Summary

• Mini PCs offer great performance like a desktop, but laptops are still more portable and convenient for travel.
• Mini PCs may be cheaper upfront, but require extra peripherals, raising the total cost compared to laptops with similar specs.
• Laptops are better for on-the-go work, while mini PCs are ideal if you have a set desk at home and office.

Mini PCs are becoming ever more popular, but I think most would agree, they are yet to completely replace laptops and probably never will. While mini PCs offer some amazing performance, similar to a desktop PC in a much smaller package, laptops are still the king when it comes to being portable. While a mini PC is portable, it requires extra accessories to be usable which can make it bulky and not as easy to carry around with you.

While portability is a big factor to consider, it is not the only one. You may have a desk at both your home and office, so you will only need to carry the mini PC with you and not everything else. In turn, this may raise the total cost of a mini PC as you would need two sets of peripherals and two monitors. A mini PC may be a bit cheaper, but once you add peripherals and a monitor to the equation, a laptop may be more viable for you.

Price

Is the cost justifiable?

When it comes to looking at a mini PC or a laptop with similar specifications, you will likely notice the mini PC is cheaper in a lot of cases. This is because it is just the PC, you will need your peripherals and some sort of screen to make use of it. Of course, you can hook them up to a television or an existing screen and grab a cheap set of peripherals or some you may already have lying around. A fairly good mini PC with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a decent Intel or AMD CPU can be had for around $200, making it a very good option, especially if you already have a monitor and peripherals. On the other hand, they can get rather pricey, as we have recently seen with our Minisforum AtomMan X7 Ti Review.

As mentioned, a similar spec laptop may be a bit more expensive and rightly so. With a laptop, you are getting the PC with a screen and peripherals all rolled into one, so it is only natural that it is going to cost more. A laptop with similar specs to a $200 mini PC can cost upwards of $400, depending on the exact model you purchase. While this may not seem like a massive difference, this could be enough to buy the additional accessories needed to make a complete setup with a mini PC.

Portability

Take them with you wherever you go

If you travel a lot and have to take your device with you, a laptop may seem like the easier option. You can stick it in your bag, carry it around and when you get to your destination, or even while traveling, you can just open it up and do some work with ease, no need to mess about connecting to a screen and peripherals just to use it. However, there is always the added risk of breaking the screen while traveling.

With a mini PC, if it is going to come down to your own circumstances. If you have a desk at your home and office and are just carrying the mini PC with you, then it will likely be much more portable. Though, if you need to bring a screen, even a portable monitor and peripherals with you, it gets bulky kind of quickly. You then also run into the same issue as the laptop about having to worry about not breaking the screen. The other downside is that a mini PC is not as easy to use while on the go and is best used when you can get it set up on a desk or somewhere with a bit more space.

Performance

Gaming, rendering and day to day tasks

These days, mini PCs and laptops are very close in performance. While a laptop may have more issues with thermal throttling in some cases, which can equate to reducing performance, machines with similar specs should perform equally. If budget is of no concern, a laptop in 2024 may be able to offer the better performance, at least when gaming or doing GPU intensive tasks.

Laptops can come with some pretty powerful dedicated graphics cards these days, something we are yet to really see on mini PCs. So, if you are primarily looking to play games or do rendering work that requires a GPU, it may be worth looking into a laptop. Mini PCs can still play games and render, but their lack of a dedicated GPU may hold them back in this regard. If you need the ultimate GPU performance, a lot of mini PCs and laptops can make use of an external GPU these days.

Screen resolution is going to be something worth considering as well. If you use your laptop or mini PC for multiple tasks, you may want to consider the resolution and refresh rate of the screen you are using. With a mini PC, you could have a standard 4K 60Hz screen at work and then, when you come home, you could have a Quad HD 144Hz monitor to enjoy some games on. With a laptop, you will mostly be utilizing the screen it comes with, so it will be restricted in this area. Of course, you can buy another monitor to pair with your laptop, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the inbuilt screen a lot of the time.

Can you upgrade them?

Adding extra RAM and storage

Most laptops and mini PCs can be upgraded in some way. While you may only be able to upgrade the RAM or storage, these are going to be two of the biggest upgrades you can make. Upgrading the RAM or storage is a great way to get a little bit of extra performance out of your laptop or mini PC and can also add some more time to its longevity.

While a lot of mini PCs and laptops can be upgraded, not all of them can. Also, in terms of how easy it is, some laptops can be quite complicated to get to the storage and RAM, whereas mini PCs are generally a bit easier to access these components.

Which one is right for you?

There are many similarities between the two, but they both have their own individual uses. If you are on the go a lot and don't have a set place to use your device, a laptop is likely going to be the better option. A laptop can be set up and used almost anywhere, quite easily, in fact, too. Laptops can also be used off their batteries, so you don't always even require a power source.

A mini PC can be great if you have a desk to use it on. If you have a job where you spend a couple of days in the office and a couple of days at home, a mini PC can be a great addition to your productivity. Best of all, if you have a desk at home and the office and only have to carry around the mini PC, it is quite small in most cases, and you won't have to worry about breaking the screen as it doesn't have one.

Laptops have been the norm for quite some time, but mini PCs are getting more popular. While mini PCs haven't quite taken the throne from laptops, they are still worthwhile and becoming more preferred by many.