Dell OptiPlex 3000 M vs. HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini
Comparison and Differences
Differences between Dell OptiPlex 3000 M and HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini
If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the Dell OptiPlex 3000 M which was released in 2022. The HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini is older and entered production in 2021.
Both models have the same form factor, meaning reoughtly they have the same phiysical size and form.
Processor
Usually the newer the generation of the CPU, the better the performance and efficiency is. If your budget allows it, you should go with the Dell OptiPlex 3000 M as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini is bad - it can still run some powerful CPUs, albeit being an older generation.
Memory
Both models have have equal amount of ram slots (2 RAM). Usually two RAM slots are more than enough for most cases. However, the count should be taken into account when planning how much and what combination of RAM you are going to need for your system.
None of the desktops has an advantage when it comes to the speed of the RAM being used. Both models support RAM speeds of up to 3200. Additionally, if you will be needing a lot of RAM, better go for the HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini as it has the ability to run 128 GB of RAM. The Dell OptiPlex 3000 M can do a bit less at max 64 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.
Ports
In total the HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini has 10 USB ports. The Dell OptiPlex 3000 M is inferior in this regard and packs 4 USB ports. In any case, if you miss USB ports, you can always purchase a USB hub. What is nice about the HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini, is that it has 3 USB 3.1 port(s) which allows transfer of up to 10Gb/s. Unfortunately, the Dell OptiPlex 3000 M has no such port, thus restricting your transfer speeds significantly. For people who want to use external drives on regular basis, this might be an issue.
DisplayPort is crucial for any desktop machine. It is good to see that both models are featuring DisplayPorts. However, the HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini comes with 2 ports, while the Dell OptiPlex 3000 M has only 1. If you are planning to use multiple monitors, the HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini is the better choice.
The Dell OptiPlex 3000 M comes with an HDMI port, while the HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini does not support the interface. Of course missing HDMI port is something that can be easily fixed with a good adapter (e.g. DisplayPort to HDMI).
SATA ports are placed on the system board and it is where you connect your HDD, SSD and Optical Disk Drives. More SATA slots will allow you to have more drives running at the same time. In this regard the Dell OptiPlex 3000 M is better equipped as it comes with 1 SATA slot(s), while the HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini has 0 slot(s).
An M.2 SSD can be several times faster than a SATA one. Thus, we are happy to see that both models support the M.2 interface. However, the HP EliteDesk 800 G8 Mini has 1 M.2 slots while the Dell OptiPlex 3000 M comes with just 1.
Make sure that the available M.2 slot supports the PCIe (also called NVMe) interface. This is important as there are M.2 slots which support only the inferior SATA III interface. For comparison, the SATA III interface has max speeds of 6Gb/s, while the PCIe 3.0 x4 will support speeds up to 32Gb/s!
Power Supply
Looking at the Power Supply Unit (PSU) of the two models we don't see any differences. For either of them you get a maximum power of 90 Watts. However be careful, many models have more than one power supply option. When buying your computer, it is a good idea to get a version with the most powerful PSU. This will potentially allow you to upgrade to a more powerful GPU for example.
Motherboard
