Under-Desk Mini-PC for Dedicated 3D Printing Stuff

Our GPD gaming laptop, used exclusively for Windows apps, has developed an intermittent black screen when connected over Thunderbolt. I’ve tried reinstalling the OS and messing around with AMD graphics drivers, but the screen continues to go dark randomly. It’s incredibly frustrating.

Since we’re replacing our main gaming PC setup with a custom build, this lets us shuffle hardware around a bit.

When the dust settled, a powerful Minisforum mini-PC ended up under my desk - mounted with custom 3D-printed brackets. These had to be revised quite a few times until it was stable, had decent airflow, and let me hit the power button without it shifting.

I used NTLite to build a custom Windows 11 image (how-to coming later), deployed it over PXE with iVentoy, and ran Chris Titus’s Windows tool to remove unwanted apps, apply tweaks, and install only the essentials.

The funny thing is that I honestly don’t hate using Windows on this machine. It’s so lean, clean, and quick (say that 10 times fast), that you hardly think about all the system-rights atrocities going on behind the scenes.

The links to all these apps can also be found in Collections > Digital Toolkit and a few Windows annoyances are at Collections > Annoyances