alt Hacker News> even a base brand new M4 Mac Mini
A base Mac Mini (256GB/16GB) would cost me €720 while a Minisforum MS-R1 (1TB/32GB) would cost me €559 (minus a 25 euro discount for signing up to their newsletter if you accept that practice).
Price to performance the Apple solution may be better, but the prices aren't similar at all.
Upgrading the Mac to also feature 1TB of storage and 32GB of RAM, the price rises by a whopping €1000 to €1719.
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Yes, I was basing my estimate more on the US price of $600, which is basically the same, if you buy both at MSRP. (However, that means the Mac does not have 10G)
I did not realize the EU versions were that much more expensive.
I do agree about the RAM/storage prices though. It's only worth it if you want the raw power, where the Mac handily beats this.
The MacMini will still be running in 5-7 years, reliably, and still have updates from Apple on the macOS side. It will still be running in 10+ years too should you keep it that long.
MinisForum makes disposable hardware. We used to use them for TV computers at work, and while they are cheap, they are fidgity with hardware and drivers, come with hacked-Windows Enterprise installed by default, and generally last for about 2 years before they hit the recycle pile.
559 vs 720? That's literally like a few coffees. I went to Amsterdam (assuming you're dutch) and I paid 5 euro for a coffee.
Go for the Mac Mini, the hardware incl thermal is also built exceptionally well. That's why you still have 20 year old Mac Minis still running as home servers etc.
Mac M4 have also the problem that you can't install whatever distro you want too, even if it is cheap. When they'll get out of support, there's no upgrade available anymore