New mini PCs got expensive in 2026, but the used one-litre office PCs that companies retire by the pallet did not. A Lenovo ThinkCentre M920q with a six-core i5-8500T, 16 GB and an NVMe drive sold renewed on Amazon for about $210 to $240 on October 20, about what a 32 GB DDR4 kit cost on its own that day.
Lenovo Tiny, Dell Micro and HP Mini boxes look alike, but you will find they are not. They differ in RAM limits, drive bays, the PCIe riser only Lenovo has, and BIOS passwords that can lock you out of a cheap unit. We checked each spec against Lenovo, Dell and HP spec documents and each listing on October 20, 2026, and you get power figures from ServeTheHome and owners, since our lab meter was offline.
| Model | CPU generation | RAM (official) | Drives | Expansion | Idle (STH, 120 V) | Renewed price, Oct 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo M920q | 8th/9th gen T | 32 GB (64 GB works) | 1 NVMe + 2.5″ | PCIe x8 riser slot | 12 to 15 W | $210 to $240 |
| Lenovo M90q Gen 1 | 10th gen | 64 GB | 2 NVMe + 2.5″ (riser uses the 2.5″ space) | PCIe x8 riser slot | about 11 W | $300 to $350 |
| HP EliteDesk 800 G6 Mini | 10th gen | 64 GB | 2 NVMe + 2.5″ | Flex IO, 2.5GbE option | 11 to 12 W | $289 to $293 |
| HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini | 8th gen | 32 GB | 2 NVMe + 2.5″ | Flex IO v1 | 11 to 12 W | $162 to $170 (8 GB) |
| Dell OptiPlex 7070 Micro | 9th gen | 32 GB | 1 NVMe + 2.5″ | Rear port module only | just over 13 W | $237 to $252 |
| Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro | 10th gen | 64 GB | 2 NVMe slots + 2.5″ bay | Slot on dGPU boards only | about 11 W | about $296 |
Every pick is Amazon Renewed from a third-party refurbisher, so check the live price before you order. For a full parts list around one of these boxes, see our homelab starter kit.
Step 1: Pick the generation before the brand
Settle the CPU generation first, because it decides more about a used tiny PC than the logo on the lid. Every box here uses 35 W T-series chips in the common configurations, and those idle within a few watts of each other. Where they differ is memory, media decoding and remote management:
- 8th and 9th gen: 32 GB official on these picks, no AV1 decode.
- 10th gen: 64 GB official, usually two NVMe slots.
- 11th gen: AV1 decode, but few listings at a sane price.
- Q-series chipsets with an i5 or i7 vPro CPU: Intel AMT remote console.
In model terms, the M720q, M920q, 800 G4 and 7070 are 8th or 9th gen, and the M90q Gen 1, 800 G6 and 7080 are 10th gen. The M90q Gen 2 and OptiPlex 7090 can carry 11th gen chips with UHD 730 or 750 graphics. You get HEVC 10-bit Quick Sync on all of them, and AMT gives you a remote console without a KVM. The M720q and the Dell 3070 Micro use non-vPro chipsets, so they have no AMT.
For a Proxmox node, 8th gen is still plenty. Six cores and 16 to 32 GB run a dozen containers and a few VMs, and you pay the least for it. Move to 10th gen when you need 64 GB or two NVMe drives. Pick 11th gen only if your media server needs AV1 decode, which Jellyfin lists as an 11th gen and newer feature. For Plex or Jellyfin boxes in particular, our media server mini PC guide goes deeper.
Step 2: Buy the Lenovo M920q for most first nodes
Start with the M920q, because it is the cheapest box here with a real PCIe slot. That slot is what lets you add a 2.5GbE or 10GbE card later, and neither Dell nor HP offers anything like it on their standard 35 W boards.
The Lenovo PSREF sheet lists a Q370 chipset with vPro and AMT 12, an Intel I219-LM NIC, one M.2 NVMe slot and a 2.5-inch bay. The PCIe 3.0 x8 slot needs a riser, and the riser and the 2.5-inch drive share the same space, so you get one or the other. Officially the limit is 32 GB, but ServeTheHome ran 64 GB, and measured 12 to 15 W idle.
Our pick had 174 reviews on October 20, and STG USA renews it. Ask the seller which power brick ships with it before you order. ServeTheHome saw the M920q throttle on a 65 W adapter and recommends 90 W. Lenovo requires its 135 W adapter for the factory I350-T4 card option.
Lenovo M720q with 32 GB installed
The M720q is the same chassis with a B360 chipset, so it has no vPro and uses an I219-V NIC. It still has the riser slot. At about $363 this listing costs more, but it ships with 32 GB already installed, and a 32 GB DDR4 kit cost about $190 to $220 on its own that day. ServeTheHome measured 11 to 14 W idle on a dual-core unit, and owners running tuned Proxmox installs report 4 to 6 W.
Lenovo M90q Gen 1 for 10th gen and two NVMe drives
The M90q Gen 1 keeps the riser slot and adds a second M.2 slot, with 64 GB official on the Lenovo PSREF sheet. It takes up to three drives, but the PCIe card uses the space of the 2.5-inch bay, so with a riser card you get two NVMe drives. ServeTheHome measured about 11 W idle even with a ten-core i9. It uses a different riser from the M920q, so buy the matching part. Stock was down to one unit on this listing, so check that it is still there.
Step 3: Choose the HP EliteDesk 800 G6 Mini for 2.5GbE
Pick the 800 G6 Mini if you want 2.5GbE without a riser or a USB adapter. HP’s 800 G6 Mini QuickSpecs list an Intel I225-LM 2.5 Gigabit option for Flex Port 1, a module that replaces a rear port, and no other box here offers that.
It also takes two M.2 drives and a 2.5-inch drive, and 64 GB of RAM, and ServeTheHome measured 11 to 12 W idle on the 35 W model. The weak point is the module itself. It sells as an HP spare part, M74416-001, with no Amazon listing, so you buy it separately on the used market. ServeTheHome tested that module in an 805 G6, and resellers list it for the 800 G6. Version 2 modules do not fit the older G4 and G5, so make sure you buy a G6. HP marks the 2.5GbE port non-vPro, so AMT stays on the onboard I219-LM.
HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini for the lowest price
At about $162 to $170 with 8 GB, the 800 G4 is the cheapest way into a six-core node, and it holds three SSDs, two M.2 and one 2.5-inch, which is rare at this size. The HP service guide rates it for 32 GB. Budget for more RAM, because 8 GB will not hold much beyond a few containers. ServeTheHome measured 11 to 12 W idle and would rather use a 90 W adapter than the 65 W one.
If you want 10th gen HP for less, the ProDesk 600 G6 Mini was about $260 with 16 GB. It has the same drive layout and 64 GB limit, but its Flex Port list has no 2.5GbE option, so it is a good compute node and a poor network node.
Step 4: Choose a Dell OptiPlex Micro for a tidy cluster
Dell Micro boxes have what ServeTheHome calls an excellent mechanical design, but the least expansion of the three. The standard 35 W boards have no user PCIe slot, so pick Dell for compute nodes where the onboard gigabit port is enough.
Inside the 7070 Micro you get an i5-9500T, an Intel I219-LM NIC, one NVMe slot and a 2.5-inch bay. The Dell spec guide caps it at 32 GB, 16 GB per slot. ServeTheHome measured just over 13 W idle, and got a boot error with a 65 W adapter, so make sure a 90 W brick comes in the box. Avoid the cheaper 3070 Micro if you care about the network, because it uses a Realtek RTL8111HSD NIC instead of Intel.
Dell OptiPlex 7080 Micro for 64 GB and two NVMe drives
The 7080 Micro moves to 10th gen and 64 GB, with two M.2 slots and a 2.5-inch bay in the Dell spec guide. Its supported storage list covers one 2.5-inch drive, one or two M.2 drives, or a 2.5-inch drive with Optane, and never all three bays at once. Dell also lists a half-height PCIe x8 slot, but only on the discrete graphics system board, which most renewed units do not have. ServeTheHome measured about 11 W idle. Only two to four units were left on this listing.
Step 5: Budget for the brick, the riser and the network card
Plan for more than the listing price if you will add a network card. These are the parts people forget, with what they cost on October 20:
- Tiny5 riser for the M720q and M920q: about $23 (with back plate).
- Tiny6 riser for the M90q: about $42 (listing).
- Intel I226-V 2.5GbE card: about $17 (low profile).
- 135 W Lenovo-tip adapter: about $38 (listing).
- 32 GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM kit: about $220 (PNY).
- 2 TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe drive: about $216 (Silicon Power).
Both risers are third-party replicas of the Lenovo parts, so you should check the bracket fits before you close the case. Lenovo requires the 135 W adapter for its own I350-T4 card option, and owners use 135 W for power-hungry cards and GPUs. The adapter listing names the P330 Tiny and M90q, and the M920q uses the same Lenovo slim tip, but check the tip before you order. Every 8th to 10th gen box here runs NVMe at PCIe 3.0, so you gain nothing from a Gen4 drive. At these RAM prices, a unit that already ships with 16 or 32 GB is worth paying extra for.
Watch the idle power when you add a card. One owner on the STH forums saw an M920q go from 5 to 7 W to 7 to 9 W after adding a 2.5GbE card, because the card stopped the CPU from reaching deep sleep states. Another owner measured an M920 with an Intel X710-DA2 10GbE card, 32 GB, a 1 TB NVMe drive and a Coral USB accelerator at 37 W idle, while the same owner’s 800 G4 Minis idled at 8 W each. If you still need 10GbE, our 10GbE NIC guide for Proxmox compares the cards, and a mini PC with 10GbE built in can be cheaper to run.
Step 6: Check a used unit before the return window closes
Most Amazon Renewed items come with a 90-day return window, so test the box in the first week, not the last. Our starter kit guide has a full first-boot checklist with smartctl. These are the checks specific to used business PCs:
- No supervisor password in the BIOS.
- The CPU matches the listing, T or non-T.
- The power brick is 90 W or more.
- No Absolute agent or leftover AMT setup.
- Wi-Fi is an internal card or a USB dongle.
Several renewed titles mix T-series and non-T names for the same box, so read the CPU in the BIOS, not the listing. Absolute, also sold as Computrace, shows up in the BIOS security menu. Many listings ship a USB Wi-Fi dongle instead of an internal card, which does not matter for a wired node.
Why does the password matter so much? Because the easy way out depends on the vendor and the model. Dell and the Lenovo M90q Gen 2 guide tell you to contact support, and Dell asks for proof of ownership. The HP jumper clears it unless the previous owner turned on stringent security. If you find a password, return the unit.
Fix the problems used tiny PCs arrive with
These are the problems owners and reviewers report most often with these boxes, and the fix for each. Most of them show up in the first boot, which is another reason to test early.
The BIOS asks for a supervisor password you do not have
Return the box. The Lenovo P330 Tiny documentation says the CMOS jumper erases forgotten passwords, but M920q owners report the jumper failing to clear a supervisor password, with fixes that involve reflashing the BIOS chip. Dell documents no password jumper on the 7070 and 7080 Micro and says to contact support. On HP, removing the PSWD jumper and booting once works, unless stringent security is set, per the HP service guide.
The box throttles or will not boot under load
Check the power brick first. ServeTheHome saw the M920q throttle on 65 W and the 7070 Micro throw a boot error with a 65 W adapter. A 65 W CPU in a 7060 Micro needed a 130 W brick just to boot. Use a 90 W adapter for 35 W CPUs, and 135 W on a Lenovo with a power-hungry card.
Idle power rose after you added a network card
Your new card is keeping the CPU out of its deep sleep states. Check with powertop which package C-states the CPU reaches, then decide whether the card earns its watts. If the cost is too high, move the fast link to one node with the card and keep the rest on onboard gigabit.
The listing said i5-8500T but the box has an i5-8500
Check the CPU in the BIOS or with lscpu as soon as the box arrives. Several renewed titles mix T-series and 65 W parts, and a 65 W chip in a one-litre box idles higher and needs a bigger brick. ServeTheHome measured a 7060 Micro with a 65 W i5-8500 at just over 18 W idle, against 11 to 15 W for the 35 W boxes above, so return a mismatch inside the window.
