Beelink U59 Mini PC with Intel 11th Gen 4 Cores Windows 10 Pro 16GB DDR4 512G SSD,4K Dual HDMI Office PC Mini Support WIN11,Auto Power On/Wake On LAN, Dual 2.4G/5G WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0,
Beelink U59 Mini-PC Supports Windows 11!
Beelink U59 Mini PC is Pre-installed Windows 10 Pro OS(also support Windows 11 right now),and is equipped with the latest Intel 11th Gen 10nm 4-Core N5095(up to 2.9 GHz, 4 MB L3 Cache ).
4 Cores and 4 Hyper-Threading let the multitasking working buttery smooth (ability to run multiple apps at once).
Beelink U59 Mini PC Excellent computing performance:
- 4-Core and Hyper-Threading enable better multitasking.
- Fully capable of browsing the internet, doing Office Working(MS Products, CAD, PS, Pr, Ai), watch movies, do some photo editing, and play light games.
- Plex Media Server capable with full transcoding.
4K Triple Display (Dual HDMI +Type-C)
Beelink U59 Mini PC is equipped with dual HDMI +1* Type-C),support 4K Triple Display, which satisfies both office working and home entertainment.
Beelink U59 mini computers is suitable for office/Zoom meeting/teaching/home enter/advertising machine /running a Kiosk /and other scenarios.
Beelink U59 can run various of office softwares!
Beelink U59 mini pc has everything you want!
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Compatible SystemsMini PC Beelink U59 pre-installed Windows 10 pro,which also support Windows 11, Linux OS (Ubuntu、Debian、Centos) | Beelink 59 mini computer keeps it coolNo matter how long you use it, the coolness remains | 4K 60hz-Triple displayBeelink U59 mini computer is equipped with Intel Iris UHD Graphics-dual HDMI +Type-c ,all ports support 4K@60Hz, and the screen color reproduction is more realistic. It meets the daily works needs of designers and graphic artists. Beelink U59 mini computers can also be used as a home theater. When you enjoy a romantic movie with your family or friends, the true color reproduction will bring you a vivid picture | Mini sized and PortableBeelink U59 mini-pc is compact in size and light in weight, which allows easily carry it with you and also attach to the back of the monitor. |
Weight: | 270 g |
Dimensions: | 12.4 x 11.3 x 4.1 cm; 270 Grams |
Brand: | Beelink |
Model: | Beelink U59 16+512G |
Colour: | Beelink U59 16+512G |
Batteries Included: | No |
Manufacture: | AZW |
Colour: | Beelink U59 16+512G |
Use for web browsing, video streaming and checking emails. It’s very quiet and no heat coming out from the box. It’s a value for money.
i purchased the pc as a spare unit but its far better than I ever expected it to be
well worth the money
Dose what it says on the box uses half the power of my old pc, recommended.
This is a great product it is very quiet and very small and quite fast. This is the first mini pc I have had and I connected it to my tv and now enjoy a 65 inch monitor. I only use it for basic stuff not gaming.
Since I am no longer a fan of laptop for whatever reason, I decided to give a mini pc a try. My first choice was Intel Celeron N5105 but there was no available stock in Amazon based on my personal configuration. So decided to go for Beelink Celeron N5095 16GB ram with 512 SSD which is quite closer for what I want. The physical look was not that bad and I could also confirm that the CPU fan is quiet and could hardly hear it. It came with windows 11 and the set-up was straight-forward. So far so good! If you’re looking for a mini pc for your day-to-day computing needs, I guess this is a very good choice! Definitely not for heavy gamer. My only gripe was, I bought it for 276 and the next day the price is now 254. Common HKZUOYOU Anyway, hopefully soon Beelink will come up with Intel Celeron N5105.
As a value for money home office PC it runs Office 365 really well, and is also very good at streaming Netflix etc. But if you want to play games you will need a better graphics card, fortunately I am not a gamer.
This little box is great value for money and has plenty of ports. I would definitely recommend to light users – web browsing, word processing etc
Really good, hardly takes any time to turn on and off. Really small and quie
Truly very impressive, despite it’s small size. Quick to set up (it came with Windows 10 Pro already installed), and very fast indeed. 6 USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB 2.0, and room inside to increase the RAM to 64GB (if you really need more than 32GB). So far, I can’t fault it.
As of 2022 this unit has window 11 (Which is diabolical)
I bought this for the windows 10 pro, which i need to remote access into while doing astrophotography. When it came it had windows 11 on it. And in the description states that it has windows 10 pro. But no it has 11 Which at the moment doesn’t work properly. And ill not be using it.
Bought an earlier version of the Beelink mini for my wife last year. Great little computer then, this one is even better. Great for everyday use but would struggle for playing high intensive games. Very pleased with it so far.
Yes it’s a “great little mover” as Tommy Cannon would say.
BUT! 4K display?
I have 2 x mini PC connected to Samsung TV/Monitor via HDMI / KVM
On the smaller pc – perfect picture
On this pc – cannot produce any screen size without black edging.
Even when set to exactly the same 1680 x 1050.
So I thought contact Beelink for advice.
Waste of time, eventually replied with
“Sorry for getting back to you so late, please try other options if there is a suitable resolution”
[took 12 days to respond]
Why do companies employ non-existent support staff
Its’ a really good PC, well worth every penny. I bought for low price, but acts like higher priced PC. I would say a really good purchase.
Ideal for everyday computing.
Boots to Win 11 very quickly and ready to use in no time.
Very quiet.
No complaints.
Am currently a student so I didn’t have a lot of cash to spend. Already had a keyboard and monitor which I had hooked up to an ASUS mini transformer….so upgrading from a very old atom chip has made a big difference to how quickly I can do stuff.
I’d say that U59 16gb RAM/512gb ROM is very sweet little pc.
It booted up in windows 11 pro immediately which I wasn’t expecting but is nice as it seems to have no compatibility issues with stuff that was running on windows 10 and it has a much cleaner feel to it.
I’m just using it to do office stuff, research and streaming. Obviously you wouldn’t buy this for gaming, if that’s what you’re into.
It has a very quiet fan. I tried to video it but you just couldn’t hear it so I didn’t bother posting that.
It comes with a mount so you can tuck it away on the back of a compatible monitor.
It’s very shiny on the top and shows fingerprints really easily. so mounting it is a good idea so you don’t have to touch it except to turn it on.
I got the 16gb version for 260 quid but looks like they’ve sold all those now and the 8g/256g is the same price….that’s amazon for you!
anyway….good quick delivery as always. ordered at 11.30 am and got it at before 8 pm the same day.
Can I return it, get refunded and then buy it again at the new price??
Its a shame that I’m p’d off as it’s quite a nice bit of kit – but 42 is a few beers!!!
Replaced my old Dell as it would take me about 20 minutes to get it going and from then on everything was done at a leisurely pace. This tiny box is amazing so far. Switch on, scratch my head, it is ready. I can download something, do my accounts, send emails and surf at the same time at neckbreaking speed. Teamed up with wireless keyboard and mouse and a decent large monitor, I have bagged myself a brand new desktop for around 350 quid. Brilliant and highly highly recommended
I bought an 8g version which I was very pleased with so bought a 16g version. Very easy set up completed within 30 mins all Windows update completed within a couple of days. Bought for streaming through a tv as I had an go mini for several years and I works very well.
THis mini pc is perfect to stream and watch videos, it is playing Full HD videos very smoothly (do not have a 4k monitor to try 4k)
the machine is quiet and responsive.
had it up & running in next to no time. Applied w10 updates first & then carried out a w11 upgrade with no problem whatsoever. Using only for general web browsing and MS office etc. Excellent value for money and superb vendor support/communications. Very happy with my purchase.
This little box is very impressive. It was so quick and easy to get up and running. I just plugged in power lead and a wireless keyboard, which worked straight away. It came with an HDMI lead (in fact two), so connecting to the monitor was simple too. The Windows set up process was pretty slick. I signed in with my existing Microsoft account and followed the steps and I was in. It probably took less than 10 minutes from box to dashboard. It seems pretty nippy and good enough for most tasks, really good value for money.
I have been pleasantly surprised with this machine. Boot time is really quick and it motors quite well. It has no problems running Microsoft Office. It’s not a game machine but it can handle all standard programs.
It came with Windows 10 Pro and it upgraded fine to Windows 11.
I added a 1TB SSD as a D: drive and soak tested it all for several days. No problems. I can just about hear the fan and it is certainly not noisy.
For a home theatre or a general office PC, this is stunningly good value considering the spec and the fact that includes a windows pro licence. It’s silent, the SSD makes it quick, and the quad core celeron is fine as long as you aren’t playing shoot-em-ups.
Upgrades to windows 11, shocked at how good it is for the price!
Incredible value getting a virtual PC for this price. Great alternative to desktops or all in ones and great as a standby or backup at a bargain basement price. So far does all I need it to, plenty quick enough and set up was a breeze.
I bought this out of curiosity, because it sounds almost too good to be true. I screwed it to the back of an old screen (needed an HDMI to VGA adapter as the U59 only has HDMI ports), plugged in USB mouse and keyboard, connected to the home ethernet, powered up and off it went with no problems at all. A lengthy process of Windows introducing itself and then downloading and installing updates, but that’s to be expected. From pressing the power button to seeing the Windows 10 login screen takes 15 seconds. It’s invisible, fast (as much as one needs for a normal domestic PC) and silent. I installed MS Office Pro+ with no trouble, and have plugged in a webcam and used it for skyping. Wifi connection works fine. It doesn’t have the expansion possibilities of a conventional desktop PC, or the portability of a laptop, but for many users it would probably be better than either. I’m used to PCs lasting at least 10 years and Beelink is unknown to me, I hope they can prove their reliability to be up with the better-known names. So far, I’m very impressed with it.
A brilliant compact pc which is well made and good quality. Very easy to setup and use. It’s perfect for my use and I am very pleased with the purchase. The processing power is just perfect for my everyday tasks.
extremely high spec for the money, easy to set up, extremely fast, silent running, only had it a few days so still discovering, my only criticism so far is the music/speaker microphone jack at the front rather than with all the other cable entries at the rear spoils the neatness of the unit, if headphone jack was needed i’d have put 2 ports one at the back for speaker output and accept one additional at the front for headphones/microphone.
It works very well and this little one will surprise you
A great little machine. Easy to set up and immediately accepted update to windows 11 much more powerful than I expected. Customer support was also very fast and helpfull
I have been using this model now for a few days and my first impressions are favorable. IT RUNS WINDOWS 11 with no problems what so ever. The fan has the faintest of noise coming from it. Others have reported that the noise is loud, but mine is very low indeed. I have swapped over from a Dell i3 machine and I believe that the Beelink U59 is much faster in every department. The foot print is extremely small, which, I have to say takes a little getting used to. With the two monitors I have and a number of extra USB devices my machine only takes about 15 to 20 seconds to boot up, which is a vast improvement on my Dell machine. I don’t seem to have the noise issue that other people have mentioned and for the price it is a good machine and I would recommend it to others. As always, I would advise that you read the reviews before buying. For a mini PC it does all that my Dell desktop did and runs windows 11 which my Dell couldn’t, I hope this is helpful to others.
It’s amazinghow powerful this little thing is. It doesn’t get hot, the fan is very quiet and the picture quality is first class. It runs Windows 11 very well.
Not a computer geek. Just needed a tv screen system to replace my old laptop. Almost plugnplay.
Very neat capable PC. Used a few now for a mapping application and have had no failures.
I’ve had this mini computer for 6 months now and it’s running great. Got docker for desktop installed, running single node cluster, and also installed kind (3 node cluster). With both those running it does approach max memory (8GB) but still runs ok. Customer service was excellent when i required an invoice for the product (twice!)
I have had this for 7 months, and it sits under my 50-inch smart TV, plugged in, as my main computer.
I can’t fault it. Came pre-loaded with Windows 10. Easy to set up everything AND then I downloaded my preferred browser – Mozilla Firefox. 😉
I don’t ‘game’. But all other photo editing and video work and usual access to YouTube and anything else internet based is a breeze.
I bought and added a cheap wireless mouse and keyboard, which are fine.
My only slight gripe is the noise of the fan, which comes and goes depending on the load placed on the computer itself. BUT for the price, it is something I am prepared to live with.
I am 50 soon, and who knew, in my lifetime, computers this powerful would come to me in the size of a box of Maltesers? Astonishing.
Bought to use as a day to day pc, works great, just screws on to the back of your monitor with the fixing kit provided.
If you have a spare monitor, keyboard and mouse this device is a really cost effective way of adding a new PC for a part time worker. It’s suitable for business use, I have attached a separate hard disk to it for storage.
So small, yet so much functionality and power. Takes 2-3 seconds to be completed booted up, very impressive. You’ll have it up and running out of the box in no time at all. If it’s close to you on your desk the drive will make a bit of a noise, but nothing excessive. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi work no problem at all. Really like this thing.
Love this pc kit very fast and really efficient unit fits tidily to rear of pc monitor no complaints what so ever very quiet too. Very reasonable cost too
Replaced an all-in-one PC with this little (half the size of a hardback book) miracle. Added a 1TB hard disc for data, reconfigured Windows to use it. Coonected it to a 27″ led monitor with a wireless keyboard and mouse. WiFi built in- not sure how they get such a strong signal in a very small box! Delighted.
I wanted this to run OBS and Zoom on, and it couldn’t hack it – but its fine so far as it goes. Nicely presented, works straight out of the box.
This is a real neat bit of kit. I couldn’t find anything as cheap – even ones without Windows installed cost more. But if you want a dual boot, then its a bitch to make it work as it repeatedly defaults to Windows and you can not install Grub. So I simply installed Linux Mint over that crap – its a straight forward install, worked perfectly first time.
And the fan? I can’t hear it. But sometimes I hear the air rush thru the vents.
Works as expected although the fan is a little noisy
Bought to replace my old computer, small form, fast and does everything I need it to.
Small and works well.
Quick to boot up and quiet
For the price would have liked a bigger HD
I bought this just to browse on as a replacement for a totally outdated small form factor PC. For the price it performs this more than adequately, being quick to start up and copes with the giant slug that is Windows 10. Handy for a upstairs PC and can be mounted behind a TV screen. This is far from being silent having a high rpm fan that comes on in short bursts, worth keeping in mind if you find any sporadic sound irritating. It is expandable and I managed to squeeze in a 512GB solid state drive in the base, as it comes with ribbon connectors and mounting screws.
Wow, this is so small! Barely wider than my hand and 2 inches thick! How technology has moved on so quick, I am convinced there can’t possibly be a motherboard in this thing! It is so lightweight and yet a fully functioning Intel i5 processor driven PC with a 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, and plenty of ports, 4x USB, 1x USB-C, 2x HDMI, external power adapter socket, headphone jack, not really much to dislike. Many say the fan is on all the time and is a terrible din, the fan is on quite a lot but not all the time, it is a little box with a lot going on inside, ofc it needs to keep cool, would u prefer a meltdown on your desk? If you want a quieter machine then you get a bigger unit. Personally I prefer the little magic box, I can put it anywhere it is that small, and behind the telly I can hardly hear it, suits me, I forget it’s there most of the time. Supplied with 2x HDMI cables, one 1m and 0.5m, accessories for SATA drive if required, packaged in a dinky professional box a bit like a larger smartphone box! Windows 10 didn’t take long to configure out of the box, less than an hour. Updates took a little longer, wondered why it wouldn’t shutdown! Once they had all installed the machine shutdown just fine. Cheaper and faster than a laptop and just as portable! Fab!
Great mini pc. Very fast, from boot to logged in and useable Windows in 12 seconds.
Drives two monitors with ease. Everything works great.
Nice, compact, and has a good performance. May get a bit noisy with the fan if you’re trying to run too many applications.
Fits well on VESA mound behind a monitor as shown in photo. Suggest using powered USB hub for any external storage and devices as internal PSU is a bit underpowered causing directly attached storage drives (even usb powered SSDs) to fall off. Fault shows as devices attach and mount but then fall off in use. A powered USB hub also helps limit the reaching behind to attach USB thumb drives etc.
The unit itself is good but limited in comparison with something like an Intel NUC but by price, the features and overall performance of the U57 are good. The unit is fast first and foremost and runs Windows 10 Pro effortlessly. The setup is guided and flawless. The only small issue there is that it only comes with US language installed so you have to install UK language later but no biggie. The BIOS is based on American Megatrends, like the old fashioned PCs of the 90s, but it does the job. On the one hand it has some customization and overclocking ability but on the other no fan control at all. The fan lets this unit down quite a bit because it is highly responsive to the CPU load and is noticeably audible. If you’re looking to do some work in a quiet room, forget it unless you’re not susceptible to noise, but with the aircon on or radio or similar it shouldn’t a problem. In Performance mode it is on most of the time, in Balanced mode about 60% of the time and in Power Saver mode about 30% of the time but this mode does reduce the CPU responsiveness. The fan produces about 20dB of noise, which I would say is comparable to a fan running in the lounge, perhaps a bit less. The PC has two HDMI ports and comes with a bracket so it can be attached to the back of a monitor. It even comes with a short and long HDMI cable for a nice fit. All in all I think it is a good piece of kit for just under 300 but the fan is quite annoying. I also own a series 5 NUC and that produces almost no noise in comparison and comes out at about the same price as this. However a more modern NUC would set you back much more and doesn’t include an OS or HDD or memory.
Exceeds expectations so far
Edit: 6months later, stress tests pulled through! still exceed expectation, dual booting with Unix/Windows, vpn client running. Can play Diablo III. Inkscape, Gimp, libreoffice, all running smooth!
Box arrived, opened it straight away and was up and running. Windows updates took about 25 minutes and a couple of reboots later the PC is ready for MS Office install. Both Wifi & Lan ports and two HDMI outputs. Its quiet, except when it’s under heavy load for a period of time when the fan kicks in, but too be honest, I bought it to replace an old desktop, running office and web browsing. This seems to work perfect for this. Comes with a monitor fixing kit so you can mount it on the rear of the monitor, I have not done this yet.
Fantastic product. Compact and silent during all but the most heavy usage. Easily handles all the software development applications I require and my dual 27″ screens.
Extremely compact design and relatively powerful for its size. Does all I need from basic browsing and MS Office applications and a few ‘lite’ games.
Overall very impressed.
This is powerful enough for anything required from a Mini Pc. Smaller than I imagined it to be.
The sides come with ports for most of your peripherals: HDMI, Type-C port, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, headphone Jack, a gigabit LAN port and a TF card slot. Wireless connectivity comes via dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Also, plenty of air vents to provide ample cooling for the components inside. Although it was lacking a built-in mic for Cortana use.
* This is also equipped with 8GB DDR3L memory (designed for desktops, servers where space and power are not tradeoffs) and a 256GB SSD.
Thanks to the 2.5-inch expansion slot, you can also add another SSD or HDD. The upgradable parts are easily accessible (Just four screws at the bottom) and swapping components can be done within seconds.
Running Windows 10 Pro and it is all pre-activated and doesn’t seem to have any problem and windows updates are pulling through okay.
The boot time is quick, it only takes about 15 secs. 222 GB free on first boot.
Hardly hear the fan working but you will hear the fan speeding up a bit loud under full load i.e playing light games (45dB). That being said, this is one the quietest mini PC I have used.
The CPU performance is Impressive on basic daily tasks with sufficient power even for demanding applications and multitasking. Two HDMI connectors allow me to connect two monitors at the same time which the CPU power handles well.
I ran a bunch benchmark on this because I was curious to see how this will perform against other mini PC using the Core i5-5257U which is a low voltage chip. This gets a higher score with about 10 to 15 per cent.
This is a good build with plenty of ports. Dual HDMI output -( should one chooses to set up two monitors). With Pre-installed Windows 10 Pro, expansion capabilities, ease to upgrade or swap components, ample system memory, mount and a fast SSD mean that it will fit a wide range of use.
This mini PC by Beelink is suitable for a living room TV with little space to store a full sized PC or if you find having a full PC in your living room too obtrusive. It has an Intel i5 CPU and comes with Windows 10. I found the Windows “Hello” software installation annoying, all the twenty questions you have to answer when you start up but that’s Microsoft’s fault not the device.
I tried it on World Of Warcraft full and classic, I had to lower the graphics settings but it did play both. You have to connect a keyboard and mouse using two of the 4 USB ports, it comes with ethernet and has built-in Wifi & Bluetooth. You connect to display via one of 2 HDMI ports. I did make a full video but Amazon didn’t like it for some reason so I have included a cut down version.
A mini PC is a cheaper option than a full PC and is ideal for browsing the web, Youtube, etc and playing indy games.
Okay so I bought this Beelink i5 mini pc because my laptop of 10 years has died on me.
I wanted a mini pc that I could attach to my TV in my bedroom. I also needed something powerful enough to edit videos and stream HD movies.
This Beelink U57 i5 Mini PC has everything I was after so I ordered it and it arrived next day thanks to Prime.
It arrived well packaged and protected. Upon opening the box you get the Beelink U57 i5 Mini PC, HDMI cable, power cable, instructions and a bracket for wall mounting.
The model I ordered has an i5 processor, 8GB of DDR3 Ram and a 256GB SSD. This model can allow you to update the RAM and HDD and you can also use external HDD and Micro SD cards to extend the storage.
Setup is pretty straightforward as you’d expect from a Windows 10 machine. Once fully set up I let it go through some windows updates which is to be expected from any new windows product you purchase.
I have this connected to my router via ethernet cable but you can also conmwct via wireless on both 2.4 and 5.8Ghz.
I use this mini pc to stream and manage content from my Plex Media Server. It is lightning quick at uploading and downloading content to and from my Plex Media Server. Streaming films is an absolute joy on this mini pc, its absolutely faultless.
My daughter also loves to play Roblox and she has had about 2 days solid of playing it on this mini pc and now she wants one for her room as she says its better than playing it on her tablet.
I have a wireless keyboard and mouse connected to this via Bluetooth and it works without fault. I also connect my Samsung Galaxy s20 5G to this mini pc via the USB cable and can use my phones desktop features brilliantly so when I need to edit videos on my phone I can connect it to this pc and have it displayed on my TV now, magical.
The noise from the fan is barely noticeable when it kicks in, thanks to the design it stays pretty cool all the time.
The Beelink U57 i5 Mini PC handles multi tasking effortlessly and breezes through jobs without as much as a hiccup.
My wife uses it a lot for her work as an online travel agent so she has a headset commected to the 3.5mm audio jack to speak to clients and she has told me this works brilliantly well. We have also conmected a web cam to it and use it for zoom calls with the family now too and again this all works amazingly well.
This mini pc is truly a joy to work with and I’m so glad I purchased this brand and model.
Its fast, powerful, quiet, small, is future proof thanks to the upgrade options of storage and ram and has great connectivity options.
I have to rate this Beelink U57 i5 Mini PC 5 stars because its a really amazing mini pc for the price.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Beelink U57. I was replacing an old Dell Latitude laptop that my wife has used for the last five years. Since she has always used a desktop monitor and space is at a premium, a mini PC seemed like the ideal solution. I initially bought another model powered with a J3455 Celeron chip but when it took 7 hours to update Windows with theCPU at 100% the whole time, I decided to send it back and get a model with a more powerful processor.
The Beelink has proven to be worth the extra 100 I spent to get a better make. I took it apart to install an extra SSD and was very impressed by the build quality – it looks like it has been made by people who really care.
The performance was also great. Ok, It’s probably not a fantastic games machine but we are not using it for games. With Word, Powerpoint, and Adobe Reader open my wife deliveres video language classes using Moodle with Blackboard Collaborate and it works without a hiccup. Great solution if you want a standard home/office PC and you want to use a large monitor or space is at a premium
Why a Mini PC?
Advances in processor design have enabled some remarkable leaps in computing power with lower energy use. A Mini PC takes full advantage of this, putting a powerful, everyday desktop computer in an amazingly small package. A Mini PC makes a perfect home office computer as it takes up almost no space and will plug into a home TV via HDMI. The BeeLink U57 thoughtfully comes with a mounting bracket you could use to put the device behind a screen or under a desk. With a nice wireless mouse and keyboard set up, you can make the computer “disappear” at the end of the day and reclaim the desk space. (I like the Logitech input device range for the unified receiver which connects mouse and keyboard with one unified USB transceiver, e.g. https://amzn.to/3cGgQxg) With an increase in home working, a dedicated secure computing device to connect to work makes a lot of sense. The less software added to a computer, the more secure it is likely to be.
The BeeLink U57 has a great spec for that home office use case. With an Intel i5 processor combined with a healthy 8GB of RAM and a 256GB solid state hard drive, performance on office tasks is perky with no discernible lag starting or using applications. The supplied operating system is Windows 10 Pro – the Pro moniker adds support for Bitlocker drive encryption – something that might be useful if you work on sensitive documents locally. This provides “encryption at rest” for your data so in the event of your device being stolen, the data on it will not be readable without a digital key. Pro also brings features like Hyper V virtualisation – something the home user may not use, but a useful application this enables is the Windows Sandbox – a safe place to open suspicious attachments you may receive. While we are talking about security, Windows 10 has Defender antivirus built in but also ransomware protection and a decent firewall. I’ve used this for over 10 years with no issues. The one addition I would suggest is a lightweight personal firewall like GlassWire set to “ask to connect”. Often the first thing malware needs to do is to connect out to download additional code, so this will makes sure this activity is spotted and blocked. Another useful set up activity is to Google for the “Intel Driver and Support Assistant”. With an integrated Intel chipset in the BeeLink U57, the support assistant will help you get the latest drivers for your hardware and make sure performance is optimal.
As well as dual HDMI powered by onboard Intel Iris 6100 graphics, the device has two high speed USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports. The ones at the front are the high speed ones, so this would be the place to plug in any back up drives, leaving the rear ports for a USB transceiver. There is built in WiFi supporting b/g/n/ac 2.4 & 5Ghz – this will ensure fast connections with all major routers. If you have an ethernet connection near by, there is also a Gigabit ethernet port. A front mounted audio connector will handle wired headphones for video conferencing, and next to this is a USB C connector which you could use for a card reader. Not mentioned on the specs on the box is Bluetooth support – useful for connecting headphones.
Performance
The tech specs for this Mini PC are impressive for such a tiny unit. An i5 processor running at a max 3.1Ghz, combined with 8GB RAM running at an impressive 1600Mhz mean that tasks zip along. Thanks to the solid state drive boot time for a fresh system is around 10 seconds. With the devices extremely low power use, you could also just put the computer to sleep and it would wake up instantly like a tablet. Applications launch in a similarly snappy way and web browsing is seamless. Even webGL 3D animations run smoothly – see video. What you can’t expect from such a small form factor is sufficient cooling to support gaming. While the Iris graphics support Direct X 11 visual effects, frame rates won’t be high enough to run modern 3D games.
Video editing was smooth and quick, particularly if your gaphics editing program supports Intel hardware acceleration. I tested this using the inbuilt Windows editor and a short clip at 1080 HD resolution took about a second per second of footage to render, even with 3D effects applied.
When doing intensive tasks, the internal fan will spin up but the noise is hardly noticeable. Using Intel’s Extreme Tuning utility I suspect you could actually under volt / under clock the processor and achieve practically silent running.
Summary
This Mini PC hits a bit of a sweet spot. For a home / office PC you may use 5 days a week you need to be sure it will perform in a fast, lag free way doing your day to day tasks seamlessly. Many cheap Mini PCs are under powered and therefore slow and frustrating to use. This is not the case here. The BeeLink U57 zips along with memory and processor cycles to spare at a great price point.