HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini vs. HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower
Comparison and Differences
Differences between HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini and HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower
If you are looking for a more modern desktop, then you should go with the HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower which was released in 2018. The HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini is older and entered production in 2017.
If you are looking for the smaller form factor the HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini is the right one for you. It is smaller than the HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower and will fit more easily under your desk.
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 HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower as it is running a newer generation CPU. This is not to say that HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini is bad - it can still run some powerful CPUs, albeit being an older generation.
Memory
The HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower has 4 RAM slots while the HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini has only 2 slot(s). This is not something to worry about. Just make sure you take it into consideration when planning how much RAM you are going to use.
The HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower is using the faster 2666 MT/s RAM. The HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini is slower by supporting RAM speeds of up to 2400 MT/s. Additionally, if you will be needing a lot of RAM, better go for the HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower as it has the ability to run 64 GB of RAM. The HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini can do a bit less at max 32 GB. Most of the times, this should be sufficient for the majority of users.
Ports
In total the HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower has 11 USB ports. The HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini is inferior in this regard and packs 7 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 G4 Tower, is that it has 5 USB 3.1 port(s) which allows transfer of up to 10Gb/s. Unfortunately, the HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini 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.
The DisplayPort is usually the more popular video port used with desktops and laptops, while the HDMI is used predominantly in consumer electronics. That's why, it is good to see that both of the models come with a DisplayPort.
None of the models has an HDMI port. If your monitor supports only the HDMI interface, you will need to buy an adapter. Such adapters are cheap so nothing to worry about.
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 HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower is better equipped as it comes with 4 SATA slot(s), while the HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini has 1 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 G4 Tower has 1 M.2 slots while the HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini 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
Having a Power Supply Unit with high power rating is important, if you are going to use components which require extra power. The HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini comes with a decent 120 Watt PSU, but the HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Tower has a more powerful one rated at 500 Watts. Choosing either one depends on your specific requirements and use case. Also don't forget that some models might have more than one PSU option - try to always get the most powerful one, especially if you plan to upgrade to a powerful GPU.
Motherboard
