Really am glad these mini pcs are getting some love and attention they really are great pcs too I thought of getting one or a m2 mac mini since I really don't want to try and get new parts to build a new pc soon these mini pcs make much more sense to me to just get one instead.
we have a SER5. it works flawlessly with our nas/ security setup, with 8 cameras and obs. not a small feat, with two large hd monitors. and totally freaking silent! ser7 is next. oh, and it replaced the server size pc we built with water cooling and 4 cores, 16g ram, and that ser5 blows it out of the water. 300 bucks!
Great for programmers, video editors using Davinci code, and people who want to game near AAA games on it. With 32GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB of SSD, you can do a lot with it.
I'll be buying a Beelink computer in the next months. It won't have that kind of horsepower, but I don't do tasks that require much power. Nice video, Lon. I like how you present the videos pretty much the same, for easier comparison.
@@polarvortex6601 Thanks. The main problem I see in trying to purchase these on Amazon is the specs they offer will either be missing or not match, even within the same ad.
I like the one with the kind of aqua colorway. I don't know why many PCs always have to look so lifeless. And I'm glad there's a muted gray version available but I wish more companies would offer more variety in terms of the aesthetics
If they marketed these things like iMacs with @deepinlinux63 installed on them, they could make millions. One to match the carpet and one to match the blinds.
That’s a really impressive mini PC! The only reservation that I would have about buying one of these is that Beelink doesn’t have any offices here in the United States. So if something breaks, you’re probably on your own.
I forgot to mention that .. Yeah that's the one down side. Beelink is one of the better companies in this space but agree that it's not as easy to get support on it.
Yeah, but at least if it break so badly, you can take out your data by taking out the m.2 nvme ssd and also the rams, then buy a new barebone one and use your sticks on it.
The only thing I could possibly want more is the oculink part (basically TB5 early). Out of all the ones out there ( and I have studied quite a few of them from every company ) this is my favorite one. I really like the pro model of the same but supposedly there's an issue and it's a bit larger. I could see this PC still serving files for me in 10 years easy... It has everything (except oculink/TB5) it's well built and well designed and if it weren't for Christmas sales coming soon I would already bought it. Currently $729 but I could a scooped it up at 609. I'll keep waiting a little bit more cuz I really want memory that can do 7500 mts, TB5, and a better graphics card then what's currently offered I'm not satisfied with any of it but that kind of money. Thanks for the video Lon this is the third time I've watched it 😊
i thought about it and im gonna wait... it was tempting tho with all the sales etc.. fer now i just threw together something that will work for now thanks @@snubdawg1386
I got a SER5 to be my windows box since I'm planning to move my main desktop to Linux and I'll still need a windows box (and don't want to do dual boot or a VM). My only complaint was the SSD it came with was slow even for a gen 3 drive but I had a p41 plus that I bought when Amazon had them on sale from Microcenter and swapped that in. Kind of wish a barebones option was available but overall for the price and what I intend to use it for I'm pretty happy with it. The SER7 which I also took a look at is priced high enough that I'd rather buy a regular PC but I also get there are a lot of people out there who want something small that doesn't gobble up a ton of power that 'just works'. I'm just happy that SFF PC's have finally moved out of the enterprise, just surprised it took so long.
re: WiFi in Linux - probably needed the Intel Firmware package installed. It's common these are left off the base install for Debian based distros. You can confirm by running `dmesg | grep -i firmware` and see what's missing.
I've been wanting to buy these Mini PCs for quite a while now but sadly whenever I'm about to buy one I read that that specific model has some kind of issue so I wait for it to get fixed and then a new model launches and it's just a loop of I want to buy - I need to wait. This one is the new model I want to buy and sadly there are some issues I read yesterday that are keeping me on hold. (can't even remember what) Great review!
Long time viewer of your show as your research is spot on as always. I got one of these last week. Onboard video is great but i hooked my egpu with a 2080 ti. Currently playing Hogwarts Legacy maxed out at and it runs perfectly.
4:34 - Just a side note, the USB4 PD cannot power the device based on actual testing by multiple SER7 owners (myself included). You're stuck with the wacky (proprietary) power connector.
I have tried several over the last couple of months. 11 gen Neosmay Celeron 5105 and Pentium 6005 and the 12 gen Pentium 200. I do streaming with recording on both Playon and 4k on Download Helper and do email and other tabs with Firefox and Chrome. The 5105 was the best value and did all the tasks, but individually with the recording at 70% to 80% of the CPU with spikes higher. The others did not do much better and required a dedicated CPU for the Streaming and Recording. So I finally replaced my 1st gen i-7 with an 11th gem i-7 so called 4 x 4 mini the GMKtec NUCBOX M2 which did everything all at once with multiple tab on the browser at a cost of $374 with tax and free shipping. But I will say that a lot of people without cPU intensive application will be extremely happy only paying $200 for the Neosmay Celeron 5105.
@@atta1798 I am not a reviewer. I read reviews, but I have found that the way people review these new minis do not tell the real world story. My real world experience led me to buy and return several versions of what I was looking for because they didn't really test my real world enviorment and I thought it would be useful to give my results. I wanted to replace my Windows 10 computer which I am very happy with but I will never be able to run Windows 11 on it. I thought it would be useful to tell people about my experience of finding that the 11 gen Celeron was in some ways better than the 12 gen Pentium and that I probably would have been satisfied with and i-5 but an i-7 was only $100 more than the Pentium 200.
I bought one from Amazon a few days ago, the magnetic power plug would cut power to the unit with the slightest touch. Had to return it. Beelink ditched this connector and went back to a barrel connector for the SER8.
@@wames7257 it's still fantastic, upgraded memory and storage and it's just what game consoles should be, quite powerful. And hoping for an upgraded GTR model with the external GPU connection maybe in the new year.
I wish reviewers would also include an added nvme 4 drive installed on the expansion storage part of the unit. At least you did an external on the Thunderbolt 4 port but I'd like to see if it would be able to use a 4tb nvme drive. The website says 2tb, but I've seen one review where they took a WD black 4tb nvme and put it in an SER 5 as a boot drive and it actually worked fine, so I'm betting that that 2tb that's listed on Beelinks website is incorrect or not updated. Again with todays hardware you would think it should handle 4tb's no problem and since 8tb nvme's are now out you have to wonder if they would also work. I do realize that the 8tb''s are expensive, but I'm sure there would be some that would use them in a setup like this.
Their official product listing page on a Chinese website I can’t name here or the comment is flagged as spam says it supports 4 TB drives on both slots.
Re Linux sound and WiFi: since newer firmware drivers come with newer kernels, one may have to install an OEM kernel for Ubuntu/Linux Mint but the latest Fedora comes with a modern kernel that supports it. Still a problem with the 3.5 mm sound jacks drivers, add a USB sound device if you need this, but dual multi screen monitors at proper frame rates in games work well with newer kernels. WiFi problems are most likely due to a warm reboot from Windows, which locks the WiFi module for its own use, but it works well from a cold boot straight to Linux
My Linux Mint 21.3 (dual booted with Win 11 Pro) WiFi experience with this SER7 7840HS unit is just the opposite. I seem to lose WiFi when attempting to Cold Boot into Linux Mint. The only WiFi resolution I have found thus far is to briefly boot into Windows and then back to Linux Mint. I have BIOS Ver37 installed and there may be a chance this is BIOS related. For whatever reason, the unit will no longer allow me to update the BIOS (there is apparently a Ver38 available). I don't think this is a kernel issue since it seems related to the boot sequence. If anyone solves this mystery, would love to hear the resolution.
Bought mine from Amazon, lasted 8 months now won’t boot unless video card drivers are uninstalled (boots to black screen) onboard graphics dead. Have to send to China for repairs as no support in the US. Was good while it lasted but never buying machine without US support ever again.
I'd be curious if something like this could pull off Resident Evil 5 on Steam. I'd love something small I could attach behind the TV. That's probably a tall ask but i haven't done any gaming in a while so I'm out of the loop.
It runs red dead redemption 2 which is a much newer game than resident evil 5 pretty well so you'll have no problem playing any game pre 2016 at high graphics settings 1080p and then newer games at medium/low and the most demanding upcoming games at 720p very low probably.
It looks like a very nice system but, my question would be; How much do you trust that company that they are not goingto put some type of malware in the system?
it is the same you have to ask to dell, but they put mcaffe preinstalled with other crap, for sure so, reinstall and move on, paranoia will not get you far in life if you dont have a plan b
I've been using beelink for several years. Sometimes use the installed windows, though was usually loading Linux. I agree with the comment to do your own install if you are worried
Its like 100Mhz faster but the price is higher. I think you can run the R9 with a lower TDP (you can change that on the BIOS) so it runs a bit cooler and at the same performance as the R7.
About the WiFi modules being detected by Linux on these NUC-style PCs, it can be hit or miss. I had a similar problem with one of two Intel NUCs that I bought while living in Japan - both Zorin OS Lite and Ubuntu would work fine for the first couple of boots, but after that, the WiFi module would simply fail to turn on. I was able to finally resolve that issue on that specific NUC when I decided to try out Arch Linux on a whim after moving back home to Australia. If you can find out what WiFi module the computer is using, you can use that to find an open-source driver from the official Linux Wireless Wiki and put that in the firmware folder.
Looking to purchase this unit - I'm planning on editing 20-45 minute videos in either Davinci Resolve or VideoProc Vlogger. 1080P more than likely. Will this unit handle the workload? Any help is appreciate - thank you!
sorry lon but i have had bad luck with beelink brand, i bought one like a few months ago for my nephew and the mini computer broke on itself. meaning that the processor was faulty and maybe that was because of high temps. support was not existent either. all in all, avoid this brand if you can.
Older models have problems with the high temps, especially around the RAM modules. That's why you see a fan in this video that is pushing/pulling air at the bottom too. That is a new thing that previous models didn't have.
@@Bacavoit at least give support to the ppl that buys you product. the only one that gave me support was amazon which refunded me without even asking a single question. personally i'm avoiding this company because of this issue
So let's just say that the DC cord with that magnetic thing fails, or that I want to have a more "Secure" connection. Is it good if I use a Thunderbolt port as the power supply option? Do I have to buy a Thunderbolt cable and an adapter to plug it into the outlets?
I have Wondershare Filmora and want to make my own little computer station (as my laptop only allows editing of audio and still images). I was recommended either a mini mac or Ryzen 7. And I have a few questions. Would videos with multiple layers be considered simple cuts or something more complicated? And would a ryzen be what you recommend for that?
These are so tempting but I'm really into gaming so I have to always pass on these miniPCs. I love the form factor but not being able to play more demanding games (Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield) at medium settings at a minimum keeps me away. Would love to hear how it does with an external GPU set up.
@@Jamie71q I started looking into adding an external GPU, definitely doable since I really prefer the form factor. Whatever it can't handle, I can then look into this option. Thanks for sharing your success story. 😁
hi lon, long time viewer first time commentator 😂 can you pls tell us what hardware box should i buy to have all the tools you commonly use for assembling and disassembly of these beauties 😂 thank you for doing what you do 🥳
On Linux did you run the updater? And install device drivers? I find I have to do that sometimes on the new version of Ubuntu. Thanks for a great video!
Everything (including wifi, audio, bluetooth, GPU) will work perfectly if you have an updated kernel (I tested version 6.6.x) and firmware package (I tested with a November 2023 one from Slackware/Arch). No need to install any specific driver. :)
Another great video. I appreciate your content. This mini PC looks pretty nice and functional. I am looking for a HTPC for media and another for my ham radio room or shack.
theoretically m2 should do better on some things because that chip has specific hardware accelerators, but on mac you cant run most games decently, on windows you just saw how well it does on unreal engine 5 with fortnite
Yes, I have a SER7 + LG C3 OLED and I can confirm it works. However, on Linux there's no way to output 4k @ 120 Hz with 4:4:4 via HDMI -- it works on Windows perfectly though. This is not a limitation of this specific computer, but a legal battle between AMD and HDMI consortium when on Linux. You can workaround this issue by using a Display Port 1.4 to HDMI 2.1 cable, which is exactly what I'm doing at the moment.
I've tried several cables, including the one from cable matters with the updated firmware. There are always quirks for me like random black screen flashes. Though it is few and far between they are still many times a day. Unless something different has come out in the last few months I'm waiting for direct hdmi 2.1 connection.@@fulalascaos9633
Yeah same for me. Ser 5 and ser 6. I suspect that maybe they're going to put them all in the same product page and that for some reason they removed it. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up back on the same product page
@@RobertoCarlos-tn1iq because I have only $300 for it. If the price will go down to $100 after 10 years, I will wait for 10 years, then I have $200 for food 😜
@@JB.zero.zero.1 as 0 db noise under full load like a smartphone quiet? as a well built well vented desktop pc or as in i am partially deaf i dont hear it make noise quiet?
one question....as i got told, amd doesn't support thunderbolt .....but with the usb4 ports on the back you can really use thunderbolt devices like soundcards?
No. One reason things are getting miniaturized is because the newest tech is coming from the mobile tech market. Mobile tech is leaving desktop tech behind in terms of performance bang for the buck.
Not true. I'm on PorteuX and it's working just fine, no need to do anything. You just need a recent kernel (I tested 6.6.x) and firmware package (I tested November 2023 from Slackware/Arch).
