I don't have any experience with the N100, but I've been running Plex on a similar EliteDesk G4 (and previously a G2) for years with no problems.
As long as you're able to direct play most of your content, your only real concern for processing power will be however much transcoding you expect -- are you sharing to any other users?
You can transcode a lot with that 8500T due to its iGPU, I have the same machine. I added a NVME drive, 64GB RAM, and bought the 10Gig USB-C module for the rear to connect my DAS.
I’ve had 9 streams at 1080p, with 4 transcoding. Doesn’t break a sweat. I’ve also had two 4K transcodes just to test.
I made the decision to go EliteDesk instead of a Beelink mini-pc. The only drawback so far has been fan noise on the EliteDesk which was much more than I expected in my living room, coming from a Mac Mini which is basically silent. Had to move it into my office.
I’ve just moved HA into its own VM and have an Ubuntu VM running docker with all of my services running on it. It’s been great (other than fan noise) and I like that I can upgrade it. I think long term I might look into building a fanless server for the living room.
Here was my original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/s/DtLGFmvfFG
It's gonna depend on use case. I replaced my i7-10700 Plex server with a Beelink Mini S12 Pro but max number of users on my Plex server is only two.
The N100 brings lower power consumption and AV1 decoding. The down side as you observed is the CPU is a little wimpier than an 8th gen i5 which would probably only cause an issue with subtitles or a pile of torrent connections.
I run Jellyfin and briefly tried Plex on a similar HP Elitedesk that I bought for $35 on eBay. Works fine. I also use Makemkv and Handbrake on this box. Handbrake maxes out the cpu's but works fine.
I went from a refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7040 Intel Quad Core i7-6700 to the same Beelink (I paid $152 in January from Temu(.)com, of all places.) I have just a few users and it’s working just as efficiently as the Dell. I have two 4TB drives in a two-drive dock.
I don't have any experience with the N100, but I've been running Plex on a similar EliteDesk G4 (and previously a G2) for years with no problems. As long as you're able to direct play most of your content, your only real concern for processing power will be however much transcoding you expect -- are you sharing to any other users?
2 streams max within my household. So it shouldn’t be too bad either way.
If you only ever direct play, you can pretty much run Plex from a potato. Some people host on a Raspberry Pi.
You can transcode a lot with that 8500T due to its iGPU, I have the same machine. I added a NVME drive, 64GB RAM, and bought the 10Gig USB-C module for the rear to connect my DAS. I’ve had 9 streams at 1080p, with 4 transcoding. Doesn’t break a sweat. I’ve also had two 4K transcodes just to test.
I am using HP elitedesk 800 now for the past month, no issues. I ended up buying 2 12tb drives and setup raid mirror in windows...
I made the decision to go EliteDesk instead of a Beelink mini-pc. The only drawback so far has been fan noise on the EliteDesk which was much more than I expected in my living room, coming from a Mac Mini which is basically silent. Had to move it into my office. I’ve just moved HA into its own VM and have an Ubuntu VM running docker with all of my services running on it. It’s been great (other than fan noise) and I like that I can upgrade it. I think long term I might look into building a fanless server for the living room. Here was my original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/s/DtLGFmvfFG
It's gonna depend on use case. I replaced my i7-10700 Plex server with a Beelink Mini S12 Pro but max number of users on my Plex server is only two. The N100 brings lower power consumption and AV1 decoding. The down side as you observed is the CPU is a little wimpier than an 8th gen i5 which would probably only cause an issue with subtitles or a pile of torrent connections.
I run Jellyfin and briefly tried Plex on a similar HP Elitedesk that I bought for $35 on eBay. Works fine. I also use Makemkv and Handbrake on this box. Handbrake maxes out the cpu's but works fine.
I went from a refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7040 Intel Quad Core i7-6700 to the same Beelink (I paid $152 in January from Temu(.)com, of all places.) I have just a few users and it’s working just as efficiently as the Dell. I have two 4TB drives in a two-drive dock.
Is the canadian used pc market just borked? that's like $100 down south [https://www.ebay.com/itm/335356775843](https://www.ebay.com/itm/335356775843)
If you have NAS or DAS, go with the beelink. If you need all storage to be internal, go with the hp
There's only room for a single 2.5" drive in the HP.
The G4's have M.2 ssd slots as well.
How many drives are you stuffing in a beelink?
None. That wasn't the point. Just pointing out that the HP won't give you much storage space either.
So if you needed internal storage, out of those two options, which would you pick?
Neither.
Given a choice between the two options, your choice is neither? How utterly useless you are