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Core i5+WiFi 6+NVMe, the Beelink GTI11 is the mini PC for all

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If you follow the news of mini PCs, you should know Beelink recently announced a new model called the GTR5, which is powered by an AMD Ryzen9-5900HX processor, and is deemed as the most powerful mini PC to date. Because the GTR5 is so prominent and is getting everyone’s attention, another model that is also very good is kindda falling under the radar. Yes, I am talking about the Beelink GTI11, GTR5’s Intel powered brother.
The Beelink GTI11 is sort of a mix of the best mini PCs and NUCs, and will fit well into a living room or home office. It's quite compact, but has the performance needed to handle a fair amount of productivity work. The price is also quite reasonable, with the i5, 16GB/500GB model priced at ＄699. I've been using this tiny PC for a couple of weeks to see what it's all about and whether it's worth your investment.
Specifications
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7
CPU: 4 cores, 8 threads @2.4-4.2GHz, 10nm process
GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM: 16GB DDR4L Memory
Storage: 500GB m.2 NVMe SSD
Wireless: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
Ports: USB 3.0 *4, USB 2.0*2, USB-C*1, HDMI*1, DP*1, 3.5mm Audio Jack*1, 1000M Ethernet * 2, DC-in*1
Dimensions: 160*120*39mm
Weight: 597g
What’s in the box
Beelink GTI11 Mini PC * 1
19V-3A Power Adapter * 1
User Guide * 1
Wall Mount Bracket * 1
HDMI Cable * 2 (1m and 0.2m)
The GTI11 comes with simple, but attractive retail packaging.
Inside the retail box you will find a GTI11 mini PC, a 57W power adapter, a user manual, a mounting bracket, two bags of screws and two HDMI cables.
Design and build
The Beelink GTI11 looks almost identical to last year’s GTR. The chassis is completely made of magnesium alloy, with the top panel covered by glass for a little bit of extra pop. The case feels reasonably sturdy and holds strong under direct pressure. The blue coating of the exterior gives the GTI11 a professional, yet attractive look, and the matte finish on the side panels perfectly resists fingerprints.
With a small form factor, the GTI11 measures only 160mm wide, 120mm deep, and just 39mm in height. It easily fits on desks or even under a monitor stand if you have one, without taking up too much space. If you literally have no room on your desk, the bracket included in the retail box can also help you mount the mini PC onto the back of the monitor, making it completely disappear from the surroundings.
What makes the Beelink GT series (GTR & GTI) mini PCs special is the fact that they all come with a fingerprint reader, which makes unlocking extremely easy. The fingerprint scanner on the GTI11 has decent size and very high success rate. During my two weeks testing the computer, I’ve never had any failed attempts unlocking the system with my finger.
There are a lot of ports on hand here. The front side host two full-size USB 3.0 ports, a multi-function Type-C port, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack with mic support. You can also find a CMOS reset hole and power/standby key with LED indicator built in.
The rear side comes even more packed with I/O, you will find two more USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, two RJ45 ethernet jacks, one HDMI 2.0 port, one DisplayPort, and a DC-in port. Unfortunately, the GTI11 doesn’t include an SD/MicroSD card slot, a USB card reader will be needed if you want to get access to the files on your storage card from the GTI11.
This PC is actively cooled, many vents are featured on the side panels.
The bottom of the GTI11 is pretty non-descript. There are two rubber strips to keep the mini PC in place while it’s sitting on your desk, you can also find the instructions on how to enter BIOS setup and boot menu.
The GTI11 weighs only 597g, moving it around your house, or taking it on a trip won’t mean much effort, as long as you don’t mind the relatively hefty power adaptor.
Getting inside the system is easy, all you need is a screwdriver. After removing the 4 screws from the bottom panel, you are able get to the GTI11's internals. As small as it is, the GTI11 still offers two memory slots, and supports as many as 3 hard drives. You can insert two m2.2280 SSD and one 2.5-inch hard drive.
Software: Windows 11 is already here
The LED on the top panel, and the LED built in the power button will both light up when the mini PC is booted.
The Beelink GTI11 ships with licensed Windows 10 Pro, which can be upgraded to Windows 11 Pro after you boot the computer up for the first time. The operating system here is a completely clean version, with no pre-installed 3rd party applications or bloatware.
For average consumers, the Pro Edition of Windows OS probably won’t mean any difference. Yet for power users, there are quite a few extra features that may come in handy.

Performance: powerful enough
Performance from the Core i5-1135G7 and 16GB dual-channel memory is about as good as I expected, putting up respectable numbers that will accommodate anyone looking to tackle productivity work or streaming. The integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics will handle creativity duties or even some lightweight gaming. To help you better understand the overall performance of the GTI11, I ran quite a few benchmarks on it, and compared its scores to the results of other midrange mini PCs.
First, I launched Maxon's latest CPU-crunching Cinebench R23 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The GTI11 got decent scores in both CPU single core and CPU multi-core.
I also ran the older Cinebench R20 test just to compare the GTI11 to more models I had tested before. The GTI was slightly edged out by the Intel NUC 8 in CPU multi-core, but completely dominated the chart with its CPU single-core score.
This mini PC also scored 15991 kilos per nodes in Fritz Chess Benchmark, and it’s a solid number for any system with a mobile chip.
The GTI11 also did quite well in the wPrime CPU test, finishing the 1024M calculations in less than 6 minutes.
In the cross-platform Geekbench 5 test, the GTI11 scored 1431 in CPU single core, 5074 in multi-core, and 14527 in OpenCL. In terms of the CPU single-core performance, the GTI11 leads the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5i by more than 50%, and that’s incredible!
PCMark 10 simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We often use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks. The GTI11 scored 4580, which is a tie with what’s achieved by the Intel NUC 8.
The computer also features a Kingston m.2 NVMe drive, which is extremely fast, readings and scores of the CrystalDiskMark test told the story.
The unit I received comes with two Crucial 8GB-3200MHz memory sticks. This dual-channel memory setup guarantees high overall bandwidth and throughput speed. In the AIDA64 cache & memory benchmark, the read, write and copy speeds of the 16GB memory are decent, the 69.4ns latency is solid, too.
The performance of the integrated GPU also benefits greatly from dual-channel memory, as the GTI11 scored much higher in the AIDA64 memory and GPU benchmark than the Lenovo YOGA Duet, which comes with the same processor and integrated GPU, but a single 16GB memory stick.
The Intel Iris Xe Graphics in the GTI11 is a huge step up from older UHD graphics, and completely dominated the Radeon Vega 10 GPU of the Beelink SER and the Iris Plus 655 GPU of the Intel NUC 8. In the 3DMark Sky Diver, Fire Strike and Time Spy tests, the GTI11 scored 12862, 3683 and 1437 respectively.
In the real-world use, the GTI11 handily saw me through most common home and office tasks, from web-browsing, editing my work presentation to streaming my favorite movies and TV shows. This system could even play 8K YouTube videos in Chrome without any frame skip.
There are only a handful of models which can be used for content creation, and the GTI11 is one of them. I had no problem editing photos in Adobe Photoshop, the system wouldn’t even slow down while I was adding many layers and filters to the picture. I also did not encounter any issue editing a 4K video clip in Power Director, everything felt reasonably fast and smooth.
I didn’t really think about playing 3D games on the GTI11 before receiving it. Having tested the Lenovo YOGA Duet, which runs on the same processor, I thought I knew what the performance was going to be like on the GTI, but I was proven to be dead wrong. Titles like “League of Legends”, “War Frame” and “Resident Evil 3”played fairly smoothly under 1080P and medium to high settings. In League of Legend, the frame rate stayed above 120FPS all the time. Even “Conqueror’s Blade”, which was always a challenge for systems with integrated graphics, recorded an average frame rate of 36 frames per second at 1080P and medium settings. And during those intense battle scenes, the graphics still stayed well above 25fps, which is simply amazing for a computer this small.
These were all the games I tested on the GTI, and it's really promising to see that we are now able to have decent gaming experience on mini PCs.
As powerful as it is, the Beelink GTI11 is still a compact PC system with no discrete graphics, so it probably won’t see you through difficult workloads like super complex artistic design or gaming in 4K. Nonetheless, it ought to be greater than sufficient for most computing duties.

Noise, Stability and Power Consumption
There are two high-speed fans and two heat conduction tubes inside the shell for cooling. Beelink called these fans "silent" in their advertising, but believe me, they are not really silent. The GTI11 will make a fair amount of noise during multitasking or while running big applications. The noise is audible and may even be a little bit distracting at times if your room is quiet enough. With that said, It never really made my ears too uncomfortable to the point that I wanted to shut it down. And the system is relatively quiet during handling low-power duties such as video playback and social networking.
Fortunately, these fans are proven to work pretty efficiently. The GTI11 was amazingly stable, I could edit videos for hours on it without experiencing a hiccup. It also easily passed the 3DMark Time Spy Stress test with an impressive score of 99.6%, handily beating all the computers I have tested before.
In the AIDA64 Stress test, all 4 CPU cores were running at full load for 50 minutes, but their temperature stayed under 70℃ the entire time and didn’t trigger a warning.
Running on an Intel Core i5 processor, the GTI11 is not technically a low-power system, but it still consumes way less power than, say, a normal-size desktop PC.
I recorded its power outputs in different working scenarios and found that it was quite energy-conservative in video playback and office duties. Only when benchmarking or gaming did the power output exceed 20W.
Connectivity: WiFi 6, dual LAN, 3 displays
As mentioned above, The GTI11 offers a wealth of ports for its size. The HDMI, DP, and multi-function Type-C all support [email protected] video output, so you can connect the mini PC to as many as 3 monitors at the same time. This can be particularly useful if you have some complex office duties at hand.
The GTI11 features Bluetooth 5.0, with Bluetooth input devices and speakers, you will be able to have an almost wire-free desktop setup. And when it comes to surfing the internet, there are 2 RJ45 ports on the back of the GIT, meaning you can even use the mini PC for soft routing. WiFi 6 is also onboard to guarantee fast and stable wireless internet access.
Verdict: too good to ignore
The Beelink GTI11 is a feature-packed mini PC with a lot of horsepower under the hood. No matter what your computing tasks are, it always has the answer. Special features such as the fingerprint scanner, WiFi 6 and dual ethernet jacks just make your computing experience more convenient than ever. Yes, you may find better value with a normal-size desktop PC if space and power consumption aren’t that much of a concern, but the Beelink GTI11 is simply too fetching of a product to look past, I am sure it will have a pretty long stay on my desktop.

nice read up, thanks for sharing

blaze2051 said:
nice read up, thanks for sharing
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Beelink GTR5 mini PC review: the best there is!

AMD's very powerful Ryzen 9-5900HX flagship notebook CPU is making its way to small form factor desktop PCs. The recently released Beelink GTR5 is not the first mini PC to feature this SoC., but it might just be the best one yet!
Beelink GTR5 Main Specs
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Processor: AMD Ryzen9-5900HX
CPU: 8 cores, 16 threads @3.3-4.6GHz, 7nm process
GPU: Radeon RX Vega 8 @2100MHz
RAM: up to 64GB DDR4 RAM (32GB in my review unit)
Storage: up to 2TB m.2 NVMe SSD (500GB in my review unit)
Wireless: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Ports: USB-A 3.0 *3, USB-A 2.0*2, USB-C*1, HDMI 2.0*1, DP 1.2*1, 3.5mm Audio Jack*1, 2.5Gbps Ethernet * 2, DC-in*1, m2. SATA slot*1, 2.5-inch HDD connector*1
Special features: Fingerprint unlock
Dimensions: 165*119*39mm
Weight: 678g
Retail packaging
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The GTR5 comes with very cool packaging, the dragon on the front side of the box perfectly illustrates the amount of power packed inside.
Besides the GTR5 mini PC, you will also find a relatively bulky 90W power adapter, a user manual, two HDMI cables (0.2m & 1m), a mounting bracket, as well as a bag of screws after unboxing.
Design: simply stunning
Until last year’s SER, I hadn’t really been that impressed with Beelink’s design, but the Chinese brand seems to have finally outdone itself! The GTR5 simply looks stunning, in fact it is one of the best-looking mini PCs in the market right now. The carved finish on the top side gives it an extremely stylish and premium look. With its sturdy metal chassis, it should also be able to take a fair amount of reasonable office abuse you throw at it.
Besides the relatively subtle branding, the top side also sports a fingerprint scanner, which has decent size and makes logging into the operating system a lot easier than any type of passwords. The recognition success rate is also quite high, I haven’t had any failed attempts in my two weeks with this device.
The AMD logo and “Let’s Start” catchphrase on the top side will light up after booting up, giving the device a more interesting look.
The chassis has ventilation holes on 4 sides (top, left, right, rear) for heat dissipation. There are dual cooling fans and dual copper pipes under the hood to make sure that the system never gets overheated.
Beelink products have always been quite generous with I/O, and the GTR5 is no exception. On the front side you will find a USB 3.0 port, a multi-function type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack with mic support. There are also two buttons: a power button which has status LED built in, and a green button for clearing the CMOS.
More I/O are packed on the rear side, including two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, 2 RJ45 2.5GB/s ethernet jacks, 1 HDMI port, 1 DisplayPort and a DC-in port. Some features are missing, namely a storage card slot, but since you have as many as 6 USB ports, mounting a card reader shouldn’t be that much of an effort. As with other systems powered by AMD, there’s no thunderbolt port, either. The multi-function USB-C port does support fast USB 3.2 Gen1 data transmission and [email protected] video output, but it still pales in comparison with a Thunderbolt 3/4.
The expandability does not stop here. After removing the four screws on the underlying base, you can easily lift the bottom panel and get access to the internals. There are two SO-DIMM DDR4 memory slots, two m2. slots (1 NVMe and 1 SATA3), as well as a 1 SATA3 port on GTR5’s very compact motherboard. If dual-channel memory is somewhat a must-have to ensure solid performance, having the option to install as many as 3 hard drives in such a small computer is simply amazing. All internal hardware and components are neatly arranged, the unit in my hands comes with two 16GB-3200MHz Crucial memory sticks and a 500GB Kingston NVme drive, but Beelink offers other configurations for consumers to choose from.
The GTR5 measures 165*119*39mm, and weighs only 678g. It’s so small that it easily fits on any kind of desk, or under a monitor stand if you have one. It can also seamlessly attach to the back of a display with the included bracket, but please bear in mind that mounting the GTR5 on to the back of a monitor could make fingerprint unlock less convenient than it should be.
System & Apps
Most mini PCs and laptops run on the Home Edition of Windows OS, but the Beelink GTR5 ships with licensed Windows 11 Pro, Average consumers will probably see no difference, but for power users, Windows 11 Pro offers some extra features, the most important of which is being able to join a domain, including Azure Active Directory for single sign-on to cloud services (and have group policy applied as part of that).
You also get Hyper-V for virtualization, BitLocker whole disk encryption, enterprise mode Internet Explorer, Remote Desktop, a version of the Windows Store for your own business, Enterprise Data Protection containers (a feature that comes later in the year) and assigned access (which locks a PC to running only one modern application, to use like a kiosk). Pro users can get updates from Windows Update for Business, which includes options for scheduling updates, so they don't reboot PCs at important business times.
Fortunately, the Windows 11 Pro here is a completely clean version, with no pre-installed 3rd party applications or bloatware. I don’t feel like digging into the main features Windows 11 offers. For those who just switch from MAC OS or Linux to Windows, I highly recommend that you watch some tutorial videos on YouTube.

Performance: incredible horsepower
At the very core of the Beelink GTR5 is an AMD Ryzen9-5900HX processor, which ranks only behind the Ryzen9-5980HS and Ryzen9-5980HX in terms of performance in the world of mobile computer SoC., and it is also the fastest chip to ever power a mini PC. My unit comes with 32GB dual-channel DDR4 memory and 512GB NVMe SSD, but you can have as much as 64GB memory and 5TB of internal storage at most.
In the Maxon Cinebench R23 and Cinebench R20 test, the GTR5 simply has no competition in the world of Windows-based mini PCs, and even gives the Apple M1 powered Mac Mini a run for its money. Until models featuring the next-gen processors come out, the GTR5 will probably stay on top of the chart.
Geekbench 5 provides further evidence of the GTR5’s strength, even though the gap here is a little bit smaller between it and the Apple Mac Mini. Still, the CPU single core and multi-core scores are impressive.
PCMark 10 is a holistic performance suite developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark), it simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We often use this benchmark to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and video conferencing. The GTR5 notched an incredible score of 6345 points in the standard PCMark 10 test, ranking above the ASUS Mini PC PN50 and the i7-1165G7 powered Intel NUC 11 Pro.
Even though there’s no discrete graphics on board, you can still expect a fair amount of performance out of the Radeon Vega 8 GPU, which is clocked at 2.1GHz. In the 3DMark Sky Diver, Fire Strike, and Time Spy tests, the GTR5 scored 15097, 4019, 1615 points respectively.
The NVMe drive inside this computer is not the fastest we’ve seen, but it is a lot faster than cheaper SATA SSDs. The GTR5 scored 2545 in the AS SSD benchmark and got decent numbers in CrystalDiskMark.
There are two memory slots on the SER’s motherboard for dual-channel setup, which guarantees high overall bandwidth and throughput speed. The performance of the GPU also benefits immensely from dual-channel memory, as the GTR5 was returned very decent scores in the AIDA64 memory&cache, and GPU benchmarks.
In the real-world use, the GTR5 is a do-it-all kind of PC. You can open 20 or extra image-heavy webpages in Microsoft Edge and run a few other big apps side by side without seeing the system slow down.
In terms of media playback, the GTR5 has no problem decoding any video formats I played on it, including a few [email protected] and [email protected] clips. Streaming 8K YouTube Videos in Chrome, this mini PC does not skip a bit, either.
This machine could take care of all my creative projects as well. Rendering complex 3D images in photoshop, or editing 4K videos in Power Director, the GTR5 has been consistently fast.
No mini PC this size is designed for intense gaming, yet still people asked me questions about gaming all the time. The Radeon RX Vega 8, with a high 2.1GHz clock speed, is one of the most powerful integrated GPUs. As a result, the GTR5 can run most AAA titles in moderate settings.
Non-resource intensive games were smooth in 1080P and high graphics settings. In “League of Legend”, the average frame rate was 162 FPS. Even after I switched to 4K, the GTR still delivered an average frame rate of 75FPS, which is quite amazing.
More graphics-intense titles such as “Spell Break” and “Genshin Impact” were also smooth in 1080P and medium settings. The former stayed at 60FPS consistently during the 30 minutes’ session, while the latter recorded an average frame rate of 46 FPS.
Some of the most demanding titles were also playable on the GTR5. Conqueror’s Blade was generally smooth with an average frame rate of 32FPS in 1080P and medium settings, even though the frame rate could drop to 28 FPS in intense battle scenes.
As powerful as the AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 might be, there is still a fairly large gap between it and top PCle GPUs. If you want to game in the highest settings possible and still get the upper hand in competition against other players on the internet, you will need a more traditional gaming setup than the GTR5.
The system is also quite stable, thanks to the efficient cooling. In the 3DMark Time Spy stress test, the GTR5 scored 99.99%, which is the best number I have ever seen.

Power Consumption and noise
With such a beefy processor inside, the GTR5 is not technically a low-power system. Still, it should be more energy-conservative than a full-sized desktop PC. In terms of power consumption, we saw some fairly solid figures.
The system stays fairly quiet under light loads, but if you run heavy CPU/ GPU workloads the fans spin up and it certainly gets louder. However, the noise is never too much of an issue, and easily gets drown out by other sound in your surroundings.
Connectivity
The GTR5 supports the latest WiFi 6E technology, also known as WiFi 6 Extended. It allows the PC to use the 6GHz band, which in return brings more bandwidth, faster speeds, and lower latency, opening up resources for future innovations like AR/VR, 8K streaming, and more. In additon, you also have two 2.5Gbps ethernet jacks, which offer all kinds of internet possibilities.
The HDMI, DP and Type-C ports all support video output up to [email protected], so you can connect the GTR5 to as many as 3 displays at the same time. This can be very helpful if you have some complex productivity tasks at hand.
Verdict
The Beelink GTR5 is a powerhouse in a tiny package. It has a beefy processor, packs a slew of I/O, and offers a broad range of features such as fingerprint unlock and superb networking. The tiny case is beautiful and rock-solid, the vast array of designs improves value and versatility.
However, it is not cheap. The 32GB/500GB model retails for $799, while the 64GB/1TB version will cost you even more. In the same price range, you can get a base model of the Apple M1 powered MAC mini, or a complete Intel NUC 11 system with memory, storage, and an OS. The GTR5 is obviously more feature-packed than the other two, but you cannot overlook Apple and Intel’s brand power.
If size doesn’t matter that much to you, a large DIY system of similar performance can save you quite a fortune yet give you more expansion room for later upgrades. But if you want the tiniest computer possible for all the computing you may need, there aren’t many SFF PCs more qualified than the Beelink GTR5 out there.
You can check the screenshots of those benchmarks here:

Hey, nice review, but what about the constant stuttering while doing nothing on the pc ?

Beelink Mini S review: a budget mini PC that does everything

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The good:
Neat and compact design.
Licensed Windows 11 Pro.
Upgradable memory and storage.
Decent performance.
Excellent power efficiency.
The bad:
The M.2 interface is only compatible with SATA3 SSDs.
Single-channel memory.
No SD card reader.
As mobile chips evolve, some form factor PCs are getting so good that they can even rival mainstream desktop PCs in terms of performance. However, only a small fraction of PC costumers are content creators or passionate gamers who need that much horsepower, most people’s daily computing only consists of a variety of simpler tasks, and that’s where budget mini PCs come in.
With an Intel Celeron N5095 quad-core processor, upgradable memory and storage, alongside the ability to drive three 4K displays, the Beelink U59 released last year is one of the best budget mini PCs I have ever tested, and now it has a younger brother: the Beelink Mini S. This new small computer packs identical specs in an even smaller chassis. It is bound to be a strong contender in the market.
Main specs of the Beelink Mini S
Processor: Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095
CPU: 4 cores, 4 threads, 2.0-2.9GHz
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics
Process technique: 10nm
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64bit
RAM: 8GB/16GB DDR4 2400MHz
Storage: 256GB/512GB
Network: WiFi5 + BT 4.0 / Ethernet Gigabit
Ports: 4x USB 3.0 / 2x HDMI 2.0 / 3.5mm audio jack
Accessories: 12V-3A DC adapter/ 2x HDMI Cable (1m & 0.25m) / User Manual
Size: 115 mm x 102 mm x 41 mm
Weight: 280g
Retail Package
The packaging of the Mini S is nice and simple. Inside the box you will find a mini PC, a VESA Mount bracket, a 36-watt power adapter, two HDMI cables, a bag of screws, and a user manual.
Design
The Beelink Mini S employs a well-ventilated plastic chassis measuring 115 mm x 102 mm x 41 mm to house the Intel Celeron N5095 SoC. and other internal components. The matte dark blue finish on top isn’t anything new or refreshing, but it does give the machine a fairly professional look. You can find the “Beelink” branding in the center of the top panel, and an “Intel Inside” logo on the lower-right corner.
The front panel sports a Clear CMOS pinhole, two USB 3.0 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack with mic support, a power button, and a status LED. The rear side plays host to two more USB 3.0 ports, a full-size Ethernet, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and a DC-in port. Compared to the U59, the only difference here is the absence of a multi-function Type-C port. As a result, the Mini S won’t drive three 4K displays like the U59 does. But for most people, having two 4K displays for multi-tasking is good enough.
After removing the four screws on the bottom panel, you can get access to the internals of this mini PC. The good news is that the DDR4-2400 memory stick is not soldered on the motherboard, so it is upgradable, but the bad news is that there’s only one memory slot, so you won’t have dual-channel memory to boost the performance of this mini PC. You can find an M.2 2280 interface, as well as a 2.5-inch HDD/SSD interface on the motherboard, both support drives of up to 2TB, so you can have a maximum of 4TB internal storage under the hood. Unfortunately, the M.2 2280 interface is only compatible with SATA3 standard SSDs, faster NVMe SSDs won’t work here.
The Mini S weighs only 280g, lighter than an Apple iPad mini (293g), the inlcuded power adapter won't add much weight to your carry, either. Moving it around in the house or taking it on your daily commute shouldn’t be much of an effort. The Mini PC feels robust and sturdy in the hands, and looks like it will survive a fair amount of office abuse, and maybe even some occasional falls.
System & Apps
Most SFF PCs and laptops run on the Home Edition of Windows OS, but the Beelink Mini S ships with licensed Windows 11 Pro, which offers quite a few extra features for professionals. The Windows 11 here is completely clean, with no bloatware or 3rd-party applications. Besides Windows, you can also install any X86 compatible operating systems on the Mini S, including Ubuntu, Debian, Android and CentOS. You might even find ways to run MAC OS on it, although I would not encourage anyone to do so.

Performance
The Mini S rocks an Intel Celeron N5095 chip, which is built on 10nm process, with typical Thermal Design Power of 15 W. This chipset has 4 CPU cores, 4 processing threads working at 2 GHz (Turbo 2.9 GHz), and an integrated UHD GPU working at 650MHz. The N5095 SoC. is featured in lots of mini PCs and entry-level laptops. It is definitely not a powerhouse, but should be capable enough for most people’s everyday computing duties. My review unit comes with 8GB memory, as well as a 256GB SATA3 SSD, but Beelink does offer other configurations for you to choose from.
Benchmarks
In the cross-platform Geekbench 5, the Mini S scored 645 in CPU single core, 2017 in multi core, and 2117 in OpenCL. Those are typical numbers for the N5095 processor.
In the Cinebench R20 CPU-crunching test, the Mini S got 234 in single core, and 787 in multi-core.
Running it through PCMark10, my review unit got 2,339 points. This is actually on the higher end of the performance rating, compared to other budget mini PCs I’ve tested.
Beelink doesn’t sell the Mini S in barebone, so all units will come with an SSD. The speed of the 256GB SSD in my unit is pretty standard for an M.2 SATA3 SSD, nothing exciting here. Still, it is fast enough to guarantee that booting into Windows 11 takes only a few seconds.
Daily computing
The Mini S was fairly capable for dealing with mainstream daily computing tasks. I could open a dozen content-heavy webpages in Microsoft Edge, play a 4K video, and edit my presentation in PowerPoint at the same time, without noticing any hiccups or delays.
Obviously, there are occasions where the Mini S wouldn’t make sense, like editing 4K footages from your professional DSLR, or designing complex artwork, but for lightweight creativity tasks such as editing photos in Photoshop and making a short video in for your TikTok channel, this would work great.
HTPC
This mini PC could also make a perfect HTPC or media center. According to DXVA checker, the UHD Graphics GPU is able to decode most video formats up to 4K, some even up to 8K. I’ve played many UHD Blu-Ray movies on the Mini S and enjoyed perfectly smooth playback.
Streaming videos online was a similar story. When I was playing an 4K/60FPS YouTube video in Chrome, neither the CPU nor the GPU was stressed too much. Streaming 8K/60FPS videos could be challenging for the Mini S, as I noticed frequent frameskip during the playback, since this mini PC doesn't really support 8K output, there's no point in doing that anyway.
Gaming
One of the areas where the Mini S didn’t do very well was gaming, as the integrated Intel UHD GPU isn’t really designed for graphics-intensive duties, and single-channel memory sort of made things worse. In 3DMark, the Mini S scored 2356 in Sky Diver, 606 in Fire Strike and 206 in Time Spy, falling behind the Beelink’s very own U59, which features the same processor, but has dual-channel memory.
LOL, which was quite smooth on the Beelink U59 at 1080P and medium settings, was just playable on the Mini S. The average frame rate was 44 fps, and I noticed some frameskip in intense battle scenes. Turning the resolution down to 720P could improve the average frame rate to 79 fps, but some of the fine details could become just a little too blurry on a large desktop monitor.
If you only play simpler, more casual games like Angry Birds, Plant vs Zombies, or games installed from Microsoft Store, then you obviously have nothing to worry about.
Power consumption and noise
This mini PC is very energy-efficient, as power consumption is at only 10 watts idle and 24 watts on max load. The Mini S stayed quiet most of the time, I could watch online videos for hours without hearing any noise from it. The cooling fan did spin up when the Mini S was under heavy workloads, but it was neither too loud nor too annoying.
The Mini S was also very stable. In the AIDA64 stability test, the temperature of the four CPU cores stayed below 90 degrees in 1 hour of running at full load.
Verdict
The Beelink Mini S is priced at $199 for the 8GB/256GB configuration on Beelink’s official website. Given the performance and expandability, alongside its very affordable price tag, if you’re looking for a small form factor desktop PC that is adequate for basic home or business computing tasks, you can’t go wrong here. If you want to bring better performance out of the N5095 chipset and don’t mind the slightly larger footprint, then I would still recommend that you go with the Beelink U59 instead.

Benchmark scores here:

If it is booting quick without need to connect any hardware like monitor then its a perfect and cheapest choice for HTPC/PlexMediaServer etc. Much stable and powerfull than Pi4 or any other NAS or Router for the job and cold last 10y easily.

GEEKOM Mini IT11 review: the best NUC 11 Pro alternative?

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GEEKOM may be new to the mini PC industry, but they have released quite a few high-quality but cost-effective models in a very short period of time. The Mini IT11 is the latest addition to their lineup. With an Intel Tiger Lake CPU, a licensed copy of Windows 11 Pro operating system, and a moderate price tag, it may offer better value than the Intel NUC 11 Pro.
Specifications
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Processor: Intel Core i5-1135G7 / Intel Core i7-1165G7/ Intel Core i5-1155G7 / Intel Core i7-1195G7 (Core i7-1165G7 in my review unit)
CPU: 4 cores, 8 threads @2.8-4.7GHz, 10nm process (i7-1165G7)
GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics EU96
RAM: Dual-channel DDR4-3200, expandable up to 64GB (32GB in my review unit)
Storage: 1*SSD (M.2 SATA/PCle), expandable up to 2TB (1TB in my review unit)
1*2.5’’ SATA HDD/SSD (7mm), expandable to 2TB
Wireless: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
Ports: USB4*2, USB 3.2 Gen2*3, HDMI 2.0*1, Mini DP*1, 3.5mm Audio Jack*1, Gigabyte Ethernet*1, DC-in*1
Dimensions: 117*112*45.6 mm
Weight: 565 g
What’s in the box
GEEKOM Mini IT11 Mini PC * 1
Power Adapter * 1
User Guide * 1
VESA Mount Bracket * 1
HDMI Cable * 1
Carrying pouch * 1
The GEEKOM’s packaging may not be very fancy, but you will get all the accessories you need in the box.
Design and build
The GEEKOM Mini IT11 looks very similar to the Intel NUC 11 Pro, as the two are almost identical in terms of shape, size and the layout of the ports. The well-vented chassis is made of ABS & PC, which is much more robust and durable than ordinary plastic material. The matte blue finish isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but it does give the machine a professional look.
With an extremely small footprint (117*112*45.6 mm), the GEEKOM Mini IT11 will easily fit on any computer desk or TV bench, no matter how crammed that place may be. You may even decide to use the included VESA mount bracket to install the unit behind a monitor, which completely frees up your desktop.
This mini PC packs lots of I/O for its size. On the front you will find a USB4 Type-C, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, and a 3.5mm audio jack (with mic support). The back panel plays host to another USB4 Type-C, two additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, an HDMI 2.0, a Mini DisplayPort 1.4, and a DC-in. There’s also an SDXC card slot on the left side, and a Kensington lock on the right side of the machine. As you may have already noticed, the Mini IT11 can be connected to four 4K displays at the same time, making complex creativity tasks easier to handle.
The USB4 ports on this mini PC are marked as the 20 Gbps version, but in my test, both of them could easily exceed that speed limit. I consulted GEEKOM for this and was told that the USB4 ports on the Mini IT11 were actually the 40Gbps full-speed version, but due to the reason that the 40Gbps marking would need extra certification, they were currently undermarked. The USB4 ports are perfectly compatible with Thunderbolt 3 devices. Not only can you transfer files between the GEEKOM Mini IT11 and portable SSDs at high speeds, but you may also use a Thunderbolt certified eGPU to enhance the graphics performance of your mini PC.
Getting access to the internals could not be easier, the only thing you need to do is to unscrew the four screws on the bottom panel. The Mini IT11’s motherboard features two DDR4-3200 memory slots, an M.2 2280 SSD interface, a 2.5” HDD/SSD interface, as well as 2 M.2 2230 interface inside. You can have as much as 64GB dual-channel memory, and 4TB internal storage under the hood. My review unit comes a single 16GB Kingston DDR4-3200 memory stick, but I added another 16GB memorty stick for dual-channel setup.
The build quality of the GEEKOM Mini IT11 is simply stunning. The chassis feels extremely smooth and robust, with no ugly mold lines on the surface. There’s also a metal frame inside to protect the internal components from impacts, a nifty feature that all GEEKOM mini PCs come with.
System & App
The Mini IT11 ships with an activated copy of Windows 11 Pro, so you don’t have to pay extra for the license. For average consumers, the Pro Edition of Windows OS probably won’t mean much. Yet for power users, there are quite a few extra features that may come in handy.
The operating system here is completely clean, with no preinstalled bloatware or third-party applications at all. Besides Windows, you can also choose to install other X86-compatible systems, such as Linux, Android X86 or UOS.
Performance
Performance from the Core i7-1165G7 and 32GB dual-channel memory is about as good as I expected, putting up respectable numbers that will accommodate anyone looking to tackle productivity work or streaming. The Intel Iris Xe graphics iGPU will handle creativity duties or even some lightweight gaming. To help you better understand the overall performance of the Mini IT11, I ran quite a few benchmarks on it, and compared its scores to the results of other top mini PCs.
First, I launched Maxon's latest CPU-crunching Cinebench R23 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The Mini IT11 got decent scores in both CPU single core and CPU multi-core. As you can see in the chart, there’s still a relatively huge gap between the GEEKOM Mini IT11 and the Apple MAC mini in terms of CPU performance.
The cross-platform Geekbench 5 test returned a very similar result. The Mini IT11 scored 1540 in CPU single core, 5133 in multi-core, and 16969 in OpenCL.
PCMark 10 simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We often use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks. The Mini IT11 scored 4661 in the standard PCMark 10 test, indicating that it should do well in a variety of heavy productivity tasks.
This mini PC also features a Kingston M.2 NVMe drive, which is extremely fast, readings and scores of the CrystalDiskMark test told the story. The dual-channel memory setup guarantees high overall bandwidth and throughput speed. In the AIDA64 cache & memory benchmark, the read, write and copy speeds of the memory are decent, the 71.2ns latency is solid, too.
Daily Computing
In the real-world use, This mini PC handily saw me through common home and office tasks, from web-browsing, social networking to editing 4K video footages. The Mini IT11 felt as efficient as the Beelink GTR5 when handling most duties, even though it got beaten by the latter in nearly all benchmarks.
Video Playback
One area where the Mini IT11 did better than the GTR5 was video playback. Thanks to the impeccable video codec support of the Intel Iris Xe Graphics iGPU, the Mini IT11 could hardware-decode most video formats up to 8K. I played many 4K movies and TV shows on this mini PC, and never encountered any frameskip or hiccups.
Not only was the Mini IT good at decoding local video, but it was also excellent in streaming videos online, even [email protected] YouTube videos could play smoothly in the Chrome browser.
Gaming
The Intel Iris Xe Graphics iGPU may not match top discrete graphics cards in performance, but it was a huge leap forward when compared to Intel’s older Iris Plus and UHD iGPUs, and could also outperform older discrete GPUs. In the graphics-focused 3DMark test, the GEEKOM Mini IT11 scored 1594 in Time Spy, 4332 in Fire Strike, and 13710 in Sky Diver. These results are significantly better than the numbers put up by the Intel NUC 8 and the Lenovo IdeaCentre Mini 5i. Surprisingly, the Mini IT11 also easily edged out the HP Envy 13, which features an Nvidia MX350 discrete graphics card.
League of Legends was extremely smooth at 1080P and medium quality settings, with 115 fps on average. Even when I switched to 4K and high quality, it was still free of any noticeable lags or frame drops. Spell Break, which was slightly more hardware demanding than LOL, stayed at 60 fps the entire gaming session.
Running Genshin Impact at 1920 x 1080 and medium quality settings saw an average of 44 fps, not great, but still enough for me to enjoy the gameplay. However, the Mini IT11 did struggle a little bit with more graphics-intensive titles like Conqueror’s Blade. The average frame rate of this game was only 31 fps at 1080P and medium settings, still playable, but there might be delays and frame drops in those intense battle scenes.
Those results mean the Mini IT11 should be able to deal with demanding graphic workloads without grinding to a halt. But if you want to game in high quality settings and still get a fair chance against other players, you might need an external GPU.
Noise, stability, and power consumption
Power consumption of the Mini IT11 is at 8 watts idle and 70 watts on max load, and the machine stayed fairly quiet most of the time. I did hear noise from the cooling fan when the mini PC was running big applications and games, but its volume was never really too untamed.
As quiet as it was, this mini PC was still reasonably stable. It passed the 3DMark Time Spy test with a score of 99.9%. And thanks to the efficient cooling, the chassis of the mini PC never became too hot to touch.
Verdict
Throughout my time with the GEEKOM Mini IT11, I can attest to this unit being a nifty piece of kit that will suit most home and office scenarios. As tiny as it is, it still packs plenty of ports, and enough power for not only our everyday basics, but also creativity workflows and gaming. If you are looking a versatile mini PC to serve as your daily driver, you can’t go wrong with the Mini IT11.
By the time I finished writing this article, GEEKOM informed me that the SoCs of the Mini IT11 were going to be upgraded from Intel Core i5-1135G7 and i7-1165G7 to Core i5-1155G7 and Core i7-1195G7 before the model hits the market. These new processors will surely give the mini PC more horsepower and help it get better numbers in benchmarking, but how much more efficiency it will bring to the table in real world use still remains to be tested, I will do another review once I receive the upgraded unit.

TEST SCREENSHOTS HERE:

Very nice machine and the USB4 is an extra really appreciated. Do you know when are you going to receive the upgraded version? I guess that extra horsepower will do very little, but if the price is the same very welcome.

Beelink SEi12 mini PC review: a better investment than the Intel NUC 12

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Small form factor PCs are gradually taking over from conventional desktop computers, as their compact size and low power consumption are attractive to lots of consumers. The recently released Beelink SEi12, which rocks an Intel i5-1235U processor, plenty of RAM, a fast PCIe4.0x4 SSD and a licensed copy of Windows 11 Pro operating system, may be a perfect choice for consumers looking for a compact personal computer for their everyday computing chores.
The good:
Premium design and compact size
Wi-Fi 6 and plenty of connectivity options
Performance better than higher-priced competitions
Easy to add memory and storage
Works with two 4K displays
Quiet even under heavy workloads
The bad:
No built-in card reader.
The Type-C port is data-only.
Specifications
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Processor: Intel Core i5-1235U
CPU: 10 cores, 12 threads @3.3-4.4GHz, 12MB Intel Smart Cache
GPU: Iris Xe Graphics EU80
RAM: 16 DDR4 3200MHz (dual-channel)
Storage: 1*m.2 2280 PCIe4.0*4 NVMe SSD (up to 2TB)
1* SATA3 2.5-inch HDD/SSD (up to 2TB)
Wireless: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
Ports: USB 3.0*2, USB 2.0*2, USB-C (data only)*1, HDMI 2.0*2, 3.5mm Audio Jack*1, Gigabit Ethernet*1, DC-in*1
Dimensions: 126*113*42mm
Weight: 455g
What’s in the box
Beelink SEi12 Mini PC * 1
120W Power Adapter * 1
User Guide * 1
VESA Mount Bracket * 1
HDMI Cable * 2 (1m and 0.2m)
The retail packaging of the Beelink SEi12 is more attractive than ever. Along with the mini PC, you get a 19V-6.25A power adapter, two HDMI cables, a user guide, a bunch of screws, and a VESA mount bracket for attaching the mini PC to the back of a monitor.
Design: it’s one of a kind
Beelink continues to work on improving the design of their products. The SEi12 a simply gorgeous. Its plastic chassis is vented on four of its six sides, allowing efficient airflow to keep the mini PC cool and stable. Most of the perforated top panel is covered with high-quality felt cloth, giving it an interesting and premium look.
The fabric material used here is not only waterproof, but also immune to fingerprints. There Beelink branding and the SEi model name on the bottom-right corner are very subtle, blending in extremely well with the rest of the housing.
On the front of the SEi12, you will find the following: a power button with status LED, a 3.5mm audio jack with mic support, a Clear CMOS pinhole, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port, two USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports.
The rear side plays host to two HMDI 2.0 ports, two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, and a DC-in port. As keen eyes might have noticed, the SEi12 doesn’t come with an SD card slot, you will need an external card reader if you transfer photos and video footages from your cameras frequently.
Both HDMI 2.0 ports support [email protected] video output, allowing you to connect the SEi12 to two displays simultaneously. Unlike other high-end Beelink mini PCs, the Type-C port on the front of the SEi12 only supports data transmission. It’s a letdown for those who prefer to work with more than two monitors.
The bottom cover has four rubber feet, texts showing how to enter BIOS and boot menu, and the screws that allow you to open the SEi12 and access the insides.
Compared to previous Beelink mini PC models, the SEi12 features an additional 4007 OS fan and an aluminum heat sink to keep the SSD cool. As a result of the improved cooling, the internals are more difficult to access than before. Older Beelink mini PCs only require you to remove four screws on the bottom panel to get to the motherboard, with the SEi12, you will need to unscrew 3 extra screws on the SSD cooling panel, which also serves as the bracket for a 2.5-inch HDD/SSD.
The hardware expansion in the SEi12 consists of an M.2 Type-2280 slot for PCle4.0*4 NVMe SSDs, a traditional 2.5-inch SATA3 drive bay, and two laptop-style SO-DIMM slots for the RAM. The M.2 2230 wireless card is also accessible under the pre-installed M.2 SSD.
Housing two storage drives in a system this compact is rather impressive. Beelink sells this PC as a ready-to-use system, you get either 16GB or 32GB dual-channel DDR4-3200 memory (in the form of Crucial brand memory sticks), and a super-fast 500GB Kingston PCIe4.0 NVMe SSD, onto which a licensed copy of Windows 11 Pro is preinstalled.
To access the CPU, and other components of the PC, you will have to remove even more screws, but there's really no need to do that since nothing else is replaceable or upgradable. In terms of wireless connections, the SEi12 supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.
OS and Software
The Beelink SEi12 ships with a licensed copy of Windows 11 Pro which, compared to Windows 10, brings more aesthetically pleasing UI, improved multiple desktops, built-in XBOX gaming, and better security features. Since this is the Pro Edition of Windows OS, you also get a few extra IT and business features.
The Windows 11 Pro here is also very clean, with no pre-installed 3rd party applications or bloatware. Besides regular Windows software, you can also load the Android subsystem on the SEi12 and run Android apps on the SEi12. If you are interested in open-source operating systems, the mini PC is also compatible with Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS and many other Linux distributions.
Performance
The SEi12 comes with the Intel Alder Lake Core i5-1235U processor, which runs at a 3.30 GHz base frequency and can increase its speed to 4.40 GHz in turbo mode. It bundles as many as 10 CPU cores (2 performance cores and 8 efficient cores), 12 threads, 12MB Intel smart cache, and has a TDP of 15 Watts. The SoC handles the graphics part too, you’ll get a very capable Intel Iris Xe EU80 iGPU with a dynamic frequency of up to 1.2GHz. There’s also 16GB/32GB dual-channel memory, and a 500GB PCIe4.0x4 NVMe SSD under the hood.
Benchmarks
In terms of CPU performance, the SEi12 is a huge step up from mini PCs with Intel Tiger Lake quad-core processors. In Cinebench R23, it completely blew the Intel i7-1165G7 NUC 11 Pro out of the water, scoring 11% higher in single-core and 42% higher in multi-core. It also handily beat the Apple Mac mini and the Beelink SER5 Pro in both subtests.
Geekbench 5 measures the computer's single-core and multi-core power, for everything from checking emails to taking pictures to playing music, or all of it at once. The results reveal how close the tested system is to the cutting-edge. What makes the Geekbench special is that it allows us to compare system performance across devices, operating systems, and processor architectures. The SEi12 scored 1619 in single core, 7475 in multi-core, way above systems with the Intel Tiger Lake mobile CPUs.
PCMark 10 is a holistic performance suite developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark). We use it to assess overall system performance in different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows like word processing, spreadsheet jockeying, web browsing, and videoconferencing. The test generates a proprietary numeric score, and higher numbers are better. The 5284-point finish from the SEi12 is well above the 4,000 points we consider excellent, and it's a very respectable showing for a PC this small.
3DMark measures relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting. Like always, I ran three different 3DMark subtests on the SEi12: Sky Diver, Fire Strike, and Time Spy, which are suited to different types of systems. Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark which tests how well a system can handle DirectX 12 games. The other two are both DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is more suited to slim laptops and midrange PCs, while Fire Strike is more demanding and made for high-end PCs to strut their stuff. The SEi12 scored 1343 in Time Spy, 3686 in Fire Strike, and 12443 in Sky Diver, falling behind the Intel NUC 11 Pro and Beelink’s very own SER5 Pro.
According to CrystalDiskMark, the 500GB PCIe4.0x4 solid-state drive in the mini PC has excellent reading and writing speeds. It allows you to boot into Windows 11 Pro in only a few seconds. Launching big creativity applications and 3D games is also incredibly fast.
Content Creation
With such a beefy processor inside, the SEi12 has absolutely no problem of seeing us through common home and office duties. It is also quite capable when dealing with relatively demanding creativity tasks.
The SEi12 stayed smooth and responsive even when I was adding complex effects and renders to 4K video footages, it almost felt as fast as my desktop PC, which features an AMD Ryzen5-5600G CPU and an Nvidia GeFore GTX1660 Ti GPU. Encoding a 3-minute 1080P/30fps video in Handbrake, the SEi12 took 1 minute, 51 seconds, which was a lot shorter than the 2 minutes, 36 seconds the Intel NUC 11 Pro took to finish the same task.
Gaming
Even though the SEi12 is using an integrated GPU for graphics-intensive tasks, its gaming capability is on par with PCs with entry-level discrete graphics cards. Running League of Legend at 1080P and medium quality setting, the average frame rate was 131 fps, the visuals are extremely smooth on my 144Hz gaming monitor. Even when I switched to 4K and high settings, LOL still averaged 71 fps, good enough for an enjoyable gaming experience.
Genshin Impact was playable at 1080P and medium setting, I saw an average of 41 fps, and didn’t notice any dips even in intense fighting scenes. Switching to lowest quality setting will improve the average frame rate to 56 fps.
Most of the other games ran fine at moderate settings, but somehow, I failed to launch Conqueror’s Blade on the SEi12, as the game constantly got stuck at the animation in the very beginning.
These are the results of all the games I tested on the Beelink SEi12, quite promising for a mini desktop PC with such a small footprint. However, if you want to enjoy the most graphics-intensive titles at higher settings, you will probably be better off with the Beelink GTR6, which rocks an even more powerful AMD Ryzen9-6900HX processor and a 12-core Radeon 680M iGPU.
Video Playback
Intel iGPUs are known to have amazing video codec support. According to Bluesky DXVA checker, the Iris Xe Graphics EU80 iGPU can support most video formats of up to 4K and 8K. When I was playing an 8K video clip, the CPU utilization was only 1%-2%, while the GPU usage also stayed below 50%. Streaming YouTube videos in Chrome was also no problem for the SEi12, including 8K/60fps videos.
Networking
The SEi12 has a Wi-Fi 6 compatible network card that works well with my TP-Link Wi-Fi6 router. However, if you want even higher speeds, you can use the Gigabit Ethernet jack on the back of the mini PC and connect it through a cable to the network.
Stability, power consumption and noise
Although the 12th generation Intel processor inside is extremely fast and can reach high frequencies when necessary, the dual cooling fans, heat sinks and copper pipes under the hood are super effective in keeping the SEi12 cool and stable. In the 3DMark Time Spy stress test, the mini PC scored a solid 99.7%, ranking above most mini PCs I've tested. In the AIDA64 Stability Test, the temperature of the CPU never surpassed 90 degrees in one hour of running in full load.
The SEi12’s higher performance does result in high power consumption, though. The power draw was around 13 watts at idle, and around 73 watts at maximum. In comparison, the Intel NUC 11 Pro draws around 8 watts at idle, while the Beelink SER5 Pro draws only 3.5 watts. Fortunately, the included 120W adapter never needs to work too hard to keep the mini PC going as mighty as it could be.
As long as I did not stress the processor inside the SEi12, the mini PC was perfectly quiet. Even in demanding tasks such as benchmark testing, where the hardware was pushed to its limit, the noise made by the fans was still rather tamed. I used to be bothered by the fan noise picked up by my Creative Live! MIC when dubbing the review videos on the Intel NUC 11 Pro. After switching to the Beelink SEi12, that problem was gone.
Verdict
The Beelink SEi12 is a well-rounded mini desktop PC. Its small footprint allows it to fit almost anywhere. There are plenty of ports for all kinds of external devices. The mini PC also offers solid performance for dealing with common computing duties without lag, as well as efficient cooling to keep it running stably for all day long.
The price of this mini PC starts from $459, which includes 16GB dual-channel DDR4-3200 memory, 500GB PCIe4.0x4 SSD, and a licensed copy of Windows 11 Pro. In comparison, the Intel i7-1165G7 NUC 11 Pro with the same amount of storage will cost you $815.99, even though it is powered by a much weaker processor. The Beelink SEi12 is obviously missing premium features like dual Thunderbolt ports, a built-in SD card reader, and a 2.5Gbps Ethernet jack, but its price will probably compel most of consumers to question the necessity of these features.