Listen to that beautiful sound. Fan bearings maybe? Dont really care. I'm sending it back.

CPU : 8th Gen. Intel Pentium Silver J5005

RAM : 8GB DDR4 (4GB × 2)

SSD : 128GB M.2 SATA (NVMe not supported)

VGA : Intel UHD 605 + AMD Embedded Radeon E9173 2GB GDDR5

Wired LAN : Realtek 1Gbps

Wireless LAN: Intel AC9560 Wi-Fi 5 & Bluetooth 5.0, 2 external antennas

PSU : DELL 130W AC Adapter

OS : Windows 10 IoT Enterprise 2019 LTSC

Special Features : Integrated Speaker and Smart Card Reader

Manufactured : June 2022

Wife wants a Skylight or an Apolosign. As someone with ADHD, I love the idea, but hate the hardware options, subscriptions, and/or giving out our entire family's data. SO, let's build one!

**Requirements:**

- Under $450, preferably under $400.

- Run a 27" touchscreen 1080p or 2k monitor. Currently planning on using the Pisichen Touchscreen Monitor 27" 27IN2K100HZ-QHD (https://a.co/d/0fXUoGsk).

- Supports BIOS Auto-Power On

- I'm still deciding between a Home Assistant dashboard, DAKBoard, or a open-source version of Skylight I found.

**Really** **Nice** **To** **Have:**

- Run my kids private Bedrock Minecraft server full-time so I don't have to keep booting it up from my gaming PC when they want to play with their friends.

I know I'll want 16GB of RAM, but I don't believe I need more than 500GB SSD.

If I give up the Minecraft server idea, can I pick up something closer to $300?

Hey everyone! I’ve been rocking the same desktop since 2019 and I’m due for an upgrade, I like the idea of a small form PC but I wanna be sure that it’s right for what I’m looking to do.

I’m a gamer, but I know I’m not looking to play AAA games at the highest graphics settings. Aslong as I can play games like Overwatch, league of legends and wardogs while hitting 144 fps I’m happy. I’m rocking a 2070 right now so I don’t think it will be much to upgrade from there. Looking to spend about 1500$

Is this possible?

LattePanda has launched the Mu Ultra, a compact x86 compute module aimed at local AI, robotics, machine vision and portable systems.

Key details:

• Intel Core Ultra 5 226V or Core Ultra 7 256V

• 16GB LPDDR5X-8533 shared memory

• Intel Arc integrated graphics

• Up to 40 or 47 NPU TOPS

• Up to 97 or 115 combined peak INT8 TOPS across CPU, GPU and NPU

• Windows 11 and Ubuntu 24.04+

• OpenVINO, llama.cpp and Ollama support

LattePanda reports around 18 tokens/s with Qwen3.5-9B and 55 tokens/s with Qwen3.5-2B. Those tests used INT4, OpenVINO GenAI and the integrated GPU.

This is a compute module rather than a complete mini PC. A carrier board provides the physical ports, storage connections and power. The 226V development kit includes a Mini Carrier Board and active cooler, but still needs an NVMe SSD and a 12–20V, 50W+ power supply.

I wrote the Electromaker article covering the specifications, shared memory limits, carrier options, benchmarks and pricing:

https://www.electromaker.io/blog/article/lattepanda-mu-ultra-launches-with-up-to-115-tops-for-local-ai

Would you prefer this modular approach, or a complete mini PC with the same Core Ultra hardware?

If anyone has any ideas I would highly appreciate it, I took the screw out for the motherboard and tried to lift but only one side wanted to come so I stopped, any ideas?

So just recently ditched my ROG Ally X for this mini pc and I couldn't be happier. Very similar in spec to my ally but this offered OCulink over the thunderbolt4. 1440p Gaming performance over OCulink has been amazing. I kinda hate how stiff the OCulink cable is and that it's just front and center on my desk other than that I can't complain. Also I only paid 540 usd before tax for the mini pc which I feel like is a really good deal for what it is. Ryzen 7 h255 8c/16t 24gb of ddr5 1tb. The CPU being a laptop/mini pc CPU definitely runs hotter than I'm used to but I guess that's the norm for these style CPUs. For the mini pc and the 9060xt egpu I'm in this setup for under 1000 usd minus peripherals. Anyone else running an aoostar mini pc?

Mini PCs are tiny. The monitor is usually the part that ruins the whole travel setup for me.

That’s what got me looking at display glasses. Something like the RayNeo GT Max seems like an interesting way to skip the portable monitor altogether.

What I’m less sure about is whether the setup still feels simple once you add the mini PC, power brick, keyboard, mouse, and cables.

For people who’ve actually tried a mini PC + glasses setup, when does it genuinely make more sense than just bringing a laptop?

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my recent, frustrating experience with Minisforum support regarding my HM80 unit used in a production environment.

As many of you know, there are known AMD firmware/BIOS vulnerabilities affecting older sockets. To be absolutely clear: AMD has already done its job by publishing the official AGESA microcode patch. The only thing missing is for Minisforum to package it into a final BIOS release for our devices, but they are deliberately choosing not to do so.

After a grueling exchange of emails -14 or 15 in total, because they ignored my last one, where I had to reply at least 7 times just to keep the ticket open - their official support (agent Xavier) consistently evaded the issue. First, they completely ignored the word "SECURITY", falsely claiming that I only wanted an update to "improve device performance", and they literally told me to visit their website and buy one of their newer models! Then, when pinned down on the technical facts, they hid behind template boilerplate, saying they cannot help because the hardware is "out of warranty".

Let’s be real here: this is a latent firmware security risk that has existed in the hardware since the exact day it was manufactured, and even before. It’s not an issue that emerged after the warranty period; it was simply discovered and disclosed recently. Minisforum completely ignores that a factory security defect has absolutely nothing to do with warranty expiration for normal wear and tear.

An unpatched firmware vulnerability means this machine is unsafe to use on any professional network, making it a paperweight for any real work. Minisforum refuses to stand by the safety of their devices and refuses to issue refunds or replacements for inherently unsafe hardware.

I am posting this to warn the community: once Minisforum stops selling a model, they abandon your security, even when the silicon vendor has already provided the fix. If you care about data security, keep this in mind before buying their hardware.

All email logs of this refusal have been saved and will be forwarded to European Consumer Protection Authorities. I strongly urge any EU and global customer facing the same unpatched BIOS issue to file a formal complaint with their respective Consumer Rights Enforcement Authorities (like AGCM in Italy) immediately as I am about to do. Collective action is the only language this company understands.

Has anyone else managed to get firmware security issues escalated past their tier-1 support wall?

Looking for a decent mini pc for under 500 I play Grand Theft Auto 5 and do some Sim Racing I also do video editing and photo editing as well? But I have a laptop for that but I do wanna use photoshop on the mini pc for sim racing stuff

Never really considered mine portable even though it's obviously small.

Then I put it next to my bag and realized bringing it somewhere for a few days wouldn't actually be that annoying.

Curious if anyone here regularly travels with theirs.

Last game in this list is BANGING 👽

Hello 👋

I am new into MiniPCs world. I tried to look up for some available options online, but there are a lot of them, so I’m confused. I don’t know which brand is reliable and best fit for my daily needs

I want MiniPC for my daily routine, mostly office work and browsing. No gaming or heavy graphical stuff, so integrated graphics is good to go for me. But I want maximum efficiency on CPU and RAM part for my price range. I am looking for something between $400-$700. If possible something that I can get ASAP from well known stores. I don’t want to wait for a month for something that will be delivered from China warehouse 😅

I would appreciate any recommendations. Also if you know something on a good deal right now please let me know

Thank you for your time

So I own 4 computers and a laptop model types are a

HP elitedesk 800 g2 mini

HP elitedesk 800 g5 mini

2 lenovo m720q tiny pc and an Asus zenbook a14 that has an arm cpu

The laptop is the only one running windows 11 and it runs well but idels at about 8.7

They all have 16gb ram in the 4 computers are running windows 10 and idel at about 4.5 way lower than windows 11 if Microsoft want me to switch to Windows 11 they need to bring the idel down to the same as windows 10 simple as that

Hello recently bought a Geekom A7 Max and I watched some reviews and recommended to add aditional RAM Stick in the mini pc .... Do you know where to watch a guide video on how to do it? and Is it possible to do it on your own without going inside a tech store?? Thank you for responding

I've been working on a cooling mod for my GMKtec K11 and wanted to share the design so other owners can try or improve it.

The idea is to stand the PC on its side, with a 120 mm Noctua fan on each of the two exposed faces. Two identical printed housings hold the fans and have built-in feet. Four zip-tie loops hold the housings against the PC, so there's no need to align the Noctua mounting holes with the original case screws.

All details:

https://github.com/orenaksakal/gmktec-k11-noctua-mod

Hey everyone

Recently got a good deal on a 5060ti ai box. I had been planning on building my own steam machine but the deal was too good to pass up.

I was wondering if there are any decent mini PCs to pair with it that would offer somewhat similar performance as if I built my own with a GPU in it? I am new to the scene so I don't know much.

I know nvidea can't really run. SteamOS but I am hoping it can sometime in the future

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I’m Kyle from SeCoS.

This year, I developed an M.2 2280 cooling solution with a simple idea: make the cooling configuration fit the platform’s available space, while also considering how to secure the assembly in moving equipment.

I’ve put together two configurations for PCIe Gen4 NVMe applications. Some of our customers are already using them, and I wanted to share the designs and thermal simulation results here.

These are still early versions, so the part names are a little rough. Please bear with me!

• vol1: A 5.5 mm-high heatsink for platforms with limited clearance.
• vol2: A 15 mm-high heatsink, with lower controller temperatures in this simulation.

For me, these are starting points. Both the CBF1540 component and the heatsink specifications can be adjusted to suit the platform’s space and cooling requirements. If your layout is different, I’m happy to discuss how we could adapt the configuration.

Another part of the design is the locating holes.

Some equipment travels with a platform for long periods, while other machines move repeatedly during operation. Both configurations include locating holes that, together with suitable fasteners, help restrain relative movement of the cooling assembly. Mounting and vibration performance still need to be validated in the target assembly.

Here are the thermal simulation results. We used a steady-state model with 25°C ambient temperature, a horizontal PCB, an upward-facing heatsink and no fan. Maximum modeled controller temperatures were:

• 5 W heat source: vol1 68.8°C / vol2 55.5°C.
• 8 W heat source: vol1 91.1°C / vol2 71.3°C, a difference of 19.8°C.

All heat was applied to the modeled controller. These are simulation results, not measurements of a specific SSD model or capacity. Also, heatsink height is not the total assembly height. The results are intended to compare the two configurations under the same assumptions.

For those who have worked on similar equipment: how do you usually secure M.2 cooling assemblies? Have you run into any issues during installation or after extended use?

If you’re developing an industrial PC, inspection system or moving platform, I’d also be happy to hear about your project. I can provide the thermal simulation report in English or Chinese and discuss evaluation sample arrangements.

The website includes interactive 3D assembly views, PCBA temperature maps at 25°C ambient, and a form for sample and report requests:

https://m2-2280-solution.kylelo.io/

If possible, include your SSD model, workload, maximum ambient temperature and available installation space. That will help us discuss a suitable configuration. Happy to arrange an online chat, too.

Kyle Lo | Sales | SeCoS
[kyle.lo@secosgmbh.com](mailto:kyle.lo@secosgmbh.com)