I'm using a M720q with an Intel i5-8400T for the same purpose and I'm happy with it.
this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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I was recently reading a lot about these because I wanted to use three Lenovo M920x for my homelab as virtualization hosts with Proxmox.
The really cool thing about them is their low power usage, that you can easily buy them used/refurbished and that you can fit a small PCIe expansion card into them.
I didn't use them in the end because sadly 22110 M.2 SSDs don't fit and I wanted to use enterprise SSDs for Ceph.
However, your use case seems simpler, so I'd think a M720q or maybe even M710q (without PCIe slot) would do, for less money than the M9xx series (which support vPro).
There's a really nice forum thread on ServeTheHome with loads of information about these units.
It's pretty meek on specs. It depends on how much you'd be paying for it. If it was free, I'd say go for it. If it's $100, you're halfway to a much more capable machine. The onboard graphics on this are going to be abysmal, even for video.
If it was free, I’d say go for it. If it’s $100, you’re halfway to a much more capable machine
This very line of reasoning is why I cannot build cheap desktops. I'm always thinking 'well you know, if you add another $100 you could have all of this'
Yeah, and also now, the value of $100 vs $200 in a minipc is vast. That's a fairly new thing.
What kind of components would you recommend starting with for a $200 build? Any links would be appreciated
Well you won't get far building something from scratch for $200. I think everybody was referring to MiniPCs.
Yeah lol I spent the morning on PC parts picker/Amazon trying to find how tf I could even get a case, mobo, and cpu for under $200. Question still stands, what kind of miniPC do you recommend?
Check out the Minisforum Refurb store page. They sell out what they put up there pretty quickly, so you have to stay on top of it, but there are some great deals there, and they carry a 1 year warranty. Been buying from them for years now, and they've always had a great product, and quick turn around.
Oh that's fantastic! Thanks
My advice would be to go for a 7th gen or upwards if your going intel as the processers igpu is what I would consider your minimum, secondly massgrave.dev should sort out your activation/licensing issues and also look into sunshine/moonlight for game streaming rather than steam link potentially
The M920q is 8th gen
Appreciated. It may be worth it to just build a SFF after all. Never heard of massgrave before. QRD?
Open source Windows activation scripts
I'm not familiar with QRD?
Quick run down?
Yes please. What is QRD? Don't need much details, just a quick intro.
Can I please query the win10/11 because it's a shared console? What about it being a) shared or b) a console makes win 10/11 a requirement?
A consistent console-ish experience with pc-like access to games is more a case for Bazzite or steamos than a case for windows.
If it replaced my current media player (PS5), then it would be used about 95% for streaming media and 5% playing games, so I consider it more of a Windows HTPC than a gaming console replacement.
I would just be 1/3rd of the people using the console and don't believe anyone would touch it if it wasn't an OS that the other users are comfortable with.
Tell them to suck it up and deal with it. ¯\(°_o)/¯