A barebone PC is a partly assembled system: chassis, motherboard, power supply and cooling are fitted, while the processor, memory, storage and operating system are left to you. This category covers ASRock DeskMini and DeskMeet, ASUS NUC 14 and Shuttle XPC kits, on both AMD and Intel platforms.
They suit buyers who already hold volume licensing or spare components, integrators building repeatable configurations, and anyone who wants a specific CPU or memory capacity rather than a fixed retail bundle. Check the supported socket and memory type before ordering parts.
What You Add
Processor, memory, M.2 or SATA storage and an operating system. Some kits ship with a soldered CPU and need only RAM and an SSD.
Platform
AMD AM4 and AM5 or Intel sockets and N-series. The socket fixes which processors and which memory generation will fit.
Chassis Size
Around 1–2 litres for NUC and DeskMini kits; larger DeskMeet cases take a full graphics card and a 500W supply.