Beelink U59 Pro Mini PC, 10nm Lithography N5105 CPU up
Beelink U59 Pro Mini PC, 10nm Lithography N5105 CPU up to 2.9GHz, 8GB RAM 500GB M.2 SSD, Triple-Display 4K, Wi-Fi5 BT4.0, Dual Gigabit Ethernet soft router mini desktop compute
From the brand
| Weight: | 760 g |
| Dimensions: | 12.4 x 11.28 x 4.19 cm; 760 Grams |
| Brand: | Beelink |
| Model: | N5105 8+500G |
| Manufacture: | Beelink |
| Dimensions: | 12.4 x 11.28 x 4.19 cm; 760 Grams |
I truly never expected a such small thing doing such big performance as this Beelink mini pc is doing.
Working perfectly, fast, no noise, perfectly hidden behind my 75″ tv.
Until now any problems. I recommend.
I have had two Beelink over the years, one for myself and Son, and now needed a Windows 11 version as the others cannot be upgraded. The others are still working happily which ticks the boxes for longevity.
Ethernet is used with others for connection to a network.
With the Mini S I’m using Wi-Fi; like others who have commented in posts, I too only received 10-15% of bandwidth with 150Mb Fibre. I resorted in to having to purchase a PC/Laptop Wi-Fi dongle; which took me up to full bandwidth. My screen also freezes, ALT-CTL-DEL and Cancel unfreezes. Changing the Display Settings to recommended, but only using 100% Scale fixes the issue. Although is annoying as the text is really too small for me. Because I like the product have given 4-stars. I’m an IT consultant for over 40 years so have been able to work around the issues.
Comes well packaged. Good design with lots of little features well thought through eg- easy and neat way of adding storage, good mounting hardware for fixing it to monitors etc , branded firmware etc
Benchmarked better than similar machines. In summary it felt like the components had been properly chosen and integrated not just shoved in a box!
This is my first venture into the world of mini PCs and this replaced my old PC with Windows XP (yes really!)
Anyway, I’ve had the box set up on the back of my QVIS monitor next to my RPI4 and an HDMI switch to allow me to use just one monitor for both.
Twin Logitech C920 webcams and a USB soundbar completes the rig.
I am currently using this with my Stream Deck and OBS software to do some live streaming and the processor copes with no problems at all.
So far…so good and if it lasts then it’s a neat setup and absolute bargain.
Background: I am a long time user of Raspberry Pi’s for my server type applications and home automation software.
The problem with RPi’s is that you also require a decent power supply, a Memory Card (preferably large capacity to reduce wear issues) and an Enclosure.
With the worry that the Memory Card will wear out leading to downtime and unreliability issues, many serious RPi users then go down the route of purchasing an SSD drive plus and enclosure for that drive to replace the Memory Card.
By the time all these items are costed in and bearing in mind the recent chip shortages, RPi availability issues and price rises, I decided to look for a ‘Mini PC’ replacement.
After reading a LOT of Chinese Mini PC reviews, I decided to take the plunge and test out the U59 (N5095) PC with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD drive. (Nearly a year later and the slightly faster N5105 chipset version is available). My aim was dump the pre-installed (on the U59) Windows 11 Pro and install Ubuntu 22.04 server on the system, and then migrate my applications from 3 RPi’s running Domoticz/Node-RED/MQTT/Samba Server/plex Server/Docker Apps etc etc.
Installing Ubuntu 22.04 from a USB stick was a breeze. Setting up the U59 to boot on power-up was just one change in the BIOS and I was ready to start migrating my applications.
The U59 did not disappoint and over the course of a few days, I was able to retire my RPi’s with their attached SSD’s enclosures etc.
The U59 PSU (12V 3A output) quite happily powered up the U59 plus Zigbee/ZWave USB dongles plus a 2.5″ SATA drive which I re-purposed from one of the retired Pi’s and installed into the U59’s empty 2.5″ SATA drive bay.
The N5095 processor happily coped and 8GB RAM was sufficient for my server applications.
A few weeks later, a second U59 (also with 8GB/256GB drive) was added, as I wanted a ‘test’ mini-PC to mess about with beta version etc. This system could also potentially be used as a standby if the first system failed.
Then Beelink released the U59 Mini S so I decided to add one to the ‘farm’ as I wanted to try one of these N5095 processor systems running X-server accessed from my Windows laptop using ‘Remote Desktop Connection’. It worked fine allowing me to run Java applications in a GUI environment.
Over the next few months these systems worked reliably, quietly and sipped electricity requiring just the installation of software updates.
So have I used one of the U59 in a gaming environment? Well, that’s a no, so I cannot comment on the performance if that’s your requirement. What I do know is that the U59 systems are great for what I’ve described above. Ubuntu runs fine, as I would expect to be fair. They are quiet and trouble free.
UPDATE on reliability: After months of trouble-free use, I experienced a drive failure with one of my systems. Now having worked in the IT industry for (too) many years I know that things break. So what is important to me is how a supplier reacts to faults. I don’t expect electronic devices to never fail.
I contacted Beelink via their support link and received a reply within a couple of days courteously requesting some pictures of BIOS settings and asking me to try re-seating the M2 drive (which I had done previously).
After giving the information requested Beelink support acknowledged the fault and have promised to rectify .
So in conclusion, I am very happy I made the move to the U59 mini PC. They perform well and in my experience tech support is good.
Unexpectedly powerful for the price and size. I don’t need it for office applications, but I tested it, and it is well suited for 2 screens multitasking. I am actually using it for a small robotics application, for which is more than capable.
I installed behind one screen, on the VESA mount, but I am also using it with Remote Desktop Connection from my main PC.
I bought this mini PC to replace an ageing DEL desktop. I have a small corner desk and with a size of 11 x 12 X 4 cm I could mount the mini PC on the back of my 24″ monitor thus saving space. I used a boot-able USB with linux Mint 21.1 installed.
I then tested the PC with ver 21.1 on the USB and when happy went to install and remove win11 ( I only use linux )
It detected Win 11 but I did not have the permissions to delete its partition. I had to use linux gparted to format the partition to ext4 after that it installed Ver 2.1in minutes.
Booting time is less than 30 secs equally shared with Bee-link bios. linux kernel and mints cinnamon system.
The 16GB ram and 512Gb SSD makes very slick. Despite some reviews about fan noise I have not heard the fan come on yet and I have given it some quite heavy multi tasking. ( the reviews i must point out were for Microsoft windows
I’m over the moon with how this little PC is running. It replaced an i5 from 2012 that was showing it’s age and I’m surprised. I didn’t expect the N5105 CPU to handle video editing smoothly enough to be pleasant but it does. Video playback is flawless, games are running better than the old PC and it would certainly suit younger gamers. This is a great all-round desktop that makes no noise unless running very intensive tasks and even then no louder than a laptop.
I’m using it as a control centre for my Celestron Evo8 setup. I can Remote Desktop into if from any computer in my house, while it sits happily in the garden doing it’s thing. It really does seem excellent for this job.
My one gripe is that the power lead is really short. I purchased an extension but, wouldn’t you know it, it doesn’t fit. It fits the other three devices in my house with this connector, but not this NUC. And it’s 100% the correct extension for the job, it just won’t plug in and I really don’t want to force it. Weird but there it is.
Is it the extension? Is it the NUC? We’ll find out when my new extension cable arrives… _()_/
I bought this Mini PC for my partner (he deserves it) and as we are not technically savvy, I helped him installed. It was easy and we were able to transfer all his backup (a lot of photos – he loves his daughters and grandchildren).
It so much better not to have a big Desktop on the desk. Space is better used.
As there are not many USB Ports on the Mini PC I bought a USB HUB 4-ports, and I am glad I did.
Still, I have a question, do I have to register this mini PC or does that go without saying?
If someone knows the answer, please let me know. Eugene
For the price it can’t be beat.
Highly recommended
I bought this particular model because it ticked all my boxes and I’m happy with it, installing was no problem and I added the basic programs I required. As this is my first baby computer I wasn’t prepared
to spend too much money, I wanted to experience one first before buying a more powerful one but I
think I made the right choice with this model.
I have the 256G version, after installation I had 200g to play with, I’ve added a 2TB SSD so I can store
all my video files so I can stream to my TV which is one of the main reasons of getting one. Another
reason to buy was that it will be cheaper to use than my old Desktop.
All the ports work properly, the wifi and bluetooth are working well, I can’t say much about the fan
because I can’t hear it.
Best of all this baby PC can handle Windows 11 when it’s available which I am looking forward
to trying when ready.
UPDATE Sept 2022
Since my first review I have bought a few Altair astro cameras; 26C, 290M, and 385C. All work perfectly with this PC despite their instructions saying i5 or higher. I usually capture in Sharpcap using the 26C for deep space and the 385C for planetary. The 290M is for guiding via PHD2. All remote desktop’d to my Mac. The example shot of Andromeda is from the 26C onto this U59 PC using 100 x 15 second exposures.