This was brought on by WR’s PC breaking; without an alternative he’s offline until it’s fixed. While I didn’t buy them specifically to have a backup system, in that situation I just grab one of my Windows tablets, or there’s the mini-PC [NUC] hooked up to the TV. I thought it might be useful to talk about the benefits of having &/or using these energy efficient alternatives in addition to, or instead of a traditional PC.
I’ll start with the mini-PC… Mine is about 4 ½” X 4 ¾” X 2” – some are larger, some smaller – and while they come with a full range of CPUs, I chose a pretty low end Celeron. That made it Much cheaper [I’ve seen them on sale as low as $115], but more importantly, it’s so low powered that heat isn’t a problem. There’s no big heatsink, and not a single fan, which means no dust accumulation, plus zero maintenance & zero noise. It’s not fast, but it’ll play casual games fine, play Blu-ray movies, and I can use Edge to sign into HBO Max, and play whatever streaming movie or show full screen without a problem. [HBO discontinued their old apps, won’t put their new HBO Max app on Roku or Fire TV, and offers HBO Max exclusive content.] Mine came as a so-called bare bones kit, where I had to add RAM and a SSD, but many, including that one for $115, come completely assembled; it uses cheaper eMMC rather than a faster SSD for storage. Many people mount these on the back of a TV or monitor, so they effectively take up zero space.
I bought my 1st Windows tablet before Win10 was available, based on the false promises that were being made at the time about how Win10 would improve over Win8.1 on tablets. With a 7” screen, it’s totally useless as any sort of alternative to my Android tablet. A 7” screen might work if it can use a pen, but without one [IMHO] forget the touchscreen and use a mouse. [The only time I use the touchscreen is for the PIN to sign into Win10.] It doesn’t have much storage – Windows uses MUCH more than Android – but that can *mostly* be made up for by inserting and using a micro SD card. As a PC it’s pretty much equivalent to the mini PC, was much cheaper, and can be used stand alone, or connected to a regular or Bluetooth keyboard & mouse, and via HDMI, a monitor or TV. I bought my 2nd, 10” Windows tablet because it came with and uses a pen – it’s cool to be able to draw &/or paint on screen. The 10” screen is also easier on the eyes for stuff like web browsing.
While all three can work as a spare or backup PC, they’re much greener, not to mention maintenance free alternatives when you don’t need a power hungry PC for what you’re doing. I’d much rather do my daily web browsing sitting at the dining room table with a cup of coffee or tea using one of the tablets. Likewise I can use my regular PC in place of the mini PC, but haven’t in more than a year because the mini PC is just so much more energy efficient.
