Beelink has released a number of performance-focused mini consoles in the past year, including the GTR5 powered by the R9-5900HX and known as the most powerful mini console. However, the brand has not neglected the development of low-power small hosts. The U59 (domestic model: EQ

Beelink has released a number of performance-focused mini-hosts in the past year, including the GTR5 powered by R9-5900HX and known as the most powerful mini-host. However, the brand has not neglected the development of low-power small hosts. The U59 (domestic model: EQ59) released last year can be regarded as one of the most cost-effective SFF PCs on the market. Recently, the brand launched a new entry-level small console model called Mini S for overseas markets. It is equipped with the same Celeron N5095 processor as the U59, but the body has become lighter and smaller. Jupit3r got the machine as soon as possible, and now I would like to share with you my evaluation experience over the past half month.

Unboxing: The body is smaller, but the design has no highlights.

The Mini S’s packaging box is simple and stylish. In addition to the mini host, there is also a 36W power adapter , two HDMI cables, and an aluminum Alloy VESA Mount bracket, a pack of screws and an instruction manual. The body size of

is 115mm x 102mm x 41mm, and the volume is only 0.48L, which is almost as big as a thicker set-top box . The REMIX IO on the right is just an Android box with poor performance, which is much larger than the Mini S.

The matte dark blue plastic shell makes the Mini S look low-key and stable, but its design and texture are obviously inferior to high-end products such as SER4 and GTR5. There is the English trademark "Beelink" in the middle of the top of the fuselage, and "Intel Inside" is marked in the lower right corner, indicating that it is a small computer based on the Intel platform.

Mini S provides 4 USB3.0 interfaces , 2 HDMI 2.0 interfaces, 1 RJ45 Gigabit network port, 1 3.5mm audio interface, and 1 DC power interface. Compared with U59, Mini S lacks a multi-functional Type-C interface, so it cannot achieve simultaneous output of three screens. However, for 99% of users, 1-2 displays are enough. The fuselage has built-in aluminum plates and fans, and large-area heat dissipation holes are also arranged on the sides and back of the casing to help air circulate freely.

You only need to unscrew four screws to remove the base plate of Mini S and enter the interior of the fuselage. In addition to the pre-installed M.2 2280 solid-state drive , users can also add a 2.5-inch SATA3 HDD/SSD. Both the M.2 interface and the SATA3 interface support hard drives up to 2TB, so users can have up to 4TB of built-in storage, which is enough to store a large amount of data and audio and video files. It is a little regrettable that the M.2 interface cannot support the faster NVMe SSD and only supports SATA3 specification SSD.

DDR4 memory is not soldered on the motherboard, which is convenient for users to upgrade later. However, unlike the U59 that supports dual-channel memory, the Mini S only provides one memory slot and supports up to 16GB of single-channel memory.

Mini S weighs 274 grams, which is lighter than an iPad Mini (294g). Even with the adapter , it only weighs 433 grams, which is extremely lightweight among low-power hosts. Not only is it easy to move around at home, but for students or office workers, it is also effortless to carry it when commuting. In terms of workmanship, it still maintains the high level of Lingji. Not only is the casing polished smoothly, but the internal wiring and component arrangement are also very regular.

system: pure Windows 11 professional version

Like other mini hosts of Lingji, Mini S is pre-installed with the genuine authorized Windows 11 professional operating system. Compared with the more common home version systems, they include Hyper-V, group domain and many other advanced functions. The system is completely clean and does not have any third-party software pre-installed. Because it is equipped with an X86 architecture processor, users who do not like Windows systems can also install open source systems based on the Linux platform including Ubuntu, CentOS, UOS, Deepin and other open source systems.

Performance: More than enough for daily use

Zhiji Mini S is equipped with an Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095 processor with a TDP of 15W.Friends who pay attention to digital trends should be familiar with this Celeron chip. It has been widely used in many mini consoles, thin and light notebooks and all-in-one computers released in the past year. It can be regarded as a star product of Intel. The N5095 processor adopts the 10nm process technology , a four-core four-thread CPU architecture, a running frequency of 2.0-2.9 GHz, and integrates the eleventh generation Intel UHD Graphics core graphics card . From the perspective of CPU performance release, it can surpass the fifth-generation i5 and the eighth-generation i3. Not only can it handle daily tasks without any problems, it can even run some large-scale creative software smoothly.

In the cross-platform Geekbench 5 test, the Mini S's CPU single-core score was 645, the multi-core score was 2017, and the OpenCL score was 2117. The CPU multi-core performance was significantly higher than that of the SEI8 equipped with the i3-8109U processor, which is the same as the current highest configuration. The NUC 11 Atlas Canyon is not far behind.

The results of Cinebench R20 are logically similar to Geekbench 5. The CPU multi-core score of Mini S is also higher than SEI8, slightly behind the NUC 11 Essential equipped with Pentium N6005.

In the chess benchmark test, the number of steps per second of Mini S reached 8157, with a relative performance multiple of 17, which is a very high score among low-power small hosts.

In the PCMark 10 standard test, which tests the overall fluency of the system by simulating real-world productivity workflows (including word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, and video conferencing), the Mini S scored 2339, lagging behind the SEI8. The main reason is that there is still a big gap between the core display performance and the latter.

Mini S is pre-installed with the SATA3 specification M.2 2280 solid state drive. The measured sequential reading and sequential writing speeds in CrystalDiskMark are 487 mb/s and 414 mb/s respectively, which can only be said to be quite satisfactory, compared to PCle 3.0 /4.0 SSD has a clear gap. However, the actual startup of the Windows 11 system can still be controlled within 10 seconds, and the speed of installing and opening large software is quite fast, and it will not become a performance shortcoming of the entire system.

Mini S is capable of handling mainstream daily computer tasks with ease. Even if you open a dozen web pages in the Microsoft Edge browser, play 4K videos and edit PPT presentations at the same time, you will not encounter any lag or control delays. Editing pictures in Photoshop or using cutouts to create 1080P videos is relatively smooth. Only when Jupiter3r was colorizing all frames of several 4K videos at the same time in PowerDirector, did the lag appear more obvious.

This small host is very suitable for use as HTPC or a home multimedia center. You can connect it to a monitor and a TV through two HDMI cables at the same time. Judging from the data read by DXVA Checker, the UHD Graphics core display used by the Mini S supports hard decoding of most 4K/8K videos, which has considerable advantages over the Radeon Vega 8 equipped with the SER4.

Jupit3r tested several local videos of 4K Dolby original disks, as well as an 8K/30fps and a 4K/120fps video. The results were all played smoothly, and because it was a hard decoding of GPU, the occupancy rate of CPU was always low. Considered high.

The experience of playing videos online is also good. Video playback within 4K/60fps in Chrome is very smooth, but when playing some 8K videos, the CPU usage will reach 100%, and some frame skips or freezes may occur during playback. However, because Mini S can output up to 4K/60Hz, there is no need to choose 8K resolution in actual use.

Intel UHD Graphics has limited support for games, and Mini S only supports single-channel memory, which theoretically will affect the performance release of the core display. However, in the three tests of 3DMark's Sky Diver, Fire Strike, and Time Spy, the Mini S's score is actually not much worse than the dual-channel memory U59.

running the game " League of Legends " on Mini S, 1080P + medium special effects, the average frame rate is 44fps, basically smooth in most scenes, but in some more intense team battle scenes, the real-time frame rate will drop At about 35fps, there will be some visual lag. After switching to 720P and low image quality, the average frame rate of the game can be increased to 79fps. Because the effect of LOL is not ideal, Jupit3r did not test games such as " Genshin Impact " that require higher graphics card performance. Of course, there are puzzle games like " Minecraft ", "Angry Birds", " Plants vs. Zombies ", as well as the Microsoft Store versions of " Asphalt 9" and "World of Tanks". "Battle" and so on, can be played smoothly on the Mini S.

has low power consumption, low noise, and very stable operation.

The measured standby power consumption of Mini S is 11W, and the CPU power consumption at full load is only 24W. Compared with ordinary desktop computers, it can naturally save a lot of power throughout the year. When the system is running at low load, the Jupiter3r can hardly hear any noise from the host. When the system is running at high load, although the sound of the built-in fan can be heard, it is not noisy at all. It is louder than my Lenovo YOGA Duet at high load. Small. The operation of the

machine is also very stable. Using AIDA64 to conduct the baking machine test for more than an hour, the temperature of the four CPU cores has never exceeded 90°C.

Summary

For professional creators who often need to use large-scale productivity software, or heavy gamers, Mini S obviously cannot provide sufficient performance release. But for the vast majority of homes and offices, Mini S, equipped with a genuine operating system, excellent workmanship, stable performance, and good expansion capabilities, is fully capable.

Mini S is currently on sale on the brand’s official website and , Amazon, and other platforms, but Lingji has not yet announced whether this host will be launched in China. Considering that the U59 (National Bank version: EQ59) equipped with the same processor but with higher comprehensive configuration is currently priced at only 995 yuan (8GB+256GB), if the Mini S is later launched as a National Bank version, the price is likely to be surprising. . OK, that’s it for today’s review. Jupit3r will also release a video review of this console in the future. Everyone is welcome to pay attention. See you next time.