Retired programmer here with 50 years dealing with PCs. This review is not for avid gamers, but targets users that want an excellent home computer.
After years of setting up ATX (big case) systems for family, friends and coworkers, I can say I've happily transitioned to mini PC's after recommending Beelinks to my brothers and now purchasing my own. The SER8 had the specs that demonstrate a very capable PC with high speed data processing in every area that counts: memory, cpu, gpu, USB, SSD and monitor support. Along with my purchase, I bought a 4TB M.2 SSD drive for the second M.2 slot in the machine. The 1TB M.2 drive that comes with the PC acts as my boot drive and the 4TB acts as a NVR storage location for my home cameras. Installation of the drive was easy after figuring out that the 4 screws on the bottom are hidden underneath little rubber gromets. The only other additional thing to purchase if you have lot of USB devices (camera, BT Headset, etc) is a USB Hub to plug into the rear USB 3.2 port. The USB 3.2 port on the front I use for my keyboard/mouse dongle.
The Wi-Fi connectivity is excellent and set as default so that when you turn the PC on for the first time, it connects automatically to your network after you answer a couple setup questions. Win 11 Pro is pre-installed and on intital boot up, it will ask a few set up questions. I switched the Wi-Fi to Ethernet because I'm old school still not fully trusting Wi-Fi reliability. Truthfully, I think those issues have been fully addressed with Wi-Fi 6e which I have...works awesome either way! After installing about 10 apps including office, I can say installations are seamless and all apps work dependably.
The machine is faster than my AMD Ryzen 5 ATX machine and it uses 1/4 the power of my old machine. My old machine weighs 25 lbs compared to the Beelink at 3 lbs. I use dual 50" 4k TV's which act as perfect monitors giving me a ton of real-estate and easy reading. Just 10 years ago, people could only dream of such an incredibly powerful PC in such a small super quiet package. I'm thrilled with this purchase.
Standing screen display size | 1.65 Inches |
---|---|
Screen Resolution | 3840 x 2160 |
Max Screen Resolution | 3840 x 2160 pixels |
Processor | 4.4 GHz ryzen_7 |
RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
Hard Drive | 500 GB SSD |
Graphics Coprocessor | [Integrated] |
Chipset Brand | AMD |
Card Description | Dedicated |
Graphics Card Ram Size | 16 GB |
Wireless Type | 802.11ax |
Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 3 |