Well, I guess if you make no effort to understand other peoples use case, you can make sweeping generalizations like that. If you need particular features, power consumption, or other factors, a 2-4 gen old used mini might not be the right answer.

Looking at the OP, there's a ton of i5-8500s in the same price range as a new n305 on Amazon (not bargain hunting here, I'm sure you can find either option much cheaper anywhere). Compared to an N305, a i5-8500 has less cores/threads (6), has al least 4x the TPD, and has a significantly worse GPU. And many people want to buy new. But the used i5 is more expandable, and particularly affords more max memory.

There isn't one uncontested "best".