To my eyes it looks like its main use case is for home use, intermediate gaming, college use, etc. It's probably worth the money for that configuration you demonstrated.
Have a very similar spec one of these for the father-in-law who uses it for browser based games and ingress game stuff . Which is perfect for him and only cost £249 on sale. Also dawid plz try put geforce now with these as it's perfect for that
A racing track for mice. That's where I hear it all the time. But I keep betting on the wrong mouse, someone help me I'm addicted to betting on mouse racing. Help
Nice to find you here! I got on a similar bandwagon a few years back with an R7 4750G in an Asrock x300 and I am still pretty happy with what those little PCs can do. Nowhere near my 5900x/Rx6900xt desktop, but as a HTPC it's awesome. I love my little PC and it's fast enough even for some WarThunder, Fortnite or Skyrim. Anyone who's used it is at a loss with how much it can do given the size. These new SFF PCs must feel awesome!
Bought one of these mini pcs for my friend with a dead pc from the Jurassic age. To them it was like apeman discovers fire, they didnt even know that a chrome window can be launched without freezing the entire pc for a minute.
I got one for my 10 year old daughter as her first computer. It's perfect as a desktop for her homework, web browsing, and music etc, as well as letting her play Minecraft.
Is it as compact? I mean I think of this as a photographer, this is ideal, even for video. Take gaming out, it's a highly capable and compact PC, I'm sure it doesn't consume as much power either.@@whatjake7898
@Dawid : To answer your question, this same brand of mini-PC was what I chose as an alternative to known brand (Dell, Lenovo, HP) mini-PCs for use on the shopfloor at our manufacturing plant. They cost less than the aformentionned products and perform much better. Paired with touch-screen monitors, this made possible the viewing of 3D technical designs at assembly stations. Not all customers are individuals... and that kind of solution can be very useful in a corporate environment. In our case, I went for the SER5 series... which is already more than enough computing power and graphics power for our needs. They cost around 400$CAN. With a Dell touch-screen, I can equip one station for 1000$. That also means that when one of those dies from exposure to dust (which will happen eventually), it will be simple to just swap the SSD onto a new unit. The last piece of the puzzle is that we designed our own custom mounting bracket so that the mini-PC mounts to the monitor AND a monitor arm. One of those brackets, once laser cut by our supplier and power-coated in house comes-up to about 25$ a piece... which is short change in the grand scheme of things.😉
Can you also put some more cooling to the units or just the SSD to protect them from failure? I mean, it should be easy if you already make custom parts for them.
@@BozesanVlad We don't re-engineer the devices themselves. We have no need for that in our case. Actually, since they run in an industrial environment, that would most likely increase their failure rate from contamination (although our production floor is relativelely clean). In fact, the way we designed the brackets, they also protect the mini-PC from dust being deposited on them, leaving them only exposed to dust that is being sucked through the intake of the device. So far, we have a lower failure rate than anticipated for those devices... so my choice really paid-off. Note: Beelink's customer support is... weird at best. But I got one unit replaced under warranty (DOA). Just be prepared to wait for a bit before you get a replacement device.
You can upgrade a prebuilt. Not that I'm suggesting anyone in the universe buy a prebuilt, but your flippant enthusiasm may misdirect a new buyer into thinking this can replace a desktop computer (which it can, as long as you're okay with not being able to upgrade anything except the ram and storage. And it'll always run at the same temperature, no cooling options unless you strap on a Coorel(TM)
@@Boogie_the_cat true. I'm more thinking along the lines of something for if you have a second monitor and don't want to waste any of your current desktop's resources. Probably should have put that in my original comment
Ppl should embrace used parts too tho cuz you can get really good performance for dirt cheap as I've gotten my Rx 6600 ( that were only 5 months old ) for $95...it was really cheap considering the GPU in 2022 - 23 usually cost about $160+ new
my dad bought one of those beelink systems to use as a Developer and they're surprisingly solid. He has one with lower specs but the little machine is a beast. For the price almost feels like a steal because it was a lot of PC for just $270. This one seems like almost a little workstation that you can ocasionally game in it.
I bought this exact model but in silver. I use it as my HTPC for my TV. When my nephew visits he uses it as a decently capable gaming device as well. All around a great buy!
u can upgrade for cheap through market places i got so much good hardware within a week on the dutch market place for non business people and i got deff 90% profit out of my purchases and with that i can build 3/5 nearly high end gaming builds :P just know how to talk and they sell cheap
As a little PC that have the footprint of a fly, being that powerful is really neat. The ratio of power/footprint makes good for a little multitasking office for game, render small videos, some relatively heavy stuff..etc You literally can put it behind a monitor.
I have sold a number of Beelink and the identical Trigkey mini PC's for office use. They are fantastic! Usually in the flavor of Ryzen 5800H or 5700U or 5600something... Solid little computers.
I got one of these to replace an ancient tower system that finally died. With plenty of ports in the back, it was basically a drop in replacement, including line out for the speakers. It's so small that it literally fits in the space between the surface of the desk and the lower edge of my monitor, which really opened up a lot of desk space. And, the iGPU is capable enough that I can do light gaming.
I bought one of these beelink minipcs as a software development "workstation". Triple 4k display was the selling point for me, along with good specs and form factor. Hi from Vancouver :)
Seems like a more suitable use case. I just got an Orange Pi 5 Plus to use as an educational/dev machine. I'm taking a cybersec course and will be learning Python and Rust this year. I don't have top of the line x86 mini-PC money. x86 is on its deathbed anyway. The huge upswing in CPU power consumption over the past couple of generations means that we are close to hitting the wall. MS is going full bore with Windows on ARM and AMD and intel are starting to look at developing ARM CPUs for the consumer market. In another couple of years, gaming on ARM will be a reality and we'll start seeing consumer ARM desktop CPUs. The desktop PC isn't going anywhere anytime soon for gamers and power users.
I'd imagine the used case for this is something for someone who is a bit of a minimalist, or just someone who is looking to have a computer somewhere where they do not have a lot of space. Maybe like a HTPC, and keep it in plain sight, but also out of the way at the same time. Or maybe for someone who is trying to setup a home network, and they want to use these at a thin client, meanwhile they have all of the files being stored on some type of a file server. IDK, that would be about all of my personal uses anyway. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of these things, maybe more (for one or more of the reasons listed previously). What you are getting for the price is about spot on IMO. This is a bit of a "specialty" item, so you are going to spend a little more on it, vs building a full sized PC with similar specs. Thanks for the video, Dawid! Cheers!
I got a Beelink mini PC for my mother's birthday last year. It's the model with the 5560U in it. For her casual use, it's absolutely amazing for the price.
I recently purchased this exact same mini PC. It was on a lightning deal with an additional $50 off coupon. Brought it down to $533.20. I've been using it as a multimedia PC. It also works as one heckuva retro emulator system. Handling PS3 games. All the while, staying nice and cool. Even with setting Performance mode, 64W, in the BIOS. Additionally, setting the iGPU VRAM from the default of 4gb to 8gb helps a bit with games too. The fact that it comes with Crucial RAM and a Crucial P3 Plus m.2, is totally insane for this price.
They're perfect for homelabs. 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 64GB RAM, 2 x NVMe slots. That's a lot of VMs you can run on 60W for $1000. The other solution for homelabs is older hardware, and spending $1000 on a last gen server might get you more RAM, but it'll also get you about 500W of power draw
the price seem very reasonable for the power you're getting and the smalll form factor that you can just pack in your backpack - that's where this thing shines
After watching ETA Prime cover a literal TON of these little tiny PC's it's nice to see Dawid cover one once again. These little guys really are interesting, I want to say about as interesting as the absolute avalanche of handheld PC's over the last few years now since the Steam Deck came out really. The fact you can upgrade these little guys "somewhat" well, is still a notch above SFF PC's I've seen over the years. Hope to see more sooner rather than later Dawid :D
I bought one of these some months ago with an almost identical configuration (an SER-6) and I thought it was too much to pay. I had it for a few days and thought about sending it back, but I decided I really liked it and just put Linux on it. It's an outstanding little computer, one of the best I've ever owned.
Honestly if I wanted a reasonably powerful PC that I can just mount behind my monitor this would be a great choice. Would offer a clean setup for a home office.
NUCs like this are bloody excellent for giving to family who don't want the full bulky desktop look or experience, or for students who might not have room in their dorms. They're also great for black magic rituals.
The typical use case would be 1. business/office desktop directly attached to the monitor (mail, browser, excel, word, 1 business app like SAP client) 2. home users who want a "clean" look on their desk 3. a commuting scenario where a desktop setup exists on each location. A similar laptop would cost more and has only equal or less performance (wattage limit over time to not burn your lap and hands). Also the monitor/mouse/keyboard of the laptop would not be needed
This looks like a fantastic little office/mixed-usage PC for the money. Its got enough chops it should be able to do the vast majority of day to day tasks with that level of RAM, CPU and storage, and the fact the IGPU is fast enough to actually game a bit is a bonus, and means it should be perfectly capable for video decode and the likes.
I have the SER6 Max 6900HX model and its fantastic, got the GPD G1 eGPU to go with it as well. Got it hooked up to my TV when I want to play games from my bed, its crazy how powerful it is.
I've had my SER7 for almost two months now. No complaints, been playing Diablo 4 without issue. it also has a Boutique feel to it and I love the bare essentials windows install.
I agree with comments about going minimalist with something that is “good enough”. I personally just bought a Miniforum similar to this and I’ve built a much more powerful pc in the past with a 3080. I went with the Miniforum just for the access to OCulink port. I don’t NEED a beefy GPU for the graphical levels I’m okay with gaming at now (thanks Steam Deck) but it’s nice to know that I can get an eGPU upgrade if I decide I “need” it someday. But that’s being said, minimalism and flexibility comes at a price that not everyone can afford or want to pay for. It’s nice that we have so many options based on your budget and use case!
This looks great for an HTPC. With the powerful CPU/GPU and 2.5Gbit LAN you can very easily playback 4K HDR videos from a NAS. I currently use a DeskMeet X300 with a 5600X and RX6600 to do this exact thing, so, to me this little Beelink is actually quite a great alternative option.
I purchased a MINISFORUM HX77G last fall. It looks like it has been discontinued, but similar units are available. With its discrete mobile GPU, it can put out a TimeSpy benchmark score of around 8200. This Beelink unit's TimeSpy score is around 3200. So if you are looking for a tiny living room gaming PC, one with a discrete graphics chip is the way to go.
This Tiny little guy was able to embarrass basically 70% of the PCs/Laptops that you have covered so far along with offering a better price point. Truly the definition of, *Size doesn’t matter.*
There's a different brand, Minisforum that has same spec-ed mini PC with Oculink port that takes the second M2. It performs better than the Thunderbolt 4 eGPUs. and the enclosure is less than 100bucks. it does need a power supply tho, for the discreet gpu
this is a really cool little pc, in a few years when you can pick one up for 250 bucks it would be great as a second pc for watching videos and surfing the web
@@alexanderpushkin2094 i have one already and i run linux on it, i see no ads and i get no virus's from popular websites no spy ware no scams or all the other crap that screws up your windows pc. i use that one for gaming only and i can watch twitch while playing the game.
I'd say use case is relatively good/great performance for both its price and size. Mini PCs are getting better every year while also becoming cheaper, probably because of them producing/selling more, they're becoming less of a niche product, which is great for cost.
I found this video too late to comment, but anyway : with maxed out ram, an aditional NVME Disk and a couple of monitors, it'll be a VERY NICE linux dev station, to work on web /desktop development. Cool machine. I could easily Imagine a bunch of those in the backs of monitors .in a devs floor, saving money on electricity and space, and as you mentioned, in noise. a good monitor and you have a very nice all-in-oneish computer.
attach it using the vesa mount to the back of a tv and use it for movie streaming, locally stored movie watching. If you use wireless peripherals it would be a very clean looking setup
I bought one of these exact same PC's to make my kids an emulator box for Christmas. It's a great little PC. It emulates switch fantastically and plays any new PC game. The WiFi and Bluetooth get massive interference though. I had to get external adapters for both.
I have the previous gen, and I can play Destiny 2 on it at OK settings at 1080p. It's not blowing me away, but gives me the option to game at another location. Which is why I got the computer in the first place, as a 2nd PC in a workshop that doesn't take up a lot of space.
Beelink has been making some pretty nice mini PC systems as of late. I've got two of their somewhat mid level systems for about $150 each. If you plan on reinstalling Windows, be sure to pull off the drivers directory located in the root of the C: drive. Makes it easy to restore the system later if you want to explore other OS options. For a consumer, I could see a $800 mini PC being useful for LAN game nights. Instead of lugging a 50 pound machine around, use that mini PC instead. IMO, mini PCs are better as always-on backoffice headless systems that sip wall power until needed for a heavy workload. A render farm, application compiler/QA automation testing farm, a remote VM host, etc.
It already is. The CPU it has, the 7840HS, is almost identical to the Z1 Extreme in the ROG ally and Lenovo Legion Go, only difference is it’s got some AI stuff, and a bit higher clock speeds.
It can be used in offices with medium to heavy loads. A great office PC can be easily hidden under a desk or behind the monitors or it can be a really good HT pc to hook up with Projector/TV.
I just purchased, this past week, the BOSGAME H68 Mini PC for $480 CAD, before taxes, using the $300 off coupon on Amazon. But it sports the Ryzen 6800H and 680M gpu. Which, according to the benchmarks is almost near identical in performance to the model shown in the video. My unit didn't have display port, but did have plenty of ports. It only had a 512GB hard drive and 16GB of RAM. But I can swap RAM if needed, and I have external hard drives. But for what I am using it for, it's specs are awesome. That CPU alone is a beast. Even though I am using it for music production and other such things, it plays Starcraft 2 and Heroes of the Storm perfectly on High settings.
Little late to that party, but it's the most honest review I've seen. I ended up with a Minisforum 7940HS version and got really lucky with no issues. Problem is, I'm yet to actually use it for anything but a desk piece.
For the price it costs it performs really well. I'd say for someone who likes to game here and there but doesn't want a bulky beast on their desk it's perfect!
I bought the Minis Forum 7735 with 680M graphics about 18 months ago for $500 and I think they are sub $400 now 32GB 500GB. Plenty of performance in the CPU. 780M is better but not massively better and I can OC the 680M graphics if I want and underclock the CPU for even more thermal headroom without blowing out the heat budget. Point being, it's 3-4 frames less for half the price as far as gaming goes. In my opinion, most people don't need this much CPU performance in a tiny box and would be better served with some kind of traditional desktop for commercial work...the beauty is this can approximate workstation loads in a tiny box. My MF 7735 has thunderbolt 4 so you can have external storage without degradation in the data speed, run more monitors. $400 or less.
The use case I can think of: LAN party. Just grab this PC over to your friend's house, assuming he has a spare monitor laying around. But this is probably designed for people who frequently travel. You can take this when you're going to convention so you can edit your footage in the convention and upload to UA-cam from nearby hotel.
If you get it on Sell and with Vouchers i say its not a bad deal and it uses Adapter so you can power it with a 19.5v battery to make a very good portable power house.
This would be great for creative professionals that don't require a dedicated gpu and don't want tp upgrade/swap out parts every year or so. It's also great for Emulation and plenty of indie pc games will run on high settings on this.
There's a solid use case for such machines as office boxes. It would work as a backup/junior DBA workstation (they often run in at £2k+) and lower specced ones (around half the price) are great for general office work. and allow for cables to be kept neat and out of the way (less chance of someone ripping the damn things out if they can't get to them). The VESA mounting is a nice extra, frees up desk space nicely.
This would be great for a van life or tiny home person, where space is at a premium. Would make a fairly usable PC that takes up virtually none of your limited space.
Nice Review. I think the main use case for a mini-PC like this is for someone wants to get into PC gaming (i.e. Counterstrike 2, DOTA 2, World of Warcraft, etc.) on a budget, have an 'playable' experience, and who also may have limited space in their dwelling. And since it's a PC, they can still use it for PC related activities (i.e. documents, coding, etc.). Laptops of equivalent specs still cost a bit more (by at least $200 USD more).
The only real benefits I can see to these mini pc’s is emulations for retro games, or in this computers case, it has enough power to use it as a dedicated streaming PC for multi pc streaming setups. Its small, easy to mount to the back of a monitor, and would be just right to have a capture car plugged into, and its powerful enough to skate with OBS with animations and custom stingers.
I have a befriended doctor who recently turned out to be a gamer and asked me for a laptop recommendation I have a decent Idea of his income and I don't think the price delta is gonna matter much to him, so I will definitely recommend him this pc and at least tell him to get more information on different mini pcs instead of a laptop Cheers and keep it up, love the content 💚
AS a mini PC, it seems great for a low to medium user, maybe even some office type stuff. Servicabily might be a bit of a limitation for office work, but I've put some of my former users on Intel NUCs and they generally liked it. Other than that, if you've got a backlog of games from 2015 and before you want to get through, this is a decent option if you don't want a similiarly speced laptop.
That's quite an impressively-performing darkish-greenish-blueish lil box you've acquired! I'm very impressed. I love watching your funny and informative videos! One question I've been meaning to ask: What system temp / performance overlay software do you use for your videos? I'd love to add it to my nerdly bench testing tool collection. Many thanks in advance!
The design for the power plug connector, clean arse windows install, pull tab to lift back plate.... lot of interesting manufacturing choices on display. @ 10:00 now, curious to find out the price. I'm guessing minimum 750$ CDN
Its $599 in US & its brand new so it will go down. I think these mini pcs are great & will be buying one in the next year. Right now just waiting for they right deal.
Let me know what you think the main use case is for this bad boy and if it’s worth the money.
imfast also nicc video bro awsome
Could be used on holidays when u have to go to your parent's house so u don't have to bring a whole ass pc
To my eyes it looks like its main use case is for home use, intermediate gaming, college use, etc. It's probably worth the money for that configuration you demonstrated.
Love you Dawid, i love your videos! Cheers from Slovenia
Have a very similar spec one of these for the father-in-law who uses it for browser based games and ingress game stuff . Which is perfect for him and only cost £249 on sale. Also dawid plz try put geforce now with these as it's perfect for that
"This tiny thingy is really fast" I've heard that somewhere....
That's was she keeps telling me...
@@NP_Commy thoughts exactly 🤣
You sir just won the internet.
I bet you have.
A racing track for mice. That's where I hear it all the time. But I keep betting on the wrong mouse, someone help me I'm addicted to betting on mouse racing.
Help
This was the first mini PC I reviewed, and honestly I think it spoiled me. They say you never forget your first…😢
Nice to find you here! I got on a similar bandwagon a few years back with an R7 4750G in an Asrock x300 and I am still pretty happy with what those little PCs can do. Nowhere near my 5900x/Rx6900xt desktop, but as a HTPC it's awesome. I love my little PC and it's fast enough even for some WarThunder, Fortnite or Skyrim. Anyone who's used it is at a loss with how much it can do given the size. These new SFF PCs must feel awesome!
Ah, Iceberg Tech comment at a Dawid video. The collab I will need to wait for...
I bought 4 of these little guys because of that review.
Minisforum corrupted me...
It would be even more awesome "if" the their was USB C/thunderbolt port for an external GPU. Has anyone tried this with this little guy?
Bought one of these mini pcs for my friend with a dead pc from the Jurassic age. To them it was like apeman discovers fire, they didnt even know that a chrome window can be launched without freezing the entire pc for a minute.
You're a good friend!
I wish I had friends like you 🥲
W friend
I got one for my 10 year old daughter as her first computer. It's perfect as a desktop for her homework, web browsing, and music etc, as well as letting her play Minecraft.
goated dad
She wont need another for a while.
The price though. I spent $150 more and built my daughter a decent gaming PC with a 3060 in it.
Is it as compact? I mean I think of this as a photographer, this is ideal, even for video. Take gaming out, it's a highly capable and compact PC, I'm sure it doesn't consume as much power either.@@whatjake7898
@@whatjake7898 form factor checks out, just 4 screws and its behind the monitor
@Dawid : To answer your question, this same brand of mini-PC was what I chose as an alternative to known brand (Dell, Lenovo, HP) mini-PCs for use on the shopfloor at our manufacturing plant. They cost less than the aformentionned products and perform much better. Paired with touch-screen monitors, this made possible the viewing of 3D technical designs at assembly stations.
Not all customers are individuals... and that kind of solution can be very useful in a corporate environment. In our case, I went for the SER5 series... which is already more than enough computing power and graphics power for our needs. They cost around 400$CAN. With a Dell touch-screen, I can equip one station for 1000$. That also means that when one of those dies from exposure to dust (which will happen eventually), it will be simple to just swap the SSD onto a new unit. The last piece of the puzzle is that we designed our own custom mounting bracket so that the mini-PC mounts to the monitor AND a monitor arm. One of those brackets, once laser cut by our supplier and power-coated in house comes-up to about 25$ a piece... which is short change in the grand scheme of things.😉
Can you also put some more cooling to the units or just the SSD to protect them from failure?
I mean, it should be easy if you already make custom parts for them.
@@BozesanVlad We don't re-engineer the devices themselves. We have no need for that in our case.
Actually, since they run in an industrial environment, that would most likely increase their failure rate from contamination (although our production floor is relativelely clean). In fact, the way we designed the brackets, they also protect the mini-PC from dust being deposited on them, leaving them only exposed to dust that is being sucked through the intake of the device. So far, we have a lower failure rate than anticipated for those devices... so my choice really paid-off.
Note: Beelink's customer support is... weird at best. But I got one unit replaced under warranty (DOA). Just be prepared to wait for a bit before you get a replacement device.
To be fair, it probably performs better than any prebuilt you'd get for the same price which automatically makes it a better choice given its size.
You can upgrade a prebuilt. Not that I'm suggesting anyone in the universe buy a prebuilt, but your flippant enthusiasm may misdirect a new buyer into thinking this can replace a desktop computer (which it can, as long as you're okay with not being able to upgrade anything except the ram and storage. And it'll always run at the same temperature, no cooling options unless you strap on a Coorel(TM)
@@Boogie_the_cat Should be:
Coorel(DDTS)
😃
@@Boogie_the_cat so basically any one who wants a laptop that doesn't come with a monitor and keyboard
@@Boogie_the_cat true. I'm more thinking along the lines of something for if you have a second monitor and don't want to waste any of your current desktop's resources. Probably should have put that in my original comment
Ppl should embrace used parts too tho cuz you can get really good performance for dirt cheap as I've gotten my Rx 6600 ( that were only 5 months old ) for $95...it was really cheap considering the GPU in 2022 - 23 usually cost about $160+ new
I have recently purchased this same PC and configuration. I’m very pleased thus far. Using it as a console emulator and home theater PC.
It immediately gets plus points from me for the charm of that "Hello" waiting for you when you open up the box.
my dad bought one of those beelink systems to use as a Developer and they're surprisingly solid. He has one with lower specs but the little machine is a beast. For the price almost feels like a steal because it was a lot of PC for just $270. This one seems like almost a little workstation that you can ocasionally game in it.
5.26 amps at 19V, so basically 100W (99.94W). The voltage information makes the Amps actually informative. Nice video!
that is above average for sure!
More than mini-ITX is a waste!
I bought this exact model but in silver. I use it as my HTPC for my TV. When my nephew visits he uses it as a decently capable gaming device as well. All around a great buy!
Igpus have come so far I wish my childhood pc could've ran games like these new computers do
u can upgrade for cheap through market places i got so much good hardware within a week
on the dutch market place for non business people and i got deff 90% profit out of my purchases
and with that i can build 3/5 nearly high end gaming builds :P just know how to talk and they sell cheap
As a little PC that have the footprint of a fly, being that powerful is really neat. The ratio of power/footprint makes good for a little multitasking office for game, render small videos, some relatively heavy stuff..etc
You literally can put it behind a monitor.
The interor is superb. I still have a problem with the unnecessariness of the magnetic power cable but it's a really neat little system.
I'm loving these little mini PCs. So many applications and use cases for home and travel. Value for performance is getting close to perfect as well
I have sold a number of Beelink and the identical Trigkey mini PC's for office use. They are fantastic!
Usually in the flavor of Ryzen 5800H or 5700U or 5600something...
Solid little computers.
I’m connecting a Beelink SER 5 to a 4070ti this weekend because it’s completely unnecessary.
That's what I'm talking about. No guts no glory! @@dauntae24
I've debated picking up the 5600 beelink for a living room retroarch machine.
I got one of these to replace an ancient tower system that finally died. With plenty of ports in the back, it was basically a drop in replacement, including line out for the speakers. It's so small that it literally fits in the space between the surface of the desk and the lower edge of my monitor, which really opened up a lot of desk space. And, the iGPU is capable enough that I can do light gaming.
I bought one of these beelink minipcs as a software development "workstation". Triple 4k display was the selling point for me, along with good specs and form factor.
Hi from Vancouver :)
Seems like a more suitable use case. I just got an Orange Pi 5 Plus to use as an educational/dev machine. I'm taking a cybersec course and will be learning Python and Rust this year. I don't have top of the line x86 mini-PC money. x86 is on its deathbed anyway. The huge upswing in CPU power consumption over the past couple of generations means that we are close to hitting the wall. MS is going full bore with Windows on ARM and AMD and intel are starting to look at developing ARM CPUs for the consumer market. In another couple of years, gaming on ARM will be a reality and we'll start seeing consumer ARM desktop CPUs. The desktop PC isn't going anywhere anytime soon for gamers and power users.
I'd imagine the used case for this is something for someone who is a bit of a minimalist, or just someone who is looking to have a computer somewhere where they do not have a lot of space. Maybe like a HTPC, and keep it in plain sight, but also out of the way at the same time. Or maybe for someone who is trying to setup a home network, and they want to use these at a thin client, meanwhile they have all of the files being stored on some type of a file server. IDK, that would be about all of my personal uses anyway.
I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of these things, maybe more (for one or more of the reasons listed previously). What you are getting for the price is about spot on IMO. This is a bit of a "specialty" item, so you are going to spend a little more on it, vs building a full sized PC with similar specs.
Thanks for the video, Dawid! Cheers!
I got one of those for video editing a couple months ago. They’re very good for the money. A real powerhouse considering the small form factor.
I got a Beelink mini PC for my mother's birthday last year. It's the model with the 5560U in it. For her casual use, it's absolutely amazing for the price.
"HDD DISK" labeling for the m.2 nvme slot is priceless
Some of these mini's are pretty incredible. I get tempted every once in a while. The price is a put off, but it's understandable.
I recently purchased this exact same mini PC. It was on a lightning deal with an additional $50 off coupon. Brought it down to $533.20. I've been using it as a multimedia PC. It also works as one heckuva retro emulator system. Handling PS3 games. All the while, staying nice and cool. Even with setting Performance mode, 64W, in the BIOS. Additionally, setting the iGPU VRAM from the default of 4gb to 8gb helps a bit with games too. The fact that it comes with Crucial RAM and a Crucial P3 Plus m.2, is totally insane for this price.
IF you remove the crucial parts.. that must at least be like a 250 usd.
533 usd for this..... maybe i understand the portability part but. ... why
What do you mean "Mini"? Looks huge to me. Probably has a great personality too.
Personality 💀
That's what she said
Hahahhaha, love this comment
Like throwing a MicroATX down a server rack
They're perfect for homelabs. 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 64GB RAM, 2 x NVMe slots. That's a lot of VMs you can run on 60W for $1000. The other solution for homelabs is older hardware, and spending $1000 on a last gen server might get you more RAM, but it'll also get you about 500W of power draw
the price seem very reasonable for the power you're getting
and the smalll form factor that you can just pack in your backpack - that's where this thing shines
I freaking love these kinds of smoll PCs, you get a pretty good specs and you got all the space in your room!
Beelink and Minisforum with AMD inside are really good machines. This is a nice little system.
I am really digging this little machine! This performed amazingly well in my view. I would love one!
After watching ETA Prime cover a literal TON of these little tiny PC's it's nice to see Dawid cover one once again. These little guys really are interesting, I want to say about as interesting as the absolute avalanche of handheld PC's over the last few years now since the Steam Deck came out really. The fact you can upgrade these little guys "somewhat" well, is still a notch above SFF PC's I've seen over the years. Hope to see more sooner rather than later Dawid :D
I bought one of these some months ago with an almost identical configuration (an SER-6) and I thought it was too much to pay. I had it for a few days and thought about sending it back, but I decided I really liked it and just put Linux on it. It's an outstanding little computer, one of the best I've ever owned.
TBF, this is one of the best miniPCs I’ve ever seen.
Honestly if I wanted a reasonably powerful PC that I can just mount behind my monitor this would be a great choice. Would offer a clean setup for a home office.
NUCs like this are bloody excellent for giving to family who don't want the full bulky desktop look or experience, or for students who might not have room in their dorms. They're also great for black magic rituals.
Excellent video Dawid. Keep 'em coming.
Thanks for all your videos Dawid. I've learned so much from you. Please keep up the good work
The typical use case would be
1. business/office desktop directly attached to the monitor (mail, browser, excel, word, 1 business app like SAP client)
2. home users who want a "clean" look on their desk
3. a commuting scenario where a desktop setup exists on each location. A similar laptop would cost more and has only equal or less performance (wattage limit over time to not burn your lap and hands). Also the monitor/mouse/keyboard of the laptop would not be needed
This looks like a fantastic little office/mixed-usage PC for the money. Its got enough chops it should be able to do the vast majority of day to day tasks with that level of RAM, CPU and storage, and the fact the IGPU is fast enough to actually game a bit is a bonus, and means it should be perfectly capable for video decode and the likes.
It's so confusing to me when people question if a game is "playable" when they're getting WAY higher than 10 FPS.
Nicely done! Glad to see you reviewing some of these mini PCs. Get your hands on a Minisforum EM780. That'll blow your mind!
I have the SER6 Max 6900HX model and its fantastic, got the GPD G1 eGPU to go with it as well. Got it hooked up to my TV when I want to play games from my bed, its crazy how powerful it is.
Never accept technology that fails the smell test.
I've had my SER7 for almost two months now. No complaints, been playing Diablo 4 without issue. it also has a Boutique feel to it and I love the bare essentials windows install.
I agree with comments about going minimalist with something that is “good enough”. I personally just bought a Miniforum similar to this and I’ve built a much more powerful pc in the past with a 3080. I went with the Miniforum just for the access to OCulink port. I don’t NEED a beefy GPU for the graphical levels I’m okay with gaming at now (thanks Steam Deck) but it’s nice to know that I can get an eGPU upgrade if I decide I “need” it someday.
But that’s being said, minimalism and flexibility comes at a price that not everyone can afford or want to pay for. It’s nice that we have so many options based on your budget and use case!
This looks great for an HTPC. With the powerful CPU/GPU and 2.5Gbit LAN you can very easily playback 4K HDR videos from a NAS. I currently use a DeskMeet X300 with a 5600X and RX6600 to do this exact thing, so, to me this little Beelink is actually quite a great alternative option.
I purchased a MINISFORUM HX77G last fall. It looks like it has been discontinued, but similar units are available. With its discrete mobile GPU, it can put out a TimeSpy benchmark score of around 8200. This Beelink unit's TimeSpy score is around 3200. So if you are looking for a tiny living room gaming PC, one with a discrete graphics chip is the way to go.
This Tiny little guy was able to embarrass basically 70% of the PCs/Laptops that you have covered so far along with offering a better price point. Truly the definition of, *Size doesn’t matter.*
BABE come quick Dawid just uploaded I know you've been waiting for ages
"Vaseline in the eyes" made me laugh more than i should
i would love to see a deticated gpu using some kind of adapter with this little beast to see it's ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE 🔥
There's a different brand, Minisforum that has same spec-ed mini PC with Oculink port that takes the second M2. It performs better than the Thunderbolt 4 eGPUs. and the enclosure is less than 100bucks. it does need a power supply tho, for the discreet gpu
this is a really cool little pc, in a few years when you can pick one up for 250 bucks it would be great as a second pc for watching videos and surfing the web
Why do you need a second PC for watching videos / surfing?
@@alexanderpushkin2094 i have one already and i run linux on it, i see no ads and i get no virus's from popular websites no spy ware no scams or all the other crap that screws up your windows pc. i use that one for gaming only and i can watch twitch while playing the game.
I'd say use case is relatively good/great performance for both its price and size.
Mini PCs are getting better every year while also becoming cheaper, probably because of them producing/selling more, they're becoming less of a niche product, which is great for cost.
i like that "notice me senpai" at the beginning.
dawid is evolving from the waifus domain.
I found this video too late to comment, but anyway : with maxed out ram, an aditional NVME Disk and a couple of monitors, it'll be a VERY NICE linux dev station, to work on web /desktop development. Cool machine. I could easily Imagine a bunch of those in the backs of monitors .in a devs floor, saving money on electricity and space, and as you mentioned, in noise. a good monitor and you have a very nice all-in-oneish computer.
The miniPC market is getting good! I can see people slapping these on the back of their monitors for "All-In-One" setup you can upgrade.
Any ENDEV or EDIDEV files on it? or is it safe to buy?
attach it using the vesa mount to the back of a tv and use it for movie streaming, locally stored movie watching. If you use wireless peripherals it would be a very clean looking setup
it's just pointlessly expensive for that, you can do it for cheaper.
@@kirby1225 I know it can be done for WAY cheaper. I was just suggesting a single use case.
I bought one of these exact same PC's to make my kids an emulator box for Christmas. It's a great little PC. It emulates switch fantastically and plays any new PC game. The WiFi and Bluetooth get massive interference though. I had to get external adapters for both.
I have the previous gen, and I can play Destiny 2 on it at OK settings at 1080p. It's not blowing me away, but gives me the option to game at another location. Which is why I got the computer in the first place, as a 2nd PC in a workshop that doesn't take up a lot of space.
Beelink has been making some pretty nice mini PC systems as of late. I've got two of their somewhat mid level systems for about $150 each. If you plan on reinstalling Windows, be sure to pull off the drivers directory located in the root of the C: drive. Makes it easy to restore the system later if you want to explore other OS options. For a consumer, I could see a $800 mini PC being useful for LAN game nights. Instead of lugging a 50 pound machine around, use that mini PC instead. IMO, mini PCs are better as always-on backoffice headless systems that sip wall power until needed for a heavy workload. A render farm, application compiler/QA automation testing farm, a remote VM host, etc.
What is this sorcery!?!?! I'm willing to bet some form of this tech is going straight into the Steam Deck 2 and the upcoming clone handheld devices.
It already is. The CPU it has, the 7840HS, is almost identical to the Z1 Extreme in the ROG ally and Lenovo Legion Go, only difference is it’s got some AI stuff, and a bit higher clock speeds.
wow mini pcs are expensive. not available where i am but maybe have to wait a few years anyway before i can justify such a price.
Wow. This little thing is amazing. Wish list updated
I think price to specs is quite good on that thing (don't forget RAM and storage), and then it's also, well, small!
The damn Titan Army monitor has become a mainstay for this channel lmao
It can be used in offices with medium to heavy loads. A great office PC can be easily hidden under a desk or behind the monitors or it can be a really good HT pc to hook up with Projector/TV.
Which leads to this mini-pc to being useless Ewaste
I just purchased, this past week, the BOSGAME H68 Mini PC for $480 CAD, before taxes, using the $300 off coupon on Amazon. But it sports the Ryzen 6800H and 680M gpu. Which, according to the benchmarks is almost near identical in performance to the model shown in the video. My unit didn't have display port, but did have plenty of ports. It only had a 512GB hard drive and 16GB of RAM. But I can swap RAM if needed, and I have external hard drives. But for what I am using it for, it's specs are awesome. That CPU alone is a beast. Even though I am using it for music production and other such things, it plays Starcraft 2 and Heroes of the Storm perfectly on High settings.
Little late to that party, but it's the most honest review I've seen. I ended up with a Minisforum 7940HS version and got really lucky with no issues. Problem is, I'm yet to actually use it for anything but a desk piece.
For the price it costs it performs really well. I'd say for someone who likes to game here and there but doesn't want a bulky beast on their desk it's perfect!
Wow that is the best looking mini pc I've seen. Looks on par with a Mac mini, but upgradeable!!! That's great!
I bought the Minis Forum 7735 with 680M graphics about 18 months ago for $500 and I think they are sub $400 now 32GB 500GB. Plenty of performance in the CPU. 780M is better but not massively better and I can OC the 680M graphics if I want and underclock the CPU for even more thermal headroom without blowing out the heat budget. Point being, it's 3-4 frames less for half the price as far as gaming goes. In my opinion, most people don't need this much CPU performance in a tiny box and would be better served with some kind of traditional desktop for commercial work...the beauty is this can approximate workstation loads in a tiny box. My MF 7735 has thunderbolt 4 so you can have external storage without degradation in the data speed, run more monitors. $400 or less.
The use case I can think of: LAN party. Just grab this PC over to your friend's house, assuming he has a spare monitor laying around.
But this is probably designed for people who frequently travel. You can take this when you're going to convention so you can edit your footage in the convention and upload to UA-cam from nearby hotel.
If you get it on Sell and with Vouchers i say its not a bad deal and it uses Adapter so you can power it with a 19.5v battery to make a very good portable power house.
This would be great for creative professionals that don't require a dedicated gpu and don't want tp upgrade/swap out parts every year or so.
It's also great for Emulation and plenty of indie pc games will run on high settings on this.
There's a solid use case for such machines as office boxes. It would work as a backup/junior DBA workstation (they often run in at £2k+) and lower specced ones (around half the price) are great for general office work. and allow for cables to be kept neat and out of the way (less chance of someone ripping the damn things out if they can't get to them). The VESA mounting is a nice extra, frees up desk space nicely.
That performance at that price is a freakin steal. Even if you didn't count the size and convenience, that thing is awesome.
long time viewer, recent subscriber. whenever i want to see an interesting tech video while enjoying a few chuckles, i tune in. thanks!
The quest for Dawid - mini ITX build with Ryzen 8700G APU
In the US it's actually on sale for $599 right now so I think that's a little better than the $729 price tag than normally is
This would be great for a van life or tiny home person, where space is at a premium. Would make a fairly usable PC that takes up virtually none of your limited space.
Damn thats a sick little mini pc, love that there are 2 m.2 slots. If m.2 was cheaper this would make for a great HTPC
I love everything about this... except for the power adapter plug-in. What happens when the adapter goes caput? Looks pretty proprietary to me.
That is not as bad of a price at all for what you're getting. That is a thing of beauty.
These guys seem to know what they're doing damn well, it's spec'd out well, is made with quality in mind, and doesn't seem to cut corners.
I'm pretty impressed with the gaming performance for the size! And the fact that it has replaceable ram is a huge plus!
Car PC would be the way to go
Nice Review. I think the main use case for a mini-PC like this is for someone wants to get into PC gaming (i.e. Counterstrike 2, DOTA 2, World of Warcraft, etc.) on a budget, have an 'playable' experience, and who also may have limited space in their dwelling. And since it's a PC, they can still use it for PC related activities (i.e. documents, coding, etc.). Laptops of equivalent specs still cost a bit more (by at least $200 USD more).
Great little rig!
The only real benefits I can see to these mini pc’s is emulations for retro games, or in this computers case, it has enough power to use it as a dedicated streaming PC for multi pc streaming setups. Its small, easy to mount to the back of a monitor, and would be just right to have a capture car plugged into, and its powerful enough to skate with OBS with animations and custom stingers.
Brilliant idea for working away from home and continuing your game, especially strategies like FM24, F1 23 Manager and Crusader Kings 3 !!!
I have a befriended doctor who recently turned out to be a gamer and asked me for a laptop recommendation
I have a decent Idea of his income and I don't think the price delta is gonna matter much to him, so I will definitely recommend him this pc and at least tell him to get more information on different mini pcs instead of a laptop
Cheers and keep it up, love the content 💚
That is the cutest little fan I've ever seen, and boy I tell ya what, Ive seen ALOT of fans.
AS a mini PC, it seems great for a low to medium user, maybe even some office type stuff.
Servicabily might be a bit of a limitation for office work, but I've put some of my former users on Intel NUCs and they generally liked it.
Other than that, if you've got a backlog of games from 2015 and before you want to get through, this is a decent option if you don't want a similiarly speced laptop.
That's quite an impressively-performing darkish-greenish-blueish lil box you've acquired! I'm very impressed. I love watching your funny and informative videos! One question I've been meaning to ask: What system temp / performance overlay software do you use for your videos? I'd love to add it to my nerdly bench testing tool collection. Many thanks in advance!
That overlay looks like riva tuner statistics server, which comes with MSI afterburner.
I think the Type-C USB4 ports support 100W power delivery, so you don't have to use their funky magnet connector power supply to power the minipc.
The design for the power plug connector, clean arse windows install, pull tab to lift back plate.... lot of interesting manufacturing choices on display. @ 10:00 now, curious to find out the price. I'm guessing minimum 750$ CDN
Its $599 in US & its brand new so it will go down. I think these mini pcs are great & will be buying one in the next year. Right now just waiting for they right deal.