russ you forgot to remind us to grab a snack! lol

I grabbed a mini pc after one of your reviews. Its been almost a year and i couldn't be happier with my purchase. Thank you for all your content!

No company is perfect, but Beelink is a "Name Brand" in the world of mini PCs. I've got 2 old ones that are at least 6 years old. One I put Chrome OS on. The other I still use occasionaly with windows on it. For me, everything else compares to this brand because of their brand longevity as opposed to some fly by night.

I love that Russ is doing PC reviews as well. The PC world is so varied and interesting.

It's getting very close now for me being able to switch from a full PC build to one of these mini PC's. The next generation of on board graphics should do it. Would consider laptop if it weren't for the noise.

Hey, I hardly ever comment here. But I've watched a number of 'here's a selection of emulation handhelds to pick from based on your needs.' I was wondering if there might be a similar video for these mini PCs or light PC gaming options, for better information on picking the right PC device for you. Similar to the spreadsheet, but a video format for covering the specifics?

I bought 5 Minisforum Mini PCs (returned all of them, they were all bad) and this was the first Mini PC I got that I'm happy with! The quiet fan, the great temps, and the performance! Soooooooo great.

This review is just in time for Prime Day today! $599 right now

I got a SER7 recently because I wasn't patient enough to wait for this one. Good to see there isn't much performance difference.

I have this on Pop!_OS running the COSMIC desktop with a 4K 144 Hz display next to a 4K 60 Hz display rotated vertically. This gets 500-600K PPD in Folding@Home. Either 500K PPD doing only CPU folding, or 350K + 250K when doing CPU + iGPU folding. In World Community Grid, this can complete 16 MCM work units every 1h13m. All while remaining silent and never exceeding 75C. Very good results for a 54W cTDP.

I tend to agree with the "more ports" conclusion. 2x USB-A ports at the front for peripherals.

I love the idea of doing more mini PC stuff, this is awesome

Crazy how small, quiet yet powerful those PCs got. If I had an external monitor I would consider one instead of changing my laptop ( integrated graphics, plays many games ).

Im liking the switch up of the mini pcs and the break from handhelds. I bought my first retro device because of you back in 2021. Now, you’ll prob convince me to purchase a mini pc haha Thanks for your dedication brother 😎.

I just bought one of these because of your review. Thanks Russ! I’m sure you have a few guides on your page which we’ll give me all I need to get it set up. You’re the best. Thanks for all you do for this community!

I do like the look of the SER7 over the SER8 and the former's colour options do pop a lot more than the latter's brushed metal look.

This mini pc is a perfect use case for lossless scaling. It's much better than AMD afmf and you can also use it for any game, even emulators.

July 24th, 2024... you can still find them for $599. I snagged one on Amazon a couple of days ago. Put it in your cart and keep an eye on the price.

This Ser8 became very popular in our country's mini PC community because some sellers in here give crazy discounts that makes this decent device at about 290 usd(without Ram and storage of course). Just like your review, the Ser8 has many improvements over the previous Ser7. They are almost the 'peak mini PC' that you can get right now. But they also have some downsides. Because of the metal body, the wireless signal is so weak that it is almost unusable if you want to play competitive titles, even if you put this device next to your router. Some sellers on Taobao sell mod kits with external antennas that improve the wireless signal around 25usd. Many Korean users use these mod kits to improve the wireless signal. With this mod kit, this is really perfect mini pc that you can get Rn.

Ordered one of these tonight and it will be arriving tomorrow. I'm using it to replace a Minisforum NUCi7 that I have running Batocera in an Arcade1Up cabinet. The NUCi7 generates more heat than I'd like inside the cabinet, which doesn't help given the system throttles super easily. The SER8 should be able to provide the same or better performance at a lower power draw and generate less heat.

I bought one already and a intel ax210 WiFi card because I've seen a lot complaints about the WiFi performance. It costs about €460 in China for the 32G/1T version.

I own 3 beelink mini pcs and love them, its hard to go back to standard pcs.

Been down this road w/ a multitude, six in the past two year, of mini PCs. They are all loud and run hot. Spend a little more and build a Mini-ITX system. Not only will it have a proper cooler. It has an upgrade path. Building a system based on an 8700G was one of the best decisions I made. Takes you a little more space on the desk but it runs 20° cooler under load and doesn’t sound like a jet engine.

If you're not using your PC for intensive gaming, video editing, heavy software development, CAD, 3D animation, etc (at which point you probably know what you need) you can pick up old thin clients for very cheap. If you're going to use Windows, make sure the CPU supports Windows 11, and make sure it has a wifi chip if you need it. Some companies used ethernet exclusively so never ordered wifi. They can be like less than $100 for a 8GB ram (usually upgradable) quad core i5 cpu from like 4-5 years ago and 250GB SSD which is often upgradable. This is plenty for retro gaming, basic HTPC, or just allround family PC use. Also great as experimental home servers as they really do not use a lot of power. They would be experimental servers in the sense that they do not typically have server RAM or support RAID which you would want if you really really on uptime and improved reliability for a business, but I think they are plenty if you're just using it as a Plex server or even a home nas that you backup from time to time. Also some of these do not have HDMI, but they will have DisplayPort which you can convert to HDMI with a cheap converter.

I bought an ser6 I remote to my pc at work every day for 9+ hours, no issues.

JMachen external HD 1 Terabyte, lauchbox game system. Perfect for the Windows 11. Runs without problems in the Windows 11. That's my favorite system!

Thank You for a Very Thorough Review

I love seeing the ever-evolving mini PC market - got a GEEKOM A5 and adore it and this looks great too

I have the SER7, its fantastic and runs everything i throw at it without a single issue. Got it for 400$ cos 200$ coupon and 17% sale

Would have been nice to see more FSR measurements throughout the testing. It can be a game changer for certain titles with limited GPU headroom.

I'd rather lose 1 usb4 port in exchange for an oculink port...I'm not sure why all these new pc's with newer chipsets refuse to include an oculink port. That should be standard these days...especially when more pc makers are making external gpu's to take advantage of it... I've been holding out in upgrading my beelink ser4 to see how many mini pc's come out with an oculink port included and so far I've only seen 2 in over a year...by the looks of it I'll be getting the minisforum um780 xtx which at this point I can get for less than $400. (Barebones)

Thanks for testing CS2!

The Kerry Gold unit of measurement is my favorite.

It's a really good mini pc but I will wait for the next Ryzen 9000. The graphics part looks crazy on this future generation.

Honestly - if I had the spare cash I would definitely consider this one!

Why did they stop putting SD card readers on mini PCs? This one doesn't even have a Micro SD card reader.

Have you tried installing linux on it?

imagine this minipc with a battery and an hdmi port for monitor docking. You could take it outside perfectly

9:05 So now you're measuring sizes in ounces. This is the best yet.

Definitely looking for a really good all-around mini. For emulation purposes, will a mini PC like this run MAME, TeknoParrot along with Lightgun games? I've never seen anyone run that type of emulation on a mini. Love what you do and the channel!

Man this channel does so much for the community I love them

so, is it pocketable?

29:05 "you will have to deal with a full desktop tower". No, you won't. Mini ITX can get pretty mini.

Lauchbox game system it's a good option? In this case?

Just a heads up. GTA V is a 7th gen game (PS3 & Xbox 360), not an 8th gen game (PS4 & Xbox One). Yes, it's that old.

Strix point on these will be amazing. 2-3X steamdeck performance with lowest end strix point chip

Wow I'm a Mac guy, but I feel like I need this

With any 780M chips. Run the games at 720p with lowest settings or mix and match. Call it a day. You'll have a great time with any game you throw at it.

Is there a fan in this? It's fanless, right?

I have the SER6 pro and its a great little machine

Nice. I am wondering if the power supply is compatible with both 110v and 220v outlets?

broke my edging streak to watch this video

This pc greatly benefits from “Lossless Scaling Frame Generation”

How’s this mini pc vs the minisforum hx99g?

Good video, but the price is a bit much. Prices usually come down as newer mini's come out.

it might be a bit OCD but it really urks me that the USB 2.0 ports aren't together. the 3.1 port should be on its own

Is the cooling really great? Can't see much space for airflow to go from from the SSD/ram side to the underneath cpu side And power usage seems all over the place, PS2 GoW2 at 4x take > 40W?😂 Is there some driver/bios issue affecting the power management?

Do you think you could hook up an eGPU to the USB C back port? Or maybe the PCIe slot

Russ! I noticed that you also have Beelink listed in the Amazon Prime deals post What's your full opinion on the company? Of course they're good for Batocera retro emulation but do you have any spyware concerns they were to be used as everyday PCs?

Careful with Beelink. Had a few mini-pc's for an office that both quit working. When I went to troubleshooting I found out that each Beelink pc OS is a copied OS. A clone. Good luck getting it to work again if you have significant OS issues.

I would like to have all this power in a handheld

Instead of dropping the resolution just use FSR upscaling.

Love it though an Occulink would be an interesting addition.

“Americans will use anything but the metric system for a system of measurement” Russ: Hold my butter

I had a Beelink GT1 android box way back and it was a beast

I have a different mini pc but with the same chipset. I decided to put batocera on it and love it. Now I'm waiting for a new generation of Mini PC's with radeon 890m (which is more or less like the mobile version of nvidia's 1070). This one has 780m which is something like 1650 or I've heard.

Following this review I ordered one. ..A pack of Kerrygold butter, that is. :)

So good but sadly no VESA mount to have it invisible behind a monitor with VESA mount.

Thank you very much for your videos, they are always super helpful. I am considering getting an ASUS Ally for Windows games, mostly indie or emulation. Is it just as good with a dock as this PC, or does it offer more power?

Russ you guys should come together and make your own handheld. We would support you guys!

metal box on 5 sides and opening at the bottom.. where is the wifi antenna? completely shielded?

Looks cool, i' be interested in such a small yet capable PC, but you got me even more curious about the...strickspoint PCs??? Never heard of those, can you share links so I may learn more? Thanks for vid!

Pagato 600 euro e sono molto soddisfatto...potente e tascabile lo posso portare in vacanza o ovunque 🎉🎉🎉

A mini pc would be awesome for an arcade if I had money I would totally invest into an arcade! I see you have a couple in the back that is pretty neat. The amount of systems you could run in a pc like that 😂

Yas

There's a ton of very similar Beelink nuggets, hard to know what has best performance. Also I'm interested in hooking up a Quest 2 for PC VR gaming but I don't know of this is compatible.

Estoy entre estos dos minipc -Beelink SER8 AMD Ryzen™ 7 8845HS MINI PC 8 Cores/16 Threads Frequency up to 5.1GHz -Beelink SER7 7840HS AMD Ryzen™ 7 7840HS 65W TDP 8 Cores/16 Threads, 5.1GHz Cual me recomiendas actualmente por rendimiento y precio.

Techdweb says it's plastic, not aluminum.

i have an SER5 ps2 runs amazingly on it really all i wanted it to do. might upgrade to this in december.

i would buy 1 if it had an occulink port

I'm wondering if this would run things like Teknoparrot... I'm currently trying to build an arcade racing rig, for classic games like Hydro Thunder, H2Overdrive, Mario Kart DX and so on... would it run those games at full beans?

they should start putting batteries in those things, that would be mega cool

Got this and an Odyssey G9 😎

wait genuinely how did you get infamous to play at a stable 30fps

you can buy a Geekom A8 by 600 with a gift keyboard

Prime day has these for under $600. Just FYI

It would be nice if they would use USB-C for powering such devices as you might be able to use monitors with USB-C A/V + PD like a Lenovo ThinkVision p27h, which you can even daisy-chain multiple ones together, making your setup look really clean. The Cinebench 2024 score is higher than that of Desktop Ryzen 7 5800X CPUs. That's crazy even though it doesn't mean that the mobile chip is faster in all scenarios. PS: You have been using the same piece of butter in all you videos? How gross, it must be really moldy and smelly by now! ;)

Thank you for the review. I need to upgrade a 12 year old system and with limited space I'm actually considering a mini pc

Prime Days 600 bucks. Won't last long. I'm tempted.

Great videos as always. How does it compares to a Xbox Series S for emulation?

is there a chance you are going to review Chuwi's new Larkbox or Herobox that uses Intel N100? thanks

Hey Russ any chance for a Powkiddy V10 review?

1 min of video to edit and render is hardly a test for how it handles actual projects that are not youtube shorts. Since you cut and shuffle the video anyway, keep it at the same length so that it actually works as a better test for how they are at the work at hand.

Upcoming 890m suppose to be 40% faster and on par with mobile rtx 3050.

Any suggestions for a mini windows PC that would run all retro games just fine please? Bonus of some PC games at decent frames.

looks good for the price but there is GMTeck k6 at cheaper price, but Beelink SER8 has a better build quality.

Yay, another miniPC. Since getting my Steam Deck I've decided I'll take my miniPC in handheld form and just hook it up to my monitor or TV.

How does this compare to the SER7?

Thanks again Russ! Very much not like for like and ignoring windows gaming how does emulation performance compare between this and an Odin 2? For an under tv device either could do the job with the benefit the Odin can be taken on the road.

Does this have enough power to run the PSVR 2?