Guide · Used tiny PCs
Best used tiny PCs for a home lab in 2026
By Tiny · how I pick
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The best value in this hobby is used: three- and four-year-old office mini PCs coming off company leases. They're tiny desktops built to run all day in an office, and they often sell for less than a new N100 mini PC. In return you get more cores, more room for RAM, and Intel Quick Sync for streaming video.
Three families are worth buying:
- Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny
- Dell OptiPlex Micro
- HP EliteDesk / ProDesk Mini
They're more alike than different, so here's how to choose between them.
Words you'll see in this guide
- Off-lease: business computers returned after a few years and resold used, usually cheaply.
- Intel Quick Sync: a video engine built into many Intel chips that converts video fast and with little power.
- TDP: roughly how much power and heat a processor is designed for. Lower means cooler and quieter.
- NIC: a network card, the part that plugs into your network.
- Thermal throttling: a chip slowing itself down when it gets too hot.
- NVMe SSD: a small, fast storage drive that plugs straight into the motherboard. Much quicker than a hard drive or SD card.
What to look for, whatever the brand
- An 8th-generation Intel chip or newer. The i5-8500T is the classic sweet spot: six cores, a 35 W TDP, Quick Sync, and an idle draw of about 8 to 15 W.
- Two RAM slots. These take up to 64 GB across two slots, which is more room than most new mini PCs give you.
- An NVMe slot plus a 2.5" bay, so you can keep the operating system and your data on separate drives.
- A "T" at the end of the processor name, like 8500T. That's the low-power version, which keeps the box quiet and cool when it runs all day.
My top 3 picks
Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q / M920q Tiny (i5-8500T)
The ThinkCentre M920q is often the cheapest of the three. It idles at about 8 to 12 W, the most efficient in this group, and it's known for being easy to open and work on.
It also has an optional PCIe riser slot that lets you add a second network card or an NVMe card. That's useful if you want to turn it into a router or firewall. This is my default pick.
Check price on AmazonHP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini (i5-8500T)
The HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini often costs 10 to 20 percent less than the equivalent Dell. HP tends to use bigger heat pipes and better heatsink contact, so these hold their speed better under long, heavy loads. Same six-core i5, same Quick Sync, same 64 GB limit.
Pick this one if your box will be busy for long stretches rather than sitting idle.
Check price on AmazonDell OptiPlex 7060 Micro (i5-8500T)
Dell keeps its fans slow, so the OptiPlex 7060 Micro is the quietest of the three at idle. That's nice if the box lives in a bedroom or living room. Reliability and support documents are excellent.
Trade-off: the same quiet tuning means it can slow down from heat a little sooner under long, heavy loads. For a box that's mostly idle, that never comes up.
Check price on AmazonAlso worth considering
The same three families from other years, depending on your budget and how fast you need it to be.
-
A step newer: M70q or OptiPlex 7080 (i5-10500T)Noticeably faster at single tasks, with faster memory. Worth it if the box will do real work instead of mostly idling. ThinkCentre M70qCheck price on Amazon
-
Cheapest option: ThinkCentre M710q (i5-7500T)The cheapest sensible start. Four cores and Quick Sync are plenty for Pi-hole, Tailscale, and a few containers. ThinkCentre M710qCheck price on Amazon
Side by side
| Pick | Idle draw | Strength | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ThinkCentre M920q | About 8 to 12 W | Cheapest, has the PCIe riser slot | Nothing major |
| HP EliteDesk 800 G4 | About 10 to 15 W | Holds its speed best under load | Slightly pricier |
| Dell OptiPlex 7060 | About 10 to 15 W | Quietest | Slows from heat a bit sooner |
- Make sure the processor name ends in "T."
- Check that RAM and an SSD are included. Some listings ship without them.
- Check the seller's return window.
- On day one: replace the CMOS battery, check the SSD's wear level, and think about replacing the thermal paste.
What I'd buy
Get a Lenovo ThinkCentre M920q, unless you specifically want HP's better cooling or Dell's quieter fans. All three are excellent, and the differences are small. Whichever you pick, you get a six-core machine with Quick Sync and room for 64 GB of RAM for very little money.
Planning to run virtual machines? Read Docker vs Proxmox before you install anything.
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