With their small size and dialed-down power, they save you not just money, but space, which can be crucial in certain usage situations. The smallest of these systems measure just a couple of inches tall and only a few more across, while several of our top picks are mini boxes just a few inches tall and wide-and it's hard not to marvel at these systems running full Windows 10. You'll also see an assortment of (impressively) small boxes, bare boards, microtowers, and even some stick-shaped PCs to choose among. These remain some of our favorites for the money, as time-tested solutions to home computing. This allows traditional small- and midsize-tower PCs to thrive in this price range.

Modern components have made the PC-performance baseline very solid, even on a $500 tower, versus what it used to be. What's immediately obvious about most of these budget PCs? How they look. There's plenty of crossover between the two, but not every tiny PC is inexpensive. If you're interested specifically in tiny PCs but budget is less of a factor, also check out our picks for our favorite micro-desktops overall.

Read on to see what to look for in these systems, and what kind of components you can find inside. Apple has one, as well: the Apple Mac mini sits toward the top of budget pricing at $699, but the 2020 model bearing Apple's M1 CPU is very appealing. Compact-system specialists such as Azulle, ECS, Shuttle, and Zotac focus on this area, and some broader PC players such as Asus have offerings in this category, too. Intel is a big player, but not the only one, when it comes to small, inexpensive desktops. These machines can be bought as fully configured systems, or, for the more DIY-minded, as barebones kits that enable you to install components of your choice. Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) mini-PC line is among the most configurable, with plenty of variation among its models. If you're looking at a very small system, mini PCs tend to come in a limited set of models to choose among, tightly designed to do what they do well. Shopping for a budget desktop isn't too different from standard desktop-buying considerations, but there are some key things to know. The closer-to-full-size towers, meanwhile, can do just about everything you expect from a modern home PC. They come in a few different shapes and sizes, most tending to the small. They can even run web-based games, should you have the need. These PCs are certainly able to surf the web, stream videos to a monitor or big TV, operate a public display, or allow you to work on simple documents and other everyday productivity tasks. Now, a handful of these may not be what you normally picture when imagining a desktop, but you'd be surprised at the capability of some of these small boxes.

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