The best Raspberry Pi distros have long been a favorite among hobbyists and DIY enthusiasts, but at $120 for the latest Raspberry Pi 5 16GB model, running one isn’t necessarily the value proposition it once was.
But, for just little bit more, you can buy a full-fledged AMD Ryzen-powered mini PC that delivers formidable performance without breaking the bank.
I’ve found three mini PCs on Amazon under $180, that may be a little bigger, but also give you more for your money.
Mini PC performance
The Beelink GTR5 is priced below $180 (though temporarily out of stock at press time, it’s worth a wishlist), the GenMachine Mini PC costs $178.99 (with a 5% discount at time of writing), and the BOSGAME E2 Mini PC is listed at $239.99, but a $60 coupon brings it down to $179.99.
These aren’t weak, low-power machines. They’re all powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 3550H, a 4-core, 8-thread processor with a 3.7GHz max turbo clock, making them far superior to Intel’s entry-level N-series chips.
The Beelink GTR5 includes a 500GB SATA SSD, while the GenMachine and BOSGAME E2 come with NVMe SSDs in the region of 500GB of storage that offer uncompromised data transfer speeds.
All of these products ship with 16GB of DDR4 RAM and fast SATA SSD storage, with an M.2 NVMe expansion slot for additional storage.
For bells and whistles, the GTR5’s Radeon Vega 8 GPU handles 4K video playback and multi-monitor support is standard, thanks to HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C output. The GTR5 also goes a step further with a fingerprint reader for secure logins and a dual-fan cooling system to keep temperatures in check.
The BOSGAME E2 and GenMachine, meanwhile, focus on no-frills computing, coming with a Radeon 770M or simply integrated graphics, respectively. These could leave you wanting more, but if you’re after a compact, capable workstation on a budget comparable to the most expensive Pi 5, then I don’t think you’ll do much better.