Seeking advise on upgrade to mini pc / nuc as current device going out of support because of Win10

To answer your question, those mini PCs are fantastic. Got a few of them in a few places as Router/Tailscale/ADguard boxes but I've messed around with them and they won't break a sweat doing those above tasks. Was messing with one as a Steam Link (streaming games) for my 4K TV and it was solid. Minisforum and Beelink are the better brands but it's very hard to go completely wrong. A lot of bewildering choice as well in fairness.

Also, Windows 10 support can be extended to 2026 easily enough with three options.

• For individuals: An enrollment wizard will be available through notifications and in Settings, making it easy to enroll in ESU directly from your personal Windows 10 PC. Through the enrollment wizard, you’ll be able to choose from three options:
  • Use Windows Backup to sync your settings to the cloud—at no additional cost..
  • Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points—at no additional cost..
  • Pay $30 USD (local pricing may vary).

So, unless you really need to upgrade, just kick out the support and get another year out of your system. After that it's really your call about how quickly you want to move to a newer version of Windows but the tide will start to go out and you will start to take on risk. You have to weigh up the risk yourself but if this is an income generating PC I'd be all in favour of removing unrequired risks. For example, Windows 7's end of life (EOL) was 2020 and lost Internet Browser support in 2023 on most major browers and was left with Firefox ESR support to 2025 (Firefox ESR is there but far from ideal). Losing Internet Browser support for me is where I lose my appetite for risk. For work machines it would be long before

So assuming similar timelines a Windows 10 machine for me would be completely unsable in 2029. However depending on how much you need the income, that can get a lot closer to 2026.

You current PC :

GMKtec M6 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD is approx €320 HERE

Comes preinstalled with Windows 11 pro and use quarter the power.

Free delivery which takes a week, make sure you choose uk plug.

You can do it but it's not officially supported. You'd be swapping one unsupported OS for another. Granted the Windows 11 one will get security updates for the time being but at any time any update could break your OS when Microsoft decides it and doesn't need to give you any warning it coming.

Again, if this is for work you need to stop entertaining what is technically possible and stick to what is supported.

As it's for work he shouldn't be using any personal device.

They've already let him use an old device that was going out of support. Bit late for being by book.

But it's fair enough to say a new device isn't expensive, so why not.

Quickly? Been running Win11 on unsupported hardware for a few years. But they are all clean installs no upgrades.

At work MS cloud is a pain. You've hardly figured something out and they've already changed it.

no thats the price

Its a free almost automatic upgrade anyway.

Yes as long as you choose ram and SSD and not bare bones

I have bought more than 30 of these GMK tec pcs with no issues.. my daily driver is 2 years old.

No extra charges the web price is what you pay

is saying top right corner, a big NO Windows preinstalled for the barebone system...

But,i feel there is no OS preinstalled at all as no mention of it unless there is an extra checkBox after you select the SDD option.

Out of curiosity, have you tried installing Linux on those boxes and reusing the Windows keys elsewhere? Or is the key bonded to the hardware?

Key is tied to the hardware

People have successfully installed proxmox for home lab environments on some variants like the M5 pro

Look at the comments at the bottom of the pages

https://www.gmktec.com/products/amd-ryzen-7-5700u-mini-pc-nucbox-m5-upgraded-version