Moving up from mini desktop PCs with Intel 4th generation CPUs, the next level is PCs using Intel 6th generation CPUs. For some strange reason, Intel produced a very limited lineup of 5th generation CPUs which were mainly targeted at laptops and notebooks. Thus mini desktop PC manufacturers had basically no choice but to go for Intel 6th generation CPUs after the 4th generation. However buyers are swamped with considerable choices for selecting mini desktop PCs with 6th generation Intel CPUs.
The Intel 6th generation CPUs for mini desktop PCs ranges from Pentium like G4400t or Celeron such as G3900t, to i3s like the i3-6100t to i5s such as i5-6400t, i5-6500t or i5-6600t. After the i5 is the i7-6700t. These CPUs typically uses the DDR4 2133Mhz RAM though they could operate with DDR3 1600Mhz RAM depending on the motherboard.
Similar to the mini desktop PCs with 4th generation CPUs, those for the 6th generation too use 65W power adapters for CPUs with suffix t. The top of the line models from HP, Dell and Lenovo are the HP Elitedesk 800 G2 Mini, the Dell Optiplex 7040 micro and the Lenovo Thinkcentre M900 Tiny. HP also have lower business class models like the HP Prodesk 600 G2 Mini and the more basic HP Prodesk 400 G2 Mini. On the other hand, Dell only have the very basic Optiplex 3040 micro as an alternative. Lenovo, like Dell, have only the basic Thinkcentre M700 Tiny at the lower end.
However unlike mini PCs for the Intel 4th generation CPUs, there is a significant change in the type of CPUs that could go into mini desktop PCs. Thus the HP Elitedesk 800 G2 Mini comes in 2 versions, the 35W version which uses the 65W power adapter, and the 65W version which uses the 90W power adapter. The 35W refers to the total design power (TDP) of the Intel 6th generation CPUs with suffix t. The 65W version could thus use Intel 6th generation CPUs without any suffix. Thus they include CPUs like i5-6500 or i7-6700 which have TDPs of 65W. This is a significant difference as the benchmark for the i7-6700 exceeds 8,000 whereas the i7-6700t is below 7,300. The 65W version of the HP Elitedesk 800 G2 Mini differs from the 35W version in that the top cover of the PC has open slits to help dissipate the extra heat generated as can be seen below.
On the other hand, Dell’s top of the line micro desktop PC, the Optiplex 7040 micro could only accept 35W CPUs like the i5-6500t or i7-6700t. The same goes for Lenovo M900 Tiny.
Almost all the HP, Dell and Lenovo Mini, micro or tiny desktop PCs have slots for M.2 and 2.5in SATA. However there are differences. The Lenovo M700 only accepts M.2 SATA SSD and 2.5in SATA SSD. The Lenovo M900 can use M.2 SATA SSD and M.2 NVME SSD in addition to the 2.5in SATA SSD. The Dell 7040 micro accepts both M.2 NVME SSD and M.2 SATA SSD as well as 2.5in SATA SSD. The Dell 3040 micro only can take in 2.5in SATA SSD. All the HP models can accept M.2 NVME SSD and 2.5in SATA. This information is significant as those desiring for faster speeds will want to opt for mini desktops which can take in M.2 NVME SSD. On the other hand, the cost conscious buyers may want to go for PCs using M.2 SATA SSD or even 2.5in SATA SSD for budget reasons.
This writeup is by beetlek who offers a wide range of mostly used small desktop PCs and occasional laptops for sale in Carousell Singapore. You can see his offering at this link https://www.carousell.sg/u/beetlek/ or search for user beetlek at Carousell Singapore.