TechGuySG

Nov 12, 2024

"miniPC"


ALL

I purchased a miniPC from Aliexpress for about S$130 ( shipping included ). The specification is as follows:

  • Intel Celeron N5105 11th Gen 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (boost)
  • 7.2 x 7.2 x 4.4 cm
  • 204 grams
  • 8GB DDR4 LPDDR4 (soldered on, non expandable)
  • 128Gb SATA M.2 2242
  • 3x USB-A 3.2
  • 2x HDMI 2.0
  • 1x Type-C (Power only)
  • Gigabit LAN RJ45
  • 1x 3.5mm Headphone Jack
  • Micro SD Card slot (Max 128GB)
  • WIFI 5
  • BT 4.2
  • Windows 11 Pro

Two interesting aspects is the use of USB C for power and the M.2 slot. The USB C port allows the use of any USB C power adapter (at least 45W) or a power bank that supports at least 22.5W charging. The supplied SSD drive was replaced with a M.2 non SATA drive. The M.2 support a NVME drive that perform a read speed of 1.1 GB/s which is double the SATA speeds.

The fan was not too loud at full load however the CPU temp reached 100C.

One of the reasons I wanted a low end miniPC to test was to see how well it performs for basic tasks like web browsing and video streaming. I deliberately chose the most cost effective Intel based system with adequate performance.

I will installing various Linux distributions and will be testing them. I will report my findings.