPU. I found the fan noise annoying until I turned the computer upside down. Now I have a upside down computer with a quiet fan.
I have G3 and G4 versions of these PCs, purchased on eBay for similar prices to that discussed here. I can strongly recommend such PCs based on my own experience. They replaced similarly priced workstation PCs, and are both smaller (far, far smaller) and more powerful. The only problem is that I now have a stack of workstations to get rid of.
I picked up a Prodesk 600 g3 just a week ago. It was perfect for a home surveillance system. Fits both an nvme ssd and a 3.5” drive in a very compact form factor. I only paid the equivalent of 75gbp so very happy with it :)
I recently bought one of these mini pcs from DELL, though a brand new one, also got a dp-hdmi 1.4 adapter and was surprised to get 4k60p resolutions on my tv, just looked at the displayports on mine, they are dp++, I’ve never knew about that, now things make sense again, thanks!
Great video Chris, I have been using one of these computers for the last 4 years as my daily triple booted with no issues. Although I have and array of other sbc and towers. I really like the size and performance of these units Thanks for your work
Some people (me ) just like computer hardware for the sake of it. I have a large collection of machines of different ages and types; just fun to use a different one now and again with various operating systems. They would have been thrown out so it's a good thing!@@lucasRem-ku6eb
I always enjoy your videos, the little comical quips in your commentary makes me laugh and you remind me of my history teacher he had the same sense of humour. Take care of yourself and looking forward to the next video.
I've been using an i3 version of one of these as my pfSense firewall for over a year now. Even with a single NIC and VLAN's it works really well even on my FTTP connection at full speed, and consumes barely any power!
My local used refurbished computer retailer currently has 9 in stock. Based on ypthe strength of this excellent review, I am ordering one on Monday! Thank you,, Christopher!
I bought the Lenovo ThinkCentre M92P with the i5 and 8GB of RAM and it runs Windows 10 Pro just fine. It had a SATA HD I installed an SSD and runs much better. Purchased from eBay for $85.00. Enjoyed the video Chris and will see you on the next one.
Another jolly superb video 👍 Many (non-Windows) uses for this class of PC, and longevity is better than what MSFT would have one believe. Kindest regards, neighbours and friends.
I have no uses for any kind of Windows PC these days unless it's Windows 98, 2000 or XP inside a VM to play a few classic old games with. I rid myself of my Microsoft abuser fully when support for Windows 7 ended - only Linux these days.
Thanks for making this video! I recently began a journey with these little mini-pc's. I have puchased the 260 G2 and 800 G2 versions. I have an I7 cpu on the way and will be mounting the 800 to the back of a monitor with a vesa mount.
I ended up buying a job lot of 7 Lenovo ThinkCentre M93's all with i3-4130-T 4GB LPDDR4 and 128GB SSD's in all - Very nice little machines and still surprisingly capable for modern computing functions. Ended up selling 5 and keeping 2 for myself to be used in basic home-lab 'projects'. Keep up the good work as always Chris
Last month I bought a Dell Optiplex 9020M with an i3-4130-T as well; it came with 8GB RAM and a 500GB SSHD (sic!) with Win10 preinstalled. It's a nice little well built machine and after replacing the SSHD with a Sata SSD and installing Linux, it is now a neat little machine to run some experiments on. I paid 70€ for this one, the SSD excluded. It's so much more capable than a Raspberry 4B with the same amount of RAM and the same SSD.
This is a actually very impressive when all things are considered. It's outright amazing how this powerful machine is so much cheaper than a RPi 4B 8Gb and even how much more powerful it is. The TDP is a worthy sacrifice for the huge improvement in performance. Not to mention it is x86-64, which has the benefits of a massive library of compatible software vs ARM. I purchased a renewed optiplex sff off Amazon for my oldest son and then a used GT 1070 on Amazon to be used for gaming for him and so far it has been going strong and running nearly non-stop for almost 2 years with no problems at all! I realize that this machine is far from top notch in the gaming world, but honestly for the games he plays (around 100 games in his Steam library) the machine performs exceptionally well. In fact, this i5-6500 mini would perform even better and could still use the same graphics card with an adapter for the m.2 NVME slot. I think I'll likely end up purchasing one of these for my younger son to use. I know I say this often, but it seriously blows my mind at how far computer technology has advanced since the 90's and I absolutely love how easy it is to get relatively high performing machines for such a very low cost.
As with all HP corporate hardware, you can also update the BIOS from within the BIOS. Just hit F10 to go into the BIOS. Make sure an ethernet cable is connected to your network, and hit Update Bios. Given these were £600 to £700 when new they are now amazing value.
those things are 7 years old now, so the value is in doubt, those fans and the mobo are on the limit of needing replacement, these kind of machines were used 24/7 where they were used first
Great review! These mini PCs are awesome! Since Raspberry Pi 4 SBCs dried up, I started buying these instead to use as headless home servers. It's really worth getting the i7 version if you can, as you get twice as many CPU cores than the i5 version (and probably a slightly better iGPU too). The CPU is user upgradeable, but I think it's cheaper to buy one with an i7. Was surprised that the fans can get quite loud on these. I have two, and they run silently, although I don't run a desktop environment on mine. You can also perform a hack to attach a desktop GPU to these small computers via the M.2 connector - you just need the right adapter (m.2 to pcie riser).
@@warbirdnut9269 I think the reason why Christopher mentioned fan noise is because he has the model with the 65W CPU (I have the 35W model), so his unit probably generates a lot more heat (but it will be around 25% faster too).
I have 8 of the HP EliteDesk 800 G2. The first three I purchased were 35W and the rest 65W. When I received the first three I didn't know there were two different models with the different power settings. It's been a learning experience. I also had to deal with BIOS passwords but thanks to other TH-cam videos I learned how to remove those.
These are getting expensive. I'm boasting the memory to 16 gb, the storage to m.2 to 1 tb, the SSD to 500 gb, WIFI on at least one of them and the cpus i7 Intel Core i7-6700 for the 65 w computer or Intel Core i7-6700T for the 35w ones. I'll also be making one with Windows 7, another with Windows 10 and one more with Windows 11. With others I'll be using Linux Mint Cinnamon, Ubuntu and Debian. It will be a learning experience for me. I might try one with Windows XP if I can get that to work. One will also be a dual boot with Windows 10/Linux Cinnamon. Wish me luck.
I've been using one of these quite happilly for a few years. One thing to watch out for is that if you buy one that doesn't come supplied with a 2.5" disk, it likely won't include the special cable that connects between the disk and the system board, and these can be tricky to track down if you subsequently decide you want one.
This is I spend the majority of time working on! Right in my wheel house! I usually never get the mouse and kb with it! This video is exactly what i do for folks! THANKS Mr. Barnatt!
Hi Chris, I'm glad to hear that you do receive commissions! As I stated a few videos ago, many times after your videos air, the products you spoke of are out of stock so I thought that you deserved a commission! Glad to hear you do get one for helping to sell these products! Stay well. And thanks again! Rich
Enjoy your video. Looks a great value. As the demise of support for Windows 10 looms, I think the prices might even get more attractive for these computers. I will certainly be looking forward to your video on Windows 11 on non-supported PCs as I have a couple that will lose support in a couple of years, including a barely used tablet that I bought from Microsoft directly.
I am sure you are right that a lot of hardware will become available as machines that are not able to officially run Windows 11 are taken out of service.
I’ve been running one of these as a Hyper-V homelab server running WS 2019 24/7! I’m amazed how much compute power you get from such a small machine :)
Based on another of your videos I purchased this PC with 16GB memory and a 1TB drive for $150. This will become my new OMV/docker/Home Assistant server. I’ve been using 2 raspberry pi’s for this but I’ve never been happy with their stability.
Worked for a bit in a place where each worker had the Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny with i7 6700 and 16 gigs of ram - they actually do fairly well for the programing/designing that company does. The power rusage and snappy performance are the only real + sides tho. Even at 20-30% CPU usage the fan ramp up to max rpm and they not only produce serious heat (old hdd sitting next to it on the table was warm and that wasnt directly behind the fan) but the noise can be heard across a big room. The expansion or upgrade options are non-existent - u cant replace anything inside of them beside adding storage or ram...
Yeah, they are basically like laptops. If you do any major work the fan will crank up. Fine for general use, but if you like silence, or do heavy computing a full size desktop will be a better option.
@@volvo09 Not exactly. In terms of expansion/thermals/power they are the same as laptops but even tho physically these tiny towers are smaller, you still need full peripherals to use them - aka input device/s, monitors etc. The main reason I was given why they bought them there was cuz of the pandemic and working from home (it was hard to carry the big desktop and monitors to ur home and room was an issue in smaller living spaces) + electricity bills (before they had older xeon systems which indeed hog more power). For this company, the workload requires 2 monitors with decent resolution (2k is minimum) and big screens - anything less or a single monitor just doesn't work when you need easily 4,5,6+ things opened at the same time. When you need to put 2 biga** monitors in your home, I don't see how the form factor of the PC would solve any space problems you might have..... Meanwhile, as annoying as a track pad can be, laptop can easily operate anywhere on their own. Just bring portable 2nd monitor and , imo, you have better version of that PC...
When I first saw the PC, I was like: "goodbye upgrades" but then, surprise-surprise! the internals were just standard old laptop parts. Good on HP for taking upgradability and serviceability into consideration.
My comment seems to have been lost, so I'll post it again. It's worth noting that many of these business class PCs have an embedded license for Windows 10 Pro so if you buy one without a drive or without an OS you can still download a Windows ISO from Microsoft and it will activate using the embedded license.
i have this model for over five years. it's awesome, because it's small and powerful, and does whatever you need it to do. durable as could ask for. capable as can be. power on count: 5000+. power on hours: 20,000+ hours.
The price for performance and connectivity on systems like this is hard to beat. The Windows 10 deadline may be a concern for some, but x86 means a variety of robust Linux distributions are available. These compact systems are available form many OEMs as well.
Xubuntu 22.04 installed without incident on my 64 bit HP SFF computers. Xubuntu boots too slow now for my ancient laptop with the Celeron 900 CPU on it. Once booted (taking five minutes to do so) it works well enough for 480p video and simple web use although much slower than my new laptop.
Meaning you refurbished and sell them? I'm constantly trying to find sellers other than the huge greedy corporations like Amazon or best buy but google usually pimply shows search results for the giant corporations and no one else.
Thank you for this video, I purchased one like 2 weeks ago and got it in the mail about 2 days ago. Originally I was going to sell it to make money but I dont know anymore. I really like these small form factor computers haha
Happy Easter Chris & thank you for an excellent video most enlightening. A large unboxing with Stanley, Mr Scissors & finally Mr Bosch, happy days! Upgrading the memory, adding an NVMe drive & fans will probably make it last longer.
Yes, these things are great. Honestly, they're a great option to the stupid things going on in the SBC market these days and they're easy to find second hand or wherever. Yeah, they use a little more power but not much.
Fancy that. Great minds think alike. I just got 2 Lenovo SFF units to tinker with and replace an older home server. One has 35W tdp and the other one has 15W tdp, and I'm loving them! Low footprint and great performance.
I’ve got a G2 of same config but went to max 32GB of RAM with a fast 1TB NVME. It runs very nice and I didn’t spend much on it - around 200 total with everything.
In the next year we should see a ton of perfectly capable 6th and 7th gen Intel hardware hit the referb market at rock bottom prices as businesses standardize on Windows 11. Microsoft's artificial cutoff of 8th gen to run Win11 will be a boon to the used market but will also create a price cliff between 7th gen and 8th gen.
I've been using an identical unit for the past 3 years after many years of building my own ginormous boxes. Great machine that meets all of my requirements. Incredible value for the money.
The one you've got is a 65 watt version that can be easily recognized by the vents on top, there are also 35 watt versions without those venting holes and can be easily stackable. Also, 35 watt version use lot less energy while performing slightly less (assuming both have i5). Still, 35 watt version is my preferred model (got 5 of those). P.S. Fans on the HDD caddy seem to only be present on 65W versions. P.P.S G3 version of 800 series mostly don't have HDD caddies so be careful if/when ordering one of those newer models.
🇨🇦/🇺🇸... I've had a used i7 version of this for a couple years now and I've been very pleased with the performance... photo editing and graphic design mainly but also some video editing! Terrific little thing!!
Ha i literally bought one of these exact units a month or so ago (4gig and no ssd) it now sits in my spare room running various game and entertainment servers. its nearly silent and the barebones unit cost me 60 quid ..... fantastic piece of kit
As some have spotted, whilst the HP EliteDesk 800 G2 I purchased was specified with a 6500T i5 CPU (the Amazon listing appears at 1:35), the unit I received has a 6500 CPU, which has a 65W rather than 35W TDP (thermal design power). So the machine is a bit more powerful than its claimed specs, but uses more energy. I should have looked more carefully at what Windows reported at 12:18. My apologies. Things were rather hectic when I was making this video.
You can tell the 65w versions from the 35w versions because the 65w ones *SHOULD* have a vented lid…
No problem man, the lack of that *'T'* is an easy one to miss 🤭😉
PS: is it possible to under-volt the CPU? Maybe you can get the energy usage down to 35W that way 🙂
The fans would be less noisier too 🙃
@@JohnStopman - not from the standard BIOS. These things are business oriented.
@@philharris9631 Yeah, I thought so...
The i7 version of this has been my step dad's daily drive for the past 3 years, he does audio editing at a professional level with it too. These are very underappreciated PC's.
I wish they were under appreciated. Used to get these things cheap for small company phone SBCs and other similar functions when Pis and single board computers went bananas. Now everyone uses them and the prices have gone up.
@@ragingbombast Facts! They used to be cheap AF, I know my old boss loved me when I showed him the 2 year old refurbs saved like 800usd a PC, most of these are old lease machines tbh.
Oh great, tell everyone.😂🤣
CPUS are CPUs. If you can feed enough power, than CPU based tasks are no problem. GPU tasks will take some doing
@@Commiehunter12 not true, we keep developing technology that gets faster and faster using less power. For example the 486 DX4 100mhz used 2.6 watts, so let's use this as a metric, if you scaled that 2.6watts per 100mhz to the current 3.2ghz you get nearly 84 watts(forget that level of tech CAN'T got that fast) for what is done currently at 35 watts
One year ago I bought an HP ProDesk G5 for £150 with an i5 9500,8GB RAM and 256Gb SSD. I love the 6.5W idle power consumption because it runs 24/7 as a webserver.
A dell optilex with same config except 9600k cost me 100$.
Good. Now I have ZimaBoard 216 which is not powerful enough when needed, three days ago I ordered used/refurbished Fujitsu Q956 with i5-6500t, 128gb ssd (very likely nvme) and 8gb ram for 130EUR. Because SSDs, RAMs and euros are cheap right now I'm almost considering to upgrade it to 512gb or 1tb ssd and 32gb ram and it will be just slightly worse than i5-4590 computer I used year and half ago and was quite happy with it. Larger PCs usually have better specs for the same price, I hope I won't regret it, because any upgrade can complicated (such as adding sata ssd or 2.5" drive, because it has proprietary power connectors)
Nice deal for a G5 I5.
It is interesting how low of a power draw simple computers have now. I just bought a cheap new laptop with a Celeron N4100 in it, it almost never draws more than 13 watts and that includes a 14 inch monitor. If I have it connected to my large office monitor it draws less than ten watts. It isn't the most powerful CPU in the world but it plays 1080P streaming video and is decent enough for simple internet use. It likely won't be my daily driver but it is light, compact and useful enough if I need to take a computer somewhere.
@@mharris5047 Until you are looking for a 4K gaming machine for flight simulator. Getting something power efficient is just not there yet. Probably I have to wait two hardware generations for that. I don't want a noisy +300Watt system for gaming.
I own a Prodesk 400 G4 I5 32 Watt and an Elitedesk 800 G4 I5 65 Watt. Affordable from auctions. Building a comparable Mini ITX system from second hand parts will be more expensive because of shipping costs.
I also built a Haswell I7 T series machine myself in 2014. Still a useful NAS because of PCIE with NVme adapters and the sata connectors. Not economically viable to replace that one yet.
Mr. Bosch what a distinguished Gentleman.
You'd think so, but he's good friends with Bobby Box-cutter.
@@FatNorthernBigot Oh no. The box cutter is Mr. Stanley. 😅
@@terryashley4674 it's Stanley's American cousin.
That’s Herr Bosch to us plebeians
I'm in my 20s and that's the biggest reason I subscribe to him lol
In case you haven't been flooded with comments already, those HP hard drive mounts were widely used in different HP models and can be procured second hand from Amazon and the like. I did so myself years ago for an HP mini tower I was using as my media PC.
Yeah, those HD mounts are all over eBay… from a single mount, up to lots of 100’s…
We are using about 15 of these kind of small PCs HP/Lenovo/Dell in our business. Cheap and fast enough to run our warehouse program and other things on them. Saved us a lot of money
Similar here. All the computers in our factory are very similar to this type of computer. They're all from HP. Recently the attached printers were from HP as well, but they have been replaced by Canon's.
@@SandsOfArrakis try kyocera black-only laser printers.
I’m glad the they are being repackaged and cleaned up ready for resale. A lot of companies don’t bother and just send them off to a recycling facility. Thanks for today’s video Chris, as always be safe and healthy.
A _recycling / refurbishment facility_ is probably where these are from. They will have standard disk images ready to install onto these machines, because they probably bought hundreds of them.
All my computers, except for the Raspberries, are ex-business machines. Unless you are a die-hard gamer that really needs power , even ten year old but high spec machines can be had for pennies on the pound, and are more than capable.
Buying new computers is a mug's game.
@@sarkybugger5009 Although, if you can find an ex-business low profile computer with a good processor, there are some pretty decent low profile graphics cards that can handle gaming. Sure, you might have to turn the settings down, but it can make for a low cost gaming solution.
My company was acquired a few years back. We had just had a tech refresh and the workstations we had where maybe a year old. Hexacore Intel i7 with NVME SSD's at them time. We got new machines (also Dell btw) and the old ones got recycled. It was just their process. Apparently cheaper than actually wiping them and re-installing.
Meanwhile, politicians all over the world is trying to tax us to death because of the climate.
They are leases, leased from HP, etc. to large companies/educational institutions. Once the lease is up they are mass exchanged for a newer model and these go off en mass to (possibly) be cleaned/refurbished and sold off. I've got several and I'm pleased.
ServerHome talked about this little PC awhile ago. Back then I got 4 of these babies and now I plan to add 2 more to my clusters. Here are some of my takes who actually own a bunch of these sub 1L PCs.
1- Most of the G2 comes with Windows VL, some even comes with Win10 PRO which doesn's required you to pay extra $$ to get a genuine OS.
2- Be aware of the m2 for wireless connectivity. Not all card works with G2, only those wireless that are whitelisted by HP. Alternatively you can get a mod BIOS for walkaround.
3- Be careful of the blue screws for the 2.5" hdd tray, from what I understand, there are 2 kinds of threads, one for 3.5" and one for 2.5" but the exterior is the same blue rubber shock absorvant washer. So be careful when you buy those screws or you are gonna ended up like me with a crap load of screws that looks exactly the same but doesn't screwed onto the 2.5" disks.
4- vPro, this is one those hidden gems, it's basically an IPMI which is really cool if you plan to use it as a server.
5- Power hack, the i5 6500T is low power enough to ditch the gigantic brick that passes for power supply. You can go to Aliexpress and find a USB type c to barrel connector for HP and then purchase a 65W type C GaN power charger. I used it on 6500T and it has no problem booting it up.
6- Second ethernet hack, this one is the best, it is great to have an additional ethernet port if you want to transform G2 into a server, like using it as Pfsesne or OpenSense, you'll get more performance comparing to an USB 3 gigabit ethernet. This works by pulling the second display port module, and install a daugther board with a RJ45 socket which is connected via JTAG to an m2 module connected under the HDD tray, there are 2 options to choose from one by realtek and one by intel, I recomend the intel chipset. Be aware that doing this mod you need to take out the second small fan to fit the m2 module, and you will be sacrificing the nvme for a second eth.
I'm running a small cluster of 4 G2 with HA Proxmox and so far I have zero complains.
Also tried with an i7 6700k which is rated for 91W, strangely the original power brick can actually run it, although the temps are a little bit high.
It's just crazy that all SBC prices are so jacked up, you can litterally get on of this for roughly the same price, the perfomance difference is astronomical.
Where can I find out more about the second ethernet hack? tried googling couldn't find anything thanks!
This is an heroic post. THANKS A TON for all of this additional info! I figured I'd just "go crazy" and get 4 G4's for like a proxmox cluster & HA, but obviously the G2's are quite a bit cheaper, esp in volume. I'm also interested in the 2nd eth port..
I watched this from a HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Micro, that I bought as a second hand machine from a PC recycler, I upgraded the ram and am running Ubuntu 22.04, it's a great little machine, and with 3 monitors it's great for programming and desktop stuff, when I need compute power I have proxmox servers for that, and I don't game, so this was a good low cost way to power a few monitors
Nice to see you recognizing that we are awash in affordable processing power!!
What a great way to put it! :)
These are a great deal because they are light, small, and easy to ship. The older SFF desktop pc's still weighed like 10lbs and took a big box to ship, so you couldn't find such great deals.
All my pc's are old office lease office hardware. I have a few mini Dell PC's like this, they are nice for what I need, and they even have socketed cpu's... I believe this HP should also.
@@volvo09 Same here, although I also love me some ThinkPads, and I also drive an old Volvo. (She'll be 25 this year, and still runs like a dream.) 😁
@@volvo09 I have several HP SFF (not the USFF like in this video) computers. They tend to last at least ten years and I have one that has a Pentium 4 HT CPU from 2005 that still booted up when I played with it last year (2022). At $100 I would say they are an excellent deal even if they only run Windows for 2 1/2 years. I usually pay about $150 when I buy one but my main computer was actually $50 in 2020, it has an i3 4th generation in it. I put $100 or so into it upgrading it to 16GB RAM and a large hard drive, though (I won't count the second large HDD used for backup purposes only).
Very nice PC. I have the G1 version. Modded the bios to boot from NVME and upgraded the cpu to an i7-4790T couldn't be happier with it
I was using a little lenovo i5 based mini pc at my previous work for a while. Those mini PC are totally underrated. They are so convenient, cheap, and totally capable of the most common tasks.
Intel came out with the mini PC motherboard and T series CPU to combat the Mac Mini on the PC side, and almost all of these "1 liter" PC uses the exact same internals.
People hate them as a PC, too minimal, meant for Warehouse and offices app only !
What you run on them ?
I have personally imaged and cared for thousands of these machines in a healthcare setting. These things still run when caked in dust. Great machines
what type of O/S they are running in your environment?
specs of hardware?
thanx
@@benjaminshtark5977 Running windows 10 (4gb ram, 128gb ssds or hdds)
21-25 degrees wall mounted in wards. Full of nasty dust and hospital crap
@@tbrowniscool nice!!!
did you do anything special to them to make them work in hospital environment?
things like disabling USB to prevent people hacking the devices by using some usb flashdrives, wifi using certificate authentication ? (or wifi disabled at all?)
lock bios?
disk encryption?
what about CPU fan? had any issues fans failing?
i am asking this because i am looking for similar device for schools on budget for a lot of children while budget is around 200$ per device (excluding monitor/keyb/mouse).
and main purpose is to have it running basicly 24/7 in classes while keeping maintenance and hacking (preventing kids breaking or hacking O/S) as low as possible..
@@benjaminshtark5977 Yes we use a custom windows image that disables USB use etc. All machines use bit locker and locked bios of course. All machines use wifi and if they are wired up that's a bonus. We do no physical changes to the machines.
Edit: we are spending about £400-600 per desktop and about £700-1200 per laptop btw.
Yeah make sure you order the right machine and have the knowledge for a custom windows image. Ideally flashed from a usb stick or network point. How many machines are you thinking of. Kids can't break what we have but out budget is over a million pounds a year on windows licenses!
@@tbrowniscool well, its a voluntary project, licenses for ms windows are provided for free basically.
we only need to get the proper hardware.
i was thinking about either this device or similar from Lenovo or Dell..
The main usage will be for kids to learn programming and school projects.
currently the requirement is for a pilot run for 80 machines... (2 full classes + some spare machines.)
For the longest time I had one of these, but later switched to the newer G2 design with the Ryzen 5 as a server. Absolute beast 4C/8T with 32GBs of DDR4 ram. Powerful micro server. :)
It's nice to see these machines finding homes where they can continue to be useful and reduce e-waste. I really enjoy these sorts of videos showcasing the great value here. Thanks!
BEWARE when buying these machines! VERY carefully read the listings. The manufacturers' and sellers' terminology varies, inconsistently and often erroneously regarding 'SFF' and 'USFF'. Ordering an 'SFF' machine without looking closely, may result in a larger form factor than you are expecting. Happened to me.
Does S.F.F. mean small form factor? U.S.F.F. meaning ultra-small form factor?
@@arvaneret_329Yes
@@arvaneret_329 it's supposed to, but a lot of eBay listers don't get that
@@arvaneret_329it does
Crazy we seem to be totally in sync! I am at my mum's and I just refurbished an HP Compaq 6000 small-form factor from about 2007. I got rid of Windows, (and the HDD it was sitting on) upgraded the 2GB DDR3 Ram for 8GB (for pennies) and installed Lubuntu on a 512GB SSD. Works like a charm now, very responsive, even plays HD TH-cam without problems. I'm tempted to upgade the processor for the highest spec one it will take, a Core 2 Quad 9500, for £11.
It also has a Display Port which surprised me, I didn't know it was so old!
We are in sync indeed! And I get the impression -- both from the comments here, and more generally, that we are far from alone. Refurbished SFF business hardware is I think a rising maker/enthusiast trend.
@@ExplainingComputers Perhaps because it's so easy to get hold of compared to the Raspberry Pi, and also outperforms it with many tasks, especially with desktop internet browsing.
Interesting as always. Nice to be introduced to Mr Bosch. Thank you.
I love it when we go and take a closer look.
:)
These are great. I pieced one together a couple months ago to use as a Minecraft server among other things. 32GB DDR4 RAM, i7-6700T, 1TB Samsung 970 Pro NVMe SSD, Intel AC Wi-Fi, and switch out the second display port expansion board for a serial port. 😎 Cheers.
I've got one of these as my TV pc / media center. I picked up 16GB ram for £20 from cex along with a 512GB nvme SSD for £40. The last upgrade I've gotten is a i7 6700T as a processor upgrade again from cex. The pc itself I purchased from Cash Generators for £50.
Is the CPU actually socketed for upgradeability? I've assumed they are soldered onto the board.
@Chris Brisson It's a normal socketed desktop processor. I purchased the exact same system as Chris is using from cash generator for £50. I re pasted the processor when I upgraded it to the i7 6700t. The I5 that I had in the system I traded in for 16gb ram.
These are such gems. I have a whole array of these with i7 att home for proxmox lab usage with 32 gb ram in each, + ssd, nvme AND 2,5 gbit networking for ceph. The i7 versions often comes with vPro for remote management. So much awesomeness in a little box!
How did you get 2.5Gbit networking on these?
@@MnemonicCarrier I’m guessing vis USB3/C dongles. I use them for ESXi with such dongles.
@@MnemonicCarrier some have PCIe capability, like Lenovo m920q
It's always encouraging to discover that you have twice as many fans as you thought, isn't it?
When the original board dies, the box might be recyclable to a container for another SBC.
Ah, a Pi in this case. I had not considered that . . .
You can most likely fit a normal mini-ITX motherboard into this case.
@@matsu1994 i don’t know this specifical case, but for example dell pc (i have one) have non standard parts
@@matsu1994 Nope, the motherboards of these 1L desktops are proprietary and slightly smaller than mini-ITX. It's quite easy to find replacement motherboards for them though.
"Lots of bubblewrap...we can pop that later."
A man after my own heart.
As always, great content. For basic computing needs this is a great way to go. Performance per dollar spent can't be equaled. I'm somewhat biased here as I love to take older hardware (10 years or less) and use those machines as my daily driver for both Windows and Linux (also a Zorin user). I currently have the HP Z series workstations ranging from the Z230 to the Z440 with a Z420 sandwiched in between. And let's not forget Dell Optiplex and Lenovo Thinkcentre. Both companies have great products in their business class portfolio that can't be beat in performance per dollar. Thanks again for sharing!
Question: do you think it is easy to install Linux on such HP mini-PCs?
I had bad experiences on Laptop equipped natively with Windows...
@@giuliobuccini208 Any time you install Linux on any PC there is the possibility for incompatibilities. Some Linux distro's have better chances for success, such as Zorin. There are two versions of Zorin, a paid version and a free version. Of all the distro's I've personally installed, Zorin seems to give the most consistent result. Normally you'll probably have some difficulty with graphics and/or audio. And typically somewhere on the web there will be a resolution described that works. Even with the few hiccups I've had, I still prefer Linux as my daily driver. If I need windows I have VM's that can solve the problems. Now, the laptop can be a real issue due to the proprietary nature of the drivers. Desktops, on the other hand, seem much easier to get everything working. Good Luck!
I bought 6 of them! They are cheaper than a Raspberry Pi! 1 is my regular computer and the other I have Proxmox vm running Home Assistant. I paid $109 each.
These small devices are very interesting, and their prices make them very attractive in many situations: from small workstations at home (especially under Linux) to Nextcloud servers... And as they are quite easy to find, they represent a very relevant acquisition option. And digital recycling is a great initiative... Thanks for the presentation!
Hopefully they don't increase in price anytime soon
Per usual another fine video. I discovered SFF systems a while back and picked up a ThinkCentre barebones computer. It came with the motherboard. No RAM. no disk. no PS and no CPU. I had to add all that and I was amazed that it worked when I got it together. I had a disk but I bought the rest of the parts used on Ebay. I figured at least one of the pieces would be junk, but I was wrong. It's been running for about 2+ years with no hiccups.
I picked up a similar secondhand EliteDesk model a year ago or so for use as HomeAssistant server, and in the wake of the global RPi-shortage it turned out to be a solid choice. They are of "enterprise HP" build quality, and definitely value for money. Plus being x86, you don't need to cross-compile any custom software.
Fun detail: mine was lacking precisely those two drive bracket knobs as well! 😆
Greetings sir...so we got all three cameos Mr. Scissors, Stanley the Knife and Mr. Bosch in one video.
Yes, lots of cameos today! :) Greetings.
Hi Chris, I have bought refurbished corporate pcs twice now. They are built well and perform well too. This is a good way to go.
Thank you for this video.
This gets me thinking about used equipment, more than I otherwise might.
And I REALLY look forward to your upcoming 'Windows 11 on older hardware' video.
Once again, you really come through for the 'little guy/gal'.
☮
Why you need older hardware, and why you run Windows 11 on it ?
Once again ? why you need that ?
@@lucasRem-ku6eb Because that is what I have.
I have a few of these little workhorses running various OSes which I purchased from Microcenter and packaged in considerably smaller boxes. 😁Blessed Easter to all who celebrate. Stay well!
Hi Chris, great to see Mr Scissors making a welcome return. I have been using these particular units at home for a few years. We have 3 in the house, one running a laser cutter and the other two performing basic internet and office tasks. They are i5's fitted with M.2 drives and the performance is superb. Even though they have fan cooling they are virtually silent. I'd recommend these to anyone for running basic computing tasks.
Hi Chris, I have been Mr. Scissors for a few years.
@@TimPerfetto we are all Mr Scissors !
@@lucasRem-ku6eb Who is scissors? Yes. Twelve people have to go now? o
Omg that unboxing was intense 😂😂😂 I wasn't expecting such a climax with all the noise lmao.
I have two 800 G3's and two 600 G2's and they are Fantastic!
When I started my quest to downsize and to make a quieter, less heat producing room, I discovered these on ebay and now I can't stop ordering them to use for various things!
My new plan is to buy a few more of these to set up a Proxmox cluster!
I've just received one and I am already itching to buy even more of them. The homelab bug is hitting hard. I'm not even sure exactly what I am going to run on the Proxmox cluster I am planning to use these for. I just know I need to do it :)
Are they almost silent these small machines?
Very true, I bought a renewed Lenovo Thinkcentre tiny PC for my father a year or so ago to replace a mini-itx machine he was using, when I set it up he asked where the computer went, he was amazed with the tiny size of it. It was a bargain.
Nice to see you recognizing the great value renewed systems can have
I remember getting a box 3 times that size at work, there was another box inside with the gray foam padding as well, and all it had in it was a sheet of paper. I believe it was from HP and was just a list of terms and/or licensing agreement.
I purchased a elitedesk 800 G3 a month ago and installed Tiny 11 on the M.2
It works great and super a super fast boot up time as well. Amazing performance for the cost. This is an awesome video!
Thank you for all the great information.🙂
The I/O in this Mini Pc is quite amazing
I recently bought the same machine with wireless connectivity for £75. It came with 500gb SATA HDD. I upgraded it to SATA SSD and added M.2. Now it's running Windows and Ubuntu. Even though I'm a Mac user I like trying other operating systems now and then. As over all the machine is very good and worth for the price I paid.
just randomly watched one of your older videos about veracrypt, and now I see new upload. It keeps happening to me :)
You've lucked upon the best single board/small form factor educator on TH-cam! Christopher is a hidden treasure!
I've got about 8 of these machines - they are absolutely fantastic.
My son and I messed around with renewed SFFs and laptops for years. Plus, I repaired or rebuilt used systems for years due to affordability. What I valued about that experience was my experimentation with over 20 OSs to determine usability and preference. Many people do not need the powerful systems that they purchased due to desire not need. Which channel was the most influential and informative over the years - Yours! Thanks, Christopher!
For the same reasons you pointed out in the introduction I recently bought a similarly powerfull refurbished Thinkpad for around 190 euro's. Installed Fedora Silverblue on it and it works like a charm.
We live off grid with 24v dc batteries. Our two second hand small footprint HP 800s have run for years without problems. A 24v to 19v converter from Ali runs them without even getting warm so low drain and we leave them on a lot. One is Linux and the other Win 10.
Thanks for this video. I needed a PC for myself and my son. I now have the same model as you in this video and my son has the Lenovo equivalent. What a good PCs they are and I got them for around £80 each. Both have i56600t CPU. I found the fan noise annoying until I turned the computer upside down. Now I have a upside down computer with a quiet fan.
Really good Chris. Huge amount of computer for a very reasonable price. Certainly good enough for the majority of users. Thanks
I have G3 and G4 versions of these PCs, purchased on eBay for similar prices to that discussed here. I can strongly recommend such PCs based on my own experience. They replaced similarly priced workstation PCs, and are both smaller (far, far smaller) and more powerful. The only problem is that I now have a stack of workstations to get rid of.
Honestly an underrated form factor. Some Lenovo Tinys have the option to replace the HDD bay with a PCIe 8x slot, if you need expandability
I picked up a Prodesk 600 g3 just a week ago. It was perfect for a home surveillance system. Fits both an nvme ssd and a 3.5” drive in a very compact form factor. I only paid the equivalent of 75gbp so very happy with it :)
This was well worth the time and trouble. I can't wait for the follow videos. i know im well inside the top 100!!
Always good to be in the top 100! :)
I recently bought one of these mini pcs from DELL, though a brand new one, also got a dp-hdmi 1.4 adapter and was surprised to get 4k60p resolutions on my tv, just looked at the displayports on mine, they are dp++, I’ve never knew about that, now things make sense again, thanks!
Great video Chris, I have been using one of these computers for the last 4 years as my daily triple booted with no issues. Although I have and array of other sbc and towers. I really like the size and performance of these units
Thanks for your work
You don't trust the cloud ? Stuck in 1978, Personal systems need !
What you run on them ?
Some people (me ) just like computer hardware for the sake of it. I have a large collection of machines of different ages and types; just fun to use a different one now and again with various operating systems. They would have been thrown out so it's a good thing!@@lucasRem-ku6eb
I always enjoy your videos, the little comical quips in your commentary makes me laugh and you remind me of my history teacher he had the same sense of humour. Take care of yourself and looking forward to the next video.
I've been using an i3 version of one of these as my pfSense firewall for over a year now. Even with a single NIC and VLAN's it works really well even on my FTTP connection at full speed, and consumes barely any power!
My local used refurbished computer retailer currently has 9 in stock. Based on ypthe strength of this excellent review, I am ordering one on Monday! Thank you,, Christopher!
Thanks for the hard work Chris. Your videos are well researched and hit the key details spot on.
I bought the Lenovo ThinkCentre M92P with the i5 and 8GB of RAM and it runs Windows 10 Pro just fine. It had a SATA HD I installed an SSD and runs much better. Purchased from eBay for $85.00. Enjoyed the video Chris and will see you on the next one.
Another jolly superb video 👍
Many (non-Windows) uses for this class of PC, and longevity is better than what MSFT would have one believe.
Kindest regards, neighbours and friends.
I have no uses for any kind of Windows PC these days unless it's Windows 98, 2000 or XP inside a VM to play a few classic old games with. I rid myself of my Microsoft abuser fully when support for Windows 7 ended - only Linux these days.
Thanks for making this video! I recently began a journey with these little mini-pc's. I have puchased the 260 G2 and 800 G2 versions. I have an I7 cpu on the way and will be mounting the 800 to the back of a monitor with a vesa mount.
i5s are small power stations in almost every configuration you can come across. I love the power/cost/life ratio. Great video Chris. Keep up.
I ended up buying a job lot of 7 Lenovo ThinkCentre M93's all with i3-4130-T 4GB LPDDR4 and 128GB SSD's in all - Very nice little machines and still surprisingly capable for modern computing functions. Ended up selling 5 and keeping 2 for myself to be used in basic home-lab 'projects'. Keep up the good work as always Chris
Last month I bought a Dell Optiplex 9020M with an i3-4130-T as well; it came with 8GB RAM and a 500GB SSHD (sic!) with Win10 preinstalled. It's a nice little well built machine and after replacing the SSHD with a Sata SSD and installing Linux, it is now a neat little machine to run some experiments on. I paid 70€ for this one, the SSD excluded. It's so much more capable than a Raspberry 4B with the same amount of RAM and the same SSD.
This is a actually very impressive when all things are considered.
It's outright amazing how this powerful machine is so much cheaper than a RPi 4B 8Gb and even how much more powerful it is. The TDP is a worthy sacrifice for the huge improvement in performance. Not to mention it is x86-64, which has the benefits of a massive library of compatible software vs ARM.
I purchased a renewed optiplex sff off Amazon for my oldest son and then a used GT 1070 on Amazon to be used for gaming for him and so far it has been going strong and running nearly non-stop for almost 2 years with no problems at all! I realize that this machine is far from top notch in the gaming world, but honestly for the games he plays (around 100 games in his Steam library) the machine performs exceptionally well. In fact, this i5-6500 mini would perform even better and could still use the same graphics card with an adapter for the m.2 NVME slot. I think I'll likely end up purchasing one of these for my younger son to use.
I know I say this often, but it seriously blows my mind at how far computer technology has advanced since the 90's and I absolutely love how easy it is to get relatively high performing machines for such a very low cost.
As with all HP corporate hardware, you can also update the BIOS from within the BIOS. Just hit F10 to go into the BIOS. Make sure an ethernet cable is connected to your network, and hit Update Bios. Given these were £600 to £700 when new they are now amazing value.
those things are 7 years old now, so the value is in doubt, those fans and the mobo are on the limit of needing replacement, these kind of machines were used 24/7 where they were used first
Thanks for the review. I have ordered this in Amazon and waiting for delivery.
Good luck with your new hardware. As you will discover, it is very solid, and good value for the money.
Great review! These mini PCs are awesome! Since Raspberry Pi 4 SBCs dried up, I started buying these instead to use as headless home servers. It's really worth getting the i7 version if you can, as you get twice as many CPU cores than the i5 version (and probably a slightly better iGPU too). The CPU is user upgradeable, but I think it's cheaper to buy one with an i7. Was surprised that the fans can get quite loud on these. I have two, and they run silently, although I don't run a desktop environment on mine. You can also perform a hack to attach a desktop GPU to these small computers via the M.2 connector - you just need the right adapter (m.2 to pcie riser).
Maybe I haven't pushed my mini's enough, but I haven't had an issue with fan noise. But I use these for tinkering so that may be why.
@@warbirdnut9269 I think the reason why Christopher mentioned fan noise is because he has the model with the 65W CPU (I have the 35W model), so his unit probably generates a lot more heat (but it will be around 25% faster too).
I have 8 of the HP EliteDesk 800 G2. The first three I purchased were 35W and the rest 65W. When I received the first three I didn't know there were two different models with the different power settings. It's been a learning experience. I also had to deal with BIOS passwords but thanks to other TH-cam videos I learned how to remove those.
These are getting expensive. I'm boasting the memory to 16 gb, the storage to m.2 to 1 tb, the SSD to 500 gb, WIFI on at least one of them and the cpus i7 Intel Core i7-6700 for the 65 w computer or Intel Core i7-6700T for the 35w ones. I'll also be making one with Windows 7, another with Windows 10 and one more with Windows 11. With others I'll be using Linux Mint Cinnamon, Ubuntu and Debian. It will be a learning experience for me. I might try one with Windows XP if I can get that to work. One will also be a dual boot with Windows 10/Linux Cinnamon. Wish me luck.
I've been using one of these quite happilly for a few years. One thing to watch out for is that if you buy one that doesn't come supplied with a 2.5" disk, it likely won't include the special cable that connects between the disk and the system board, and these can be tricky to track down if you subsequently decide you want one.
This is I spend the majority of time working on! Right in my wheel house! I usually never get the mouse and kb with it! This video is exactly what i do for folks! THANKS Mr. Barnatt!
These are great wee devices. I run a Dell 1L for my Plex and its fantastic. Costs next to nothing to run.
Hi Chris, I'm glad to hear that you do receive commissions! As I stated a few videos ago, many times after your videos air, the products you spoke of are out of stock so I thought that you deserved a commission! Glad to hear you do get one for helping to sell these products! Stay well. And thanks again! Rich
Enjoy your video. Looks a great value. As the demise of support for Windows 10 looms, I think the prices might even get more attractive for these computers. I will certainly be looking forward to your video on Windows 11 on non-supported PCs as I have a couple that will lose support in a couple of years, including a barely used tablet that I bought from Microsoft directly.
I am sure you are right that a lot of hardware will become available as machines that are not able to officially run Windows 11 are taken out of service.
@@ExplainingComputers As I've mentioned in my previous comment, they run Linux just fine.
Well done my friend!
I’ve been running one of these as a Hyper-V homelab server running WS 2019 24/7!
I’m amazed how much compute power you get from such a small machine :)
Based on another of your videos I purchased this PC with 16GB memory and a 1TB drive for $150. This will become my new OMV/docker/Home Assistant server. I’ve been using 2 raspberry pi’s for this but I’ve never been happy with their stability.
Worked for a bit in a place where each worker had the Lenovo ThinkCentre M900 Tiny with i7 6700 and 16 gigs of ram - they actually do fairly well for the programing/designing that company does. The power rusage and snappy performance are the only real + sides tho. Even at 20-30% CPU usage the fan ramp up to max rpm and they not only produce serious heat (old hdd sitting next to it on the table was warm and that wasnt directly behind the fan) but the noise can be heard across a big room. The expansion or upgrade options are non-existent - u cant replace anything inside of them beside adding storage or ram...
Yeah, they are basically like laptops. If you do any major work the fan will crank up. Fine for general use, but if you like silence, or do heavy computing a full size desktop will be a better option.
@@volvo09 Not exactly. In terms of expansion/thermals/power they are the same as laptops but even tho physically these tiny towers are smaller, you still need full peripherals to use them - aka input device/s, monitors etc. The main reason I was given why they bought them there was cuz of the pandemic and working from home (it was hard to carry the big desktop and monitors to ur home and room was an issue in smaller living spaces) + electricity bills (before they had older xeon systems which indeed hog more power). For this company, the workload requires 2 monitors with decent resolution (2k is minimum) and big screens - anything less or a single monitor just doesn't work when you need easily 4,5,6+ things opened at the same time. When you need to put 2 biga** monitors in your home, I don't see how the form factor of the PC would solve any space problems you might have..... Meanwhile, as annoying as a track pad can be, laptop can easily operate anywhere on their own. Just bring portable 2nd monitor and , imo, you have better version of that PC...
When I first saw the PC, I was like: "goodbye upgrades" but then, surprise-surprise! the internals were just standard old laptop parts. Good on HP for taking upgradability and serviceability into consideration.
My comment seems to have been lost, so I'll post it again.
It's worth noting that many of these business class PCs have an embedded license for Windows 10 Pro so if you buy one without a drive or without an OS you can still download a Windows ISO from Microsoft and it will activate using the embedded license.
The comment has survived this time!
i have this model for over five years. it's awesome, because it's small and powerful, and does whatever you need it to do. durable as could ask for. capable as can be. power on count: 5000+. power on hours: 20,000+ hours.
The price for performance and connectivity on systems like this is hard to beat. The Windows 10 deadline may be a concern for some, but x86 means a variety of robust Linux distributions are available. These compact systems are available form many OEMs as well.
Xubuntu 22.04 installed without incident on my 64 bit HP SFF computers. Xubuntu boots too slow now for my ancient laptop with the Celeron 900 CPU on it. Once booted (taking five minutes to do so) it works well enough for 480p video and simple web use although much slower than my new laptop.
Thanks for another great video Chris. 👍
Greetings Steve.
We've tested hundreds of used HP Minis (G1, 2, and 3) for resale, and they proved to be very reliable.
Meaning you refurbished and sell them? I'm constantly trying to find sellers other than the huge greedy corporations like Amazon or best buy but google usually pimply shows search results for the giant corporations and no one else.
@@DarkGhostHackerSorry, we don't buy/sell/own these assets, we only provide services like deployment/decommission/data sanitisation and testing.
Thank you for this video, I purchased one like 2 weeks ago and got it in the mail about 2 days ago. Originally I was going to sell it to make money but I dont know anymore. I really like these small form factor computers haha
Happy Easter Chris & thank you for an excellent video most enlightening. A large unboxing with Stanley, Mr Scissors & finally Mr Bosch, happy days! Upgrading the memory, adding an NVMe drive & fans will probably make it last longer.
Hi Alan, and thanks for your support.
Got one of this and sold it to a friend for her online study / first family pc. This is one of the very worth it sff pc.
Yes, these things are great. Honestly, they're a great option to the stupid things going on in the SBC market these days and they're easy to find second hand or wherever. Yeah, they use a little more power but not much.
Fancy that. Great minds think alike. I just got 2 Lenovo SFF units to tinker with and replace an older home server. One has 35W tdp and the other one has 15W tdp, and I'm loving them! Low footprint and great performance.
I have multiple Lenovo SFF machines (i5) and so far all are working flawlessly. Very easy to open up and replace parts.
I’ve got a G2 of same config but went to max 32GB of RAM with a fast 1TB NVME. It runs very nice and I didn’t spend much on it - around 200 total with everything.
Are there any left for around that price?
I bought one of these refurbished and was not disappointed!
In the next year we should see a ton of perfectly capable 6th and 7th gen Intel hardware hit the referb market at rock bottom prices as businesses standardize on Windows 11. Microsoft's artificial cutoff of 8th gen to run Win11 will be a boon to the used market but will also create a price cliff between 7th gen and 8th gen.
Very much so.
Windows 10 end-of-life is October 14, 2025 from what I see online. By that time hopefully the 7/8 gen price differential will narrow significantly.
I've been using an identical unit for the past 3 years after many years of building my own ginormous boxes. Great machine that meets all of my requirements. Incredible value for the money.
These are great PCs. In my work I have deployed many dozens of them and they have been very reliable!
Good to hear. Greetings Chris.
Oh no! Not again Chris, manufacturer not including an NVME screw, such a small detail could really trip up a first time buyer.
On the plus side, some of these drives come with a screw included. I'm assuming that these particular screws are standard...
The one you've got is a 65 watt version that can be easily recognized by the vents on top, there are also 35 watt versions without those venting holes and can be easily stackable.
Also, 35 watt version use lot less energy while performing slightly less (assuming both have i5). Still, 35 watt version is my preferred model (got 5 of those).
P.S.
Fans on the HDD caddy seem to only be present on 65W versions.
P.P.S
G3 version of 800 series mostly don't have HDD caddies so be careful if/when ordering one of those newer models.
Very interesting. I assumed this was the 6500T version, and the power use was consistent with this. But Windows reported 6500 as you note.
Of course if you run 5 of of them, more shillings in the meter 😉
🇨🇦/🇺🇸... I've had a used i7 version of this for a couple years now and I've been very pleased with the performance... photo editing and graphic design mainly but also some video editing! Terrific little thing!!
What about 4K TH-cam playback ?
Ha i literally bought one of these exact units a month or so ago (4gig and no ssd) it now sits in my spare room running various game and entertainment servers. its nearly silent and the barebones unit cost me 60 quid ..... fantastic piece of kit
10:46 - bit crude, but unless you could find a screw, wouldn't you be a little bit... screwed?
Would you not just use an appropriate threaded screw with an adjustment washer?