One of the truly best features of the HP models is FlexIO. It is now available in three versions: FlexIO, FlexIO v2, and FlexIO v3. The HP EliteDesk 800 G6 DM models I purchased use FlexIO v2 modules.
The Lenovo and Dell models cannot offer this in the same way. However, Lenovo’s proprietary PCIe slot is also nice.
In each of these mini PCs, you can install one HP module as the primary and one as the secondary to expand functionality. There are several options:
| FlexIO v2 Primary | FlexIO v2 Secondary |
|---|---|
| Image output HDMI v2.0a 13L55AA | USB Dual Type-A Hi-Speed USB 480Mbps signaling rate port M11562-001 |
| Image output VGA 13L53AA | GPU NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti discrete GPU |
| Image output DisplayPort v1.4 13L54AA | RS-232 Serial Port 13L57AA |
| USB Dual Type A SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps signaling rate port 13L58AA | |
| USB Type C SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps signaling rate port w/ DisplayPort Alt Mode and 100W Power Intake 13L59AA | |
| NIC Intel I225-LM 2.5 Gigabit Network Connection LOM (non-vPro) M74416-001 | |
| NIC Fiber NIC (100Mbps and 1Gbps) | |
| RS-232 Serial Port 13L56AA (Can only be configured retroactively; cannot be configured at the factory) | |
| Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 3 1E8A4AA (Can only be configured retroactively; cannot be configured at the factory) |
The 2.5 GbE network module looks really good…
…and it’s hard to find, and when you do, it’s expensive. After doing some research, I realized: There’s something even more expensive, but also much better!
That’s what the next post is about.