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Beelink L55 review: a full-fledged PC in a tiny box

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The good:
Beautiful, neat and compact design.
Excellent build quality.
Licensed Windows 10 Home and Microsoft Office Home.
Decent performance.
Big and fast SSD storage.
Lots of connectivity options.
The bad:
A relatively old Intel Broadwell processor.
Old DDR3L RAM.
HDMI 1.4 port only supports up to 4K/30FPS.
No SD or MicroSD card slot.
Beelink has put out many budget mini PCs in the past, most of them are Atom and Celeron based systems designed for only basic computing tasks. The newly released L55 is a different device, with a much more capable Core-i3 processor and 8GB RAM inside, it is definitely more marketed as a full-fledged PC rather than an HTPC that only sits in your living room for media playback purposes.
Specifications
Brand: Beelink
Model: L55
Type: Mini PC
System: Windows 10 Home
CPU: Intel Broadwell i3 5005U (Dual Core CPU, 4 logical processors)
GPU: Intel HD 5500
RAM: 8GB DDR3L
Storage: 256GB/320GB/512GB
Internet Access: Dual Band Wi-Fi, LAN
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: 4*USB 3.0, 2*USB 2.0, 1*3.5mm audio jack, 1*HDMI 1.4, 1*DP, 2*1000M Ethernet Jack, 1* DC-in port , 1*SATA HDD port, 1*M2.SSD port
Accessories: 2*HDMI cable, 1*SATA HDD cable, 1*DC adapter, 1* bracket, some screws
Size: 128*126*47mm
Retail Package
Like always, the L55 comes with the typical simple and neat packaging by Beelink.
There are lots of things in the L55’s relatively small packaging. You can find a 12V-3A DC power adapter, two HDMI cables (different in length), a SATA HDD expansion cable, a bracket and some screws which can mount the mini PC to the back of a monitor.
Design and Build
The overall design of the L55 doesn’t stray too far from previous Beelink Mini PC models, in fact it looks almost identical to the U55, the only difference you will notice at first glance is the color. The chassis is made of high-quality plastic. The matte dark blue finish looks nice. The Beelink branding on the top side is quite stylish, there’s also the famous “Intel inside” marking on the bottom right, reminding you that it’s a device powered by Intel chips.
Being as small as it is, the L55 has almost as many ports as a desktop PC does. The front of the L55 is home to a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, a red power button, and an activity LED (not lit in the photo) and an RTC hole. One of the USB 3.0 ports supports fast charging (up to 7.5W), and there is a green lightning marking above to distinguish it from the other.
There are lots of vents on the left and right side to prevent the L55 from overheating. The L55 doesn’t apply the fanless design used for many entry-level mini PCs, instead it has a high-speed fan inside the shell to cool the internals down when they are stressed.
The back side sports another pair of USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI 1.4 port, a DP port, two RJ45 1000M Ethernet jacks, a DC-in port and some more vents.
Four small rubber feet are hosted on the bottom side, preventing the shell from scratches.
The L55 measures 128*126*47mm, even smaller than the Android-based Remix IO. The build quality is excellent, as the device looks extremely refined, with no ugly mold lines. It also feels extremely robust and sturdy, you won’t break it without some serious force. Also, the matte dark blue coating on the surface is very resistant to scratches. After 2 weeks of reviewing the device and moving it around constantly, I still haven’t found any marks on its surface of the L55.
Setting up
As small as it is, the L55 is a PC and needs to be connected with a display, a keyboard and a mouse to work, and that’s how you should set it up. There’s no conventional mouse and keyboard ports, so you need to get by with USB-mounted or Bluetooth input devices.
During first-time start-up, you will need to go through some of the Microsoft Windows initialization protocols, which is easy but will take some time. After that, you are good to go.
System & Apps
The Beelink L55 ships with a clean version of licensed Windows 10 Home OS, we found no pre-installed 3rd party applications and bloatware at all.
The local disk is a single volume (only Disk C) by default, but it is relatively easy to do disk partitioning on Windows 10.
You won’t need any 3rd party application, the “Disk Management” feature in “Computer Management” can take care of that or you, after less than a minute, we got two local disk volumes.
There are thousands of apps available in the Microsoft Store, if they are not enough, you can also install traditional PC apps. The Microsoft Office Student & Home Edition can be automatically activated once it is installed on the L55, we know a lot of people will welcome that.
We don’t feel like digging into all the main features of Windows 10. For those who is still unfamiliar and curious with this dominant PC operating system, we highly recommend you to watch some tutorial videos on YouTube.
Performance
The L55 is powered by a relatively old 5th generation Intel Broadwell Core-i3 5005 dual core CPU (2.0GHz), not the latest Coffee Lake (8th and 9th generation) chipset. This chip won’t match the latest Intel i5 and i7 chips found in mainstream laptops and desktops PCs when it comes to horsepower, but it is still very capable of handling normal everyday tasks. Like always, we ran some benchmarks on the device to see how much horsepower it was to generate.
In the Cinebench R10 test, the L55 scored in 3,023 Single core, 6,553 in multi-core, and 3999CB in OpenGL. These scores were significantly higher than the Beelink AP34 (single core: 1846, multi-core: 5470, OpenGL: 2782CB), which is powered by an Intel Celeron N3450 processor.
In the more complex Cinebench R15 test, the L55 was returned in 150cb CPU performance and 14.78fps in OpenGL.
The Fritz Chess benchmark returned a score of 3,878, which beats the scores of Atom and Celeron based PCs. But it is definitely not impressive, as the i3-8145U powered Huawei Matebook 13 scored 7190, and even the Core-M powered Xiaomi Laptop managed to score 4,691 in the same test.
In the PCMark 8 Home Accelerated test, the L55 scored 2451, handily beating those Celeron-powered mini PCs and laptops, of which the scores are normally below 2000. But it is still nowhere near the scores of mainstream PCs.
The SSD in the L55 is undoubtedly faster than the eMMc found in entry-level mini PCs and convertible Windows tablets, as the device scored 754 in AS SSD benchmark. The sequential read and write speeds are almost as fast as that of my Surface Pro 3 (539MB/s & 484MB/s), but still significantly slower than the SSD inside my Huawei Matebook 13 (2155MB/s & 1485MB/s). There are 3 variants of L55, which have different built-in storage. The one that we received has 512GB M2. SSD inside. The storage of the L55 is upgradable with SATA HDD up to 2TB. If that’s not enough, you can even replace the stock M2. SSD with a 1TB drive.
Although the L55 is capable of outputting 4K resolution (3840*2160px), we won’t recommend people to set this resolution as default. As there is no discrete graphics card under the hood, 4K will be too much for the integrated Intel HD5500 during some productivity tasks, 1080P is still a far more reliable choice on most occasions.
The L55 was capable of playing all the media files we threw at it, including various 4k video clips, the playback was smooth in Windows Media Player and Thunder Video Player all the time, but there were stutters while playing 4K videos of webm formats in Windows 10’s Movies & TV app.
We also had no problem streaming full HD and 4K YouTube videos in Chrome. But playing 8K videos in YouTube was an extremely laggy experience we won’t recommend anybody to try.
The device was also smooth with most of the productivity tasks. We didn’t notice any lags editing our image-heavy presentation in PowerPoint. Editing photos in Photoshop is also a generally smooth experience, but some of the renderings did take a noticeable longer period of time than they did on my i7-powered Surface Laptop.
The Beelink has 8GB of DDR3L RAM on board, so it is also able to handle some serious multi-tasking. We did hear the fan inside the L55 making some noise when the device was under heavy loads, but it never got unbearably loud. Fortunately, the CPU temperature never got too high to trigger a warning from Ludashi (a Chinese PC monitoring app).
The HD5500 GPU is powerful enough for all games installed from the Microsoft Store, including Forza Horizon 4 and Modern Warfare. All of them ran smooth and remained responsive even at the highest settings. We actually enjoyed playing Asphalt 9 Legend on the L55 quite a lot, it was easy to control, the visuals were stunning, too. Lightweight desktop games such as Plant vs Zombies, Chicken Shoot and Stealth Bastard also ran smoothly on the L55, older versions of big titles such as SEGA Virtua Tennis and Asphalt 5 ran without hiccups as well. However, the L55 doesn’t come with a discrete graphics card, so it is definitely not built for the most graphic-intense titles such as the Metro 2033, GTA 4 and StarCraft. The games took a long time to load, and the frame rates were sometimes unacceptable during gameplay.
To sum it up, the L55 can deliver decent computing performance while running the types of software applications that average consumers use on a daily basis, but it is not designed as a workhorse for multimedia editors or other professional designers, nor is it the right PC for gaming enthusiasts.
Connectivity
The L55 supports dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz & 5GHz). Wi-Fi connection was pretty solid as well. We put the L55 on the TV cabinet in the living room (the WiFi router was placed in another room), it was still able to download files at the same top speed.
The L55 can be connected to input devices and sound systems (headphones or speakers) wirelessly via Bluetooth, which saves you from the messy wires on your desktop, and frees the USB ports for other devices. We connected the L55 with our pair of Bang & Olufsen S3 speakers and enjoyed a lot of music and movies, the audio transmission remained uninterrupted.
There are 6 USB Type A ports (4*USB 3.0 and 2* USB 2.0) on the L55, you can mount lots of external devices at the same time. We mounted a 4TB Seagate mobile drive, a 128GB Samsung mobile SSD drive, and two 128GB flash disks, the L55 has no problem supporting them all at the same time.
The transfer speed through the USB 3.0 port is pleasantly fast. It normally takes only seconds to copy an HD movie from a flash disk.
The DP and HDMI ports will support most of the monitors, projectors and TV sets, but if you are using an old monitor with only VGA or DVI port, you will have to get by with an adapter. Unfortunately, the HDMI port on the L55 is HDMI v1.4 standard, which can only output resolution up to 2K/60fps or 4K/30fps. If you connect the L55 with a 4K TV via an HDMI cable, you won’t be able to get the highest image quality. The DP port on the device does support 4K/60fps output, but very few monitors do, and HDTVs don’t usually come with a DP port.
The Beelink L55 has two 1000M RJ45 Ethernet jacks, allowing you to connect to two network broadband services at the same time. This could be useful if you use the L55 in a workplace, as employees may need to connect both to the internet and the company intranet. Also, for higher-level users, they can combine the broadband width of two network services to achieve higher download and upload speed.
Verdict
Beelink has made a few choices which seem odd to us reviewers. Besides equipping the L55 with a relatively old 5th generation processor in a year when all new releases come with more advanced 8th and 9th generation i-series processors, they have also chosen to feature an old HDMI 1.4 port. Even more, the Micro SD card slot found on the U55 disappeared on the L55, we really wonder if it’s a choice made merely to save cost or for other reasons.
Besides a few puzzling choices, the L55 is still a solid device which has a lot going for it. With a Core-i3 5005U processor and 8GB DDR3L RAM inside, it is definitely not only designed for media consumption. Instead, it is able to get a lot of things done without a hitch. If you don’t use your PC for intensive gaming or complex designer work, the horsepower of the L55 will simply be more than enough for you.
The prices of L55 starts from $269 (256GB version), and the 512GB version costs $299. These prices are definitely higher than the prices of Atom and Celeron powered mini PCs. But we do believe the features, performance and functionalities of the L55 justify the price tag. If you want an inexpensive desktop computer which is small, stylish and compact, but is still powerful enough for everyday computing tasks, the L55 is worthy of your consideration.

Really a lovely piece of tech. I am using it now on a daily basis.

Hope more people could see this review, it took me a long time to test the device.

I don't think this processor is future-proof, it may not be smooth in 2-3 years.

Twitch007 said:
I don't think this processor is future-proof, it may not be smooth in 2-3 years.
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It really depends on what you use it for.

Lower benchmark scores than I expected.

And that monitor really looks oooooooooooold!

GadgetSino said:
And that monitor really looks oooooooooooold!
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:cyclops:

jupiter2012 said:
It really depends on what you use it for.
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Not really, the system will be slowed down by Microsoft on purpose, which is not related to how u use it.

Twitch007 said:
Not really, the system will be slowed down by Microsoft on purpose, which is not related to how u use it.
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My PC has served for 5 years without slowing down.

Beelink GKmini review: a compact, decent and cool-looking mini PC

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The good:
Beautiful, neat and compact design.
Solid build.
Licensed Windows 10 Pro OS.
Decent performance.
Lots of connectivity options.
The bad:
No SD card slot.
No WiFi6.
Bottom Line:
The Beelink GKmini is a mini PC designed for basic office workloads, media consumption and light creativity tasks, and it works as designed.
If you have considered buying a mini PC, you must have heard of Beelink, a Chinese brand known for making quality mini PCs and TV boxes with afforable price tags. The all new Beelink GKmini comes with the Intel Gemini Lake Celeron J4125 processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM, up to 512GB built-in SSD, an attractive new design, and a moderate price tag. it is set out to be a strong contender in the race of affordable mini PCs.
Main specs of the Beelink GKmini
Processor: Intel Gemini Lake Celeron J4125
CPU: Quad Core 2.0-2.7GHz CPU
GPU Intel HD Graphics 600
Process technique: 14nm
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64bit
RAM: 8GB DDR4 2400MHz
Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB SSD (256GB in our review)
Network: WiFi5 + BT 4.2 / Ethernet Gigabit
Ports: 4x USB 3.0 / 2x HDMI 1.4 / 3.5mm audio jack / Kensington lock
Accessories: 12V-2A DC adapter/ 2x HDMI Cable (1m & 0.3m) / User Manual
Retail Packaging
The GKmini ships with a very simple retail packaging, with illustration image on the front, and specs of on the back of the box.
As we can see in the specs, the mini PC is powered by the Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core processor, coupled with 8GB RAM. The unit that I received has a 256GB SSD inside of it, but Beelink offers other storage options.
Inside the box we have found a mini PC, a bracket for mounting the mini PC onto the back of a monitor, a 24-watt power adapter, two HDMI cables, a bag of screws, and a user manual.
The GKmini is about the size of a TV box, with a footprint smaller than my already small palm. It'll take up next to no room on your desk. If there’s literally no room for even the GKmini on your desk, you can also choose to mount it onto the back of your monitor with the provided bracket and screws.
The GKmini’s design doesn’t stray too far from previous Beelink mini PC models. It looks almost identical to the Gemini J45, which was released in 2019.
The housing of the GK mini is a combination of plastic and metal, The top side is acrylic plastic, which is, in our opinion, an elegant touch as it gives the GKmini’s top a glossy and reflective look, although it is also more prone to collecting all your fingerprints. There’s a Beelink logo sitting comfortably in the middle. The other sides of the chassis are all made of aluminum.
The front of the mini PC sports a reset hole, two USB 3.0 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack with mic support, as well as a power button which has a status LED built in.
The rear side of the GK mini plays host to some vents, two USB 3.0 ports, a full-size Ethernet, two HDMI 1.4a ports, and a DC-in port.
As the mini PC has an active cooling system under the hood, there are quite a number of vents on the left and right sides of the machine.
There are four rubber feet on the bottom side of the GK mini, each one has a screw in it.
Getting access to the internals is quite easy, just remove these screws and you will be able to upgrade the RAM and SSD.
The GK mini weighs only 256g, not much heavier than some of the latest smartphones. Moving it around in the house is quite easy. The build quality is solid and definitely well above average, as the mini PC looks particularly refined, with no ugly mold lines on the surface. It also feels reasonably robust and sturdy, you won’t really break it without some serious force.
Setting it up
As tiny as it is, the GKmini is still a Windows-based personal computer, and needs to be connected to a monitor (or TV, or projector), a keyboard and a mouse to work as one, and that’s how you should set it up.
During first-time start-up, you will need to go through some of the Microsoft Windows initialization protocols (choosing your region and language, connecting to the network, logging into your Microsoft account, etc), which is easy but definitely takes some time. After that, you are good to go.
System & apps
Most mini PCs run on Windows 10 Home, but the Beelink GKmini ships with licensed Windows 10 Pro, For average consumers, you will probably see no difference, but for power users, Windows 10 Pro offers lots of extra features, the most important of which is being able to join a domain, including Azure Active Directory for single sign-on to cloud services (and have group policy applied as part of that).
You also get Hyper-V for virtualization, BitLocker whole disk encryption, enterprise mode Internet Explorer, Remote Desktop, a version of the Windows Store for your own business, Enterprise Data Protection containers (a feature that comes later in the year) and assigned access (which locks a PC to running only one modern application, to use like a kiosk). Pro users can get updates from Windows Update for Business, which includes options for scheduling updates so they don't reboot PCs at important business times.
Fortunately, the Windows 10 Pro here is a completely clean version, with no pre-installed 3rd party applications or bloatware. I don’t feel like digging into the main features Windows 10 offers. For those who is still unfamiliar and curious with this dominant PC operating system, we highly recommend you to watch some tutorial videos on YouTube.
Performance
The GKmini is powered by the Intel Gemini Lake Celeron J4125 quad core processor (2.0-2.7GHz). This chip isn’t a powerhouse and won’t match the latest Intel Core processors found in mainstream laptops and desktop PCs in terms of performance, but it is still capable of dealing with normal everyday tasks with ease. There is 8GB DDR4 RAM under the hood to take care of multi-tasking.
First, we ran Maxon's latest CPU-crunching Cinebench R23 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The GK mini scored 447 in single core, 1442 in multi-core.
We also ran the Cinebench R20 test on the GKmini, and it scored 170 in single core, and 556 in multi-core. These scores are by no means impressive, but still way ahead of the Pentium N4200 powered Chuwi Gbox, or Beelink’s very own Gemini J45, which comes with an older Apollo Lake Pentium J4205 processor.

In the cross platform Geekbench 5 test, the GKmini scored 460 in CPU single core, 1479 in multi-core, and 1590 in OpenGL.
The GKmini did relatively well in the Fritz Chess Benchmark, acheiving 5342 kilo nodes per second.
PCMark simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and video conferencing. 1791 is the score the GKmini notched in the standard PCMark 10 test.
In the more graphics-focused 3DMark, the GKmini scored 1446 in Sky Diver, 425 in Fire Strike, and 141 in Time Spy.
The GKmini offers a SATA-standard m.2 SSD, which definitely lags behind those NVMe drives found in mainstream laptops, but is still faster than the eMMc or HDD found in more basic models. In CrystalDiskMark test, the sequential read and write speed are 451.39mb/s and 456.58mb/s respectively, not impressive, but still decent.
In the real world use, the GKmini provides ample oomph for basic office tasks and even for a bit of light media editing. I experienced no lags or delays editing my review materials or work presentations in Microsoft Office apps.
Doing some relatively complex video editing in Power Director is also surprisingly smooth, although filters and animations may take longer to be applied to all layers of clips.
As for multimedia entertainment, the mini PC has no problem streaming 4K YouTube videos in Microsoft Edge, or decoding different formats of local video clips. I streamed an entire season of the Spanish sitcom “The Innocent” on the GK mini, with it connecting to my 75-inch TV.
The Intel UHD600 Graphics in the GKmini is definitely not designed for AAA titles, but it is capable of running older titles in moderate settings, and almost all games installed from Microsoft Store without issues. “Asphalt 9” and “Battle Tanks” (Microsoft Store Variant) are both quite smooth, but the graphics are simply not comparable with their desktop variant.
Also important for a mini PC that sits on your desk or behind your monitor (where it's nearer to your ears), the GKmini runs fairly quietly. It's not a completely silent, fanless design, but I almost never felt distracted by its noise. The computer is also amazingly stable, as it passed the 3DMark stress test with flying colors.
When the GKmini is running in full load in the AIDA64 stress test, the temperature of its four CPU cores was always quite stable. Once we stopped the test, the temperature dropped immediately.
Connectivity
The GKmini supports 2.4GHz/5.8GHz dual-band WiFi, but not the latest WiFi6. It also has Bluetooth 4.2 on board, thus can connect to wireless input devices and audio systems. It would have been nice to see Bluetooth 5.0 instead of 4.2, but that’s not going to add much the overall experience.
As there are two HDMI ports, you can hook the GKmini up with two monitors at the same time, this can be extremely useful if you have some serious producitivity tasks at hand.
Verdict
Creative pros and enthusiastic gamers will need to look elsewhere for a larger PC with dedicated graphics, but office workers who mainly rely on everyday creativity apps, or consumers who need an HTPC for media consumption, or shop owners who want a smaller computer for illustration of their products, will find a lot to like in the Beelink GKmini.

Nice review! Kudos

galaxys said:
Nice review! Kudos
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Thanks for reading it.

Can i upgrade the M2 SSD ?
What about Win10 Pro, how can i transfer that to the new SSD ?

machinamew said:
Can i upgrade the M2 SSD ?
What about Win10 Pro, how can i transfer that to the new SSD ?
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I guess you can add another SATA3 SSD and transfer the OS to that first, and then transfer it back to the new m.2 SSD. There are plenty of tools and tutorials online to help you do that.
If you do not have a SATA3 SSD, you will need to reinstall Windows OS, which get the license automatically once the PC is connected to the internet.

Beelink U59 review: an excellent budget mini PC

The good:
Beautiful, neat and compact design.
Licensed Windows 11 Pro
Dual-channel memory
Decent performance.
Full of connectivity options.
The bad:
No SD or MicroSD card slot.
The top side easily attracts scratches and figerprints.
Beelink’s mini PCs range from budget Atom-based models all the way up to the AMD Ryzen 7 and Intel Core i7 powerhouses. The all new Beelink U59 is a budget mini PC which comes with the latest Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095 processor, configurable RAM and SSD of up to 16GB/512GB, a neat and attractive new design, and a moderate price tag. It is designed for basic home and office use, and it works as designed.
Main specs of the Beelink U59
Processor: Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095
CPU: 4 cores, 4 threads, 2.0-2.9GHz
GPU Intel UHD Graphics
Process technique: 10nm
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64bit
RAM: 8/16GB DDR4 2400MHz (16GB in my review)
Storage: 256GB/512GB SSD (512GB in my review)
Network: WiFi5 + BT 4.0 / Ethernet Gigabit
Ports: 4x USB 3.0 / 1x USB-C / 2x HDMI 2.0 / 3.5mm audio jack
Accessories: 12V-3A DC adapter/ 2x HDMI Cable (1m & 0.2m) / User Manual
Packaging
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Finally, Beelink has redesigned the packaging of their products, we saw that on the SER, which we just reviewed last month, and now, the retail package of the U59 is also simple but attractive.
Inside the packaging you will find a U59 mini PC, a wall-mount bracket, a 36-watt power adapter, two HDMI cables, a bag of screws, and a user manual.
Design
The U59 is tiny. Measuring only 124*113*42mm, it is not much bigger than an average TV box, and takes up almost no room on your desk. You can even make it disappear by using the included bracket, which mounts the mini PC onto the back of a monitor.
The U59 has a simple, but elegant design. The material used on the top is acrylic plastic, which gives the PC’s top a glossy and reflective look. It may be easy on the eyes when it’s clean, but unfortunately, it is not only a fingerprint magnet, but also easily attracts scratches.
As a budget mini PC, the U59 has a plastic case, but thanks to the beautiful metal-like coating, it doesn’t look too plasticky or cheap.
The front of the mini PC sports a CMOS reset hole, two USB 3.0 ports, a multi-function USB-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack with mic support, as well as a red power button which has a status LED built in.
The rear side of the U59 plays host to two USB 3.0 ports, a full-size Ethernet, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and a DC-in port.
The system is actively cooled, so there are plenty of vents on three sides of its case.
There are four rubber feet on the bottom side to elevate the U59 while it sits on the desk.
Getting access to the internals is quite easy, just remove the four screws on the bottom and you will be able to upgrade the RAM and SSD. There is also a slot for a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive of up to 1TB.
The U59 weighs only 330g, not much heavier than some of the latest smartphones. Moving it around in the house or taking it on a journey shouldn’t be much of an effort. The build quality is solid and definitely above average, as the mini PC feels robust and sturdy in my hands, and looks like it will survive a reasonable amount of office abuse, possibly even occasional falls.
Setting it up
Setting up the U59 is extremely easy. Plug in the power adapter, a mouse and a keyboard, then you are good to go.
During first-time start-up, you will need to go through some of the Microsoft Windows initialization protocols (choosing your region and language, connecting to the network, logging into your Microsoft account, etc), which is easy but does take some time.
Software & apps
The U59 ships with licensed Windows 10 Pro, but since it has the TPM2.0 chip and meets all the requirements of Windows 11, you can get the upgrade right after booting it up for the first time, at least that’s what I did. Average consumers may not know the difference between Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro. But for power users, Windows 11 Pro offers lots of extra features, such as being able to join a domain, Hyper-V for virtualization, and getting updates from Windows Update for Business.

Performance
This mini PC is powered by an Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095 quad core processor (2.0-2.9GHz). This 11th generation Celeron chip is not a powerhouse and won’t match the latest Intel Core and AMD Ryzen processors found in mainstream laptops and desktop PCs in terms of performance, but it is more than capable for basic office tasks, media playback and light gaming. The U59 I received has 16GB LPDDR4 memory under the hood to take care of multi-tasking, that’s a hell lot of RAM for an entry-level PC.
First, I ran Maxon's latest CPU-crunching Cinebench R23 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The U59 scored 629 in single core, 1544 in multi-core.
I also ran the Cinebench R20 test in order to compare the U59 to other budget mini PCs I had tested before, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was way ahead of the Beelink GK mini, which runs on a Gemini Lake Celeron J4125 processor, and even edged out the Intel NUC 7, which is powered by an Intel Kaby Lake Core i3-7100U SoC.
In the cross platform Geekbench 5 test, the U59 scored 608 in CPU single core, 2009 in multi-core, and 2125 in OpenCL.
The U59 also did quite well in the Fritz Chess Benchmark, achieving 7975 kilo nodes per second.
PCMark simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks. The U59 scored 2358 in this test, a huge improvement from the score (1791) of the GK mini.
In the more graphics-focused 3DMark, the U59 scored 2495 in Sky Diver, 657 in Fire Strike, and 210 in Time Spy.
The U59 features an m.2 2280 SATA SSD, which obviously lags behind those NVMe drives in high-end models such as the Beelink SER and Lenovo ThinkCentre, but is still faster than the eMMc or HDD in older and more basic models.
In my daily use, the U59 was fairly efficient in all kinds of office workflows, web-browsing, and multi-media. The system didn’t slow down while loading a dozen image-heavy webpages in Microsoft Edge and running a few other apps at the same time.
Working on my presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint was also a smooth experience, there weren’t lags or delays while I was adding some relatively heavy content to the slides.
Editing videos in Power Director should be challenging for budget systems like the U59, but to my surprise, it held its own nicely. When I added filters to multiple clips simultaneously, I could notice that the U59 took more time to finish the task than, say, my Lenovo YOGA Duet or the Beelink SER, but there were never really system halts, or significant delays.
I played quite a number of 4K video clips on the U59, and enjoyed fairly smooth playback. And when it comes to online video playback, the U59 had no problem streaming 4K, 60FPS YouTube Videos in Chrome, but it did struggle with videos above that resolution and frame rate. Since the maximum output of the mini PC is [email protected], there is no point to try that anyway.
The Intel UHD Graphics in this mini PC is not designed for graphics-intense gaming, but the U59 can run older titles in moderate settings. LOL was generally smooth while I set the resolution to 1080P, and graphics to low. The average frame rate of this game is 41fps. I only experienced noticeable frame drops in some intense battle scenes.
You can also play any game installed from Microsoft Store without issues. “Asphalt 9”. “Angry Birds” and “Battle Tanks” (Microsoft Store Variant) are both quite smooth.
More demanding titles such as War Frame and Conqueror’s Blade are simply not suited for mini PCs like the U59, the average frame rates of both games were lower than 15FPS.

Power and stability
For a mini PC that sits on your desk or behind your monitor (where it's nearer to your ears), noise is also something you need take into consideration. Fortunately, the U59 is quiet most of the time. Although it's not a completely silent, fanless design, and you will hear it while it’s running heavy applications, yet the noise is not constantly in your ears, and will be easily drowned out by other sounds in the background.
With an active cooling system inside, the U59 is also amazingly stable, as it passed the 3DMark Sky Diver stress test with flying colors.
Connectivity
The U59 supports 2.4GHz/5GHz dual-band WiFi 5, but not the latest WiFi6. It also has Bluetooth 4.0 on board, thus can connect wirelessly to input devices and audio systems. It would have been nice to see Bluetooth 5.0 instead of 4.0, but that’s not going to add much to your overall experience with the U59.
There are two HDMI 2.0 ports and a multi-function Type-C port, all of them support video output of up to [email protected] You can hook the U59 to as many as three monitors at the same time, this can be extremely useful if you have some complex productivity tasks at hand.
Verdict
Priced at $237.15 for the 8GB & 256GB version, and $296.65 for the 16GB & 512GB version on Amazon, the U59 is an affordable mini PC which checked a lot of the boxes. It has a compact and attractive design, decent internal hardware, plenty of I/Os, and licensed Windows 11 Pro. Besides basic office workflows and media playback, you can even use the U59 for some lightweight creativity tasks and a fair amount of gaming. For those who are looking for a decent but inexpensive mini PC, the U59 is worthy of your consideration.

It's worth noting that retail units don't seem to ship with Crucial memory as shown in reviews online, instead it's some no-name 2666MHz DDR4 with an AZW sticker. The 8GB model ships with one 8GB SODIMM, so it won't be operating in dual channel. I upgraded to 16GB with some Kingston Fury 2666MHz, the system supposedly supports up to 2933MHz memory but that's probably overkill for a device like this.
The fan isn't the quietest in the world, but even when benchmarking it wasn't too obnoxious, esp. if you're planning to use this as an HTPC.

XTCrefugee said:
It's worth noting that retail units don't seem to ship with Crucial memory as shown in reviews online, instead it's some no-name 2666MHz DDR4 with an AZW sticker. The 8GB model ships with one 8GB SODIMM, so it won't be operating in dual channel. I upgraded to 16GB with some Kingston Fury 2666MHz, the system supposedly supports up to 2933MHz memory but that's probably overkill for a device like this.
The fan isn't the quietest in the world, but even when benchmarking it wasn't too obnoxious, esp. if you're planning to use this as an HTPC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input.

XTCrefugee said:
It's worth noting that retail units don't seem to ship with Crucial memory as shown in reviews online, instead it's some no-name 2666MHz DDR4 with an AZW sticker. The 8GB model ships with one 8GB SODIMM, so it won't be operating in dual channel. I upgraded to 16GB with some Kingston Fury 2666MHz, the system supposedly supports up to 2933MHz memory but that's probably overkill for a device like this.
The fan isn't the quietest in the world, but even when benchmarking it wasn't too obnoxious, esp. if you're planning to use this as an HTPC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I consulted the marketing people in Beelink, and they told me that they didn't have 4GB memory sticks in stock, so the 8GB/256GB version of the U59 only has a single 8GB memory stick inside. Anyone planning to buy this PC should be aware of that.

Main specs of the Beelink U59
Processor: Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095
CPU: 4 cores, 4 threads, 2.0-2.9GHz
GPU Intel UHD Graphics
Process technique: 10nm
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64bit
RAM: 8/16GB DDR4 2400MHz (16GB in my review)
Storage: 256GB/512GB SSD (512GB in my review)
Network: WiFi5 + BT 4.0 / Ethernet Gigabit
Ports: 4x USB 3.0 / 1x USB-C / 2x HDMI 2.0 / 3.5mm audio jack
Accessories: 12V-3A DC adapter/ 2x HDMI Cable (1m & 0.2m) / User Manual
The Beelink U59 is powered by the latest Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095 processor and up to 16GB dual-channel memory. It is by far the best budget mini PC ever made.
Written review here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/beelink-u59-review-an-excellent-budget-mini-pc.4360359/

Very good Review. Thanks!
I bought it.

Excellent review!

nek4d said:
Excellent review!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!

tombraga said:
Very good Review. Thanks!
I bought it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, hope you enjoy it.

I am very happyt with this Mini-Pc, already updated to Windows 11, all works fine and nice.

tombraga said:
I am very happyt with this Mini-Pc, already updated to Windows 11, all works fine and nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great!

This is really the best bang for the buck SFF PC I have ever tested.

Are you able to stream YouTube 4K HDR content without any stuttering or lost frames?

AlvinUT2001 said:
Are you able to stream YouTube 4K HDR content without any stuttering or lost frames?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.

Thanks for the feedback! @Jupit3r

Let me add that few people seems to have problem with faulty fans. Also Ubuntu 22.04 randomly froze for me after 8 to 13 days for no reason (seems to be temperature issue but not sure). And finally Bellink support is the worst think that exists in planet earth. Maybe it's better without it. They only answer for "Windows issues" and not for hardware/BIOS issues.

Kamui_ said:
Let me add that few people seems to have problem with faulty fans. Also Ubuntu 22.04 randomly froze for me after 8 to 13 days for no reason (seems to be temperature issue but not sure). And finally Bellink support is the worst think that exists in planet earth. Maybe it's better without it. They only answer for "Windows issues" and not for hardware/BIOS issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry for the bad experience, have you tested the temperature of the machine? Usually it doesn't freeze for no reason, maybe the machine temperature is too high or one program is taking up too many resources, you can check if there are these problems.

Beelink Official said:
I'm sorry for the bad experience, have you tested the temperature of the machine? Usually it doesn't freeze for no reason, maybe the machine temperature is too high or one program is taking up too many resources, you can check if there are these problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on! Beelink does not reply in their own forums...but you monitor and reply in XDA devs forums with suggestions that don't even have a value? "one program is taking up too many resources" and what does this suppose to mean? If I start a calculator the device will froze? (Yeap, I am sarcastic) Next time come with suggestion about getting diagnostics and logs thaat will actually pinpoint and solve the problem rather than random speculations about resource hungry apps.
Ubuntu 22.04 distro with transmission torrent daemon, jdownloader daemon and 2 python script daemons that's all... The CPU is idle most of the time, although the HDDs (SSD + 2,5 HDD) and RAMs are working a lot. That's my workload.
P.S. every reply in beelink's forum needs to get approved first and in my case, one of my replies got deleted when I tried to help a fellow "patient". Censhorship is not tolerable, by me at least, and that's why I am now in XDA forums to help whoever needs help.
Regarding the "help" if any beelink owner has issues with temperatures in linux one thing that will ease but NOT fix the problem is enabling the Intel p-state. I am posting it here because it got "censored" in beelink forums.
Following the below guides one can enable that feature.
Prevent Your Laptop From Overheating With Thermald And Intel P-State [Updated]
Linux Thermal Daemon ( thermald ) is a tool developed by Intel's Open Source Technology Center which monitors and controls the CPU temperat...
www.webupd8.org
intel_pstate driver not being loaded when added to grub file
I have a Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4700MQ CPU @ 2.40GHz Memory 16305MB (2531MB used) Machine Type Laptop Operating System Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS In my /etc/default/grub file I have the l...
askubuntu.com

Beelink GTR5 mini PC review: the best there is!

AMD's very powerful Ryzen 9-5900HX flagship notebook CPU is making its way to small form factor desktop PCs. The recently released Beelink GTR5 is not the first mini PC to feature this SoC., but it might just be the best one yet!
Beelink GTR5 Main Specs
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Processor: AMD Ryzen9-5900HX
CPU: 8 cores, 16 threads @3.3-4.6GHz, 7nm process
GPU: Radeon RX Vega 8 @2100MHz
RAM: up to 64GB DDR4 RAM (32GB in my review unit)
Storage: up to 2TB m.2 NVMe SSD (500GB in my review unit)
Wireless: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Ports: USB-A 3.0 *3, USB-A 2.0*2, USB-C*1, HDMI 2.0*1, DP 1.2*1, 3.5mm Audio Jack*1, 2.5Gbps Ethernet * 2, DC-in*1, m2. SATA slot*1, 2.5-inch HDD connector*1
Special features: Fingerprint unlock
Dimensions: 165*119*39mm
Weight: 678g
Retail packaging
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The GTR5 comes with very cool packaging, the dragon on the front side of the box perfectly illustrates the amount of power packed inside.
Besides the GTR5 mini PC, you will also find a relatively bulky 90W power adapter, a user manual, two HDMI cables (0.2m & 1m), a mounting bracket, as well as a bag of screws after unboxing.
Design: simply stunning
Until last year’s SER, I hadn’t really been that impressed with Beelink’s design, but the Chinese brand seems to have finally outdone itself! The GTR5 simply looks stunning, in fact it is one of the best-looking mini PCs in the market right now. The carved finish on the top side gives it an extremely stylish and premium look. With its sturdy metal chassis, it should also be able to take a fair amount of reasonable office abuse you throw at it.
Besides the relatively subtle branding, the top side also sports a fingerprint scanner, which has decent size and makes logging into the operating system a lot easier than any type of passwords. The recognition success rate is also quite high, I haven’t had any failed attempts in my two weeks with this device.
The AMD logo and “Let’s Start” catchphrase on the top side will light up after booting up, giving the device a more interesting look.
The chassis has ventilation holes on 4 sides (top, left, right, rear) for heat dissipation. There are dual cooling fans and dual copper pipes under the hood to make sure that the system never gets overheated.
Beelink products have always been quite generous with I/O, and the GTR5 is no exception. On the front side you will find a USB 3.0 port, a multi-function type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack with mic support. There are also two buttons: a power button which has status LED built in, and a green button for clearing the CMOS.
More I/O are packed on the rear side, including two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, 2 RJ45 2.5GB/s ethernet jacks, 1 HDMI port, 1 DisplayPort and a DC-in port. Some features are missing, namely a storage card slot, but since you have as many as 6 USB ports, mounting a card reader shouldn’t be that much of an effort. As with other systems powered by AMD, there’s no thunderbolt port, either. The multi-function USB-C port does support fast USB 3.2 Gen1 data transmission and [email protected] video output, but it still pales in comparison with a Thunderbolt 3/4.
The expandability does not stop here. After removing the four screws on the underlying base, you can easily lift the bottom panel and get access to the internals. There are two SO-DIMM DDR4 memory slots, two m2. slots (1 NVMe and 1 SATA3), as well as a 1 SATA3 port on GTR5’s very compact motherboard. If dual-channel memory is somewhat a must-have to ensure solid performance, having the option to install as many as 3 hard drives in such a small computer is simply amazing. All internal hardware and components are neatly arranged, the unit in my hands comes with two 16GB-3200MHz Crucial memory sticks and a 500GB Kingston NVme drive, but Beelink offers other configurations for consumers to choose from.
The GTR5 measures 165*119*39mm, and weighs only 678g. It’s so small that it easily fits on any kind of desk, or under a monitor stand if you have one. It can also seamlessly attach to the back of a display with the included bracket, but please bear in mind that mounting the GTR5 on to the back of a monitor could make fingerprint unlock less convenient than it should be.
System & Apps
Most mini PCs and laptops run on the Home Edition of Windows OS, but the Beelink GTR5 ships with licensed Windows 11 Pro, Average consumers will probably see no difference, but for power users, Windows 11 Pro offers some extra features, the most important of which is being able to join a domain, including Azure Active Directory for single sign-on to cloud services (and have group policy applied as part of that).
You also get Hyper-V for virtualization, BitLocker whole disk encryption, enterprise mode Internet Explorer, Remote Desktop, a version of the Windows Store for your own business, Enterprise Data Protection containers (a feature that comes later in the year) and assigned access (which locks a PC to running only one modern application, to use like a kiosk). Pro users can get updates from Windows Update for Business, which includes options for scheduling updates, so they don't reboot PCs at important business times.
Fortunately, the Windows 11 Pro here is a completely clean version, with no pre-installed 3rd party applications or bloatware. I don’t feel like digging into the main features Windows 11 offers. For those who just switch from MAC OS or Linux to Windows, I highly recommend that you watch some tutorial videos on YouTube.

Performance: incredible horsepower
At the very core of the Beelink GTR5 is an AMD Ryzen9-5900HX processor, which ranks only behind the Ryzen9-5980HS and Ryzen9-5980HX in terms of performance in the world of mobile computer SoC., and it is also the fastest chip to ever power a mini PC. My unit comes with 32GB dual-channel DDR4 memory and 512GB NVMe SSD, but you can have as much as 64GB memory and 5TB of internal storage at most.
In the Maxon Cinebench R23 and Cinebench R20 test, the GTR5 simply has no competition in the world of Windows-based mini PCs, and even gives the Apple M1 powered Mac Mini a run for its money. Until models featuring the next-gen processors come out, the GTR5 will probably stay on top of the chart.
Geekbench 5 provides further evidence of the GTR5’s strength, even though the gap here is a little bit smaller between it and the Apple Mac Mini. Still, the CPU single core and multi-core scores are impressive.
PCMark 10 is a holistic performance suite developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark), it simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We often use this benchmark to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and video conferencing. The GTR5 notched an incredible score of 6345 points in the standard PCMark 10 test, ranking above the ASUS Mini PC PN50 and the i7-1165G7 powered Intel NUC 11 Pro.
Even though there’s no discrete graphics on board, you can still expect a fair amount of performance out of the Radeon Vega 8 GPU, which is clocked at 2.1GHz. In the 3DMark Sky Diver, Fire Strike, and Time Spy tests, the GTR5 scored 15097, 4019, 1615 points respectively.
The NVMe drive inside this computer is not the fastest we’ve seen, but it is a lot faster than cheaper SATA SSDs. The GTR5 scored 2545 in the AS SSD benchmark and got decent numbers in CrystalDiskMark.
There are two memory slots on the SER’s motherboard for dual-channel setup, which guarantees high overall bandwidth and throughput speed. The performance of the GPU also benefits immensely from dual-channel memory, as the GTR5 was returned very decent scores in the AIDA64 memory&cache, and GPU benchmarks.
In the real-world use, the GTR5 is a do-it-all kind of PC. You can open 20 or extra image-heavy webpages in Microsoft Edge and run a few other big apps side by side without seeing the system slow down.
In terms of media playback, the GTR5 has no problem decoding any video formats I played on it, including a few [email protected] and [email protected] clips. Streaming 8K YouTube Videos in Chrome, this mini PC does not skip a bit, either.
This machine could take care of all my creative projects as well. Rendering complex 3D images in photoshop, or editing 4K videos in Power Director, the GTR5 has been consistently fast.
No mini PC this size is designed for intense gaming, yet still people asked me questions about gaming all the time. The Radeon RX Vega 8, with a high 2.1GHz clock speed, is one of the most powerful integrated GPUs. As a result, the GTR5 can run most AAA titles in moderate settings.
Non-resource intensive games were smooth in 1080P and high graphics settings. In “League of Legend”, the average frame rate was 162 FPS. Even after I switched to 4K, the GTR still delivered an average frame rate of 75FPS, which is quite amazing.
More graphics-intense titles such as “Spell Break” and “Genshin Impact” were also smooth in 1080P and medium settings. The former stayed at 60FPS consistently during the 30 minutes’ session, while the latter recorded an average frame rate of 46 FPS.
Some of the most demanding titles were also playable on the GTR5. Conqueror’s Blade was generally smooth with an average frame rate of 32FPS in 1080P and medium settings, even though the frame rate could drop to 28 FPS in intense battle scenes.
As powerful as the AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 might be, there is still a fairly large gap between it and top PCle GPUs. If you want to game in the highest settings possible and still get the upper hand in competition against other players on the internet, you will need a more traditional gaming setup than the GTR5.
The system is also quite stable, thanks to the efficient cooling. In the 3DMark Time Spy stress test, the GTR5 scored 99.99%, which is the best number I have ever seen.

Power Consumption and noise
With such a beefy processor inside, the GTR5 is not technically a low-power system. Still, it should be more energy-conservative than a full-sized desktop PC. In terms of power consumption, we saw some fairly solid figures.
The system stays fairly quiet under light loads, but if you run heavy CPU/ GPU workloads the fans spin up and it certainly gets louder. However, the noise is never too much of an issue, and easily gets drown out by other sound in your surroundings.
Connectivity
The GTR5 supports the latest WiFi 6E technology, also known as WiFi 6 Extended. It allows the PC to use the 6GHz band, which in return brings more bandwidth, faster speeds, and lower latency, opening up resources for future innovations like AR/VR, 8K streaming, and more. In additon, you also have two 2.5Gbps ethernet jacks, which offer all kinds of internet possibilities.
The HDMI, DP and Type-C ports all support video output up to [email protected], so you can connect the GTR5 to as many as 3 displays at the same time. This can be very helpful if you have some complex productivity tasks at hand.
Verdict
The Beelink GTR5 is a powerhouse in a tiny package. It has a beefy processor, packs a slew of I/O, and offers a broad range of features such as fingerprint unlock and superb networking. The tiny case is beautiful and rock-solid, the vast array of designs improves value and versatility.
However, it is not cheap. The 32GB/500GB model retails for $799, while the 64GB/1TB version will cost you even more. In the same price range, you can get a base model of the Apple M1 powered MAC mini, or a complete Intel NUC 11 system with memory, storage, and an OS. The GTR5 is obviously more feature-packed than the other two, but you cannot overlook Apple and Intel’s brand power.
If size doesn’t matter that much to you, a large DIY system of similar performance can save you quite a fortune yet give you more expansion room for later upgrades. But if you want the tiniest computer possible for all the computing you may need, there aren’t many SFF PCs more qualified than the Beelink GTR5 out there.
You can check the screenshots of those benchmarks here:

Hey, nice review, but what about the constant stuttering while doing nothing on the pc ?

GEEKOM Mini IT8 review: perfectly affordable, perfectly capable

The good:
Compact design and great build quality.
Plenty of ports and the ability to drive 4 screens.
Decent CPU and GPU performance.
Licensed Windows 11 Pro operating system.
Easy access to the internals.
The bad:
Relatively old processor.
No WiFi6.
Thanks to continued improvements in mobile chips’ computing horsepower as well as power efficiency, scenarios that require large traditional desktop PCs have shrunk considerably. Most people only need a small form factor PC to deal with all their computing tasks nowadays. While cheap Celeron-based models may struggle with heavier and more graphics-intensive duties, and high-end ones could cost you quite a fortune, there are a healthy number of mid-range offerings worth looking at, and the GEEKOM Mini IT8 is one of them.
For those who have never heard of GEEKOM, it is a Taiwanese PC company founded in 2003, and has products ranging from PC accessories to complete PC systems. GEEKOM hasn’t entered the mini PC market until earlier this year, but their first model, the Mini IT8, which comes with a beefy i5-8259U processor, licensed Windows 11 operating system, and a very attractive price tag, is catching a lot of eyeballs recently.
Main specs of the GEEKOM Mini IT8
Processor: Intel Core i5-8259U
CPU: 4 cores, 8 threads, 2.3-3.8GHz
GPU: Iris Plus 655 Graphics
Process technique: 14nm
OS: Windows 11 Pro
RAM: 8/16GB DDR4 2400MHz (expandable to 32GB)
Storage: 1*M.2 NVMe/SATA SSD, 256/512GB (expandable to 1TB);
1*2.5’’ SATA HDD/SSD (expandable to 2TB)
Network: WiFi5 + BT 4.2 / Ethernet Gigabit
Ports: 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 / 2x USB-C / 1x HDMI 2.0b / 1x Mini DisplayPort / 3.5mm audio jack / 1* SD card slot
Accessories: 19V-4.74A DC adapter/ 1x HDMI Cable (1m) / User Manual / VESA Mount / Carrying pouch
Packaging
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GEEKOM takes a simplistic approach to the packaging of the Mini IT8, there’s not much to find on the blue box besides the brand, the model name and some key specifications. Inside the box you will find a mini PC, a VESA mount bracket, a 96-watt power adapter, an HDMI cable, a bag of screws, and a user manual, there is also a greeting card to show the brand’s gratitude for its buyers.
Design and build
The GEEKOM Mini IT8 employs a well-ventilated PC-ABS chassis measuring 117 mm x 112 mm x 45.6 mm to house the Intel Core i5-8259U SoC and other internal components. The matte black finish on top may not win any beauty pageant, but it does give the machine a premium look, in a low-key kind of way. You can find the branding in the middle of the top panel, and an “Intel Inside” logo on the upper-right corner.
The GEEKOM Mini IT8 packs plenty of IO for its size. The front panel sports a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, a USB-C port (data only), and a 3.5mm audio jack with mic support. The power button on the right has status LED built-in, which will light up in blue when the machine is booted.
The rear panel plays host to two more USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, a Gigabyte Ethernet jack, an HDMI 2.0b, a mini-DisplayPort 1.4, a multifunction Type-C (data & display), and a DC-in. As the keen-eyed have noticed, that gives this machine the potential to drive three 4K displays at once. GEEKOM advertises that the Mini IT8 supports four simultaneous screens, but to achieve that you need a Type-C hub with two video output interfaces, and it won’t be cheap.
Due to the soaring prices of card readers recently, many PC makers have removed the storage card slots from their PC products, but not GEEKOM, as you can find an SDXC slot on the left side of this mini PC.
Getting access to the internals could not be easier, just loosen the four screws and you will be able to remove the bottom panel.
There are two memory slots, an M.2 2280 NVMe/SATA SSD slot, and a connector for a 2.5-inch SATA HDD/SSD on the Mini IT8’s motherboard. You can have up to 32GB dual-channel DDR4-2400 memory, and as much as 3TB of total internal storage. The Mini IT8 doesn’t come with fancy features such as WiFi6, or 2.5Gbps ethernet like some higher-end mini PCs do. But dual-band WiFi5 still offers fast and reliable wireless internet access, and the Gigabyte Ethernet jack can come in handy when you want more stable data rate.
Because of the magnalium impact-protection frame, the Mini IT8 is a little bit heavier than most other mini PCs of the same size. The unit that I am testing weighs 580g on its own ( with two memory sticks and an M.2 2280 NVMe drive). When we add the relatively bulky power brick to the equation, the combined weight reaches 996g. In comparison, the Beelink SEI8, which is about the same size, weighs only 340g on its own and 500g with the power brick included. Still, moving the GEEKOM Mini IT8 around in the house or taking it to work shouldn’t be too much effort.
The build quality of the Mini IT8 is among the best I have seen in any mini PC. The PC-ABS chassis is extremely robust, and won’t flex however I squeeze it. Thanks to the well-structured metal impact-protection frame inside, this machine looks like it can take a serious amount of office abuse, and may even be able to survive a few occasional falls.
System & App
Most mini PCs and laptops run on the Home Edition of Windows OS, but the GEEKOM Mini IT8 ships with licensed Windows 11 Pro, which offers quite a few extra features. The most important one is being able to join a domain, including Azure Active Directory for single sign-on to cloud services (and have group policy applied as part of that).
You also get Hyper-V for virtualization, BitLocker whole disk encryption, enterprise mode Internet Explorer, Remote Desktop, a version of the Windows Store for your own business, Enterprise Data Protection containers (a feature that comes later in the year) and assigned access (which locks a PC to running only one modern application, to use like a kiosk). Pro users can get updates from Windows Update for Business, which includes options for scheduling updates, so they don't reboot PCs at important business times.
The Windows 11 Pro here is completely clean, with no pre-installed 3rd party applications or bloatware that you need to uninstall after first bootup. The Windows 11 OS license will be automatically activated once the mini PC gets internet access.

Performance
The GEEKOM Mini IT8 is powered by an Intel Core i5-8259U processor (2.3-3.8GHz), which is built on 14nm process, has 4 CPU cores, 8 processing threads, and integrated Iris Plus 655 Graphics. This processor was released way back in 2018, so it won’t be able to compete with the latest high-end chips found in mainstream laptops and desktop PCs, but it should be more than capable for any mainstream computing duties you care to throw at it. My unit comes with 16GB memory, as well as 512GB NVMe SSD, but you can also get the 8GB/256GB variant for less money.
Benchmarks
First, I ran Maxon's CPU-crunching Cinebench R20 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The Mini IT8 scored in 373 in CPU single-core, and 1613 in multi-core. Somehow the Mini IT8 managed to surpass the NUC8i7BEH, which rocks a higher-end Core i7-8559U chip.
Each Geekbench 5 CPU workload models a real-world task or application, ensuring meaningful results. These tests are complex, avoiding simple problems with straightforward memory-access patterns, and push the limits of the tested system. The GEEKOM Mini IT8 did quite well in the CPU tests, beating the NUC8I7BEH again in multi-core performance. It also snatched 8651 in OpenCL, indicating that the integrated graphics here can do a lot more than just office work.
PCMark 10 simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. we use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and video conferencing. The Mini IT8 notched 4186 in the standard PCMark 10 test, not that far behind the i5-1135G7 powered Beelink GTI11.
My review unit features a Kingston m.2 2280 NVMe SSD. At nearly 2.5GB/s for reading data off the drive, it is still more than ideal for booting Windows and all your favorite apps.
If you are going to get a GEEKOM Mini IT8, be sure to ask the seller for the full configuration of your unit, as you will need dual-channel memory to get the best performance out of the mini PC. However, some units only ship with 1 memory stick inside. The 16GB/512GB variant I have received comes with one Kingston 16GB DDR4 memory stick, so I added another Crucial 16GB DDR4 memory stick to set up dual channel. In the AIDA64 cache & memory benchmark, the read, write and copy speeds of the memory will almost double after dual-channel setup, and the performance of the integrated GPU will benefit from it, as well.
Daily computing
The GEEKOM Mini IT8 was quite efficient in all kinds of daily computing duties, including office workflows, web-browsing, and multi-media. There were no hiccups or delays when loading 10+ image-heavy webpages in Chrome, playing an 8K video and running a few big apps side by side.
Lightweight creativity tasks were also not an issue for this mini PC, as it was fast and perfectly responsive while running apps such as Photoshop and Lightroom. Even editing videos, which should be challenging for most SFF PCs, is a can-do on the Mini IT8. When I was adding filters to multiple 1080P clips at the same time, the machine did not seem like it’s struggling, although it did take more time to finish each task than the Ryzen9-5900HX powered Beelink GTR5. With that said, you would not want to use this mini PC editing videos in 4K, as that requires even more processing power from the system.
Gaming
The Intel Iris Plus 655 Graphics GPU in the Core i5-8259U is not as fast as the Iris Xe Graphics found in the 11th and 12th generation Intel Core processors, but it is still a much better integrated GPU than the Intel UHD Graphics found in Celeron and Pentium processors, and scores of 3DMark test told the story. The Mini IT8 was returned 7428 in Sky Diver, 1957 in Fire Strike, and 743 in Time Spy.
League of Legend was fairly smooth in 1080P and medium settings. There were no noticeable frameskip or stutters even in the most intense battle scenes. GamePP recorded an average of 98fps, pretty decent for a midrange mini PC.
Genshin Impact was playable in 1080P and medium settings, but at only 30fps on average, it's not all that enjoyable. After turning the resolution down to 720P, GamePP recorded an average of 49fps, and the smoothness improved significantly.
Spell Break was a very similar story. At 1080P and medium settings, we got an average of 41fps, which wasn’t too bad, but there were noticeable frame drops and delays in some of the more complex scenes. Turning the resolution down to 720p, the frame rate could stay above 55fps all the time.
As the results indicated, even though the Mini IT8 isn’t built for gaming, it can run some most modern games at moderate settings. And if you are a fan of simpler, more casual games like Angry Birds, Plant VS Zombies, or any games installed from Microsoft Store, then you should not be worried about the smoothness at all.
HTPC
If gaming isn’t one of the Mini IT8’s strengths, media playback certainly is! According to DXVA Checker, the Iris Plus 655 GPU inside the machine can decode most video formats of up to 4K or 8K. If you have a collection of high-res movies and shows, you are in for a treat! I tested dozens of 4K and 8K clips on the Mini IT8, all of them played smoothly. Also, because the mini PC always utilized hardware decoding, the CPU usage was low and the cooling fan stayed fairly quiet in video playback.
Streaming super high-res videos online was not a problem for the Mini IT8, either. Playing an [email protected] YouTube video in the Chrome browser, the utilizations of the CPU and GPU were 40% and 81% respectively, and the playback was extremely smooth.
Power consumption, temperature, and noise
Power consumption on the GEEKOM Mini IT8 is at 15watts idle and 70watts on max load. Not the most energy-conservative we’ve seen, but still more environment-friendly than most large desktop computers. Internal CPU temperatures ranged from 35℃ idle and 78℃ under max load which caused the cooling fan to spin up.
The Mini IT8 stayed quiet when dealing with light-weight tasks, I could watch the “Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard” court drama all day long without hearing any noise from the machine. However, the cooling fan will make audible noise when the system is under heavy workloads. Fortunately, it was neither too loud nor too annoying. If you had the Mini IT8 mounted under your desk or behind a monitor in an office cubicle, it would be highly unlikely for you to get distracted by the fan noise.
Competition
The 8GB/256GB variant of the GEEKOM Mini IT8 is priced at $379.89 on Amazon, but right now GEEKOM is offering all buyers a $20 coupon, after which you can get a unit for only $359.89, making it one of the most affordable choices among mini PCs with similar specs. In comparison, Beelink sells the SEI8 for $379, and the price of the Minisforum U820 starts from $499.9.
Verdict
There’s a lot to like about the GEEKOM Mini IT8. It's conveniently-sized, and could easily fit into even the most tightly-packed desktops. It's also highly versatile, with a range of different ports, mounting options, and configurations available to suit almost every conceivable business need. If you are looking for a small desktop PC that is more than capable for your everyday basics, yet still affordable enough as not to break your bank, the GEEKOM Mini IT8 is too good of an option to be overlooked.

Benchmark scores here:

If you are interested in buying this mini PC, here are the links to their official stores:
GEEKOM Brand Strore USA- https://amzn.to/3A7EcJF
GEEKOM Brand Strore DE- https://amzn.to/3FmZsgS
USA Official- https://bit.ly/GEEKOMUSAMiniIT8
DE Official- https://bit.ly/GEEKOMDEMiniIT8