Low cost mini PC: buy new or refurbished?

[DeadnightWarrior]

Hi everyone,

I would like to get a mini PC for studying Linux, Docker and such. The idea is to learn how to use Docker containers and implement at least a couple of them, like PiHole (currently I have it happily running on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W...), a backup solution and possibly one for local streaming of multimedia content.
Of course these services would have to run 24/7.

I have a rather limited budget of 150€ (about 160 USD) and I basically have two options:
- a refurbished, not-so-recent Lenovo / Dell / HP model with i3 / i5 CPU, 4 cores, upgradeable RAM and SSD. [EXAMPLE: Lenovo M93p Tiny]
- a new model, like Beelink, but with dual core Celeron CPU, soldered RAM and at most the ability to add an SSD. [EXAMPLE: Beelink T4Pro Mini]

What would you choose?
For now, I'd tend towards refurbished, as I would certainly have more performance and versatility, but I'm a little worried about power consumption...

Thank you!

[manikyath]

refurb HP DeskMini's, or comparable Dell/Lenovo boxes are a great way to get a fairly capable mini pc on the cheap.

they often get offloaded by businesses in great quantities when they hit 4-6 years old, which pushes the price down A LOT.

 

look for something at least haswell core i5/i7, that should fit in your budget.

[DeadnightWarrior]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

look for something at least haswell core i5/i7, that should fit in your budget.

That Lenovo I linked should come with a Core i5-4570T and 8Gb RAM. If I don't get wrong, that's a 2C/4T CPU.

Sounds like a solid base to me..

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

That Lenovo I linked should come with a Core i5-4570T and 8Gb RAM. If I don't get wrong, that's a 2C/4T CPU.

Sounds like a solid base to me..

the HP ones i've dealt with use 'actual' desktop CPU's, and they shouldnt cost much more for the same generation.

[Kilrah]

54 minutes ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

That Lenovo I linked should come with a Core i5-4570T and 8Gb RAM. If I don't get wrong, that's a 2C/4T CPU.

Sounds like a solid base to me..

Yup that's fine, I have 2 HPs with 4570T and 4590T, one's my media player and one's been my server for 2 years until I upsized. 

One good thing on these T SKU based business machines is low power consumption, great for a small server.

[Selle]

9 hours ago, DeadnightWarrior said:

That Lenovo I linked should come with a Core i5-4570T and 8Gb RAM. If I don't get wrong, that's a 2C/4T CPU.

Sounds like a solid base to me..

If you can find one with a i5-4590T that is a 4c4t, should be similar price. 
 

This type of mini office desktops are fantastic, low power consumption, no noise and a very low failure rate. The Dell, HP and Lenovo models are very similar, just get the one you can get for the best price. I have a HP one with a 4590T and 16GB ram (had some DDR3 lying around, would be totally fine with 8) as my media PC, bought it new in 2015 and see no need to upgrade anytime soon 

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, Selle said:

If you can find one with a i5-4590T that is a 4c4t, should be similar price. 

Performance too, I have both and frankly I can't see much difference. The 90 with 4 real threads has them clocked lower, so in single core loads the 70 is actually better...