My (ancient) PC Tower of over 13 years had been getting slower/flakier for more than a year, and finally starting getting stuck during the boot.
Since it was too old to economically repair, I started looked for a replacement.

I then discovered the Mini Windows PCs (somewhat like a souped-up Raspberry Pi), with good specs for their size and price, so decided to try one (picked the GMKtec Nucbox G2 which seemed a good tradeoff between cost and features/performance, but that's not necessarily a recommendation).
It was less than a third the cost of the cheapest new Towers I found, but for my use, has more than sufficient memory (12GB), SSD capacity (512GB), processor performance (Intel N100 -- 4 cores/threads @ 3.4GHz, 6MB cache), and I/O Ports (WiFi, Bluetooth, 3xUSB-A, 1xDP, 2xHDMI, 1xAudio, 2xLAN).
It supports up to three 4k displays.

It should be equal or better in typical task speed, especially with its SSD instead of an HD, compared to my old quad-core (3GHz, 2MB) Tower, which was quite satisfactory before its deterioration.
And for icing, it uses only a fraction of the Tower AC power (measured 19W average).

The reduction in size is also remarkable (from 12 years of electronic design shrinkage).
My old Tower is 15" x 15" x 6.5" @ 17lbs, whereas the G2 is ‎3.42 x 3.42 x 1.55 inches @ 0.48lb (excluding external power supply) for about a 98% volume and 97% weight reduction.

Since it was so small, I fastened it to the back of my monitor using the supplied VESA mount to help unclutter my workspace, which functionally makes it like an all-in-one PC (of course as a Tower replacement, I didn't have to buy a monitor, keyboard, or mouse).

I've used it for a few days now, and I'm happy so far.
Plugged in a USB mouse & keyboard, a monitor with the DP (DisplayPort) connection, and it booted right into Windows.
It seems to run LTspice simulations and loads websites some faster than my laptop, which has a 3.6GHz Intel processor.

So unless you are a gamer or power user, the Tower PC would now seem to be rather oversized, overpriced, and overkill for basic home use.
Of course a Tower can be upgraded, but I think very few home users, besides gamers, ever upgrade their computer, and instead just buy a new one when the old one becomes sufficiently obsolete or fails (as I did).

 

I am thinking about getting one also. My thought is to attach it to the backside of a monitor and use it a portable computer. I don't need a laptop but want to move easy. Looks like rare in the $150 to $200 range depending on ram and SSD.
Youtube video

 

For the last 3 years, my desktop has been a Dell Optiplex 7050 Micro, Core i7 CPU, 1xHDMI and 2xDP.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-OptiPlex-7050-Micro-Bit-Multi-Language/dp/B08GCX4JKJ/

I used a cheap TCL 4KUHD 45" TV via HDMI as my main monitor, sandwiched between 2 24" dell monitors (DP) oriented portrait-wise.

No problem doing all my engineering work on this. And the cheap TCL TV is better than a "large" computer monitor at 3 or 4x the price.

Of course, I run Linux on it, and Windows (XP/7/10) on VirtualBox.

https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/attachments/20200531_161351-jpg.208607/

 

Looks like rare in the $150 to $200 range depending on ram and SSD.

The GMKtec Nucbox G2 I bought was U$D165 from Amazon.

 

Cute, might be a good low cost option for many people who are going to be thrown under the bus when MS stops service for Windows 10.

Would most likely replace my media PC, but not my work PC.

 

When buying a new computer for software that uses a lot of CPU, it would be wise to review the type of support the GPU provides, especially if its on-board graphics. Some current programs can can offload CPU processing to graphic GPU processors (like NVidia graphic cards).

 

What OS were you using still on a hard drive? I found Windows 10 unusable on my two systems with hard drives and I updated both to SSD with great results. The CPUs are in the 10-12 year old range.

 

When buying a new computer for software that uses a lot of CPU, it would be wise to review the type of support the GPU provides, especially if its on-board graphics. Some current programs can can offload CPU processing to graphic GPU processors (like NVidia graphic cards).

Obviously the Mini I bought is for general home use, not for high-end graphics or gamer requirements.

 

My thought is to attach it to the backside of a monitor

I used a strip of medium duty Velcro for that purpose.

 

When buying a new computer for software that uses a lot of CPU, it would be wise to review the type of support the GPU provides, especially if its on-board graphics. Some current programs can can offload CPU processing to graphic GPU processors (like NVidia graphic cards).

This is a good point because you can recover a significant portion of the price if you mine cryptocurrency. It is true almost all current GPU's and ASICs are currently a net loss at average electricity prices but if you have solar power the return can be substantial. It's also worth noting that the known hash rate for a CPU or GPU is a good indicator of the overall performance of the processor, especially under 100% load. I found this particularly interesting when looking at the historical growth rate of computational power and the lifetime of components.