Mini-PC

Not everybody needs powerful computers – mini PCs can be great for work, media centers, or some modest gaming. Minisforum is now unveiling the EliteMini H31G, a small PC with a dedicated GPU that should let it run some more heavy-duty games.

Small form factor desktop computers are great if you're short on space, but you don't necessarily need to sacrifice performance. Such is the case with Lenovo's smallest ThinkCentre PC, which has been equipped with AMD Ryzen PRO processing.

Almost a year after the Pi 4 went on sale, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has doubled the maximum memory option to 8 GB, while also renaming the default operating system and releasing a 64-bit beta OS image.

Mini computers are capable, quiet, and often inexpensive ways to bring a full-size desktop computing experience to small spaces. Purism has just announced the Librem Mini, a small PC for the home office or media server for digital entertainment.

The latest version Raspberry Pi mini computer is now over a year old, so an update is long overdue. The Raspberry Pi foundation has just announced the next generation Pi, which represents a significant upgrade and now offers makers the choice of 1, 2 and 4 GB flavors of memory.​

​Israel's CompuLab has launched the third generation of its fanless, rugged Airtop mini-PC, with more memory capacity, more connectivity options and Intel's 9th gen Core CPU running the show.​

Revealed at the Embedded World expo in Nuremberg, Germany, last week, the BeagleBone AI has been developed to fill the gap between small single board computers and bigger, more powerful industrial computers.

​Though many alternatives are available, the Raspberry Pi computer boards are probably the most well known and widely used in the maker community. Hardkernel recognizes that there's a strong market for more powerful, more capable and more expensive boards. The Odroid N2 ticks all of those boxes.​

The latest ProArt Series mini computer from Asus has been developed for content creators, packing lots of power into a shapely skin that turns its back on the sharp-angled boxy design that's common in small form factor computers.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation says that a version 3 upgrade to its A+ cut-down computer board first introduced in 2014 has been one of its most frequent requests from makers. With the Pi 3 Model B+ now shipping, the Foundation has filled that gap with the all-new Pi 3 Model A+.​

​When you think of home-brewed computer projects, Raspberry Pi or Arduino may be the first maker boards to spring to mind. But Hardkernel has been selling ARM-based single board computers for a good while and has now revealed the Odroid H2, its first built on Intel's x86 architecture.​

​China's Libre Computer has hit Kickstarter for an alternative to the Raspberry Pi Zero called La Frite. Essentially a smaller version of the company's Le Potato computer board, the 2.5 x 2.2 inch (6.4 x 5.5 cm) development board is aimed squarely at makers on a tight budget.​