Thank you for reviewing our product. Your thoughts and feedback on the GEEKOM mini PC are highly valuable and help us improve. By the way, your daughter is so adorable. Wish you and your family a happy new year!
It was a pleasure, really. I was very curious particularly about Fusion 360 - and it works fine! For myself, the Air12 would be even better - but for my daughter, everything she is doing on the Lite works great.
WOW! Didn't know it's so powerful and yet consumes so little power! Maybe it'd be even better than my 15 year old Dell with a couple of upgrades! Haha... Also, I see Sophie grew up even more, she now even designs stuff on her own! Maybe not like daddy designs on Fusion 360, but it's still a start. Right, how could I forget, a Super Thanks! Your videos always make me smile, and each time I see you upload a new video I immediately click on it.
Wow, thank you! ❤️ Yes! Kids grow up so fast! Sophie is a constant reminder that time is ticking, that I should make the most out of every day (very often I don’t, ha ha ha). If you have a very old Dell, you would be impressed - but get at least the Air 12 (not the lite), since it comes with 16GB of RAM and 512 of SSD. It makes a very usable computer even for mildly serious usage. Of course, there are much faster MiniPCs for a higher price. I am very convinced about the form factor when you screw it at the back of the monitor - by the way, now I realized I didn’t include in the video: the fit between the MiniPC and the Vesa Plate was very satisfying… There is always a bunch of stuff that I record and doesn’t end up on the video - sliding in the VESA mount should have been included 🤷♂️😅 Happy 2025, Sentry!
I've been recommending mini pcs over Raspberry Pis, since the cost of a RPi fully configured is more than the cost of a mini pc these days. And, as you noted, an N100 is 2-3x faster than an RPi5. Plus its architecture is x84-64, so compatible with proprietary apps if needed, a rarity with AARCH64.
Many things are happening. The company got 2 patents granted in the US and they filed a 3rd continuation of the patent (every time making the patent stronger and broader). This 3rd application was still in evaluation and because of the video the examiners finally looked in the old Stratasys 1995 patent - and it is stalling the approval of this 3rd one. Also, the company filed a patent in Europe - and many people added 3rd party observations, so, it is possible that the patent in Europe will not be approved in the same way (at least not for the Hexagonal patterns). All of this deserves a video - it’s coming soon. The patent videos take a lot of time to do properly in an interesting way.
That’s cool! Enjoy! The benchmarks are useful to compare different machines - but to me what matters is having a grip on how it feels in practice when I do real tasks. Every person would do different things their computers, so, it’s hard to generalize. Example: I never realize how much Slicing relies on memory. Not having enough RAM will impact a lot in slicing. And if you have a faster RAM chip can be a good edge. Each program will be more influenced by a certain aspect.
@@GeekDetour proxmox is more or less a Linux server interface, you can use Helper-scripts to get the LXC containers running [there is a entire community that makes and maintains these]. For server/commercial use its paid, but if you are a home-user its essentially free [you do get the no-subscription-nag] but there are alternatives to get rid of this nag. Some of my LXC containers include:: Adguard [speaks for itself] wireguard [VPN tunnel] [my router has Wireguard options as well, so not really using this one yet] Dockge [docker with visual interface] [I use it to read out my smart-meter's P1-port, which I previously did with a RPI4, its also tied to Home-assistant, so I have said values in HASS] Metube [youtube downloader] Docker [regular docker without visual interface] 2Fauth [locally run 2FA authenticator] Since the N100 is soo low power, most of the programs I use barely use 5% CPU and 3/16gb of ram. Most of it is just Install-ONCE, then leave it running in the background, unless you need to make some changes You can even run other things in it, like: Octoprint [3d print-server] Home-assistant [docker/vm mode is more limited, and you might have issues with the Zigbee coordinator], so its better to run it standalone for better use. [it also saves troubleshooting proxmox when you have issues] You can even install Linux VM's on it, if your kids want to learn Linux/python code. and since its a VM, it doesn't matter if they kill the system, since its ISOLATED, and easily removed/reverted to a previous state. hope this gives a bit better understanding of Proxmox.
I know it's a sponsored video and all but I really don't find it "surprising" that a modern mini PC can beat a machine from 11 years ago, especially one priced by Apple, and be 1/10th the price. Also with the laptop comparison you need to take into account that you also need to buy monitors, keyboard and mouse. These N100 mini PCs are awesome though and I own few from plenty of manufacturers and use them everyday for my Linux needs!
There is a psychological aspect that explains my surprise: I didn’t buy a new machine for 10 years - I bought the best thing I could pay (the iMac i7) and it served me so well (it still does). But of course, it is finally reaching its physical limits (it is starting to crash every few days). So, for auxiliary tasks (slicing, laser cutting), I got pleasantly and honestly surprised with a 200USD machine that provides the same performance (and using a 1/10 of the energy!!!) For my new main computer I really will need a new Mac because to me Final Cut is worth the price of the machine. Now, I am curious about your favorite MiniPC and what are your Linux needs.
@@GeekDetour My favourite one? Got to be Minisforum S100! Not because it is actually a good PC, it's really not, but because it is about the size of a USB hub while having that same N100 processor. This does mean that the thermals are awful and performance will be a lot lower but it is an impressive piece of engineering non the less! 😂 My usual Linux needs in the other hand mainly include running Proxmox (Linux operating system designed to run multiple other operating systems inside it) which I use to host my PiHole (network wide adblocker) and Jellyfin (a personal media server, think of like Netflix, but for stuff you own). I even have one mini PC setup as my router!
Yeah, German! It is quite impressive! Imagine that these tiny boxes can be screwed on the back of the monitor and leave all the desks free. Also, on average the computer uses only 10W!
I bought a creality print. When I found I do like to print things, I bought a Beelink N5105... 16 GB of RAM (2x8GB) and I use it with fusion 360, with orca or cura, and it works just fine! I can not create a complex thing or something full of details on fusion 360, but it work with every print I have done up today... I saw the miniature and yelled "yes you can use it!" 😂
Excellent video, technology progression (and marketing) has really distorted the notion of what kind of performance one can expect from hardware of in other words, what kind of hardware the software really needs. Also, a while back i bought and OEM office 2021 for about 30usd. This license does not expire, the software works offline and is associated with my outlook account so I can ditch the while Windows installation and reinstall in a new SSD or computer. Look around, you might find single-installation keys for even cheaper.
The N100 is a brilliant chip, similarly to the N95 (same, but I think it’s an imperfect one with a couple of gpu cores disabled and drawing more power) and I really like them. I have one N100 that runs Home Assistant, a N95 for Plex, and another N100 acting as NAS with Open Media Vault. They all work great with Linux! I don’t have experience with Geekom ones, but overall the hardware is mostly the same for everyone, so it’s down to choices like upgradable components and so on. The Home Assistant one has 12gb of very fast DDR5 soldered to the board, the Plex and NAS are the same model (aside from the cpu) and the ram can be upgraded. Anyway, all really nice stuff, and you missed a very important point! As you can imagine from my use with Plex… those chips have great hardware video decoding.
What a great comment! Lots of cool information! You are right: I left a lot of cool stuff out of the video… it would become super long. Not only excellent video decoding by hardware, but also ENCODING! All the video capture while I was using the MiniPC was done on the MiniPC itself and we barely notice any performance difference. Intel did a really great job with this chip 👍 I should have mentioned the display port as well, the fact we can plug two monitors in 4k… or having fullhd at 120Hz… it’s a big list of cool things.
I use a used mini-pc, HP EliteDesk 705 G2 purchased at a garage sale for $2.50US, in the garage where the printers are located and slicing is much slower with it than with my desktop. But on the whole I'm fine with it performance since I don't need walk back to the office to make slicing changes. I do run Docker Desktop and with a few containers and I have not notices any loss of performance. Have not tried running Fusion since that would require that I log out of Fusion on my workstation.
The point entirely! For my CO2 laser machine I don’t need anything faster than this. It’s just perfect 👌 I am pretty sure for CNC machines it’s just the same.
I do design stuff and slice for 3d printing on my Mini-PC ... but I also 3D printed my Mini-PC case, so that I can have a fully fanless Mini-PC with a solid mid range ryzen 7640U processor ;)
Actually, it surprised me that Slicing was quite heavy on both CPU and RAM - more than CAD (for not so much complex projects). Lightburn for vector is quite light.
I really miss your videos about iPhones and Macs, but i guess you have moved on. I also have one of those n100 based mini pcs, they are great, much better than a arm boards, in my opinion the best mini pcs are from hardkernel
From the title, I thought this was about literally 3D printing *on* the PC Turns out it's *using* the PC to do 3D printing, etc. Hint: size isn't everything. It's what's inside that counts.
It means I was right to not make the thumbnail placing the MiniPC inside of the 3D Printer - it would have been even more confusing 🤣 Well, not for everything, sure, but size it’s definitely not power, always.
Running Linux on it might be a very good idea for servers or to run Klipper - but I am not so sure if Linux would be so much faster as a Desktop - I’ll explain: it really depends on the drivers supporting all the hardware, specially the GPU, and video decoding AND ENCODING that the N100 has, which I am quite happy to see in this chip. I love Linux, though ❤️
AMD Ryzen 3 7320U laptop at 270 dollars 37.7 % fast. And you are so out of touch comparing a 11 year old mac is crazy also 6 seconds is too long for a Normal beachy my PC that has 8 year old hardware takes less than a second.
You are absolutely right! I am using the same old computers for quite a LONG TIME - so, yes! Very out of touch. I find it very impressive for the price ❤️ I suppose this video is for old folks like me that are missing out on getting something super new, very affordable, to be dedicated little computers (like I will do for my laser machine).
I would not call him out of touch, it was just bit of a weird comparison that's all! We aren't all buying and building PCs every year or following the tech news 24/7
@@GeekDetour Says the guy with 130K subs and only 5k views on the video. Nice job, really interesting to see how this video is performing compared to your others... Don't understand what my knowledge of video editing has to do with anything, but you do you. I never said it wasn't heavily edited, just implying that it was garbage and unnecessarily long (full of fluff/filler) to answer a simple yes or no question, which, quite frankly, didn't need to be asked in the first place.
I'm actually a little bit unimpressed by the power of that thing. If you look at a CPU benchmark, it's pulling about 5k. My Dell XPS 12 from 2012 years ago did that and pulled 35w from the wall. I have a Vytru Mini PC from 8 years ago that smokes that thing (9k CPU benchmark / 8 gb ram / 64 GB SSD) that was $200. It does use a massive 24w of power though.
What is the benchmark for your Dell and the Vytru? 🤔 Yeah, I saw Mini PCs with the N100 costing 150, sometimes less - but with very plasticky cases. EVERY design choice (number of ports, type of cooling, if there is metal shielding or not…) influences the price of these little machines and they will roughly have the same performance. I liked what I saw inside of the Geekom: how it has metal passive cooling for the SSD, the base is metal and I liked the quality of the VESA mount (it had a very good smooth and yet firm fit when sliding in to the plate). But as the performance is basically the same, when you buy it 25% cheaper, well, you are getting “25% more performance for your buck”. But you see: you got just 64GB SSD for the same price - that to me would be a deal breaker as a general computer (not a problem if you buy it to be a single-task appliance). This Mini PC I didn’t buy (they sent me for reviewing). But I bought the Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse - and I will buy a complete set for myself to use with the Laser Machine (but I will buy the bigger brother: the Air 12 that comes with 16GB Ram and 512GB SSD and it costs like 50 bucks more and it is worth it).
Thank you for reviewing our product. Your thoughts and feedback on the GEEKOM mini PC are highly valuable and help us improve. By the way, your daughter is so adorable. Wish you and your family a happy new year!
It was a pleasure, really. I was very curious particularly about Fusion 360 - and it works fine! For myself, the Air12 would be even better - but for my daughter, everything she is doing on the Lite works great.
I am so impressed on how efficient such a small machine can be!! Great video!
WOW! Didn't know it's so powerful and yet consumes so little power! Maybe it'd be even better than my 15 year old Dell with a couple of upgrades! Haha...
Also, I see Sophie grew up even more, she now even designs stuff on her own! Maybe not like daddy designs on Fusion 360, but it's still a start.
Right, how could I forget, a Super Thanks! Your videos always make me smile, and each time I see you upload a new video I immediately click on it.
Wow, thank you! ❤️ Yes! Kids grow up so fast! Sophie is a constant reminder that time is ticking, that I should make the most out of every day (very often I don’t, ha ha ha).
If you have a very old Dell, you would be impressed - but get at least the Air 12 (not the lite), since it comes with 16GB of RAM and 512 of SSD. It makes a very usable computer even for mildly serious usage. Of course, there are much faster MiniPCs for a higher price. I am very convinced about the form factor when you screw it at the back of the monitor - by the way, now I realized I didn’t include in the video: the fit between the MiniPC and the Vesa Plate was very satisfying… There is always a bunch of stuff that I record and doesn’t end up on the video - sliding in the VESA mount should have been included 🤷♂️😅 Happy 2025, Sentry!
I've been recommending mini pcs over Raspberry Pis, since the cost of a RPi fully configured is more than the cost of a mini pc these days. And, as you noted, an N100 is 2-3x faster than an RPi5. Plus its architecture is x84-64, so compatible with proprietary apps if needed, a rarity with AARCH64.
Exactly! It’s my first mini pc and I was reeeeally impressed.
Same, and if you underclock the N100 its energy-usage drops to around 9W total. 12W peaks
compared to 9-12W with 15W peaks.
From the thumbnail I thought this video was going to use the mini pc as a replacement print surface for the 3d printer :D
What happened with the brick layers patent issue?
Many things are happening. The company got 2 patents granted in the US and they filed a 3rd continuation of the patent (every time making the patent stronger and broader). This 3rd application was still in evaluation and because of the video the examiners finally looked in the old Stratasys 1995 patent - and it is stalling the approval of this 3rd one. Also, the company filed a patent in Europe - and many people added 3rd party observations, so, it is possible that the patent in Europe will not be approved in the same way (at least not for the Hexagonal patterns). All of this deserves a video - it’s coming soon. The patent videos take a lot of time to do properly in an interesting way.
They sent me one too 🤣 I have it 18 hours into a stress test.
That’s cool! Enjoy! The benchmarks are useful to compare different machines - but to me what matters is having a grip on how it feels in practice when I do real tasks. Every person would do different things their computers, so, it’s hard to generalize. Example: I never realize how much Slicing relies on memory. Not having enough RAM will impact a lot in slicing. And if you have a faster RAM chip can be a good edge. Each program will be more influenced by a certain aspect.
I love these Intel N100 mini-PC's
Have 2 myself
1 for home-assistant [stand-alone]
1 for proxmox [variety of containers, so its multi-functional]
Wow, you do containers with it? In Linux? Tell me more about the containers and what you do with them!
@@GeekDetour proxmox is more or less a Linux server interface, you can use Helper-scripts to get the LXC containers running [there is a entire community that makes and maintains these].
For server/commercial use its paid, but if you are a home-user its essentially free [you do get the no-subscription-nag] but there are alternatives to get rid of this nag.
Some of my LXC containers include::
Adguard [speaks for itself]
wireguard [VPN tunnel] [my router has Wireguard options as well, so not really using this one yet]
Dockge [docker with visual interface] [I use it to read out my smart-meter's P1-port, which I previously did with a RPI4, its also tied to Home-assistant, so I have said values in HASS]
Metube [youtube downloader]
Docker [regular docker without visual interface]
2Fauth [locally run 2FA authenticator]
Since the N100 is soo low power, most of the programs I use barely use 5% CPU and 3/16gb of ram.
Most of it is just Install-ONCE, then leave it running in the background, unless you need to make some changes
You can even run other things in it, like:
Octoprint [3d print-server]
Home-assistant [docker/vm mode is more limited, and you might have issues with the Zigbee coordinator], so its better to run it standalone for better use. [it also saves troubleshooting proxmox when you have issues]
You can even install Linux VM's on it, if your kids want to learn Linux/python code.
and since its a VM, it doesn't matter if they kill the system, since its ISOLATED, and easily removed/reverted to a previous state.
hope this gives a bit better understanding of Proxmox.
I know it's a sponsored video and all but I really don't find it "surprising" that a modern mini PC can beat a machine from 11 years ago, especially one priced by Apple, and be 1/10th the price. Also with the laptop comparison you need to take into account that you also need to buy monitors, keyboard and mouse. These N100 mini PCs are awesome though and I own few from plenty of manufacturers and use them everyday for my Linux needs!
There is a psychological aspect that explains my surprise: I didn’t buy a new machine for 10 years - I bought the best thing I could pay (the iMac i7) and it served me so well (it still does). But of course, it is finally reaching its physical limits (it is starting to crash every few days). So, for auxiliary tasks (slicing, laser cutting), I got pleasantly and honestly surprised with a 200USD machine that provides the same performance (and using a 1/10 of the energy!!!) For my new main computer I really will need a new Mac because to me Final Cut is worth the price of the machine.
Now, I am curious about your favorite MiniPC and what are your Linux needs.
@@GeekDetour My favourite one? Got to be Minisforum S100! Not because it is actually a good PC, it's really not, but because it is about the size of a USB hub while having that same N100 processor. This does mean that the thermals are awful and performance will be a lot lower but it is an impressive piece of engineering non the less! 😂
My usual Linux needs in the other hand mainly include running Proxmox (Linux operating system designed to run multiple other operating systems inside it) which I use to host my PiHole (network wide adblocker) and Jellyfin (a personal media server, think of like Netflix, but for stuff you own). I even have one mini PC setup as my router!
We had similar ideas.
I'm surprised It worked so well!
Great video!
Yeah, German! It is quite impressive! Imagine that these tiny boxes can be screwed on the back of the monitor and leave all the desks free. Also, on average the computer uses only 10W!
I bought a creality print. When I found I do like to print things, I bought a Beelink N5105... 16 GB of RAM (2x8GB) and I use it with fusion 360, with orca or cura, and it works just fine! I can not create a complex thing or something full of details on fusion 360, but it work with every print I have done up today... I saw the miniature and yelled "yes you can use it!" 😂
Yeah, 16GB is really recommended. But I wanted to check if 8GB works, and it does indeed. I might change the RAM Stick eventually, and put 16GB.
Excellent video, technology progression (and marketing) has really distorted the notion of what kind of performance one can expect from hardware of in other words, what kind of hardware the software really needs.
Also, a while back i bought and OEM office 2021 for about 30usd. This license does not expire, the software works offline and is associated with my outlook account so I can ditch the while Windows installation and reinstall in a new SSD or computer. Look around, you might find single-installation keys for even cheaper.
The N100 is a brilliant chip, similarly to the N95 (same, but I think it’s an imperfect one with a couple of gpu cores disabled and drawing more power) and I really like them. I have one N100 that runs Home Assistant, a N95 for Plex, and another N100 acting as NAS with Open Media Vault. They all work great with Linux! I don’t have experience with Geekom ones, but overall the hardware is mostly the same for everyone, so it’s down to choices like upgradable components and so on. The Home Assistant one has 12gb of very fast DDR5 soldered to the board, the Plex and NAS are the same model (aside from the cpu) and the ram can be upgraded. Anyway, all really nice stuff, and you missed a very important point! As you can imagine from my use with Plex… those chips have great hardware video decoding.
What a great comment! Lots of cool information! You are right: I left a lot of cool stuff out of the video… it would become super long. Not only excellent video decoding by hardware, but also ENCODING! All the video capture while I was using the MiniPC was done on the MiniPC itself and we barely notice any performance difference. Intel did a really great job with this chip 👍 I should have mentioned the display port as well, the fact we can plug two monitors in 4k… or having fullhd at 120Hz… it’s a big list of cool things.
I thought you were going to literally 3D print on the case of the pc by putting it on the bed of the 3d printer
I use a used mini-pc, HP EliteDesk 705 G2 purchased at a garage sale for $2.50US, in the garage where the printers are located and slicing is much slower with it than with my desktop. But on the whole I'm fine with it performance since I don't need walk back to the office to make slicing changes. I do run Docker Desktop and with a few containers and I have not notices any loss of performance. Have not tried running Fusion since that would require that I log out of Fusion on my workstation.
Yeah, logging out/in… Laziness kicks in 😆
Makes me want to look into this as a "maker station" computer for my shed rather than carting my laptop out all the time!
The point entirely! For my CO2 laser machine I don’t need anything faster than this. It’s just perfect 👌 I am pretty sure for CNC machines it’s just the same.
I do design stuff and slice for 3d printing on my Mini-PC ... but I also 3D printed my Mini-PC case, so that I can have a fully fanless Mini-PC with a solid mid range ryzen 7640U processor ;)
Can you run Mainsail OS on a mini PC?
Heaviest will be CAD, then slicing, then lightburn
Actually, it surprised me that Slicing was quite heavy on both CPU and RAM - more than CAD (for not so much complex projects). Lightburn for vector is quite light.
I really miss your videos about iPhones and Macs, but i guess you have moved on. I also have one of those n100 based mini pcs, they are great, much better than a arm boards, in my opinion the best mini pcs are from hardkernel
From the title, I thought this was about literally 3D printing *on* the PC
Turns out it's *using* the PC to do 3D printing, etc.
Hint: size isn't everything. It's what's inside that counts.
It means I was right to not make the thumbnail placing the MiniPC inside of the 3D Printer - it would have been even more confusing 🤣 Well, not for everything, sure, but size it’s definitely not power, always.
Imagine how much quicker it would be if you got rid of Windows and ran Linux on it instead... :)
Running Linux on it might be a very good idea for servers or to run Klipper - but I am not so sure if Linux would be so much faster as a Desktop - I’ll explain: it really depends on the drivers supporting all the hardware, specially the GPU, and video decoding AND ENCODING that the N100 has, which I am quite happy to see in this chip. I love Linux, though ❤️
Klipper box (in a vm)
Why the VM? Why not installing Linux directly and running Klipper? I am puzzled 🤔
Cad
To me, slicing seemed the hardest task with 8GB of RAM - I thing the processing is very memory intensive
AMD Ryzen 3 7320U laptop at 270 dollars 37.7 % fast. And you are so out of touch comparing a 11 year old mac is crazy also 6 seconds is too long for a Normal beachy my PC that has 8 year old hardware takes less than a second.
You are absolutely right! I am using the same old computers for quite a LONG TIME - so, yes! Very out of touch. I find it very impressive for the price ❤️ I suppose this video is for old folks like me that are missing out on getting something super new, very affordable, to be dedicated little computers (like I will do for my laser machine).
I would not call him out of touch, it was just bit of a weird comparison that's all! We aren't all buying and building PCs every year or following the tech news 24/7
laptop would be better
And more expensive! For the price of a MiniPC + Monitor and Keyboard, I didn't find any equivalent Laptop.
Of course it can. You really had to stretch out this stupid video to over 10 minutes to say that?
Hi there Scooty. The video was definitely not Stretched out - it was edited to the bones. Videos look stupid when you don't make any.
@@GeekDetour Says the guy with 130K subs and only 5k views on the video. Nice job, really interesting to see how this video is performing compared to your others...
Don't understand what my knowledge of video editing has to do with anything, but you do you. I never said it wasn't heavily edited, just implying that it was garbage and unnecessarily long (full of fluff/filler) to answer a simple yes or no question, which, quite frankly, didn't need to be asked in the first place.
I'm actually a little bit unimpressed by the power of that thing. If you look at a CPU benchmark, it's pulling about 5k. My Dell XPS 12 from 2012 years ago did that and pulled 35w from the wall.
I have a Vytru Mini PC from 8 years ago that smokes that thing (9k CPU benchmark / 8 gb ram / 64 GB SSD) that was $200. It does use a massive 24w of power though.
What is the benchmark for your Dell and the Vytru? 🤔 Yeah, I saw Mini PCs with the N100 costing 150, sometimes less - but with very plasticky cases. EVERY design choice (number of ports, type of cooling, if there is metal shielding or not…) influences the price of these little machines and they will roughly have the same performance. I liked what I saw inside of the Geekom: how it has metal passive cooling for the SSD, the base is metal and I liked the quality of the VESA mount (it had a very good smooth and yet firm fit when sliding in to the plate). But as the performance is basically the same, when you buy it 25% cheaper, well, you are getting “25% more performance for your buck”. But you see: you got just 64GB SSD for the same price - that to me would be a deal breaker as a general computer (not a problem if you buy it to be a single-task appliance). This Mini PC I didn’t buy (they sent me for reviewing). But I bought the Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse - and I will buy a complete set for myself to use with the Laser Machine (but I will buy the bigger brother: the Air 12 that comes with 16GB Ram and 512GB SSD and it costs like 50 bucks more and it is worth it).