Do You Have a Mini PC? Looking for Feedback...

[Qs Laptop]

I started a thread about refurbished computers which morphed into a thread about mini PC's. After reading some replies in that thread, talking to some friends, and doing research I'm coming around to the idea of a mini PC. I'm currently looking at this one, but there are others.

https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-Desktop-Computer-Support-Display/dp/B0CF5F8NK9?th=1

This one has a fairly speedy processor, comes with Win11 Pro, has dual monitor output, a 500GB SSD for storage, 16MB RAM.

I do some photo and video editing which is why I picked a mini PC with a decent processor.

I would welcome any thoughts you might have about your ownership of a mini PC. If you can do so, please mention the processor/memory setup of your computer.

I also have some questions.

1. What about the mini PC do you miss that you had on your regular desktop?

2. Do you do photo and/or video editing? How is it for these tasks?

3. How is the built in wifi for range and speed?

4. How often, if ever, does the cooling fan (if equipped) kick in?

5. Are four USB inputs enough? (keyboard, mouse, camera, external hard drive, printer, ?)

6. Did it come with Windows installed?

7. Have you ever opened it up and looked inside? What were your impressions of the build?

8. Anybody replace/upgrade the SSD to a larger size? How about upgrading memory?

9. Do you use a docking station with it?

10. Do you have yours mounted in a holder behind a monitor? Is the thing physically stable if merely placed on a desktop (not mounted behind a monitor?)

10. Am I overanalyzing this?

 

[Route246]

We are a Mac household but I use these form factor PCs for amateur radio as many apps are only ported to Windows, unfortunately. That said, I use Beelink (I have 3, from Amazon, BTW) and they have been very good performers. I usually get higher end ones ($400-$500) with faster processors. You can upgrade the memory and NVME storage. Otherwise, all things considered, these are laptops without a monitor and keyboard. I highly recommend and endorse this form factor PC. Wireless and networking performance is the same as you would expect from a laptop as they use the same IP and chips that a laptop does.

 

[Sojourner]

5. Are four USB inputs enough? (keyboard, mouse, camera, external hard drive, printer, ?)

Four is plenty, since you could always connect an inexpensive USB hub to get more, but I would be concerned about the lack of USB 4.0 and/or Thunderbolt ports. USB 3.2 Gen 2 has never gained much traction in the marketplace and is in the process of becoming effectively obsolete. Personally, I would not buy any sort of PC right now without USB 4 or Thunderbolt 3 (or 4) ports built in.

 

[easysurfer]

Like anything else with computers, depends on your use.

I think a min pc may be nice if you don't plan on doing any upgrading.

I have a used Lenovo min PC (sorry, don't have the specs) hat I got for about $75 on ebay. I put in a hdd with a linux distro as my only use is to set up with a webcam for a couple of cats. The mini-pc and webcam works better for my setup than a laptop with webcam. I have no intention to do any upgrades to that mini.

I do not use the mini pc with a monitor. I used a dummy plug to fake the pc out into thinking it is connected to a monitor.

 

[target2019]

Photo editing can mean a wide variety of things. Some operations like a crop are not too demanding. If you're processing RAW and using complex filtering steps, there's more going on.

 

[bltkmt]

Following this, as I am also in the market and have been looking at Beelinks.

 

[Peter]

I have two Beelink SER5 boxes. One of them is now my main desktop PC, used mainly for web browsing, email, streaming, etc. I've also done some photo editing using Lightroom 6.14, and it was plenty snappy. So far it's always run cool to the touch, although I haven't tried to do any really demanding processing. I do have it connected to a USB3.0 hub for connecting an external CD drive and a few other peripherals.

 

[Al18]

FYI the Beelink mini PC computers have been selling well for about two years in various configurations. I think they are a good deal and you’ll see they have very high ratings on Amazon and elsewhere. You’ll find many reviews on YouTube where they are also rated very good/excellent. I think they are somewhat noisier than a desktop, though probably not objectionable.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I don’t see any reference to it coming with Windows. I guess you buy that separately and hope it installs?

 

[Qs Laptop]

I don’t see any reference to it coming with Windows. I guess you buy that separately and hope it installs?

If you read the reviews on Amazon it is clear that the Beelink's come preloaded with Windows 11 Pro. You get a serial number as well.

 

[5Miler]

If you want information on the Beelink Mini PCs or a host of other minis, hop over to youtube and investigate Serve the Home for a trove of well done reviews.

https://www.youtube.com/@ServeTheHomeVideo/videos

 

[scrinch]

I've used a Beelink mini-PC with a J4125 processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD as my daily driver for the past 3-1/2 years. I used the brackets that came with it to attach it to the back of one of the monitors to get it out of the way, and it works great. I selected a low wattage processor to reduce cooling requirements, and I've never heard the fan sitting 3 feet away from it. It has performed perfectly since I've owned it...wifi, bluetooth, USB, dual monitors all work great. The only two issues I've had are that when W11 came out, the Beelink failed the MS upgrade test for lack of some required hardware detail, and the Celeron processor is slower than I'd like when recalculating a BIG Excel spreadsheet (co-worker's newer desktop takes about a minute; Beeline takes 5 minutes).

For $229 I've been very happy with this PC. I expect I'll upgrade to a new mini-PC within a year or so to get more memory, faster processor, etc. Then I'll just pop the old one off the standard bracket and put the new one on. I've migrated all my files to One Drive, so I won't even have much data transfer to do then.

 

[jollystomper]

I have had this Mini-PC for about 18 months : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BC7S9R5C

I purchased it more as a BTD thing, as I was just curious about them and wanted to get one to play with as an addition in my home computing center. So my answers below are in that light:

1. What about the mini PC do you miss that you had on your regular desktop?

It does not replace my regular desktop. It does have fewer ports than ny desktop, but that is also because I have added some with expansion cards. That would be the main reason I would like replace my regular desktop with it. However, I have other desktops it could replace.


2. Do you do photo and/or video editing? How is it for these tasks?

I have done some minor video editing and it has not been a problem. It is not my main video editing machine, however.


3. How is the built in wifi for range and speed?

The wifi seems fine. It has both ethernet and wifi, but I have used the wife more. No issues and quickly switches to my different wifi networks as needed.


4. How often, if ever, does the cooling fan (if equipped) kick in?

To be honest, I do not notice. It is on my desk but it is very quiet.


5. Are four USB inputs enough? (keyboard, mouse, camera, external hard drive, printer, ?)


For my needs, yes, I use them for keyboard (actually KVM switch), microphone, and speakers.


6. Did it come with Windows installed?

Yes, Windows 11


7. Have you ever opened it up and looked inside? What were your impressions of the build?

I opened it once to add a hard drive, the build looked fine to me.


8. Anybody replace/upgrade the SSD to a larger size? How about upgrading memory?

I added another SSD to it, as my strategy is to keep local programs and data on a separate drive than the operating system. There were no issues. I bought with the memory I needed, so I have not looked at a memory upgrade.


9. Do you use a docking station with it?

No, I have it connected to a KVM switch, so no need for a docking station.


10. Do you have yours mounted in a holder behind a monitor? Is the thing physically stable if merely placed on a desktop (not mounted behind a monitor?)

I have it on my desktop and it is very stable.


10. Am I overanalyzing this?

Not really, it just depends on what your needs are. I did not have critical needs other than memory size, and this was at a good price for the time and had the ports I was looking for, so I bought it to try it out. I liked it so I kept it. The nice thing about Amazon is that you have 30 days to decide if you want to keep it, very easy to return if you are not satisfied.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Thanks for the thorough answers, jollystomper.

I presume people connect speakers to the audio out jack. But what about a microphone for Team or Zoom meetings? Also, do people use their bluetooth earbuds to connect for audio output?

 

[Qs Laptop]

I have had this Mini-PC for about 18 months : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BC7S9R5C

7. Have you ever opened it up and looked inside? What were your impressions of the build?

I opened it once to add a hard drive, the build looked fine to me.


8. Anybody replace/upgrade the SSD to a larger size? How about upgrading memory?

I added another SSD to it, as my strategy is to keep local programs and data on a separate drive than the operating system. There were no issues. I bought with the memory I needed, so I have not looked at a memory upgrade.

I was thinking of the same strategy of keeping the OS on the drive it comes with and adding a 1TB SSD drive for storage. I presume the SSD drive you installed was the standard 2.5"?

 

[jollystomper]

Thanks for the thorough answers, jollystomper.

I presume people connect speakers to the audio out jack. But what about a microphone for Team or Zoom meetings? Also, do people use their bluetooth earbuds to connect for audio output?

I currently have older speakers connected, which use USB for power and the audio output jack. You could save a USB port if you get speakers tha plug into an outlet. I am ore likely to go the other way and get speakers that get both power and sound via USB.



I use a USB mic and it works fine, I have used it for audio recordings. For Team or Zoom that should be fine. I also have a webcam with audio that I could connect to it, if folks insisted on seeing my ugly mug .


I have not used the bluetooth capability of my mini-pc, but that should work fine with earbuds... I might try it later today or tomorrow.

 

[jollystomper]

I was thinking of the same strategy of keeping the OS on the drive it comes with and adding a 1TB SSD drive for storage. I presume the SSD drive you installed was the standard 2.5"?

Yes, it is the standard 2.5. The install was so easy I do not remember it.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I have not used the bluetooth capability of my mini-pc, but that should work fine with earbuds... I might try it later today or tomorrow.

I'm thinking if bluetooth earbuds work, they should work with Teams and/or Zoom since they have built-in mics.

 

[Ian S]

We replaced DH's ancient desktop PC with this Windows 11 mini PC https://www.amazon.com/TRIGKEY-Desk...9f4dc09394e8bb7c7784e3ada2b&gad_source=1&th=1 We bought it last year in a pre Black Friday sale for $219. It's $229 now but apt to go on sale again. He really likes it: it's fast and does everything he wants. He puts together his own music compilations from his CD collection and from online. He stores the music on a 2TB portable hard drive. IMHO, the AMD CPU-based machines like this Trigkey unit offer a little more bang for the buck especially when it comes to integrated graphics.

 

[Qs Laptop]

After a lot of research, I think this will be the one for DW:

https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-SER5-5560U-Computer-Support/dp/B0CRL3PL4X/ref=sr_1_6?th=1

One thing though--there are two variations of this model. One comes with dual HDMI outputs; the other variation has one HDMI and one Displayport. My wife has dual monitors but neither has a Displayport input. So it looks like I get the variation with the dual HDMI outputs.

But wait. The variation with one HDMI and one Displayport output looks to be a newer version. It also shows name brand internals--Crucial memory and Kingston SSD.

So maybe get the Displayport verison and a DP/HDMI adapter? Opinions?

 

[Qs Laptop]

I currently have older speakers connected, which use USB for power and the audio output jack. You could save a USB port if you get speakers tha plug into an outlet. I am ore likely to go the other way and get speakers that get both power and sound via USB.



I use a USB mic and it works fine, I have used it for audio recordings. For Team or Zoom that should be fine. I also have a webcam with audio that I could connect to it, if folks insisted on seeing my ugly mug .


I have not used the bluetooth capability of my mini-pc, but that should work fine with earbuds... I might try it later today or tomorrow.

I'm thinking if bluetooth earbuds work, they should work with Teams and/or Zoom since they have built-in mics.

Turns out my wife's PC camera has a built in microphone, so problem solved. Although I would be curious if bluetooth earbuds would work.

 

[scrinch]

One thing though--there are two variations of this model. One comes with dual HDMI outputs; the other variation has one HDMI and one Displayport. My wife has dual monitors but neither has a Displayport input. So it looks like I get the variation with the dual HDMI outputs.

But wait. The variation with one HDMI and one Displayport output looks to be a newer version. It also shows name brand internals--Crucial memory and Kingston SSD.

So maybe get the Displayport verison and a DP/HDMI adapter? Opinions?

Yeah, just get a cable with DP on one end and HDMI on the other, or use a DP/HDMI adapter with an HDMI cable.

I use a USB webcam with built-in speakers and mic. That solves the limited USB port issue.

 

[triangle]

I started a thread about refurbished computers which morphed into a thread about mini PC's. After reading some replies in that thread, talking to some friends, and doing research I'm coming around to the idea of a mini PC. I'm currently looking at this one, but there are others.

https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-Desktop-Computer-Support-Display/dp/B0CF5F8NK9?th=1

This one has a fairly speedy processor, comes with Win11 Pro, has dual monitor output, a 500GB SSD for storage, 16MB RAM.

I do some photo and video editing which is why I picked a mini PC with a decent processor.

I would welcome any thoughts you might have about your ownership of a mini PC. If you can do so, please mention the processor/memory setup of your computer.

I also have some questions.

1. What about the mini PC do you miss that you had on your regular desktop?

2. Do you do photo and/or video editing? How is it for these tasks?

3. How is the built in wifi for range and speed?

4. How often, if ever, does the cooling fan (if equipped) kick in?

5. Are four USB inputs enough? (keyboard, mouse, camera, external hard drive, printer, ?)

6. Did it come with Windows installed?

7. Have you ever opened it up and looked inside? What were your impressions of the build?

8. Anybody replace/upgrade the SSD to a larger size? How about upgrading memory?

9. Do you use a docking station with it?

10. Do you have yours mounted in a holder behind a monitor? Is the thing physically stable if merely placed on a desktop (not mounted behind a monitor?)

10. Am I overanalyzing this?

I got a Beelink SER7 a few months ago and have been happy with it. My other PC is old and I never really liked the macbook air (M1) that I got to replace the PC a year ago (I never fully adapted to the built-in keyboard or liked the window control widgets & window manager).

The SER7 is relatively higher end for a mini-pc and I got it after looking at some of the Intel models (NUC). I was not looking to play video games but am planning to some modest video editing, but I have not really done much to stress it so far other than open way too many browser tabs to keep track of. While also opening a spreadsheet and a few documents. I have never stressed the CPU, but all the 32GB memory has been consumed due to how windows and bloated web browsers are implemented. No performance issues noted with memory paging when that point is reached.

wifi has been solid, never shown any slowness or hiccups.

I don't recall the size of the SSD, but I also use a NAS.

I have not opened up the case yet, even though I had planned on doing that the first week I had it. Out of the box it would not boot (no display output seen through either port), until I reset the CMOS. That has been the only concerning issue, as why would the factory leave the system in a state that it would not boot? But after that it booted windows 11 without requiring any MS sign-on and has been solid.

The fan does not come on very often, but has been so quiet that I may be overlooking how frequently it comes on. One of the first times I took notice is when a tissue (kleenex) was fluttering on the desk and the HVAC system was not running. When I went to investigate why the tissue was moving I discovered the SER7 fan quietly running.

I do not use a docking station and I do find the number of USB ports constraining. Technically I may have not ran out of ports but the mix of A & C ports and transfer speeds available is not all the same so I got a small USB hub to plug into the system. With a wired keyboard, mouse dongle, webcam, usb speaker, memory card reader, etc. the ports get consumed quickly.

I keep mine on the desk rather than try to mount to the back of my monitor. I like having access to make it easier to plug in my phone or memory card reader, though a USB hub makes that easy enough if it were mounted to the back of my monitor. Mine is fairly heavy, heavier than it might look.

 

[Qs Laptop]

After a lot of research, I think this will be the one for DW:

https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-SER5-5560U-Computer-Support/dp/B0CRL3PL4X/ref=sr_1_6?th=1

I upgraded a bit from the 5560 to the 5700. Better processor and better graphics for only $20 more, once the $20 coupon was redeemed.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYJDFG5B?th=1

According to many YouTube videos it's supposed to come with Crucial memory sticks and a Kingston NVMe SSD. I opened it up to take a look but the insides looked slightly different from the YouTube videos and I wasn't able to remove the 2.5" SSD (expandable) cage to see underneath. Eventually, I decided I just didn't want to mess with it.

It comes with an HDMI video output and a display port video output. I had to buy a display port to HDMI cable ($8.99), since the two monitors we're using have HDMI and no display port inputs.

Set up was surprisingly easy. Comes with Windows 11 Pro. Absolutely NO BLOATWARE. I mean nothing was installed except AMD drivers. Impressive. Solid build quality. "Only" has four USB ports but so far that's exactly how many my wife needs. If needed, a USB port can be had for under $10.

I've only played with it for a couple of hours but I'm very impressed. This is a nice little unit. And when I say little, I mean little.




I'm "only" getting 80 Mpbs download speeds on wifi (25 Mpbs up) so I will relocate the computer to a different spot. Easy enough to do, LOL.

 

[target2019]

AI answer:
Open Start
Search for Command Prompt
Right-click the top result and select Run as administrator
Type wmic memorychip get devicelocator, manufacturer and press Enter