5.0 out of 5 stars Good system for ChimeraOS

2026-01-23    -Aaron

Solid Mini PC. For most basic users Windows OS that is on it should be more than enough for general desktop. I bought this specifically to load ChimeraOS on it and run steam for my kids to play games. It does surprisingly well with most games but it can get a little hot running games, so get a fan for it if it bothers you. If you need more horsepower I think they have a dock for a dedicated graphics card.

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth the price and performance.

2026-02-22    -Caulbearer_1051

I have been using this mini PC for about a month for a 2 PC streaming setup. So far, it's performing exactly as advertised. What I really like about it is that's it's completely upgradable and has plenty of ports to connect various devices (monitors, cameras, wired gaming controllers). It's definitely worth the money.

5.0 out of 5 stars Runs Ubuntu 23.10 great. 10X the performance of an rpi5 for 2X the cost.

2026-02-04    -RedAnt

I've used Raspberry Pi single board computers for home projects for many years. Finding them very capable machines for most tasks. Recently I was using an rpi4 to serve web mapping software. Then I used the Pi4 to also view the Leaflet based web maps. Worked great. Then I found CesiumJS 3D maps. The Pi4 was now slow. Buying an rpi5 made things a lot faster, but it wasn't smooth yet.After buying a fancy new power supply, uSD card and case for my rpi5 I've spent half the cost of this SER5 5700U. My desktop is an AMD 3600 with GeForce GTX 1660. This SER5 is just as capable a machine, for less than half what I spent on that system.My goal is to use this SER5 5700U for presentations. Offering enough power to serve the entire container stack locally, in places where I have little to no internet access. The SER5 has been good enough to do a lot of development on the machine. I got started there just to burn in test it. It's an amazingly competent system for all kinds of home lab tasks.At this point it's still running fully stock. However, I liked the setup so much that I've purchased a laptop with the same 5700U. And purchased a single 32GB DDR4 SODIMM to perform a lopsided upgrade on the SER5. If it's unhappy or slow with mismatched 8+32GB chips, I buy another 32GB SODIMM. But my understanding is that the first 16GB should perform the same, then get a slower (~5%) on the additional 24GB. If that's all, I can easily live with that drop, when it would have lost a lot more performance swapping. If this isn't the case I'll buy another 32GB chip. The pulled 8GB SODIMM will upgrade my Asus laptop, which shipped with a lopsided 8+4GB of RAM (8GB soldered to the motherboard).I loved that the SER5 has normal DDR4 SODIMM RAM, upgradable to 64GB. Plus room to add an SSD or swap out for a larger M.2 card. I've successfully used a usb3 attached m.2 card, and connected 3 monitors to it. All hardware recognized and works fine in Linux. Happily suspends and wakes up on power button pushes.Seamlessly using a BT keyboard and mouse. The performance with 3D mapping software output at 4K is flawless. Even when running the full back-end stack required to serve all of the map data locally. All while it's nearly silent and running cool. The rpi5 got very hot, even sitting on a static 3d scene and pulling data from the internet map sources. This machine draws a little more power, and is a little bigger than an rpi5. But the performance it offers is in an different league.When my desktop finally dies. I suspect one of these will be replacing it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Runs Ubuntu 23.10 great. 10X the performance of an rpi5 for 2X the cost.

2026-01-28    -RedAnt

I've used Raspberry Pi single board computers for home projects for many years. Finding them very capable machines for most tasks. Recently I was using an rpi4 to serve web mapping software. Then I used the Pi4 to also view the Leaflet based web maps. Worked great. Then I found CesiumJS 3D maps. The Pi4 was now slow. Buying an rpi5 made things a lot faster, but it wasn't smooth yet.After buying a fancy new power supply, uSD card and case for my rpi5 I've spent half the cost of this SER5 5700U. My desktop is an AMD 3600 with GeForce GTX 1660. This SER5 is just as capable a machine, for less than half what I spent on that system.My goal is to use this SER5 5700U for presentations. Offering enough power to serve the entire container stack locally, in places where I have little to no internet access. The SER5 has been good enough to do a lot of development on the machine. I got started there just to burn in test it. It's an amazingly competent system for all kinds of home lab tasks.At this point it's still running fully stock. However, I liked the setup so much that I've purchased a laptop with the same 5700U. And purchased a single 32GB DDR4 SODIMM to perform a lopsided upgrade on the SER5. If it's unhappy or slow with mismatched 8+32GB chips, I buy another 32GB SODIMM. But my understanding is that the first 16GB should perform the same, then get a slower (~5%) on the additional 24GB. If that's all, I can easily live with that drop, when it would have lost a lot more performance swapping. If this isn't the case I'll buy another 32GB chip. The pulled 8GB SODIMM will upgrade my Asus laptop, which shipped with a lopsided 8+4GB of RAM (8GB soldered to the motherboard).I loved that the SER5 has normal DDR4 SODIMM RAM, upgradable to 64GB. Plus room to add an SSD or swap out for a larger M.2 card. I've successfully used a usb3 attached m.2 card, and connected 3 monitors to it. All hardware recognized and works fine in Linux. Happily suspends and wakes up on power button pushes.Seamlessly using a BT keyboard and mouse. The performance with 3D mapping software output at 4K is flawless. Even when running the full back-end stack required to serve all of the map data locally. All while it's nearly silent and running cool. The rpi5 got very hot, even sitting on a static 3d scene and pulling data from the internet map sources. This machine draws a little more power, and is a little bigger than an rpi5. But the performance it offers is in an different league.When my desktop finally dies. I suspect one of these will be replacing it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for your kids

2026-01-29    -Ethan Nolan

I got this Beelink mini PC for my daughter so she could have a dedicated computer for gaming and homework. It’s been great. It’s small and doesn’t take up much space, which is perfect for her desk.It runs Minecraft smoothly without any lag, and handles all her school projects and web browsing no problem. Setup was easy and it boots up fast. The fan is pretty quiet too, so it doesn’t get distracting when she’s playing or working.For what we needed, this little PC hits the sweet spot between performance and price. It’s been solid so far and I’d definitely recommend it if you want a compact computer for light gaming and everyday use.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good system for ChimeraOS

2026-02-18    -Aaron

Solid Mini PC. For most basic users Windows OS that is on it should be more than enough for general desktop. I bought this specifically to load ChimeraOS on it and run steam for my kids to play games. It does surprisingly well with most games but it can get a little hot running games, so get a fan for it if it bothers you. If you need more horsepower I think they have a dock for a dedicated graphics card.

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth the price and performance.

2026-01-26    -Caulbearer_1051

I have been using this mini PC for about a month for a 2 PC streaming setup. So far, it's performing exactly as advertised. What I really like about it is that's it's completely upgradable and has plenty of ports to connect various devices (monitors, cameras, wired gaming controllers). It's definitely worth the money.

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for your kids

2026-02-22    -Ethan Nolan

I got this Beelink mini PC for my daughter so she could have a dedicated computer for gaming and homework. It’s been great. It’s small and doesn’t take up much space, which is perfect for her desk.It runs Minecraft smoothly without any lag, and handles all her school projects and web browsing no problem. Setup was easy and it boots up fast. The fan is pretty quiet too, so it doesn’t get distracting when she’s playing or working.For what we needed, this little PC hits the sweet spot between performance and price. It’s been solid so far and I’d definitely recommend it if you want a compact computer for light gaming and everyday use.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent performer in a small package.

2026-02-06    -Moonlight

This is for the "Beelink SER5 MAX Mini PC,AMD Ryzen 7 6800H(up to 4.7 GHz,8C/16T), Mini Computer 32GB"The Beelink SER5 MAX is a good choice when your requirements are for a solid mid-range PC. It's fast and quiet. It's nice to have everything I need squeezed into a small box that takes up only the space necessary to do the job.A few notes on what I've read in reviews of the same product:When I say quiet, I mean it is barely audible in a quiet room. When the CPU is under heavy load the fan will speed up and make itself known. Otherwise it's no louder than a refrigerator running.An apparently common problem is using the DisplayPort connection with an HDMI monitor via a PD-to-HDMI adapter. What's required is an *active* DP-to-HDMI adapter such as the THANDBLE "Active DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter (8K 60Hz), Uni-Directional DP 1.4 to HDMI 2.1 Adapter, Male to Female"., which I use in a dual 3840x2160 monitor arrangement. That is the DP-to-HDMI adapter that works for me.For reference, the most demanding software packages I run on this unit are Vivado, Vitis, Alibre CAD, and Digilent Waveforms. CAD rendering performance when working with part of average complexity, and assemblies consisting of a few dozen such parts is plenty smooth.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent performer in a small package.

2026-01-09    -Moonlight

This is for the "Beelink SER5 MAX Mini PC,AMD Ryzen 7 6800H(up to 4.7 GHz,8C/16T), Mini Computer 32GB"The Beelink SER5 MAX is a good choice when your requirements are for a solid mid-range PC. It's fast and quiet. It's nice to have everything I need squeezed into a small box that takes up only the space necessary to do the job.A few notes on what I've read in reviews of the same product:When I say quiet, I mean it is barely audible in a quiet room. When the CPU is under heavy load the fan will speed up and make itself known. Otherwise it's no louder than a refrigerator running.An apparently common problem is using the DisplayPort connection with an HDMI monitor via a PD-to-HDMI adapter. What's required is an *active* DP-to-HDMI adapter such as the THANDBLE "Active DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter (8K 60Hz), Uni-Directional DP 1.4 to HDMI 2.1 Adapter, Male to Female"., which I use in a dual 3840x2160 monitor arrangement. That is the DP-to-HDMI adapter that works for me.For reference, the most demanding software packages I run on this unit are Vivado, Vitis, Alibre CAD, and Digilent Waveforms. CAD rendering performance when working with part of average complexity, and assemblies consisting of a few dozen such parts is plenty smooth.