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Populus

macrumors 604
Original poster
Aug 24, 2012
6,964
9,828
Spain, Europe
Okay, I’m a Mac mini user and I’m probably going to buy a new Mac mini in the near future

However, in order to perform a very specific firmware update, I need a Windows machine. So I’m getting a decent Twin Lake N150 quad core mini PC with
12GB of DDR5 and a copy of Windows 11 Pro pre-installed.

My question is, once I perform the firmware update, I could return it or keep it.

In order to convince me of keeping it, I’d like you to give ideas of software and use-cases where a cheap Windows x86 mini PC can be handy in the near future. My future M5 or M6 Mac mini is going to be much much more powerful than this miniPC, that’s why, in order to keep it, I need to know what interesting software is Windows only.
 
My question is, once I perform the firmware update, I could return it or keep it.
There's the ethical question of buying a product that you have no desire to keep, but are only looking to "rent" it for free (or near free).

However, in order to perform a very specific firmware update,
You cannot do that in a virtualized environment?

In order to convince me of keeping it
I don't think anyone can convince you to keep or return a product, its your money, your decision.

I need to know what interesting software is Windows only.
Some really interesting software that's windows only - AutoCad, Solidworks, WindowsBlinds, Start11 and Fences (all from Object Desktop). Rufus, and there's also the very popular Notepad++ to wrap up what comes to mind.

For the most part, at this point of PCs and Mac platform maturation, what you can do on one platform, you generally can do on the other. Game playing is largely the biggest difference, though with buying a mini-pc, its not really a machine capable of playing AAA games, however panther lake may be changing that. If I were buying a mini pc/laptop, I'd be looking to Panther lake.

My future M5 or M6 Mac mini is going to be much much more powerful than this miniPC
Consider when a M5 Mini will come out - with the M4 Mini only a year old, and the average time span between releases is 720 days, its quite probably you have another year waiting and 2+ years for an M6 if you want to hold out that long.
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Damn! I didn’t know Panther Lake was a thing. I thought Twin lake was the latest and greatest!

I’ll dig into that upcoming generation, and if the performance increase is significant, then I’ll have another reason to return this and wait for those! As long as the price range is expected to be the same ($150-$180).

I’ll keep thinking about the software you mentioned and see if I could benefit from having a secondary system running Windows. Thank you.
 
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