Let's talk about Mini PCs - Xulu XR1 Pro Review
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
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Xulu may be in my crosshairs today with the XR1 Pro, but let this serve as a shot across your bow if you're a Mini PC maker... Stop lying about how capable your PCs are, what use-cases you can dream up for them, how portable and affordable they are vs laptops or desktops, and how you should 'buy now because the price is only going to go up!". It's BS, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise.
But first... What am I drinking???
A Limited Release Summer Ale from Deschutes Brewing (Bend, OR), Twilight. Malt, meet Pilsner. And I dare you to name a better love story.
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One of the many reasons I love your channel, Jeff. Always giving credit where it's due, no punches pulled when the situation calls for fisticuffs, and willing to do both in the same video for the same product.
A wise RUclipsr once said "Nuance is a bit of a lost art"
This was absolutely beautiful
@@CraftComputing I'd go for one of these if I did not already have a htpc. It looks really nice in green.
@@CraftComputing Not a joke, that beep blew my fking ear out.. I literally hear ringing. 1/4 into the video I subbed no unsubbed. Also either be a man and swear or don't swear, shop with the childish deliberate swear but well bleep it out. seriously I am angry as fk. Now.
The implementation of the mini-PC is probably one of the few places where the major OEMs got it right. Sure, the 1L PCs are a bit bigger than these, but they contain a socketed desktop CPU, replaceable RAM and M.2, and even a proper (if low profile) PCIe slot in some cases. If only they weren't so locked down
Even the slightly bigger mini-PCs from Minisforum do it better as they have m.2 and removeable RAM. The one I have has a 7735HS mobile CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Little dude is pretty good for mid-range gaming.
@@shadowtheimpureSo true. The asrock deskminis are my go to for just this reason. Long term serviceability is really good.
Yeah, the one time Asrock tried with STX they messed it up by making a cube like a minisPC
Yeah the 1 liter size form factor seems to be the best. Small enough to carry, large enough to sport desktop chips and larger storage.
miniPCs aren't for "travelling", but they're a great solution for someone with limited desk space or for sysadmins strapped for cash that are told to wrangle together some form of hardware parity for non-essential tasks. They might be considered "mobile" if what you need is a semi-permanent setup that's a little more fixed-in-place than a laptop, but I can't think of a ton of career tracks that would really gain from a small editing rig or a NAS on such a tiny footprint, compared to a laptop.
I'm using a miniPC for work, but it's mostly because I needed something I could deploy within the hour of having received it - to replace my now-broken and unrepairable previous work-from-home rig.
Every Mini PC I've reviewed in the last two years have come with carry cases. They're trying to make the traveling desktop happen.
A mini PC, especially if it has a dc input jack is ideal for the caravaner that wants a media PC for remote streaming and for storing their photo's.. if priced cheaper than a laptop(which it should be, it's not got the screen) it would make a sound alternative..
"but they're a great solution for someone with limited desk space" = so is a laptop and it offers more for less $$$. Oh you saw a cheap mini-PC with a Pentium? So's a cheap laptop! Includes keyb+display. MiniPCs are just a cash-grab.
Yup agree, so tired of the false adverts of these Mini PCs. I love them for what they are, just they are not gaming machines! Why say they are!
if by gaming they mean they handle dosbox and quake 1, then yes.... hahaha
They can handle things at 720p just fine with modest settings but beyond that it's pushing it.
I agree, advertising them playing new AAA titles is a mistake because people have expectations that will not be met. That being said, it will play AAA games at 720p. I had a 2 year old minisforum PC with a Ryzen 7 APU in it that I played Cyberpunk 2077 at 720p on. I was using Linux and not Windows, which makes a difference, but it usually averaged about 32 FPS. (Sometimes higher or lower depending on what part of the map you were on.) It wasn't a great experience, but I did play the whole game start to finish in 720p on a 2 year old Ryzen 7 APU in a minipc. But I would expect using Linux to make that happen might not be in the cards for most people.
@@boingkster which for a PC that needs a monitor means it cant game, whens the last time youve seen a 720p monitor
Yes it can game. But, to expect a fist sized cube of thinking sand to play modern AAA games at 4K or whatever. You're outta ya damn minds.
Great honest video once again Jeff, thanks for taking time to highlight the good the bad and the unrealistic :)
Seems like a perfect solution for an embedded PC for an RV. In that use case, you have a screen, but no good place for a tower or a laptop, so all of these seem like a reasonable option at a reasonable price. Given the size, it also makes for a simple upgrade when it would need one in that use-case.
Great video, agree with all of your points - I do really like the idea of a mini PC though, so I just went and bought an older HP Elitedesk Mini off of Ebay for like $80. May be an older processor, but still great value for my homelab needs.
Yeah, I think weak mini PCs like this are basically e-waste because you can get 3-5 year old MFF PCs on Ebay often with better CPUs and for less. The only mini PCs I think make sense are more expensive units like Beelink GTR7 PRO 7940HS or Minis Forum HX99G because old MFF PCs can't compete here. An older workstation might compete, but they're much bigger so I at least don't have space for many of those.
@@TheDuzxgood points but those older PC’s are probably slurping a good deal more power delivering that performance. Maybe not a big thing In the US, where u guys will put a v12 in a lawnmower, but here in the U.K., the frugal power consumption of there devices in a desktop offering is very tempting.
@@karlreading3201 I'm european, but I find this a hard question to answer. They draw about 20W more which does add up, but it's hard to predict electricity prices over the next years. Also it depends how much you have it turned on and for how many years you're planning to use it.
20W is about 175kWh a year. In 2022 the average price per 100kWh in the EU was £24.53. If we assume we stay locked on that price for the next 10 years that would be £437.5. In that case it's definitly worth buying the Xulu.
However what if we only use it about 5 hours a day (i.e. when you're not at work or sleeping) then that would only be £91.25 in a decade. In this case it's probably not worth getting the Xulu.
Also this is assuming high electricity prices. A lot of European countries already have lower prices and have started investing heavily into renewables and nuclear which would probably make the prices even lower.
@@TheDuzx The power, longevity, and size constraints might also be a concern to a user. Also getting used PCs is by it's nature a gamble because you never know what you might get and if you need a few dozen units for your application a few used systems are bound to have issues with hardware which will, usually require time and sometimes money to solve. Troubleshooting old PCs is just not something a person not into tech wants to deal with.
@@_shadow_1 A MFF that has been on some office worker's desk for a few years isn't going to be that bad. The thing that is bad is secound hand laptops because employees do not take good care of thoes.
Thanks for shedding some light on at least one of these mini PC's. This is something that i have been debating on getting myself. Seems that the hardware isn't up to par to play some of the Triple A game's. Then again, maybe this could also be used for someone who is looking to setup a small home network, and run some gaming virtual machines off of a server. Overall, I don't think these would be a bad option for someone who might be looking at light web browsing, watching a video, or some productivity work. I'll probably get a small PC like this in the future just to play around with myself. Keep up the great work, Jeff!
They're not bad machines, just prone to terrible marketing.
Don't fall for the false advertisement that these are great for frequent travelers when compared to laptops. They are great to if you move from an apartment/house. One less heavy thing to carry around. Still good for a home setup. It also depends on which one you get.
- Miniforum UM790 and Beelink GTR7 are for gaming and high-end programming. Examples: Near AAA games and C/C++/Rust/Java/Go.
- Geekom IT12 and Intel NUC 12/13 pro are for less intensive programming and MS office work. Heavy Python, SQL, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint users.
- M2 Mac Mini for the Tic Tok and Instagram photo/video editor crowd. Also, good for iPhone users that don't have a professional need for computer.
- M2 Mac Mini Pro for professional photo/video editor crowd. Wedding photographers, event photographers, newsroom video editors, and DJs creating their mix before a big night of partying. Also, widely used by front-end website developers and UX/UI designers.
As nearly every hotel TV has an HDMI input, I use a mini pc and micro Bluetooth keyboard while traveling to check/transfer my action cam footage. It is smaller, lighter, tougher than any laptop for the same budget and plays 4k (although forget about editing). When backpacking with 5kg of camera kit, every gram is important!
I did actually travel with a Brix gaming PC for a while, and when travelling more recently meant I had COVID quarantines in both directions it was in use again. (I stopped travelling with it originally when I built a cheap "away" gaming PC from an HP Z600 and an RX480 for my overseas place of work and took it as hold luggage)
Was already carrying 2 work laptops and the Brix could fit in the same carry on bag. (Keyboard and cables went in hold luggage - hotels generally have TVs)
I love these mini PCs for general/office computing and recommend them to people looking for that. They're great to VESA mount to the back of the monitor and have a clean and [usually] quiet desk setup.
If you want something different -- like gaming performance, PCIe expandability, etc. -- I steer people to normal systems instead of messing around with any sort of eGPU setup.
Believe me, I know I'm an edge case but as a firefighter the firehouse is my home away from home 2 out of 6 days. Traveling with a mini pc, monitor and keyboard/mouse is MY use case. We so exist.
As a motorcoach operator with an Aya neo, I concur
If they expanded the display to include things like ip address, subnet etc and made an optional din rail mount it could be a nice little industrial pc, which would also justify a high price.
MiniPC's are great, but pretty niche, the only reason I got mine is that I needed a Windows machine and don't really have space for a tower, and didn't need another laptop ( I have a Macbook ). It's hooked up to my TV and doubles as a Home Theater PC.
I had considered one of these for my home theater PC, but bits and pieces purchased from Ebay always came in at a better price point and more functionality.
I'm really confused as to who these devices are supposed to be marketed to. Anyone who wants a real gaming PC is going to build a tower. Anyone who wants real portability is going to get a laptop. Anyone who wants a small, worry free NUC for a business is going to buy one of the gazillion mass-produced optiplexes.
I guess it's really for the crowd that needs to save space and have a basic PC that can do "enough".
Have you tried upgrading the RAM or storage yet? 2242 SSD is limited and I can guarentee you cannot do this task in under 45 minutes and likely closer to 90 minutes. Have you found out the cost and time required to invest to ship the XR1 all the way back to China for any in-warranty work? Please let me know your thoughts and if you would still recommend this Mini PC at any cost to any one.
They are great for travelling. Take a small keyboard, mouse plug it into the hotel TV or at your overseas office. Smaller than a laptop and usually more powerful/upgradable.
Thanks for the review. Yes, the final price is crazy, but the current release looks cool. Cheers!
I haven't used "sysprep" since XP. I recently resold a lot of elitedesk minis, I took the approach of just searching for it in the 11 task bar, decided it wasn't worth it for a single lot and just turned the project into a conveyor belt and was done in less than an hour😂
11 installs FAST from an external ssd even if it is USB.
I love my 12th gen NUC. Use it as a power efficient server with an i7-1165g7, Samsung 980 NVMe, iris graphics and 64gb of ram. All for 28w tdp. Great home lab box. I have the whole Serverr suite running plus another 24 containers no sweat.
My niece let out an "uh!" at the 08:52 moment of the video, even without watching with me🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Good honest awesome review! This is why we watch your content !
The production value with the smoke machine and strobe light in the server room was great!
My selection criteria for a mini-PC would be the amount and types of I/O that I can get from it. And that depends on the application.
If you're looking to game, and have low expectations the Vega 8 integrated graphics on that PC will run Cyberpunk 2077 at 720p at 30+fps. (I got this using Linux. I played the whole game in 720p low settings at somewhere between 26 and 48 frames per second depending on where you were in the map. It was usually around 32 until I capped it at 30 FPS to keep things more stable.) That's not an amazing feat, but if you happen to be in the market for a very small PC and happen to want to play a modern AAA game, this thing will do it at 720p. It should do esports titles at 1080p at 60+fps. So if you like shooters you'll need to stick to esports titles if you want to play multiplayer. And it should work really well for strategy titles (like Stellaris) at 1080p.
It's hard to find a reason for these small PCs with the high end APUs. If you want to AAA game, you kind of need a dedicated graphics card if you want 1080p or better. If you just want to watch RUclips and surf the net with some retrogaming you don't need such a powerful APU. You could save several hundred dollars and get a cheaper one. The only sweet spot I see for a mini-PC this powerful is if you are a professional user, like a developer or someone who uses PhotoShop or something like that. If you must free up your desk space, this kind of mini-PC has a much smaller footprint than a laptop or desktop, even smaller than a SteamDeck or other similar handheld PC. Sure, they might have a smaller volume, but they take up a lot more space on a desk.
I think they might be ideal for digital nomads. I was living that life for about 6 months last year. I had a minisforum PC with a Ryzen 7 APU in it. It had the horsepower to run VisualStudio and would fit on any random ledge near the TV in the hotel room. I would plug in the PC to the TV in the hotel room and use a wireless mouse and keyboard to work while the wife and kids were playing on the beach. There wasn't always a spot to set up a laptop, and in many cases the PC I had was just balanced on the TV arm or set on the TV stand because there was no where else to put a laptop or even my SteamDeck. The small size with large amount of RAM and workhorse CPU meant that any hotel room with a TV in it became my workspace.
I'm pretty confused by the whole cyberpunk section. These APU's absolutely can push 30fps @720p for that game with the right settings. I get the frustration, it's not going to run well out of the box without tinkering, but I hardly think anyone buying one of these things isn't going to be at least willing to tinker a little bit. It wouldn't be verified on the steamdeck if it was "unplayable"
@@veqv The marketing is misleading as they didn't say "to play this game you have to play in potato mode and tinker with settings".
@@marcogenovesi8570 I agree. I do think the marketing is misleading and they'd do better to properly set expectations (especially since expectations are going to be 1080p and 60 fps if you don't say otherwise). But on the other hand, the APU is plenty powerful enough to game on. I haven't tried it, but I expect you can play Baldur's Gate 3 on it at 1080p 30+fps on low settings. The most demanding games will need to be in potato mode, but most everything else should be playable in low.
For me mini PCs and cute to look at, that's it. I never found a need for one. Great review and the Linode ad was awesome!
Jesus Jeff, you seriously went ham on this one haha. I love it! 😂
"Ok im going to stop you right the *bleep* there"😂😂😂
I love the idea of Mini PCs, but thank you for calling them out on the advertising. Really looking for homelab material or something to replace an old desktop with more often than not most of the time. If it can handle some decent gaming, great too, but in the best case, it seems like a lot of the marketing misses the audience that would be looking for these types of devices, or in the worst case, trying to deceive people who aren't really looking for them into thinking it will fit their use. This does have a pretty cool shell though, I would not complain for more full BIOS readout displays.
Also I'm one of those people that will take a NUC instead of a laptop for some travel, really only if I'm somewhere I know I'll have a station for time, but 99% of the time it's easier and better to just lug around the laptop.
I really like using a mini-pc as a Router / VM host / Storage host while traveling. I can connect the mini PC to any network either via ethernet or wifi, then connect my new mini PC network. It works particularly well when traveling with a team (or family). You connect/configure the mini PC once and everything else just works... It work especially well when you have to deal with multiple VPNs... personal, corporate, and client.
In a pinch you can even keep your entire campsite happy by providing wifi over a tethered phone. Also works at home during a power outage or in a van/bus/camper during a road trip. I do tend to block bandwidth hogging sites and provide a library of classic videos and music instead.
I really like the ones with multiple ethernet ports. It would be awesome if someone made one with POE out. I have been known to add a couple unifi APs to the setup to provide service to larger areas and larger team.
I bought a 16" 2 in 1 with these exact same specs in January. It's a great mobile device that's lightweight and has great battery life for around $600. A mini pc in at that price is, well... something I would wait 6 or 12 months for the price to fall on. So much of that in the mini pc market right now.
8:32 - LOL...I'm dead...😂....I'm freaking dead. They was capping hard bro. A line? A circle? They must have sniffed a whole octagon or something to come up with all that BS. Respect earned for that snap bro. Dat was G though
Thanks for including the Aya Neo Air** for the MSRP (or estimated release price) comparison. Makes using this for retro gaming an easy choice… not to go with.
At $350, the XR1 Pro a solid emulation box. I gave the Minisforum UM580 similar praise.
I completely agree at $350 - Hopefully Xulu can keep the XR1 Pro much closer to that price instead of their quoted retail price of $559. They’ll move a ton more product if they can keep it low, and get their name out there as well!
@@CraftComputing but with decision - some noname sulu and kickstarter, where you can wait for the delivery for years and minis forum, where you can get shipment next month max - the choice is obvious.
Not sure I'd ever have thought of this for a portable gaming rig - I think I'd much rather use it for a mini mobile virtualisation hypervisor server. I've seen a little portable server (usually just a small PC with a WIFI AP configured) used by small teams of contractors on a client site - their own ultrabooks were connect to it and not the client network. Spinning this up in your hotel room or client site, just at work in an ordinary job, mate's place, etc. - perhaps a bunch of virtual servers running on Proxmox or similar, that's probably how I'd run it. Nice if you have to leave it in place while you take your laptop away, in the end for sheer volume it's not THAT big (though I'd rather wide/flatter to a cube, vastly easier to carry that way). Perhaps even as a game and install server for LAN parties, etc.?
I use it as a "Roku". Something to clean up the living room.
I built a 2400G system in an Inwin Chopin case back when that was a thing. Overclocked, tuned with 3000MHz dual channel DDR4 and an NVME drive, it was a good little 720 to 900p gaming machine.
Seeing the cyrrent gen of mini PCs makes me think we are just reinventing the wheel.
Why not just take a laptop? Its got a screen and keyboard, too, and is truely mobile.
Getting rid of the battery and screen is the main selling point for me. I want a Roku/XBox 360 that gets 60 FPS.
As long as it is quiet I could easily see this used in a office or maybe even a home theater application if you didn't want a Android TV box.
They usually are not though.
Tiny case/heatsink + powerful APU = heat = fan noise
Many valid points. Wonder why recent Ryzen portable gaming handhelds don't come with a dock with useful ports by default and advertise "this is also a powerful mini PC"
I switched from a full tower to a minisforum with the Ryzen 7. It runs my CAD software (SolidWorks, and Draftsight) better than my 4yo tower. Also much faster for video processing.
Also love Mini PC's. I've sold tons of Dell/HP/Beelink Mini PC's. When i camp or travel i take the mini PC since i have a monitor in our 13' 1968 camper and when staying at hotels. i just hook up to the TV. I just replaced the 4800u beelink with a GMKtec 7940hs based system. It is super fun and can play tons of local multiplayer games and of course emulation. when not traveling, it lives as a media PC in the basement. oh and to go way back in time. i personally used nothing but shuttles from 2004 to 2013. (A64 3200+/6600GT, C2D E6550 9600GT, i7-920/Radeon5850)
honestly, after seeing what this particular minipc is capable of, i'll stick to my current laptop as my go to portable pc.
Totally agree with everything you said. I bought a MINISFORUM Venus UM790 Pro Mini with a Ryzen 9 8 core while I wait for my Xulu XR1 to get here sometime in November (probably more like December if I'm lucky), and the Minisforum could not handle live OTA HD from a HDHomerun using Plex or Emby without pretty constant stuttering. However, I bought both mini pcs to be little servers running things like nginx, dns, Wordpress, and some custom code for a game I am developing because to get something similar in a cloud VM would cost $150-350/month each. They also are going to tell me what kind of specs I need for the production VMs mostly because if whatever code I write doesn't work on a mini pc, it certainly isn't going to run on a vm. I am glad to find someone trying to debunk the outrageous claims being made about these mini pcs and giving reasonable expectations for potential buyers.
Its reminding me of the atom tablet boom back in 2014-2016 tbh.
at least the CPU is good enough for office and web browsing, something that can't be said of Atoms
Seems great for a home lab server, even a cluster of these for Kubernetes and/or a hypervisor would be great.
Or for a living room emulation machine.
Or maybe as a garage pc to run your 3D printer and for looking up service manuals, running tuning and diagnostics software etc.
But anything beyond that, I don't see any use for this.
Yeah not even close to the smallest. Minisforum EM680 is way smaller, and it is running an AMD 6800U with 680M graphics based on RDNA2 and includes two full USB4 ports.
Xulu might get what they deserve (an honest review). I just closed the kickstarter browser tab the moment I read the marketing BS. I can't trust a company making those claims.
I like the OLED screen gimmick on this, seems like it would be right at home under a TV in a living room
I think they could be reasonably decent "x86 raspberry pi" duty. It could be a reasonable small form factor and low power server.
The problem is it’s just way too expensive for that when a used 1 liter PC can be had for around $50 and be more than powerful enough for most uses.
@@Hornet135 still way larger than this
@@JessicaFEREM lol no? it's more like double the size while being slimmer. Heck even a mini itx isn't "way larger"
I find this so niche, I would totally get one to use in my off-the-grid shed so I can be more efficient on the batteries if I want to game or work during nights, but I will always remote desktop to my ThreadRipper back at home...
Purchased a mini PC when my Alienware tower started acting up and am rather happy with it.
Sure it's not a gaming PC but I can play my older games on it with no problem and I maxed out ram at 64 gigs as well which really helps.
The only problems I have come with windows updates which tend make Windows 11 act goofy at times before a new update that fixes the problem comes up.
For the modern games I purchased a good 17 inch gaming laptop.
We got one of these mini-PCs for my mom to do what amounts to web browsing. You just don't need all that desktop tower real estate to browse the web and use productivity software, obviously you can pack a lot of power and storage into a little box these days. That's where these mini-pcs excel, and they're great for what they are. But they always wants to oversell them a bit, and that's the only problem.
You can run Windows 11 desktop from a Ryzen 7000 cpu now without a video card installed, it's not for gaming but has no issue doing anything that is desktop/web stuff, best way to get an AM5 build up and running is without a video card now adays.
Anyhoot good job on keeping it real most RUclipsrs do not keep it real.
I am an electronics hobbyist. That rather standard $3 OLED screen loses brightness after less than a year. At least on the projects I've built. I hope you can turn it off when you don't need it.
I hate youtube's algorithm why didn't I get a notification in my feed about your video?
I am subscribed since long time go but no notifications for the last 2 videos.
My dad got the beelink gtr7. Zen 4 aND RDNA 3, he's tickled pink.
Like the brutal honesty!!! I don't think they will ever send you another sample... oh well!!!
Nice catch on the advertising myths. It is a nice portable device, and with things like projected keyboards or foldible keybards and a small mouse, it could replace a laptop. Use an HDMI cable to connect to the hotel's tv and boom....Price is a bit much especially when a laptop that has the accessories already built onto the device, and is around the same price. Still would have to buy a case for both the Xulu and Laptop devices lol
re: Mini-PCs as a desktop replacement
I agree with you that the Mini PCs DEFINITELY lack the expandability (especially in terms of PCIe slots/lanes) vs. their desktop counterparts.
I also agree with you that mini PC OEMs should STOP advertising their mini PCs as being able to play the latest AAA games.
But for quite literally everything and anything else where if you don't need the expandability and you're not gaming (much), these mini PCs are AWESOME!!!
(I game a little bit on Minecraft with my tiny human using a Beelink GTR5 5900HX. Our minecraft server runs off another Beelink GTR5 5900HX.)
For more intensive gaming, tiny human uses an Intel NUC that I bought I think back in 2017 or 2018, which I didn't know (nor pay any attention to it at the time, supports Thunderbolt 3), so now we have a Razer Core X eGPU enclosure (which houses a RTX 3090), for games that demand more/better video performance.
And if I need something that also has more GPU power, I have my old 6700K, also with a 3090 as well. (Just recycling old hardware as the number of times and duration that I need it, is relatively scant, by comparison.)
And if we need something more powerful than either of those two, I'm thinking of finishing the 12700K or 12900K build (bought the DDR5 motherboard two years ago, but DDR5 was in short supply then, so I haven't revisited the idea for that build until now), and that should give us a pretty decent bump in performance.
Spicy! 🌶
Someone had to say it :-D
I'll buy those Mini PCs when I get them with ECC memory support.
I can get those on Desktop AM4, but much bigger and at higher idle power.
So far it looks dire.
ECC is a weird hill to die on.
@@CraftComputing there are dozens of us, dozens
@@CraftComputing alot of people look into MiniPC's for homelab servers as there usually very power efficient but lack of ECC ram support holds them back for that role.
@@AlunBridgestbh I've never stumbled into my personal setups causing issues because of lack of ecc. I think it's slightly overrated feature for homelab. I fully understand issue in data centers and other mission critical things,but at home...
@@jothain I like error detection that alert me if my computer does faulty computation. 🙂 Yes, ECC does error correction that you need for mission critical stuff. But it's also the only way to get alerted if a memory error is detected. I can't do what ECC does in software only. That ECC is only useful for data centers and mission critical things is a myth.
Jeff.... Cyberpunk runs at 45-60fps on the Steamdeck.
mini pc with the new pocket gpu would be a cute little combo.
Considering how inexpensive used 1L PCs from the various OEMs are and the level of upgradability they usually have, those are my go to. I will be moving into a new house in a couple of weeks, and originally I wanted to get a rack and build myself a homelab with old servers. I've changed my mind a bit. I'll still have a small rack, and I may have a couple of rack mount servers, but most of the computing power is going to come from 1L PCs. Of course, my homelab won't be anywhere near as serious as anything that Jeff puts together!
I love how the store page says 8 cooooore.... 2 threads per coooore... total of 12 threads ! woot !
it can work as a server! probably has enough power to run as a load balancer
8:43 Geez, never seen you this angry!
You're absolutely right though
Finally someone who throws these things under the bus =)))
Will he also throw the PlayStation 5 and Xbox series X under the bus as well. 60 FPS my tail feathers,...
Modern AAA is garbage.
Totally agree with your take on the advertising. Its rampant through all brands coming out of the Orient for a couple years now. I bought the minisforum you reviewed. Its laggy at times without even playing games. They look ok, but theyre loud, they have a reoccuring stroke and lags the system out, they run hot and dont run 2 monitors for long.. overall they look better than they run. Top tier games.. thats just laughable.
Can we get an updated tutorial on making W11 custom images? Tried last time and failed hard
guess you havent actually tried cyberpunk on a steam deck recently then as I have been playing through cyberpunk on my steam deck using the steam deck settings and its a smooth and very playable 30fps with the odd drop to 28 when driving.
I have a 5560U in a Beelink Mini as my HTPC, and my son uses it to play Fortnite, and it works. But he's always asking to use my gaming laptop with a Ryzen 5 (4600? maybe???) and a 1660GTX installed, because the Beelink only gets 30-40fps, while mine pegs at 120. I "can" game, doesn't mean it's oing to be the greatest experience, even for esports titles.
the only thing i want to know is power consumption of the entire system doing things, idle, playing a youtube etc for instance for texas tank watching
It's crazy that handheld PCs like the ayaneo air are actually smaller than mini-pc and most of the time more powerful. It would be awesome of ayaneo made a super slim mini pc. slap the air internals into some super slim desktop. But maybe that would be redundant? Maybe just having a dock for handheld PCs would be perfect already.
God I love the star trek opener
I lean more interest in in PC's that have a small form GPU or hardwired GPU (not on CPU) .
At the listed MSRP you're getting dangerously close to a GTR7 in price. Which of course absolutely creams this thing with its RDNA based 780m.
As far as I'm concerned they could drop the screen and the price accordingly. IMHO one of the the main reasons to buy a mini PC is that you can tuck it away somewhere like behind the monitor for example. No one is going to buy it over another mini PC specifically because of that screen. It doesn't really add value to the product.
those screens are like 1$ in bulk
@@marcogenovesi8570 Ok take a dollar off then. It's basically useless.
@@MrJasonLG I'm just adding context. It looks like a cheap gimmick, and it is a cheap gimmick.
Small pcs like this is good for possible production use cases. I would suggest those companies go for a business market than gamers. Also. Do you take suggestions on beers. I would suggest Daredevil lift off. 😊
8:16 I do know of a single person who was bringing their mac mini to work, at a startup. It was both a cost-cutting and comfort decision for the person. keyboard, display was on-site. But yeah, extremely niche idea.
The other issue with these Mini PCs with the APUs that have Vega Graphics is the fact that their support is coming to a end sooner rather than later. With creditable rumors stating it may be by the end of this year. Now it's not a big deal for a Linux (mostly Batocera) OS, but for Windows users it will be. Let's be frank though for the same "retail" price they want to charge for their Ryzen 7 model you can just get a Ryzen 9 7940HS with a 780M Mini PC (like Minisforum UM790 Pro.) Also the Minisforum EM680 (with a 680M iGPU) is around the same size and is not on pre order (with a current price tag of $420-$490).
“Creditable rumors” yeah, whatever. And whatever “support” means. They’ll be bricks by the end of the year? Nope.
You’re a fool of you buy anything w/ Vega graphics. RDNA3 APUS are all over and at a lower price than this unit.
My steam deck plays cyberpunk at 30+fps with lows maybe around 25fps with no problem using the steam deck preset.
08:20 You won't find a laptop with video out on the USB-C port at this price point. So, you can dock these.
I was tempted to look into one of these for camping and using a projector, but maybe I should just use my older Ryzen laptop.
ryzen laptop probably sips power vs these things.
Pick a projector with Android or some other smart OS built in. Play your media from USB storage.
@@channel_alan I nabbed a projector from good will for $5 (it was $65 on sale from Amazon). I believe it's a 720p native, 1080p supporting projector. I have tried it using a shield TV, and direct play from USB. I do enjoy movie play back, but I also occasionally like to game on a projector. A laptop, a Nintendo switch or even a steam deck work well with little HDMI projectors.
@@ghomerhust Most of these are essentially older Ryzen laptops. Power usage should be the same,...
So true I love my minisforum mini pc for running my laser engraver it is not equal to a desktopp in anyway .
Still prefer a mini or small form PC - you can fit anything and find 10x the parts for it, new or ebay
I think all the "competents" in the field realized this already. These however do have a purpose, they shine as single use fixed function appliances. I have a few asrock deskminis running here are security camera stations (this was before the advent of "good hardware" in these machines and these would be perfect for this use. They are actually great for HTPC use, signage, and for my elder customers who just want to type up a document, browse the web and play blackjack and tetris, the quad core celeron versions of these with 8gbs of ram and 128gbs ssd are perfect.
Coming from the old clunkers with Core i3's from 10 years ago and hard drives, these things are cheap to ship down to the caribbean, all in one with bt and wifi, my only gripe being lack of rj45, 3.5mm audio out, and enough usb ports. Though some newer models are dealing with that problem remarkably well.
The only issue is long term serviceability. Soldered on RAM is going to be the big one. Most of them have replaceable ssds which is about it for upgradability.
I remember the day day when really small laptops with a slow Atom processor were really popular.
It had like a 10" monitor and 1280x720 resolution. Basically a tablet with a keyboard.
But it eventually went unpopular because it was sooo slow.
You couldn't really do anything with it but use a browser, and barley that.
I think even the dual-cores with 1-2 GB ram still ran slow as they used slow hdds or emmc terribad storage.
Frankly my best mini pc is my ancient Mac Mini G4, but that’s for running vintage software anyway
I love these kind of pc's, but I want a model with 2 Lan ports. Server/router/media server/dosbox is what I use these kind of platform for.
Would make a nice HTPC/emulation pc. Plus its green so cant be all bad lol.
Yay our PCS being reviewed….
Oh no. Oh god no. 😂
I’m so sick of the false claims. They’re monitoring nodes at best.
It's a pretty decent office PC
Monitoring nodes at best? What kind of world do you live in? A monitoring node is an obscure Datacenter-esque compute usage. The monitoring node needs compute proportional to the number of nodes on the network that it is monitoring. For a typical use case for a monitoring node, the compute for a typical user PC is expected.
MiniPCs are not currently intended to replace Xeon virtualization clusters in a datacenter, they are supposed to be used for email and Roku at home.
these things are for people who expect a monitor, mouse, and keyboard to be available whereever they intend to take these. i can understand tvs are common and can function as a monitor, and a mouse is small enough you can carry alongside the minipc, but keyboard? how?
It's frustrating as minis are a great fit for many uses, but the overpromising makes them look bad.
Love my mini as it sits idling at 4W (from the wall) and is around 8 when streaming audio.
Im curious to know what is the current trully world smallest mini pc. Also curious what is the current world lowest power consumption mini pc as well
The NeoGeo Screen in the back is too distracting. Metal Slug 6 is fantastic tho!
6000 series Ryzens have been out for more than a year, they should have included a 6600u/6800u in the higher end models, gaming performance would have been higher.
But I guess since they are a tiny company on kickstarter, they probably can't order those chips at a good price from AMD.
Looked on the Kickstarter...
Super pack, top of the line. Copy pasta from their Kickstarter
$759 USD
ALL-STAR Pack Includes
🖥 XR1 MAX - 64GB RAM + 2TB SSD ⚡️
📽️ TinyProjector - Pocket Projector
⌨ KB-100-Black Bi-fold Keyboard
🖱️ RGB Vertical Ergo Mouse
💻 Portable 7" Monitor
💼 Full Set EVA Case - XDO-Set-Case-L
To note, that a 7 inch screen and portable keyboard and mouse with 64GB RAM would make a great portable VM station.
which is your recommended, affordable among a multitude of options?
I love all those mini PC too but I also made a clear distinction between something with a use case and b*******. Part of my home lab are mini pc from aliexpress but they have specific roles such has pfsense firewall (celeron mini pc with 4*2.5G LAN) or proxy (orange pi zero) and costs at most 100 euros with reduction coupons. Those ryzen mini pc are great but I have trouble figuring out their utility other than making an emulation station (I don't know if they even can emulate PS3 for example). For a simple desktop usage, yes, they're clearly overpriced for what they are.
Somewhat ironically, I just bought a used Beelink Sei 11 pro for around $200 - so I could set it up as a client for the gpu-passthrough VM server you inspired me to build, lol. I just want small footprint, 4k and hdr output. Actually - if you could do a video on how to get HDR output through Moonlight, that would be amazing! (I guess it's a premium feature for Parsec) ;-)
I kinda wonder if you could use a halfway decent graphics card in a Zima board, and blow the doors off of this thing, albeit at a definite size disadvantage. But those items in your bag are probably easier to haul than that weird, stiff container the ship those in tbh
Rather have the usual HP Mini Lenovo Tiny, they may not have the diminutive footprint, but at least they aren't uselessly THICC. They need to really lean into it and make it look like a tiny old PC with a screen running Dos/win3.1/MacOS/BASIC. Something like a Macintosh or an IBM monitor.