HP EliteDesk 800 G2 Mini vs G3 Mini

[@Zactivist]

Nice video! I love these little computers so much! I got my first G2 mini (actually the ProDesk, not EliteDesk- no idea what any practical difference in those is) back in 2020 and have been using it ever since as a home file server. The model with the all-black face, no USB-C. More recently a local company was selling a batch very cheap, ($40) with no drives, but it's like they didn't realize the value of them. So I picked up 4 more of them in various configs (newer half-silver faceplates, EliteDesk and ProDesk, with front USB-C) both 6th and 7th gen i5's. Added 256GB M.2 x4 drives I found on Amazon for $12, upped all the ram to 16GB (each had one 8GB stick installed). I mounted two under my kids' desks; to them they are an awesome upgrade from Chromebooks. I love that these mount under a desk really easily with a set of $10 laptop brackets, for a really clean desk setup. My remaining mini's I've just been messing with, dual-booting Windows X Lite 11 (the greatest thing ever!) and various flavors of Linux. Anyway I'm stopping my collection of these little wonders at 5!

[@handmedowntech]

Since these units were sold to businesses they had to be sturdy. And they weren't cheap either. But now we can reap the benefits by having something tough and very affordable. I'm up to 7, G1 to G5 and an additional G4 and G2. I had to get extras since I'm tearing them apart for videos but also needed some units to do atuff.

[@Zactivist]

​@@handmedowntech Yeah looking them up from years ago when new, (and the current genration on HPs website) they were/are $800 to $2000 machines new! I was just thinking the other day what you say, that these must be built to be nearly indestructible.

[@RedMAGACult]

Very nicely done, intuitive video! I have both 35 watt and 65 watt units in G2 and G3. The main thing I like in the G2, over the G3, is the design. The G2s seem to be more accurately designed to be able to work on them without having to remove all the parts to get to something. Mainly the drive caddy...it's not too bad in the G3, 35 watt, but the G3, 65 watt is a little more of a process to get to the M.2 slots. You not only have to remove the two lower drive caddy screws, but to get to the third drive caddy screw you have to remove three very small philips screws holding down the secondary cooling fan. than you have to unplug the fan from the motherboard, take out the two screws holding the SATA connector or remove the ribbon cable of the connector. All this just to get to the M.2 slots. In the G2 the secondary cooling fan is connected to the drive caddy, you don't have to remove the fan in order to get the drive caddy out of the system. Also, the third drive caddy screw is not burried under the fan. So...I prefer the design of the G2! I don't particularly like the locking latch to remove the cover of the G3. HP should have kept the thumb screw. However, I do like the fact that I can upgrade the processor in the G3 to a 7th generation CPU. The only reason I upgraded my systems from G2 to G3 was because I found them for $31 each on eBay. All I had to do to change them over was upgrade the BIOS on the G3s and install my 1 TB M.2 drives, which had an existing copy of Linux Mint 21.3 on them. I have one G3 set up with an i5 6600 and the other with an i7 6700. The new G3s read the drives and acted like they were my old G2s and never blinked! Thanks buddy, Love your work! SAY...anybody notice that when you get your fist mini you just start collecting them like baseball cards?...

[@handmedowntech]

Wow, thanks for compliments and the insight on the G3 65w. Thinking we might need a video on the various 65w models to show them some love. The G3 is an odd one but it does have its place. And of course once you collect one you need more 😝

[@Jetta4TDIR]

I have 6 G3's myself 1x 65w and 5x 35w, the 65w I'm using as docker system running my media server, 3x 35w i have running as ha proxmox cluster which i have only recently started populating with VMs and will eventually run my media server off too, the remaining 2x 35w im trying to setup as 2 android tv boxes running BlissOS if i can get it working

[@chocosperm6756]

Is it ok to run the HP EliteDesk 800 G2 for 24/7? Because I just want to use for remote access in my home when I am away? Thank you.

[@handmedowntech]

These are rugged units for the corporate world. I have multiple units running 247.

[@ytguy2010]

HP 800 G3 combined with 7th gen CPU is better. The reason is the Intel HD 630 video which can decode KZbin VP9 4K and H265 4K without much trouble.

[@SRiveraXIII]

Any chance the G2 drive caddy will fit the G3? I needed a new motherboard for the G2 and bought a bare bones G3, but I didn't realize bare bones meant no hard drive caddy

[@handmedowntech]

I just opened up a G2 and a G3. The holes are in different places. You'll most likely have to shell out another $10 for a caddy. Sorry.

[@gastefan]

Hello, just upgrade few days ago to a G3 i5 7500, yeah it's a 4 core, but for media consumption is ok, also it's better for media consumption the 7'th gen rather then the 6'th gen because of the codecs , i think 7'th gen haves a better codec encoding/decoding. i got before a mac mini mid 2011 with 16gb ram and a sata ssd, it is ok if you run linux on it, but for media consumption is even worse, on youtube i can watch 720p at 60FPS or 1080P 30FPS, that's why i upgraded to a G3 with 7'th gen also if you rly want to upgrade the G3 you can get an i7 7700 but make sure it's the 65W rated cpu, but in my opinion i rather upgrade to 8th gen G4 and if you can get it at a rly good price with an i7 8700, that's gonna be a pc that you won't upgrade for at least 5 years from now on (just for media consumption) i like the idea to have a mini PC, i don't like the imbeded OS from the smart TV's especially from the ones that don't have Android, even if they have android, most of them are still obsolete because you can't upgrade that android to the newst android version, so having a mini pc, you can get any linux distro and do much more with it.

[@handmedowntech]

So you saw an increase in performance going from 6th to 7th Gen?

[@dlim51]

What do you think about taking the Samsung EVO 860 SSD from an HP 6200 PRO SFF and inserting it in an HP Elitedesk 800 G2? Both are running Windows 10 Pro. Will it work on the Elitedesk?

[@handmedowntech]

Should work. I swap around SSDs all the time. I have found though that on initial boot I have to go into the boot manager and tell it which drive to boot from. You'll also need to install any drives unique to the G2. I'd suggest installing and runn6ghe HP support assistant since it finds the missing stuff.

[@dlim51]

Thank you so much for the quick response. Do you have a video I can view on the step-by-step? I am new to this. I will go out and purchase an HP Elitedesk 800 G2. The 6200 Pro is really slow, especially with the 2nd generation i5. Again, thank you. @@handmedowntech

[@handmedowntech]

@@dlim51 nothing specific but if you watch my 9th Gen cpu video you'll see how I get an error and then go into the boot manager to specify the drive. As with all drive moves, backup anything critical and decide if everything went wrong would you be willing to install the OS again. That I have a video for, installing windows on older hardware. If you do the reinstall I'd go with windows 11.

[@dlim51]

Again, thank you so much. I will do as you suggest. Much appreciated your kindness.@@handmedowntech

[@tyfp3854]

Well frankly the g3 is just a clone of G2 I've already gotten both of them and I realized that just because the g3 is better doesn't mean that it's more useful than the G2 I'm having a hard time finding a wifi cable for the g3 on eBay, Having a hard time. Do you sell any g3 wifi cables from eBay?

[@handmedowntech]

I had a tough time choosing between the two units, both are great. Are you looking at US eBay or UK?

[@nikkie0306]

Hi! I'm really new to all of this but am looking into the Gen 3 and Gen 2 models...My monitor uses a standard HDMI cable, but it doesnt look like these computers are compatible with that. (Even the Gen 2, which you said you installed a port for, that port doesnt look like the HDMI cable I have.) Please help me understand what I need!

[@handmedowntech]

Check out my video on essential tools. I show in there a display port to HDMI adapter. That's what I use for all of my units. You can get the built-in HDMI but the adapter works just as well. They even sell cables with HDMI at one end and displayport at the other.

[@nikkie0306]

@@handmedowntech thank you! Going to get an adapter too (: I'm looking at some of your other vids too...do you think the Gen 2 can support basic games? (Like the Sims, maybe a Gameboy emulator and a few downloadable roms-- hopefully that's not too crazy for the cpu to handle)

[@handmedowntech]

@@nikkie0306 I've seen folks install batocera on these? Is that something that allows you to choose games?

[@downundergarage6968]

The main cpu impact on general use esp in office and browsing is core speed. 2 cores with high ghz will be better then 4 slow cores..

[@handmedowntech]

How might that carry over to G2 vs G3?

[@SamValiant]

What is the small stubby thing on the back?

[@handmedowntech]

The wifi antennae

[@cjsuk]

Wifi antenna, made like that so you can stack them on top of each other.

[@handmedowntech]

@@cjsuk never thought of it that way.

[@naibedyanarayansingha]

Where I will buy this product

[@handmedowntech]

Depends on how much you want to spend. Amazon sells them but they are more expensive. I buy mine off of eBay.

[@vikassharma-pq3ro]

Hi I bought g3 with i7 7700 on win 10. Why I cant I upgrade to 11. As it says processor is not supporting

[@handmedowntech]

It is possible that a fresh install of windows 11 might work better. So far that's how I've been doing it.

[@vikassharma-pq3ro]

Very helpful thanks you. Do I have to buy new license for Windows 11 ?

[@handmedowntech]

@@vikassharma-pq3ro the installer should see the embedded license on to the motherboard. If you can wait a day or so I'll try an install on my G3 to make sure it works aok

[@vikassharma-pq3ro]

That would be great. I am not in rush. Thanks

[@handmedowntech]

Thanks, I'll comment back when I get it hopefully installed

[@clubx1000]

24y

[@handmedowntech]

??

[@gbond-yk9pw]

@@handmedowntech Very nicely done 2024