The perfect AP rig control computer. Fanless Mini PC with Intel N100, PDDR4, Win11, HDMI 4K, Wi-Fi 5, BT, USB 3.2 and 2.0, Type-C, SD & SSD Support, and a VESA Mount for under $200!
MeLE Quieter 4C
The debate over what device to use to control all your other devices rages on. ASIAir is a great choice if you want turnkey simplicity. A Raspberry Pi is great if you want minimal expense (and like Open Source Astroberry software). But few would argue against a Windows computer for the sheer breadth of software available. And for that, we're going to look at the Mele Quieter 4C with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. In fact, I like mine so much I just bought a second one on Amazon's Black Friday deals.
Features
What makes it so great? Just look at the picture.
You get:
- 12th Gen Alder Lake-N100 with 4 cores/4 threads
- 16GB DDR4 RAM
- 512GB storage (M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0x4 3940MB/s)
- Internal M.2 2280 SSD slot (up to 4TB, supporting both Nvme and SATA M.2 SSD)
- 1x USB 3.2 port at 10Gbps
- 1x USB 3.2 port at 5Gbps
- 1x USB 2.0 port at 480Mps
- USB-C with DisplayPort
- Micro-SD slot
- Headset/Mic jack (whaaaat?)
- 2x HDMI ports
- 12V/3A PD power (can run it from my Pocket Powerbox!)
- Wifi and Bluetooth
- Gigabit Ethernet
- Powers on when it gets power (perfect for remote work)
Plus it's the size of a small paperback book. Only 5.2 x 3.2 x 0.7 inches. You can velcro it to a piece of your kit, like your mount or you can use the included VESA mount to bolt it to something more substantial. Mine came with Windows 11 Pro so you can run Remote Desktop and basically have your own remote observatory.
Benefits
Start it once and go into the BIOS to turn on the "power on when power is applied" setting and you'll never need to push the power button again. This is perfect if you're controlling it with a power distribution device like a Pocket Powerbox or similar. It has plenty of horsepower to run all the software I need for a night's imagining run:
- ASCOM
- Green Swamp Server
- NINA
- PHD2
- ASTAP live-stacking
- Even ffmpeg for live-streaming!
Plus, with Windows 11 Pro, I can use Windows Remote Desktop to connect without having to add any other software and can sit in my nice, warm house in front of my nice, big monitor, while the rig does what it does in my SkyShed POD outside in the cold. I can't see how you would want anything else if you want a Windows-based device to control your rig.
Drawbacks
It's a small device without a fan, so the case becomes part of its heat dissapation approach. You can't stuff it into a small space without it overheating, but you can just use it like a normal person and have open ventilation on the top and be fine. Due to its aggressive thermal management, it does throttle top-end performance quickly if it starts to get hot, but you can tweak that in the BIOS if you want. In fact, the BIOS is fully open and you can basically change almost any parameter that the device uses to tweak it to your needs. I've left mine at the defaults.
Limited multi-threading means you can't run a lot of high-end software to do your final processing, but why would you? This is your rig control computer, not your desktop. Use this to take your images and control your rig and use the Wifi, Ethernet, or USB connectivity (I pair mine with a Powered USB Hub and a 128GB USB thumbdrive) and move your raw data after it's been collected.
Thoughts
I use mine for both nighttime work with my normal rig and for daytime work running SharpCap on my Solar rig for Hydrogen Alpha work. It performs flawlessly on both. As I mentioned in my intro, I like mine so much, I'm getting a spare at the Amazon Black Friday sale happening now. While I'm not sure if I'll devote one to solar and one to nighttime, or just keep the second as a spare, I feel like this device for under $200 is an absolute steal!