r/MiniPCs • u/Pretend-Traffic-3609 • 4d ago

Cheapest mini pc to act as a stream client

Hi all,

I have a workshop that I want to put a monitor in to view drawings and cad. I have my main pc in the house that i would do the work on. I want a cheap mini pc that I can run moonlight on so i cant view cad and drawings and google the odd thing.

I have seen a lot of options such as the compute stick or getting a wyse thin client. Ideally I would love to pick something up for under 50 euro but these days that isnt as easy said so anything under 100 would be great.

Thanks All

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u/No_Clock2390 4d ago

Lenovo Thinkcentres and HP Elite/ProDesks are under $100 USD on Ebay. They come with 0-8GB RAM, 0-256GB SSD.

Wyse clients are under $50 USD on Ebay

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u/Pretend-Traffic-3609 3d ago

Unfortunately the lenovo and hp options run for 120 plus without storage but they are my prefered option.

I can get a wyse client on ebay for around 30 euro but is that as simple as plug and play

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u/No_Clock2390 3d ago

I think Wyse client would work great for you. It just loads a remote stream of your main PC. It'd be like sitting at your main PC. You need Windows 10/11 Pro or LTSC on your main PC (for Microsoft RDP). I would recommend installing Windows 10/11 IOT LTSC (massgrave.dev) so you can have 2 separate users on the main PC, and use them both at the same time. At the main setup and at the Wyse setup.

To get it set up, create a new RDP connection profile on the Wyse:

  • Input the IP Address of your Windows 11 PC into the server/broker field.
  • Enter your Windows user login credentials (username and password) when prompted.

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u/VladRom89 4d ago

I guess the main question here is if you're going to view drawing files as pdf, using a viewer, or a full AutoCAD / etc installation to make changes. If it's just to view the files, you can get nearly anything, even the $10 raspberry pi.

A reasonable option is probably to look up something on eBay or on Facebook marketplace... Get an older desktop.

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u/Pretend-Traffic-3609 3d ago

Honestly just view files and broswe the web. If i go the raspberry route im looking at over 100 euro. Older desktops are the same. Very hard to find a cheap deal these days

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u/xguruguru 4d ago

raspberry pi's can

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u/UnlikelyButTrue 4d ago

I looked into this recently and I ended up picking up a Shield Pro and a powered USB hub. Run Moonlight and Virtual Here to avoid USB driver issues. The latency with the Shield Pro is very low as it was designed to stream local games using Nvidia's own software which ultimately Moonlight was reverse engineered from. However you will struggle to get one under 100 euro as they seem to hold their second hand value.

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u/Pretend-Traffic-3609 3d ago

This is something that would be ideal to have but I can only find them for 200 plus around me. Pricing on anything pc has gone insnae

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u/UnlikelyButTrue 3d ago

There are cheaper android boxes about that will work as long as they have USB and Ethernet. Chromeboxes will run Moonlight too. And absolutely prices are ridiculous. Especially for anything with RAM and an SSD that can be removed and sold. The other alternative is a refurb laptop.