HP ProDesk 405 G4 Mini Internal Overview
The cover removes with a single screw, and that screw is retained in the chassis. This is an area where HP is easier to service than Lenovo. Overall the Lenovo experience is still very good compared to the rest of the industry, but HP has pulled ahead of Dell after this generation. Inside looking from the top, we have the CPU cooling area above and some I/O below.
The heatsink covers the socket AM4 and the AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 2400GE. This uses HP’s swing-up fan unit so the system fan swings out of the way to reveal the memory. Here we can see we have an 8GB SODIMM. In a system like this, 16GB is usually our target so two 8GB DIMMs works well.
In our unit, we also have the 2.5″ drive tray and cable. Dell uses a solution with a fixed SATA data and power connector while Lenovo also uses this type of cable. HP puts the SATA and power connector on a 2.5″ assembly. The challenge is that this requires screws to be able to remove. That tray system is less serviceable than the Dell or Lenovo 2.5″ trays.
Under this, we can see the internal expansion area. Since this is a 405 series unit, it has fewer features than some of the newer 805 units.
We get an inexpensive M.2 SSD which is in line with what we see from other cost optimized units.
We also get an Intel 802.11ac WiFi module. This is pre-WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E era machine so we get the older standard.
With our unit, we originally had an empty Flex IO slot. That is what we were able to fix with the new I/O module.
Overall, this is a fairly basic system, but it is a decent platform for a lot of folks looking for a lower cost option.
Next, we are going to take a look at performance and power consumption, before diving into the second NIC and final words.
Usually systems like this go on eBay for significantly cheaper. I ended up paying $200 each for my two. 16 GB of RAM instead of 8, but lacking the FlexIO board, 2.5″ chassis, and WiFi card.
Which FlexIO module is this? The only one I’m aware of with a standard RJ45 (3TQ26AA) HP only lists as compatible with the Z2 G4 series, so it’s very interesting that you got one working with a ProDesk 405 G4. I have a ProDesk 600 G5 here and it wouldn’t recognize the 3TQ26AA module, so there’s obviously a bit more to the compatibility but HP, as usual, doesn’t document these things very well…
Does anyone know if there’s actually that big a difference in price between Realtek’s PCIe and USB NICs that it’s worth it for HP to end up looking cheap and giving admins hardware heterogeneity to deal with; or is it a matter of what the header used by these little modules is cabled for?
From the brief look I took; it looks like at least some models support quite capable modules(DP and HDMI outs at fairly high resolutions; Thunderbolt; USB-C with DP alt mode); but compatibility doesn’t seem to be universal across all their little mini-PCs, so perhaps this model only has USB and video?
Where can I buy this Flex IO NIC ?