November in Heilongjiang has finally brought heavy snow, and on days like this, I feel quite sad. Because I can no longer ride my electric scooter down the sunny boulevard at high speed; winter has become the main theme of my life. Of course, if you are from the south, I suggest you take the opportunity to visit Heilongjiang. As someone who has traveled extensively, I am often amazed by the beauty of Harbin in winter. (Not the kind of shock you get from UC comments 😱)The video version is generally published on the same name platforms like Douyin, Bilibili, and Xiaohongshu, with some content differences. Additionally, the sample I reviewed and the new opportunities given to me are listed on the second-hand platform Xiaohuangyu under ID “I am Kaka”. After all, the second-hand items I get are more reliable.Today, I will share a mini PC with you, the HP T530. Why do I recommend it? Simply put, it’s very cheap. Don’t ask me about its advantages; apart from being cheap, the second advantage is that it works. Currently, there are good prices on the market again. This machine is essentially an entry-level mini PC, so don’t have high expectations for low-end devices, like picking up a piece of iron on the road and running back to your humble abode shouting, “My dear, today I found this item, and my later life will be filled with wealth and glory!”It can at most allow you to achieve offline downloads and local area network media playback. To be honest, if it weren’t for the appearance of Feiniu, this piece of junk might only be worth 30 yuan now. You would even spit on it if you found it on the road, but in today’s economic downturn where everything is considered a treasure, let’s talk about this machine.
As usual, let’s start with the performance. The processor is the AMD GX-215. AMD processors always leave people confused. I’ve seen many bloggers introduce it with a long list of data. I’m sure they just copied and pasted it after an AI search. I won’t do that (because I think searching, copying, and pasting requires three steps), it’s too tiring and unnecessary. Moreover, when faced with data, everyone just ends up confused, and after reading it, they are even more confused. So for me, it’s simple; we find a familiar machine to compare it with. This processor is basically on par with the J1900, but it is about 5%-10% weaker in performance. In other words, it’s like the little brother of the J1900. It’s completely fine to use it as a basic media server next to your TV.
This series of machines is about the same size, neither as small as you might think nor as large. (Although this sounds like a useless statement, it’s actually true.) I don’t know how big it is; you can check my review of the T540 on Douyin; they are brothers. The machine supports DDR4 memory, and the second-hand sellers are selling them with a basic system; you can pair it yourself. The body has an M.2 NGFF solid-state interface. Like the J1900, the TDP power consumption is 10W.
In terms of interfaces, it has 4 USB 2.0 ports, one USB-C port, 2 DP interfaces, and one Gigabit Ethernet port. This configuration is quite standard. Additionally, the processor does not support 4K hardware decoding; don’t ask why it doesn’t support it; if it did, it might only be worth a few dozen yuan. Right? However, installing Feiniu, placing it next to the TV, or setting up something like Bartosella won’t hinder your casual play.
I saw that the current lowest price on Xiaohuangyu is 9X, which is still reasonable for an X86. Don’t expect to get everything in one go, because if you’ve read this far into this 98 yuan junk recommendation blog, you probably don’t have the idea of getting everything in one go, right?
Next issue preview: A NUC mini PC that supports 4K hardware decoding for over 100, suitable for placing next to the TV.