The best desktops under £300 right now are mini PCs, and our pick is the GMKtec NucBox G10: a Ryzen 5 machine with 16GB of memory, a 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro and outputs for three monitors. The Beelink Mini S13 is the one to choose if you rely on Wi-Fi, and the BOSGAME E2 Air is the cheapest of the three and still comes with Windows 11 Pro. All three make a sensible office desktop or working from home PC. None of them is a tower: at our last check, no new tower or all-in-one under £300 passed our stock, rating and new-condition checks, so every pick here is a small box that sits beside or behind your monitor.
Why every desktop under £300 here is a mini PC
If you want the best value desktop computer you can buy new for under £300, it will be a mini PC, because a new desktop at this budget has to save money somewhere. Mini PCs manage it by borrowing from laptops: a low-power laptop processor, integrated graphics, an external power brick and a case not much bigger than a hardback book. What you give up is room inside. There's no space for a graphics card, and upgrades stop at memory and storage. What you gain is a machine that draws little power and can hide on the back of a monitor.
That trade suits email, documents, spreadsheets, browser-based software, streaming and video calls very well. It doesn't suit modern games or heavy video work, and nothing new at this price does.
Best office desktop under £300
For an office desktop, the GMKtec G10 is the one we'd put on a work desk. Office work is mostly email, documents, spreadsheets, a browser full of web apps and a few video calls a day, and the thing that runs out first is memory. The G10 starts with 16GB and can take far more; the E2 Air starts at 8GB but has a free slot to fix that cheaply.
A few other points matter more in an office than at home:
- Windows 11 Pro. The G10 and E2 Air ship with Pro, which adds BitLocker drive encryption, Remote Desktop hosting and the ability to join a company domain. The S13's listing says Home, which is fine for a sole trader but not for a managed office network.
- More than one screen. Spreadsheets and email side by side is the classic office setup. The G10 has three outputs including DisplayPort; the E2 Air has two HDMI plus USB-C; the S13 has two HDMI.
- A tidy desk. The G10 and E2 Air both come with a VESA mount, so the PC can bolt to the back of a monitor and disappear.
- Wired networking. The G10 and S13 have 2.5Gb Ethernet, useful if the office has a fast network or a NAS. For internet use alone, gigabit on the E2 Air is plenty.
None of the three lists a built-in webcam, so budget for a webcam or a headset for calls on top of the monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Best desktop for working from home under £300
Working from home changes the priorities slightly. The PC often lives in a spare room or on the kitchen table, away from the router, and it has to cope with long video calls as well as the working day.
If you can run a cable, do: a wired connection is steadier for calls than any Wi-Fi, and all three have an Ethernet port. If you can't, the Beelink Mini S13 is the best choice here, as its Wi-Fi 6 gets the most from a recent router. The G10 and E2 Air use Wi-Fi 5, which is fine for calls and streaming when the signal is decent.
For a home office that doubles as a family computer, the GMKtec G10 is still the safest all-rounder, because 16GB leaves room for school work, streaming and a pile of browser tabs at the end of the day. The same reasoning applies to students on a tight budget: the G10 if you can stretch to it, the E2 Air with a memory upgrade if you can't. And because all three are small enough to tuck behind a screen, they take up far less room in a shared space than a tower.
Is there a good desktop under £200?
Of these three, the BOSGAME E2 Air comes closest: when we last checked, a Prime-member deal had it under £200, with the standard price above that. The live prices are: E2 Air £189.00, GMKtec G10 £279.96, Beelink Mini S13 £299.00. If your budget is a hard £200, the E2 Air is the mini PC to watch; if it isn't under £200 today, the extra memory and storage in the G10 are worth waiting and saving for.
Two common questions at this price. A desktop under £200 with a separate graphics card isn't something any new machine here offers, and none of the new desktops that passed our checks under £300 has one either. And refurbished office PCs and ex-business minis do sell for less, but this guide lists new machines only, so the condition and warranty are what the maker sells.
What to check before buying a budget desktop PC
Memory you can add to
16GB is the comfortable amount for Windows 11 with several apps open, and 8GB is the minimum. What matters as much is whether you can add more later. The G10 and E2 Air use standard SO-DIMM slots; the S13's memory is soldered and fixed.
Storage type and size
All three use SSDs, which is the single biggest difference to how quick a PC feels. 256GB fills up once Windows updates, Office and a photo library arrive; 500GB or more is easier to live with. A second M.2 slot, as on the G10, lets you add space without cloning anything.
Screens and ports
Count your monitors and their inputs before you buy. HDMI is universal, DisplayPort is common on office monitors, and USB-C video needs a monitor or adapter that supports it. Mini PCs have fewer USB ports than a tower, so a keyboard, mouse, webcam and printer can use them up quickly.
Windows 11 Home or Pro
Home is fine for personal use. Pro adds drive encryption, Remote Desktop hosting and business management features. It usually costs extra to upgrade later, so it's worth having in the box if you'll need it.
Wi-Fi and Ethernet
Wi-Fi 6 helps most with a Wi-Fi 6 router and a busy home network. Wi-Fi 5 is still adequate for calls and streaming. Ethernet beats both for reliability.
