- The performance on this machine is similar to the Snapdragon 8cx from Microsoft’s first big Windows on ARM push a few years ago (so nowhere near even the 4 year old Apple M1) while the idle power draw is similar to an x86 computer. If they’re not targeting either performance or power efficiency, I’m not sure who would be interested in this computer. I’d say that if you can tolerate Mac OS X for your use case, a used Mac Mini would be a far better choice.
- I consider myself relatively adventurous with ARM SBCs, but I don't see the draw for this box. $500 for the 32GB of RAM version is a lot to ask, especially with no path to upgrade the RAM and coming from a company known to have mediocre quality control and difficult warranty support.
I always appreciate Jeff Geerling's willingness to do in-depth reviews and comparisons. In this case I would have liked to see a cheap x86-64 option in the ranks, though. I understand that it's supposed to be about ARM and low power, but with this box drawing 17W at idle and coming with a $500 price tag for 32GB RAM and no storage, we might as well start comparing to x86 options in the same price and power envelope.
- My minisforum mini PC is dead and useless. I will never, ever recommend anyone to buy a minisforum again.
Please do not buy a minisforum.
And it wasn't just me. https://old.reddit.com/r/MiniPCs/comments/1ocvjby/minisforum...
- I really like Minisforum in general and the current generation of AMD-powered Mini PCs. I have one as a media PC and I replaced my dad's desktop with one. They are cheap, fast and silent.
I was thinking of getting a high end AMD one as a replacement for my daughter's aging gaming PC, although as of this week I am thinking of waiting for Steam Machine.
This ARM machine seems a bit slow (I would have suggested a new Qualcomm CPU, some of them are crazy fast) but it is nice to see a major Mini PC manufacturer getting into the ARM space.
by futuraperdita
1 subcomments
- Having bought other systems in the MS-line, these boxes are heavy on cool homelab specs but aren't all that reliable and dealing with Minisforum for support is abysmal. I ended up moving back to old enterprise hardware (TinyMiniMicro or rackmounted gear). I don't recommend purchasing these systems if you're looking for anything more than a novelty; they're not any better than buying one of the random AliExpress mini PCs.
- That power usage is abysmal. I can’t see that it states how the draw was measured, but on a mini my average usage is 6.4w over a month, and that includes all usage. I moved from a nuc 9 which was using about 70w.
by daviddever23box
0 subcomment
- It would be great to have a full Snapdragon X Elite-based box, with working Wi-Fi drivers.
That said, it feels as if the fragmentation in the non-Windows space ends up being worse for non-Intel/AMD platforms, both commercially and from a devrel perspective. Qualcomm and Apple still have the best arm64 platforms above a Raspberry Pi.
- This was my experience looking for an ARM Linux machine. The Apple M-series processors were so far ahead of anything else currently available on the market for the price. And the Ampere stuff is in an Epyc class of price with not an Epyc class of performance.
- More than anything, reading this review acts as an ad for the Mac Mini M4. $600, with performance and efficiency well beyond the other options.
- I don't like the word "homelab". Some people have a lab at home (computing, optics, chemistry, wherever) - that's fine. But this is just... a computer.
- the performance and power usage is pretty bad on it. for $50 more you can get a Mac mini M4 that blows it out of the water.
by LeoPanthera
0 subcomment
- I bought an MS-01 (the earlier Intel version of this) for homelab use and I don't know what was wrong with it, but Debian just refused to reboot on it. It would boot, but not reboot, freezing up every time.
I replaced it with an Asus NUC, which came with a non-functional BIOS, but was eventually coerced into working after forcibly flashing it.
I haven't had a lot of luck with mini PCs.
- Running Linux directly on ARM is the dream, but this looks slow. So for now I'm stuck with UTM VM's on the Mac.
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