Trend-KAMRUI via Amazon has
KAMRUI AK2 Plus Mini PC (AK2PLUS) on sale for
$150.45 when you clip the $30 off coupon on the item page and apply promo code
ZU8V38U4 at checkout.
Shipping is free.
Thanks to community member
davidj8281 for finding this deal.
Specs:- 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake-N100 4-core, 4-thread (0.80GHz Base / 3.4GHz Boost) Processor
- 16GB DDR4 RAM
- 512GB M.2 Solid State Drive
- Intel UHD Graphics
- Gigabit Ethernet 2.4G+5.0G dual-band WiFi 5 + Bluetooth 4.2
- Windows 11 Pro
- Ports:
- 2x HDMI 2.0
- 2x USB 2.0
- 2x USB 3.0
- 1x RJ 45
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1. No m.2 slot, only SSD. This is a significant bottleneck
2. No USB C connector
3. Only has wifi 5 (we are almost at wifi 7!)
Some other things that are normal but good to know for this price range, RAM is soldered on and the fan seems like it could be quieter.
For a few bucks more you can go with several other vendors that don't have the first 3 limitations noted above. I for one think the $20-$30 more could get you a better N100. I see why it's on sale.
During normal PC usage including boot and application start the bottleneck isn't SSD speed, it's seek latency, which is similar between PCIE ssds and even the very old now seeming SATA ssds. Difference in boot to windows is literally like two seconds.
Don't let the throughput numbers fool you. On that or the WiFi technology. WiFi 5 is totally fine for pretty much anything anyone would wanna do with this box. Don't be fooled into thinking you need stuff that you don't.
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There's another "Firebat" that is around $120, same specs, but different design. I also see that style on Amazon for more money.
Outside of Beelink, a lot of these no-name mini PCs are found on AliExpress with different "brand" name, oftentimes for cheaper. See example screenshots.
For N100 alternatives, I've had great luck with the Topton Official Store on Ali. Mini PCs and their two-bay N100 NAS have proven rock solid so far.
shield just feels snappier without all the pms bloat running in the background. consensus is that shield is a good client but a bad server. keep in mind that while hw transcoding is free on the shield (albeit weak), plexpass is required for hw transcoding on a minipc.
ran some efficiency testing with the g5 plugged into a tplink kasa smart plug with energy monitoring, transcoding was done from 4k hevc files ranging from 25-65mbps down to 1080p 8mbps with hdr tone mapping.
idle: 6w
one stream: 15-16w
five concurrent streams: 22-26w
each extra stream only adds about 2.5w to the total and all 5 streams played flawlessly in each browser window. with all that going on cpu stays at only 60% utilization.
all in all very pleased with performance and efficiency of these n100 based minipc.
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shield just feels snappier without all the pms bloat running in the background. consensus is that shield is a good client but a bad server. keep in mind that while hw transcoding is free on the shield (albeit weak), plexpass is required for hw transcoding on a minipc.
ran some efficiency testing with the g5 plugged into a tplink kasa smart plug with energy monitoring, transcoding was done from 4k hevc files ranging from 25-65mbps down to 1080p 8mbps with hdr tone mapping.
idle: 6w
one stream: 15-16w
five concurrent streams: 22-26w
each extra stream only adds about 2.5w to the total and all 5 streams played flawlessly in each browser window. with all that going on cpu stays at only 60% utilization.
all in all very pleased with performance and efficiency of these n100 based minipc.
Seems perfectly fine for office tasks and watching videos.
Exactly my question.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product...UTF8&
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