Mini computers that fit in the palm of your hand

Tiny Green PC offer a range of mini PCs to suit all budgets and performance requirements.

At the top-end is the Tiny Green PC Intense PC2, which is powered by an Intel i7 5th-gen processor, and comes with the following system requirements:

• Processor: Intel Core i7-5600U
• Select Memory: 16GB
• Hard Disk/Solid State Drive: 1 TB SSD
• Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

The price for this system is a cool €1,700.40.

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At $9, C.H.I.P. is a perfect demonstration of how cheap computing has become. You get what would only a few years ago have been desktop power on a tiny board.

• 1.0GHz CPU
• 512MB of RAM
• 4GB of storage
• Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

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4-Gigabit Ethernet Ports in the palm of your hand.

• 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN/WAN ports
• Ultra Small, Only 4.0″ x 6.1″ x 1.45″ in size
• Powerful Intel Mobile Processors
• 12 VDC Operation, Ideal for Mobile/Field
• Up to 1TB Internal Storage
• SSD (Solid State Drive) Optional
• Built-in GB LAN, USB 2.0, Audio, Serial, Video
• Low Profile Rugged Aluminium Chassis
• Panel/Wall Mount Brackets Included
• Windows 7, 10 compatible, with other O/S options available

Prices starting from: $1,190.

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Mac mini is an affordable way to get a Mac, and the entire computer is only 7.7-inch-square. Just connect your own display, keyboard, and mouse, and you're ready to rock.

Prices starting from $499 for the following spec:

• 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
• 500GB (5400-rpm) hard drive
• 4GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory
• 4GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory

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A credit-card sized computer that is becoming a big hitter in the IoT and educational space. And given that it's priced at only $35, it's easy to see why it's so popular.

The latest version is the Raspberry Pi 3 model B and features the following spec:

• 1.2GHz quad-core ARM Cortex A53
• 1GB of RAM
• Broadcom VideoCore IV graphics
• 4-watt power consumption

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The Raspberry Pi gets even smaller, in both size and price. At only $5, this is almost a disposable computer, and yet is has enough power to handle many IoT or homebrew projects.

Despite the size, there's room for a microSD card slot, mini HDMI port, and micro USB data port.

• 1GHz single-core ARM1176JZF-S CPU
• 512MB of RAM
• 0.8-watt power consumption

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A coin-sized Linux computer that is totally open-source, and costs $20. This is a small, low-cost, totally open-source (both the hardware and software) computer that's ideal for projects such as IoT or building your own custom router.

• 360MHz MIPS CPU
• 32MB of RAM
• 8MB of flash memory
• Ready equipped with header pins for sound, USB 2.0, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi

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A Windows 10 computer that can fit into your pocket. All you need is display that has an HDMI port and some wireless peripherals and you're ready to go!

Priced at around $99.

• 1.33GHz CPU
• 2 GB of DDR3 1600 RAM
• 32 GB of SSD flash storage
• Intel HD Graphics 5500
• Windows 10

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At $155 this is a bit pricier than many other small computers, but it does come with beefier specs to allow it to cope with more demanding tasks.

• 2.41 GHz dual-core Intel Celeron J1800 CPU
• 2GB of RAM (upgradable to 8GB)
• 32GB of flash memory
• Intel HD graphics
• Windows 10

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If you want to take Google's Chrome OS for a whirl, then why not pick up a palm-sized Chromebox, such as this Asus Chromebox. Starting at around $150, these represent excellent value for money.

• Intel Core i7-4600U or Intel Core i3-4010U or Intel Celeron 2955U CPU
• Intel HD Graphics 4000/4400
• Up to 2GB of RAM
• 16GB of storage
• 2xUSB 3.0, HDMI, RJ45
• SD card slot
• Chrome OS

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Like tiny computers, but hate the fact that there's no way to upgrade them? The Acer Revo Build might be the system for you. You add to this system by snapping on new parts, such as the optional storage or graphics modules.

For $179 you get:

• 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Celeron N3050 processor
• 2GB DDR3L RAM
• 32GB storage
• Windows 10

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The Parallella computer is a high performance, credit card sized computer based on the Epiphany multi-core chips from Adapteva. Starting at $99, the Parallella can be used as a standalone computer, an embedded device or as a component in a scaled out parallel server cluster.

• 16-core Epiphany RISC SOC
• Zynq SOC (FPGA + ARM A9)
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 1GB SDRAM
• Micro-SD storage
• Up to 48 GPIO pins
• HDMI, USB (optional)

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For those of you looking for a small Linux system, the MintBox Mini might be just what you are looking for. At $295 it's not cheap, but you do get quite a decent spec:

• AMD A4 Micro-6400T SoC featuring Radeon R3 graphics
• 8GB of RAM
• 64GB storage
• Linux Mint

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The PixelPro features a i.MX6Q Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 running at 1.0 GHz, with 2D and 3D GPUs and an embedded 2GB 64-bit DDR3 RAM, which means that it is capable of running rich multimedia applications, embedded web servers, digital entertainment systems, industrial control systems, and high definition video.

At $129.95, the PixelPro is not cheap, but you get a lt of power for the cash.

• Freescale i.MX6Q Soc Quad Core ARM Cortex-A9 up to 1GHz
• 2GB of RAM
• WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Gigabit Ethernet
• PCIe x1
• USB 2.0

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A cheap, $23 quad-core powered board that's ideally suited for hobbyists.

• Samsung S5P4418 quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 up to 1.4GHz
• 1GB of RAM
• Gigabit Ethernet
• USB 2.0

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A $40 Arduino that's idea for integration into a commercial or industrial product.

• Atheros AR9331 processor
• 64MB of RAM
• 16MB of flash storage
• USB 2.0

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The NanoPC-T3 is the bigger brother of the NanoPi 2 Fire, and features an octa-core processor which has enough power for commercial and industrial applications.

• Samsung S5P6818 octa-core ARM Cortex-A53 up to 1.4GHz
• 1-2GB of RAM
• 8GB of flash storage
• Gigabit Ethernet
• USB 2.0

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At around $92, the Intel name doesn't come cheap, but this Arduino-compatible board is turning out to be a popular choice.

• Dual-core, dual-threaded Intel Atom CPU with a 32-bit Intel Quark microcontroller
• 1GB of RAM
• 4GB of flash storage
• Integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE
• Support for Yocto Linux, Python, Node.js and Wolfram

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The easiest way to create internet­-connected devices - no programming, soldering or wiring required. IFTTT support allows it to connect with any web service, like Facebook, Gmail and Twitter, or hardware like NEST and Philips HUE.

All for just $59.95.

• Freescale i.MX23 ARM926EJ-S processor
• 64MB of RAM
• 802.11b/g/n

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The ODROID-C2 is a 64-bit quad-core single board computer that is one of the most cost-effective 64-bit development boards available in the ARM world (it costs about $40).

• Amlogic ARM Cortex-A53(ARMv8) 2Ghz quad core CPUs
• Mali-450 GPU (3 Pixel-processors + 2 Vertex shader processors)
• 2Gbyte DDR3 SDRAM
• Gigabit Ethernet
• HDMI 2.0 4K/60Hz display
• H.265 4K/60FPS and H.264 4K/30FPS capable VPU
• 40pin GPIOs + 7pin I2S
• eMMC5.0 HS400 Flash Storage slot / UHS-1 SDR50 MicroSD Card slot
• USB 2.0 Host x 4, USB OTG x 1 (power + data capable)
• Infrared(IR) Receiver
• Ubuntu 16.04 or Android 5.1 Lollipop based on Kernel 3.14LTS

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The Raspberry Pi Zero is half the size of a Model A+ Pi, but with twice the utility. A tiny Raspberry Pi that, at $5, is affordable enough for any project!

• 1Ghz, Single-core CPU
• 512MB RAM
• Mini HDMI and USB On-The-Go ports
• Micro USB power
• HAT-compatible 40-pin header
• Composite video and reset headers

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