When is it time to upgrade?

[Skeithex]

they do, but its hard to get at them and their sizes are different so you can't use old parts you have laying about.

[froggyboy604]

This is true, some old pc parts like video cards, ram, cpu, and ssds can be bigger in size, so they won't fit on smaller desktops.

[Skeithex]

The small form factor does seem to have its issues, the mini desktops we use at work tend to freeze up often.

[froggyboy604]

I think mini desktops are more likely to overheat which may make them freeze more often.

The power supply and motherboard may also be more cheaply made compared to a regular size power supply and motherboard which is found on a desktop tower PC.

A lot of mini desktops cost $100 to $300, so they may use cheaper lower quality RAM, CPU, motherboard, power supply, and SSD to keep the price under $300.

[Skeithex]

They are pretty cheap, though tend to cause headaches from all the freezing up it does.

[froggyboy604]

I feel more Windows tablets from tablet pc makers may freeze less often than cheap mini PC because companies like Acer don't want to ruin their tablet brand reputation by releasing tablets that breaks and freezes after a few months of use. Tablets may also have a larger internal heatsink and cooling fan than cheap mini PC.

The mini PC market may not have a lot of buyers, so mostly cheap mini PC exist because most bigger PC makers now mostly make tablets, smartphones, laptops, and tower PC which are usually more reliable.

[Skeithex]

There are some who do enjoy the small size, since their monitor(s) take up most of the room on the desktop. Better to have a small one then a hulking all in one pc.