I’ve been using this as a low-powered alternative to my old desktop or Nvidia Shield as a Plex Media Server, and frankly, this does the job just fine. I added a 2TB SATA SSD to it to store all of the Plex data and a powered USB3.0 hub to run a bunch of external drives for media content. Plex runs very smoothly, it can even create a large number of thumbnail preview images in short order, and I can’t say I’ve had any real issues. The device even handles my rather large photo library very well.

It can even transcode some 4K videos (3840 x 2160 @ 30FPS, struggles with 60FPS at that resolution, and any framerate at higher resolutions) although that’s not a major consideration as most devices will playback 3840 x 2160 @ 30FPS natively these days.

The device does get rather toasty, however, so I’m using a USB powered cooling fan to help with heat dissipation. Don’t want to toast that SSD!

The specs on this device are excellent for the price. If you are somebody looking for a pc to do small to medium price which is small and cheap this is the perfect item. My only complaint would be that the processor isn’t very good and is slow. This however I had expected for the price and type of processor that it is and it is perfect for what I wanted to use it for. I wouldn’t recommend this item for anybody who plans to use processor heavy software such as photo editors and video editors.

Great mini PC and quite good value, however! I’ve built many PC’s over the years and had many problems so I’m not a novice. However, this one threw a curve ball which took a day to fix. After plugging everything in and switching on it started the Windows 11 bootup sequence – everything okay, then it went a got some ‘critical’ updates, yep been here before. Then another restart, but when it came back to continue with Windows install everything was in German. The two images I’ve shown are as far as I got. I could not do anything to get back to English. To cut a long story short, I had to download a new Windows 11 USB image from Microsoft and do a completely new fresh install. Fortunately the digital key was recognised from the Windows copy on the hard disc in the PC otherwise it would have had to have been returned.

After getting it running it’s now quite a nice PC, plenty powerful enough for what I need it for and easy to fit additional internal SSD or nvme M.2 drive. The memory slots are easy access too but with 16Gb ram already installed it’s adequate for me. I’ve now calmed down and happy with the purchase after a troubling start.

The marketplace for these Celeron Mini PCs is oversaturated and competitive. I managed to get this Nipogi branded AK1 N5105 mini PC for 159.99 following a 40.00 reduction and further 30.00 off coupon from the original price of 229.99.

The box itself is nice and has a bottom expansion section that you can either use to add a 2.5″ SATA drive, or remove to reduce the height of the system, which I thought was quite nice. Internally, it will also accept a Gen 3 2280 NVMe SSD M.2 SSD, as well as SATA models, of which a 256GB SATA M.2 is already included. You can also add an up to 2TB 2.5in drive in addition to this and have a nice small media server that runs relatively quiet with low power consumption.

The Processor is decent for low power low clocked CPUs. Installed programs run fine, but I have noticed that when internet browsing, its not as fast as I thought it would be. I also noticed that when using the AC Wi-Fi, there were persistent dropouts which were annoying, and that didn’t happen when I ran from an AX Wi-Fi card on my larger desktop to the same modem/router. Over Ethernet, internet is stable, however.

There are some downsides to the way the AK1 has been configured. The CPU cooling fan, although not at jet engine levels, is audible. The 8GB of RAM only runs at 2400 Mts in single channel, where competitors such as the Aerofara A2 Pro Mini run a 2X4GB dual channel configuration at 2933 Mts. This model also has some competition with the MELE Queiter 3 which is also currently reduced to around the same base price of 230, although only 128GB eeMC storage capacity out of the box.

PROs

Really flexible internal storage expansion
Dual HDMI at 4k 60fps
Relatively faster compared to older Celerons such as a J4125.

CONS

Weak Wi-fi
Fan noise
Less than optimal RAM configuration

I was considering returning this and getting the Aerofara instead, but that only has 1 single HDMI, whereas this has 2. The Aerofara uses 2242 M.2 only and you can’t fit a 2280. The only other internal storage expansion option with the Aerofara is a MicroSD slot which this model doesn’t have, but this has much better SATA/M.2 flexibility. For my use case, the AK1 is probably the better choice.

However, I’m tempted to return and pay the extra for the MELE which is silent and passively cooled, as well as expandable and can run from USB C.

Overall, this is a good option, but you really need to consider your use case before deciding what to go with. It’s ok, but DO NOT OVERPAY.