If you’re in need of a new desktop computer, whether upgrading or planning to build another one, now is like the worst time to be doing so. It’s always hard to say if shortages are artificial or really happening, but a spat of shortages in memory and storage markets are ballooning costs of components and computers alike. It’s even impacting the game console market, both traditional and handheld in scope. Several handheld console makers have cancelled or discontinued devices due to the difficulties of sourcing RAM, alone.

But if you don’t need a top-of-the-line gaming PC, it might be best to go with a mini PC. A small, HTPC-like computer in a portable package that runs like any other desktop. Think the Apple Mac Mini, but with Windows, Linux, or your flavor of OS and hardware. There are Intel-based mini PCs, AMD mini PCs, and everything in between.

I recently had the chance to review a Kamrui and I love it. I swapped out an aging desktop I was using as a media server for the mini PC. Kamrui does offer a gaming-friendly mini PC, by the way. AMD Ryzen 7, 24GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB SSD, Wi-Fi 6, all onboard. You’re not going to run Cyberpunk 2077 or Crimson Desert with all settings cranked as high as possible, mind you, but it should run most stuff fairly well.

What can you do with a mini PC?

Source: Briley Kenney / Techigar

Quite figuratively anything you want, or pretty much anything you can do with your average PC, laptop, or computer. You can turn it into a media server, a secondary desktop, a portable system to bring with you back and forth between home and the office, an HTPC or SFFPC for use in the living room, an emulation machine, toss it inside arcades or other cabinets, and much, much more.

There are several brands to choose from, all running different operating systems, and since it’s a computer you have the full freedom to install your own. Want Linux? No problem, pick your distro and go. Want Windows 11? Sure, that’s possible, too. It’s mostly up to you. Kamrui, Geekom, Ace Magic, GMKtec, Beelink, take your pick there are a ton of options. You could always build your own, too, with a Raspberry Pi or a Single Board Computer (SBC).

You can also select from a range of prices, starting around $200 to $300 all the way up to $600 or more if you want high-end hardware. Most of the mini PCs you can find are modular and upgradeable, as well. You can add more RAM, more storage, other components, and so on.

Why not just build your own desktop or buy a pre-made?

You absolutely can go the conventional route and just get a standard desktop PC, or build your own. But right now, with the prices, mad shortages, and people scrambling to pick up as much as possible before it gets worse, you might run into a hurdle or two. Scalpers are really scooping up those RAM offerings whenever they can. Fuck scalpers.

If you look at Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, maybe even Costco, you’ll find a ton of mini PC options. In fact, I haven’t seen too many out of stock and so many of them have great reviews. If you’re a hardcore gamer it’s not a stand-in for a capable gaming PC. It sucks to hear, I know, but that’s the reality. But mini PCs are a really good alternative to everything else.

Plus, if you play your cards right you can’t find one for a great price and save some money.