MINI PC | £469 from Beelink www.snipca.com/47356
Box of tricks
The SER5 Max 5800H represents a decent balance between price and power. It has an eight-core AMD processor and our review model came with 32GB RAM and a 500GB SSD, though other configurations are also available, should you want more storage or to shave a few quid off the price with less RAM.
An alternative configuration is available on Amazon for £10 less, with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD (www. snipca.com/47358). However, this setup costs £20 less (£449) if you buy directly from Beelink.
We think the 32GB model is worth paying extra for, however, because it can stop the computer from slowing down when you open multiple browser tabs. As with most mini PCs, it’s fairly straightforward to remove the lid and access the RAM and storage, should you want to upgrade it at a later date.
Like most Beelink products, this boasts a high-quality design. The chassis is made from a combination of metal and plastic, which feels solid and looks good on the desk. The top of the box has a metal grille, from which its built-in speaker pumps audio.
On the front panel there are two USB 3.0 ports, one USB-C port, a headphone jack and power button (pictured above). There are two more metal grilles on either side that help keep the unit cool. Around the back there’s a gigabit Ethernet port, another USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0, a DisplayPort and an HDMI port (pictured below).
To keep the price reasonable, Beelink has opted for an older processor. It’s an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H chip, which was launched back in 2021, albeit as a top-of-the-range option at the time and found in high-end laptops and all-in-one desktop PCs. Its eight cores are perfectly capable of tackling general Windows work, and can cope fairly well when processing images or editing videos.
The weakest element is its graphics component – the AMD Radeon RX Vega 8. Th
