Here’s the cheapest 8GB mini PC that’s actually usable

Balance is possibly one of the most elusive qualities in our quest to uncover products that deliver the best value for money.

The Chuwi Herobox mini PC is a rare example; it's neither the cheapest nor fastest thin client in the world, but instead a combination of keen pricing and decent components that make it, in our view, the cheapest mini PC that’s actually usable.

At less than $200 at Gearbest (£168.92/AU$340.92) with coupon code GBCNHBPC, the Herobox is certainly fairly priced.

We could be wrong, but we are yet to discover a device in this price range that offers 8GB of RAM (in dual channel mode!), Windows 10 and a 180GB solid state drive (not the inferior eMMC storage).

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It is a far superior version of its cousin, the Gbox, with a quad-core Intel Celeron N4100 CPU - one of the faster entry-level processors right now, performing about as well as a Core i5-5200U (according to Passmark’s benchmarking site).

The remaining features are also surprisingly good for a thin client this cheap. The machine features space for an additional SSD, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac WiFi, four USB ports and a type-C connector, VGA, HDMI, a VESA mount and even a microSD card slot.

Note, the unit ships for free to the US, UK, Australia and dozens of other territories worldwide. The price of the system and value of the coupon is determined at the time of checkout.