The letters A & W are indeed very close on the keyboard and could easily be mistaken

I also had same thought how could something consume 2W at 12V 😅

Thanks for the correction, but it's all good, as we are all only human, and humans are imperfect.

Another great video! I used this very same computer last year to install Ocotoprint because of the scarcity of the Raspberry Pis. I purchase another B1 to run Klipper/Fluid connected to my Ender3 (and two spares preloaded with Octoprint). These are slow, but perform better than the Pi (IMHO). I purchased other computers from Bmax last year as well, but the upgraded version using AMD Ryzen processors. One to host my Shapeoko and the other to host a dedicated Valheim server. As you may have guessed already, I am a fan of these mini computers. 🙂 Thank-you for creating this awesome video, and I look forward to your next one on how to add GPIO.

What´s that Ampmeter/Wattmeter model? Any amazon links? Thanks.

a Celeron 3XXX is good for nothing. not even chrome os flex. maybe Lubuntu. definitely not windows 10

@@giorgio5789 my Celeron mini PC is going 3 years strong with Fedora 37. What exactly do you want to do with it that is so lacking for you?

There are many kinds of gamers. Anyone trying to run current top of the line new hotness games on such is going to need to turn down a lot of options... but Kerbal Space Program is a good test for the "Economically Challenged Gamer" - turn down the video qualioty a bit, and it runs just fid. (But I still lose Jed on mission 1..._)

If it can't run 16gb ram minimum spec AAA games, its not a computer. =p

It's funny because some people spending way over 1.000 euros just for an graphics card, then ranting mini-pc's like this are crap. Like with cheap android-smartphones they will serve about 90% of normal users daily perfecly fine.

It is really impressive for a full system draw including AC adapter. The SOC itself is probably using

Mini-pcs are intended for this role (as they usually hang on vesa support of your huge tv and reaching for a button is not a common task), they are your typical media-players and servers (thou there are models ar 750-1000$ price range that can do Cyberpunk 2077 at 50fps at medium settings, way outperforming consoles). In fact, I think Chris will soon realize the main feature all mini-pc reviewers look at first is whether or not bios supports ac power-back option ;-)

@@cokeforever What’s AC power-back?

modern x86 hardware is definitely not CISC. there's tons of microcode, accelerated paths and co-processing, SIMD, GPU cores and god knows what else inside a modern cpu package. the instruction set no longer has much to do with what the hardware actually looks like.

@@bfapple electrical power-out, then restored, should your pc start with power restore or stay shut? this one

Omg 😳 good point! mum needs a new computer. Has ancient HP hooked up to external using Mint. This is Perrrrrrfect

Ageist, never feel bad about being none PC. Maybe get one they can attach to a watermill or windmill.

Ah yes small package, something I’m very familiar with

Very true. In fact my dad now uses a BeeLink U59 Pro as his daily. 😁

You can never have too many computers. Mini PCs are a great option for running game servers, bot servers, filling out a dual or triple PC setup, Discord server, CCTV security systems, stream computer (although not this cheaper one of course), the possibilities are endless 😀

Screw Windows!

You get better response if the string is wet, and the cheese is Wensleydale.

Personally I'd consider the inability to load MSWin 11 as a *FEATURE*, not a bug.

Hah, snailaron. Surprizingly some celerons now feature L3 cache. Not this one, though.

I couldn't find this? What's the model name 🙂

Thanks for this -- great to hear. It seems that we are on the same page with this hardware.

@@ExplainingComputers Yes indeed. You review what is relevant to the product and I appreciate this. I will continue to watch and benefit from your videos. Thanks again. Subbed.

Up until now we have favored laptops for their size and portability. But, If I can strap one of these on the back of a monitor, add a wireless trackball and keyboard, I may be making a change. Besides, having to replace HP laptops every couple of years because the right side display hinge ALWAYS seams to break This may be the answer I am looking for.

This is, I think, the supplier trying to avoid complaints in the Amazon comments that the first boot takes so long (because of picking and processing the Windows updates). An issue they have now dealt with in a more dramatic fashion!

@@ExplainingComputers yeah, I think it's to avoid first boot performance issues. A little Celeron takes a LONG time to do all it's updates in the background and the computer is very stuttery during that time. Especially a fanless dual core.

B-MAX has some models with that very same processor. It's actually a very easy deployment for having a computer at a very little price. Specially if it has a VGA port so you can use any cheap screen.

They're useful for more than casual users. What they aren't good for is graphics heavy games. Intel UHD isn't bad, but it's not supported well in new games.

I've had my Beelink for just over 1 year and I am very happy. I mainly use it for Video Streaming in 1080P and it works great.

They are also great for a media computer. You can use ad block for streaming purposes, and you can plug in an external hard drive, or have a network drive to play videos as well. It also can be used for classic video games.

@@WilliamHostman Will it work okay for doing work in Adobe Lightroom?

Ah, I imagined that you would be into the GPIO thing. :)

A kind of simple (hardware wise) way to get GPIO on a PC is to buy an inexpensive Arduino board and communicate with it over a USB connection. It's a fairly simple task to get access to the ports on an Arduino board. Also if you have a Pi Zero you can so the same.

I use the GTR6 (32gig mem) to run ProxMox (virtualisation software) and it runs perfectly fine with several virtual instances (including windows 10) - since it has 2 ethernet ports so I also runs opnSense (router/firewall/dns/filtering) without any problems - it's a perfect high end virtualization for in the home to be honest.

@@Vampier Sounds good. I just use mine as an everyday PC - for a little work, media and gaming.

@@JB.zero.zero.1 it's a very capable computer for the size :)

My mini PC is pretty capable but it does have a 12th gen i7 and 32GB of RAM.

My mom needed a new computer, I offered to help her out with that and she was worried I was going to come up with something like my full size ATX case power-gaming behemoth! But I ended up getting her the Beelink U59. The windows updates were a bit slow but after that process was over it works flawlessly for her needs, and she still can't get over the form factor!

Sounds like a good result. :)

Thanks for watching. And I don't think that you are alone here. :)

@@ExplainingComputers Cool. And please give my regards to Mr. Scissors. ☮

Which Mini PC did you buy with that CPU?

@@filleswe91 I got a MeLE mini PC.

The N5105 is actually the performance equivalent of an Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (95w) but at a frugal 10w TDP! we've come along way. you can pick up a mini PC with an N5105 for $120 now. a much better and snappier prospect than a $100 dual core N3350. Interestingly, just upgraded an old socket 775 Q9550 PC to 8GB of DDR3 RAM and an SSD the other day - runs Windows 10 great and is still perfectly good as a daily driver PC, especially after I stuck in an old Radeon HD 7870 dedicated GPU. Streams 4k content, does gaming emulation and even the odd AAA game at lower resolutions pretty well. you aint gonna win any efficiency awards though, as on older manufacturing nodes, this will consume more power. The new alder lake low power Intel N100 is even faster than the N5105 but that is generally around $160 and is locked to single channel memory. The N5105 is still the ultra low power x86 bang for buck king for now.

Im seeing alot of these N3350 mini PCs popping up now. I wondered what happened for manufactures to bring out such a old CPU to SBCs.

totally bro. Welcome to the master PC race. KEKW

'infusion ingress'!

This thing can easily emulate Gamecube and PSP. I use a convertible laptop with the same CPU for that very purpose.

just like that he was never heard from again

Still pales in comparison with the Orange Pi 5, which is just a little more expensive and can do Saturn, PS2, GC, Wii and even Switch.

I'm sure it would have no problems running FreeBSD. :)

Still pales in comparison with the Orange Pi 5, which is just a little more expensive and can do a lot more emulation.

Thanks for your support, most appreciated. I love the idea of a PC for holiday photo backup activities. :)

@@ExplainingComputers Thanks! I thought that one up REAL quick. Just don't get sand on the PC and/or in the ports and hope that the seagull doesn't break in using magic bird powers and try to crap on it. 😅

Great review, as always. I look forward to the video covering addition of GPIO to such a device.

I believe it was around 2016, when MS made some changes to their license agreement and a bunch of Windows 8.1 microcomputers came into the market, due to the increased leniency that allowed them to essentially sell them with Windows pre-installed for "free", as in, no additional license payments to MS by the manufacturer. This current stock of W10, specifically Pro although they are a specific fork of it, carreis the legacy of that same release program. Their reasoning, well, who can say for certain without breaking an NDA, but generally speaking it's about improving commercial relations with the Chinese consumer market. Quirks of that fork include some specifications to their support program, hiding under the "pro" moniker the fact that they are in some way more of a, buyer beware type of product. Caveat emptor. Somebody might suggest surveillance bloatware, which can't be ruled out, but I think it's mostly to wash their hands from any responsibility for free updates. You have to wonder, why would a small Chinese upstart who jsut want to sell you a neat device, want you to make sure that the first thing you do with the PC, is NOT to let it ping home through the internet. Perhaps so that Windows stock virus defenses get to activate first. Before the Chinese government activates for you.

@@sboinkthelegday3892 - I suspect it's because it'll fire off windows updates for you as part of the initial login (that, and the 'sign in with a microsoft account'). Both will end up dragging out the initial loading by that 3 hours he talked about.

Yes, I imagine these may now go out of stock . . .

Amazon UK 7 left in stock, I want one but cannot afford one lol

My computer is cheaper than my vacuum cleaner!

> Seems like that was a lot more convenient than loading from paper tape.

Im seeing alot of these N3350 mini PCs popping up now. I wondered what happened for manufactures to bring out such a old CPU to SBCs.

Greetings! Have a great week.

Thans for watching -- and welcome aboard! :)

Oh snap‼️ I just checked the link and it's currently unavailable 😢. Any idea why?

Thanks for your comments. Sadly, 10 days after week after this video was posted, the Bmax B1 Plus has sold out everywhere. However, look back to the opening of the video where I show an Amazon search, and you will see there are several other mini PCs in the same price range. I've not tested them all, but am confiddent that they will deliver the same kind of user experience. GIMP on a c.$100 Mini PC with a Celeron processor and 4 or 6GB or RAM will not be the faster ever, but as the video showed, will be perfectly usable.

Good to hear that things are still going well. My unit also has no issues. :)

@ExplainingComputers Hey, it's not a "beast" of a machine, and I got it just as a secondary unit, but I can't help but be impressed with it, especially after the abuse it took from me. Still works like new. I was chiming back to highly recommend this for the price to your audience, especially for any that are budget conscious - it can be a decent "main" computer too.

Greetings Perry! Here we are again. How the weeks fly by.

@@ExplainingComputers The older we get, the shorter the weeks become. If I get much older, I’ll begin to miss a few here and there!

Thanks for this feedback, very useful. :)

This is a single board PC, no Pi in sight.

@@johndododoe1411 Well both pico and mini have usb ports. Maybe the mini can use pico gpio. Say with Python?

They really are ideal for that use case.

SBCs only suffer on the GPU side thanks to shitty (closed source) drivers 😞

Thanks for your support. :)

Did you have any issues with a clean install?

None at all. After wiping the hard drive completely, I installed Windows from a copy I downloaded directly from Microsoft. Installed and activated without issue.

@@photog12345 Thanks

Look for the Beelink MINI S N5095 on their website. Yes, it costs somewhat more at 159/169 (128/256 Gb storage versions), but it does have 8GB RAM, true SSD storage instead of "SD card soldered to a board eMMC", and a 4-core CPU far superior to the one in this video scoring 3,5 or so times better in PassMark. Both are Celerons, but the N3350 is shockingly old, released in late 2016. The N5095 is not last gen but it is a late '21 model, much more reasonable.

Question : 1 - When you say , can boot from M.2 ,,,, does that mean the Operating System ( in this case ,, Windows 10 Pro ) can be moved / reloaded to the M.2 storage ? 2 - Will then the onboard storage be wiped clean ? 3 - Do you then just change the BOOT menu ,, for it to boot from M.2 drive ? ( Thanks , anybody ,, for added info ,,,,,, kind of new to the computer game ) .

Wow thanks for the information. I never thought about that.👍

If you want more memory and cores, you should seriously consider just getting a used Micro PC off of eBay. I just picked up a Dell with a 4C i5-7500t, 16GB, 128GB, and W10 Pro, and a 1-yr warranty (a real 1-yr warranty provided from SquareTrade under the "eBay Refurbished" program) for $150 shipped. A lot more power than one of these units for not a lot of additional coin.

Thanks. :)

@@ExplainingComputers ❤️

I bought Win10 Pro key from scdkeys and go figure it does this same thing about auto updates disabled by Group Policy. Is there an easy way to change that?

@@utp216 Open Group Policy Editor and go to the folder indicated below. Change any setting listed as Enabled to Not configured, and then restart. Local Computer Policy --> Computer Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components --> Windows Update

Yes, they are. I would normally recommend a raspberrypi for such a case, but since those are in short supply right now, these makes great alternatives.

What sorts of basic applications?

That was helpful that he mentioned power consumption for this reason

Benchmark comparison: tiny11 vs W10 Pro vs W10 LTSC

To be honest most people wouldn't. They would throw together a poster for a community group once every couple of months if it was an older/super budget conscious person owning one of these.

@@wozzablog I'm older and super budget conscious and I do this all the time.

GPIO on a server? What a joke. And for gpio just use any arduino board.

I do run Linux later in the video! :)

@@ExplainingComputers Indeed, and it runs well on the modest hardware. It makes for a cheap computer either way, and you hint at it becoming the basis for SBC-like tinkering. I look forward to future videos with the Bmax.

Yes, that system running MSWin 10 *Pro*, especially with a Volume licensed version, makes me suspicious of the legality of the MSWin version installed on it. The idea of running the first boot into MSWin10 with it OFF the network is also a method of avoiding the requirement of a MS Online account [1], but some of the other steps make me think they're trying to avoid being caught by the MS Licensing Gestapo. But if you're going to be installing some other OS, or you have some KMS solution in place, it isn't a problem anyway. [1] if you're creating a local account on a MSWin10 install, create it *without* a password, and it won't ask for the "security" questions. You can add a password later.

If you're a non windows user, this computer will be a waste of money, because it comes with a windows license that you paid for & won't use. I bet the same number of dollars will go further in a different machine

@@eitantal726 I don't think anyone actually 'paid' for the license. Compared to the price of ARM SBCs right now, I would say it's not a bad machine for the price.

Although tbf, I got a 5 year old ThinkPad for 100, which is a proper computer.