Was this a windows 11 install that came preinstalled on the device or one that you installed? I'm always VERY suspicious of anything pre-loaded on these types of devices.
it's what came on the device. I'm pretty untrusting of preinstalled OSes, too. But I wanted to look at it from the perspective of the general consumer, so I didn't reinstall anything. I also didn't log into anything with the device. I'm sure it will make a decent low-powered home server
I had an SEi12 that was amazing. Had it as my primary desktop for months (switched it for a different system a month or so ago). I'm sure my experience with this device was isolated as everyone else has reported positively on it. And I'm sure that just reinstalling the OS would have fixed the issues I encountered, but I wanted to give an honest account of my experience with it as I think transparency is important. Now it's being shipped off and will live a new life as a low-powered home server for someone else :)
Thanks for sharing this. Questions about reliability and tech support have prevented me from ordering a mini PC. Beelink wasn’t on my list but I’m considering GMKTek and Minisforum. Still not sure they are much better, so I’m still waiting.
This isn't my first Beelink device, so I was surprised to have issues with the device. I ran their SEi12 as my main desktop for 2 months and it was great. Also ran a Minisforum HX90 as my main desktop OS for a while and it was great, too :)
Beelink, Minisforum, GMKTek, & GEEKOM is my personal short list, in that order. I own the EQ12. I installed Pop! OS on it with no problems. I actually use it as a simple docker host running mealie and soft-serve right now. The one to avoid is ACEMAGICIAN, specifically because of third party software problems. Which is sad being they make some interesting models. Other brands I glance at occasionally include ASUS, MSI, & ASRock. Though, ASRock is kinda hard to find since they really focus on industrial applications.
My support experience with GMKtec has been dismal. My less than a year old unit is now discontinued, no driver or BIOS updates, and their reps reply with canned, unhelpful messages
That's disappointing to hear about your problems with the EQ 13. I've got 2 x S12 Pro's and a SER5 from BeeLink and although I fully agree the specification information is very much lacking, I can say that I've not experienced any problems. Perhaps replacing the M.2 drive with a spare one and re-installing WIndows might help/solve the high CPU upon start up. It certainly sounds like a software (Windows) problem or perhaps a problem with the M.2 drive itself as opposed to a general hardware problem. Drivers for the EQ 13 should be available from BeeLink but I'd check before trying a re-install. I do *really* like the built-in power supply as opposed to the common wallwart that most mini pc's use. That's something I'm going to be on the lookout for when I need to upgrade/replace my current BeeLink family. Thanks for the review
I’ve gone back and forth on these things but I think I’ve come to the conclusion that, for a little bigger box, it would be better, more fun, and maybe cheaper to just build a mini. Certainly it would have better components and cooling.
this is a real shame i have an EQ 12 and not had anything majorly go wrong with it. I might pick up an EQ 13 myself and have a look in the near future. The N100 is a great CPU for home lab workloads so excited to see what the N200 would do
One of my plans with the device was to put a new self-hosting OS on it, but have decided against doing that. I've already found it a new home and it will be headed there soon :)
Beelink? I bought one on Amazon and it stopped working quite quickly. I wouldn’t touch Beelink products with a 100 metre bargepole. Awful quality. Avoid Beelink products like the plague. I have bought competitors similar type NUC PCs and had zero problems.
@@keithmiller9665 I think you just got a bad unit. I have had 3 units and they have all been working fine. The oldest is 6 years old. I will say more often then not the most common failure in these mini pcs is the ram and ssds failing. Nearly all these mini pc manufacturers use the cheapest parts available which is why many of the prices are low. Personally, I would recommend purchasing a barebones as that will help reduce the likelihood of a failure
I really feel like they took a step backwards with this one… the EQ12 was great. I do like the dual nvme though as the older model had a sata. I would suggest you try a different nvme drive you could be pegging your cpu because the ssd is crap
Yeah beelink is hit or miss. I ordered 2 of the exact same mini pc's on the same order, arrived the same day. I swapped out the storage and 1 took 60 minutes to get to 50% on installing windows. After I sent it back to get a refund, I installed Server 2019 on the other one and I started to notice a trend. Any OS that it did not come with pre-installed with means you will have to try and find drivers for about 5 devices in device manager, including the nic.
This is my second or third Beelink device and they've all been pretty good, but this one was less than impressive. Just as a heads up, you can use a built-in Windows command to export your system's drivers. Here's how I've done it: www.tenforums.com/tutorials/68426-backup-restore-device-drivers-windows-10-a.html#option1
Here's the process with beelink if you want to keep running windows. Fire it up long enough to sign in with your ms account, just to get the license tied to the hardware, then wipe it and install Windows or Linux.
Windows 10 and 11 both have digital licenses for activation. You don't even need to login to get the key. You can just reinstall the same version of the OS that it came with and it will automatically activate. I've done it dozens of times. Also, I will only use local accounts on Windows for as long as I possibly can. No MS accounts on my systems. The device is going to get used for homelab stuff by one of my Discord mods, so it'll be up to them to do with it what they want.
The EQ12 is such a home run, it's very odd they've clearly botched this model. Added a second M.2 slot, but need to remove the rubber feet? For real? Slight CPU improvement, but dropped the 2.5 Gbit ethernet we all bought the EQ12 for? Internalized the power supply. Remove the VESA mount. WHO is this device for? They've removed both office features *and* home lab features just for the sake of some very minor changes.
I'd be interested to see the results of installing a Linux OS on this to see if you have any similar problems. It could be that your sample is defective in some way, or it could be that Windows is a pig and an N200 just isn't up to the job of running it.
What a useless review, blaming hardware for what is clearly a windows 11 issue is just hopeless. At the very least throw Linux on it and see if the problems is in fact hardware or software related.
Yeah... And I said that it was likely a Windows issue in the video. My point was what the average consumer might experience. Not everyone knows how to install/reinstall an OS.
Was this a windows 11 install that came preinstalled on the device or one that you installed? I'm always VERY suspicious of anything pre-loaded on these types of devices.
it's what came on the device. I'm pretty untrusting of preinstalled OSes, too. But I wanted to look at it from the perspective of the general consumer, so I didn't reinstall anything. I also didn't log into anything with the device. I'm sure it will make a decent low-powered home server
I am also the owner of a Beelink SER4 MiniPC and works really well. Windows 11 first and Linux Mint later. Both OS's great experience.
I had an SEi12 that was amazing. Had it as my primary desktop for months (switched it for a different system a month or so ago). I'm sure my experience with this device was isolated as everyone else has reported positively on it. And I'm sure that just reinstalling the OS would have fixed the issues I encountered, but I wanted to give an honest account of my experience with it as I think transparency is important. Now it's being shipped off and will live a new life as a low-powered home server for someone else :)
Thanks for sharing this. Questions about reliability and tech support have prevented me from ordering a mini PC. Beelink wasn’t on my list but I’m considering GMKTek and Minisforum. Still not sure they are much better, so I’m still waiting.
This isn't my first Beelink device, so I was surprised to have issues with the device. I ran their SEi12 as my main desktop for 2 months and it was great. Also ran a Minisforum HX90 as my main desktop OS for a while and it was great, too :)
Beelink, Minisforum, GMKTek, & GEEKOM is my personal short list, in that order.
I own the EQ12. I installed Pop! OS on it with no problems. I actually use it as a simple docker host running mealie and soft-serve right now.
The one to avoid is ACEMAGICIAN, specifically because of third party software problems. Which is sad being they make some interesting models.
Other brands I glance at occasionally include ASUS, MSI, & ASRock. Though, ASRock is kinda hard to find since they really focus on industrial applications.
My support experience with GMKtec has been dismal. My less than a year old unit is now discontinued, no driver or BIOS updates, and their reps reply with canned, unhelpful messages
Have you tried swapping the provided nvme with a new branded Corsair or Samsung and try again? I've seen this problem with low quality SSD's.
That's disappointing to hear about your problems with the EQ 13. I've got 2 x S12 Pro's and a SER5 from BeeLink and although I fully agree the specification information is very much lacking, I can say that I've not experienced any problems. Perhaps replacing the M.2 drive with a spare one and re-installing WIndows might help/solve the high CPU upon start up. It certainly sounds like a software (Windows) problem or perhaps a problem with the M.2 drive itself as opposed to a general hardware problem. Drivers for the EQ 13 should be available from BeeLink but I'd check before trying a re-install. I do *really* like the built-in power supply as opposed to the common wallwart that most mini pc's use. That's something I'm going to be on the lookout for when I need to upgrade/replace my current BeeLink family. Thanks for the review
I’ve gone back and forth on these things but I think I’ve come to the conclusion that, for a little bigger box, it would be better, more fun, and maybe cheaper to just build a mini. Certainly it would have better components and cooling.
this is a real shame i have an EQ 12 and not had anything majorly go wrong with it. I might pick up an EQ 13 myself and have a look in the near future. The N100 is a great CPU for home lab workloads so excited to see what the N200 would do
One of my plans with the device was to put a new self-hosting OS on it, but have decided against doing that. I've already found it a new home and it will be headed there soon :)
I have 2 EQ12s and they are great. This one is a bit of a step backwards for me
Beelink? I bought one on Amazon and it stopped working quite quickly. I wouldn’t touch Beelink products with a 100 metre bargepole. Awful quality. Avoid Beelink products like the plague. I have bought competitors similar type NUC PCs and had zero problems.
I've had various Beelink products since 2021 and never had an issue. Dell on the other hand is a whole other story
I got a cheap beelink off FB marketplace back in November, have had no issues so far.
@@keithmiller9665 I think you just got a bad unit. I have had 3 units and they have all been working fine. The oldest is 6 years old. I will say more often then not the most common failure in these mini pcs is the ram and ssds failing. Nearly all these mini pc manufacturers use the cheapest parts available which is why many of the prices are low. Personally, I would recommend purchasing a barebones as that will help reduce the likelihood of a failure
shouldn't this be a linux machine? how does ubuntu desktop perform?
It should absolutely be a Linux machine. I sent it to one of my Discord mods and he's using it as a Scrypted server
Thank you sir. Cheers.
No worries!
I really feel like they took a step backwards with this one… the EQ12 was great.
I do like the dual nvme though as the older model had a sata.
I would suggest you try a different nvme drive you could be pegging your cpu because the ssd is crap
Yeah beelink is hit or miss. I ordered 2 of the exact same mini pc's on the same order, arrived the same day. I swapped out the storage and 1 took 60 minutes to get to 50% on installing windows. After I sent it back to get a refund, I installed Server 2019 on the other one and I started to notice a trend. Any OS that it did not come with pre-installed with means you will have to try and find drivers for about 5 devices in device manager, including the nic.
This is my second or third Beelink device and they've all been pretty good, but this one was less than impressive. Just as a heads up, you can use a built-in Windows command to export your system's drivers. Here's how I've done it: www.tenforums.com/tutorials/68426-backup-restore-device-drivers-windows-10-a.html#option1
Here's the process with beelink if you want to keep running windows. Fire it up long enough to sign in with your ms account, just to get the license tied to the hardware, then wipe it and install Windows or Linux.
Windows 10 and 11 both have digital licenses for activation. You don't even need to login to get the key. You can just reinstall the same version of the OS that it came with and it will automatically activate. I've done it dozens of times. Also, I will only use local accounts on Windows for as long as I possibly can. No MS accounts on my systems. The device is going to get used for homelab stuff by one of my Discord mods, so it'll be up to them to do with it what they want.
The EQ12 is such a home run, it's very odd they've clearly botched this model.
Added a second M.2 slot, but need to remove the rubber feet? For real?
Slight CPU improvement, but dropped the 2.5 Gbit ethernet we all bought the EQ12 for?
Internalized the power supply. Remove the VESA mount.
WHO is this device for? They've removed both office features *and* home lab features just for the sake of some very minor changes.
great video
I'd be interested to see the results of installing a Linux OS on this to see if you have any similar problems. It could be that your sample is defective in some way, or it could be that Windows is a pig and an N200 just isn't up to the job of running it.
I think it's almost 100% the OS/Processor combo
Who wants to run windows on these devices anyway? Or on any other device for that matter :D
They’re junk. Had one go out after a few months.
I've had a very different experience with their other devices. I was sad this one arrived like it did
What a useless review, blaming hardware for what is clearly a windows 11 issue is just hopeless. At the very least throw Linux on it and see if the problems is in fact hardware or software related.
Yeah... And I said that it was likely a Windows issue in the video. My point was what the average consumer might experience. Not everyone knows how to install/reinstall an OS.