Beelink SER5 with 8-Core AMD Ryzen 7 5825U, 16GB DDR4, 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD,Triple Display 4K@60Hz Output, Wi-Fi 6,RJ45,Bluetooth 5.2,W-11 Gaming Office Mini Computer

After watching Retro Game Corps’ review of the SER8 8845HS, I initially considered purchasing that model. However, I opted for the SER8 8745HS due to its similar specifications at a lower price point, and I’m glad I made this choice. This mini PC performs exceptionally well with every emulator I’ve tested. I primarily use RetroBat and LaunchBox/BigBox, and both platforms run flawlessly on this machine.I’ve connected two external hard drives to the PC and utilize symbolic links in RetroBat, which work seamlessly. Additionally, I’ve been able to run Cyberpunk 2077 at low settings with smooth frame rates and even played Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 using an Xbox controller without any issues. While the graphics don’t match the quality of my Xbox Series X—something I expected—it’s impressive that the system can handle AAA titles at low settings. That said, my main use for this PC is retro gaming, not high-end titles.One standout feature is how quiet this PC is. Even with the BIOS set to performance mode, I’ve yet to hear the fan while in use. In terms of benchmarking, the system scored approximately 2,900 on the 3DMark demo benchmark, which is in line with my expectations for its performance.Setting up the PC was straightforward, and I’ve experienced no issues during configuration or regular use. If you’re looking for a compact mini PC that you can easily hide on a desktop or connect to a TV for retro or PC gaming from the couch, I highly recommend the SER8 8745HS.

It amazes me that this tiny box is faster than my desktop, but that's computers nowadays. Windows install was clean, and everything works well. Probably overpowered for my media center PC, but that's rarely a problem. It is near silent, and almost invisible among other devices.

Speed as advertised. Arch Linux with KDE Plasma install was smooth. Did not have to fix anything after install, everything just worked. Lightning fast, highly recommend. Extremely quiet even when gaming, and stays cool to the touch.

Computer hardware performance has been excellent for the two months I had this computer. However, in spite of selecting not to sleep when connected, it goes to sleep. It is inconvenient and cumbersome to reach back to turn the computer on after every 15-20 minutes of break. The on off swith is just a small red dot, instead of a toggle switch or slightly elevated dot. It makes it more inconvenient.

Easiest set up I have experienced in 20 years with a new pc. Fast, quiet and convenient monitor mounting option. This PC came exactly as described and is very well represented in product photos and video. Pre loaded Windows 11 is a bonus. Needed a couple of Windows updates but what new PC doesn't. I am not a gamer and bought this machine for the sole purpose of remote work from home. I am extremely happy with the speed and performance at a very reasonable cost.

Very happy with our SER7 Beelink. Have used it for 5 days in a row, 8 to 10 hours per day, as a software developer. Got it to replace a near top-of-the-line Mac Pro desktop (circa 2013-2019). My most time consuming task is rebuilding a Postgres database. It took 39 minutes on the Mac Pro. It takes 23 minutes on the SER7 that I'm running stock with the included 1TB middle-of-the-road gen4 SSD (but still a gen4 and not a gen3 so not short-changed here) and the 32GB of Ram that it came with. I installed WSL2 (Windows-subsystem-for-Linux) and went for the Manjaro Linux distro. So it's a hyper-visor situation where Linux is running with a Microsoft provided kernel alongside Windows but it's so well integrated you can almost forget if you are running apps in Linux or Windows. The Linux OS resides in a large file on the Windows hard drive that grows as needed. I have two colleagues. One with a Mac M1 and the other with a Max M1-Max. They both take 24 minutes to rebuild the same Postgres DB. That's interesting because the M1-Max is much more powerful CPU with more cores than the M1 but it takes the same amount of time and the SER7 is on par. We all use the same DB rebuild script which kicks off 12 concurrent processes. Clearly the SSD speed is the bottle neck for this task but I'm not sure if a gen5 SSD would improve things or not as it's not strictly sequential but also random read-write speed that is needed. We all see the CPU spike in bits and spurts and then it waits on the SSD. I don't have a setup to test gen5 SSD speeds so I'm only speculating but maybe it wouldn't make a difference since the speed gains with gen5 are mostly sequential (like large file copies). I was miffed that Apple stopped providing OS upgrades on beautiful top of the line hardware from 2019 but now I'm happy because this SER7 is better in just about every way. Beelink did a good job. While it looks like a toy because of its small size when you hold it feels like quality and does wonders for productivity and development workflows. I like the magnetic power plug. I know it's proprietary and maybe it will bite me later but functionally it's cool and innovative and hope they keep using this plug on newer models. The only negative I found was the bluetooth. Under high load (like when rebuilding a database) there would be interference causing me to not be able to use my mouse nor keyboard (both are wireless bluetooth devices). I suppose wifi may have also had interference problems too but I didn't try because I used the Ethernet cable. To solve the interference issue, I got a $9 USB Bluetooth dongle that I attached to a USB hub that I moved a bit far from the SER7. A little annoying but not so bad in the grand scheme of things. The SER7 is a $600 device that has performance for my tasks that are on par with Macs that cost $2k (M1) and $4k (M1-Max). Actually, if it was pure CPU tasks, I bet the SER7 would beat them easily particularly for video encoding. It has the same amount of connectivity ports that a Mac could only get if you paid another $300 for a hub to connect to a thunderbolt port. Now, not only do I have a real linux terminal, I can run real Linux GUI apps which is not easily done on a Mac. Hoping this SER7 Bee-link will provide reliable service for at least another 2 years and if so I'll be a returning customer. Made a convert out of me, I'm a bee-liever.