(Upgraded) U59 Mini PC Intel N5105 4C/4T Turbo 2.9Ghz 16GB DDR4 512GB SSD Mini Computers, Dual HDMI + Type-C Triple 4K displays, Dual LAN Ports, 4xUSB3.0, PD Charge, WiFi 5, Openwrt or Plex

I bought 2 of these to replace my family's aging computers (one reaching over 12 years old). I got the 16/512 versions on sale for about $320CAD each, and for NUC-like machines, I don't think this price can be beat for what you get. It's a slightly harder sell at their normal MSRP of ~$400CAD, but they are nice machines for the cost in my opinion. The PCs were packed well with a nice box which makes storing the spare parts easy. Plenty of screws and the VESA mounting bracket is an excellent, subtle addition that helped me free up some desk space at both stations. The design is nice and solid and doesn't feel flimsy. Opening them up, the replaceable components are easily serviceable, and the ability to add a 2.5" SATA SSD was a nice positive. Do be careful of the ribbon cable when opening it up - I assume this is why they include a second one in the accessories! In terms of performance, the unit is not going to win any awards or play your AAA titles (likely at all). But a solid low-power quad-core CPU at 2.0GHz base and 2.9GHz turbo with 16GB RAM is plenty for day-to-day web browsing, email, etc. Similarly the 512GB SATA M.2 SSD won't win speed awards, and NVMe would be a nice plus if it had it, but it performs well enough for those tasks. And it sips power, barely using 10 watts at idle. 4 USB-A ports (all 3.1 Gen 1) make connecting peripherals a breeze, though getting a cheap hub for your keyboard and mouse will help save ports. All together for $320 each both me and the users are happy with the upgrade. This unit does have one other, interesting feature that opens it up to some other usecases too: the inclusion of both WiFi and *dual* 1GbE NICs. Now, I didn't check the NIC model when I was setting them up (and now wish I had for this review), but the inclusion of dual NICs opens this up as a potentially excellent low-power, small-form-factor pfSense router box for a sub-1Gigabit connection, or a home server with multiple connections - something which is unfortunately quite rare in the NUC/Tiny/Mini/MIcro category. It could even act as an access point with the included WiFi. So for someone considering these usecases this might be a good option.

I'm very pleased with mine. I got the version with 16 GB of RAM and the 512 GB NVMe SATA drive. It came with Windows 11 pre-installed, with no bloatware that I noticed. I have had zero issues with it. I just recently bought another 1 TB drive and installed Ubuntu Linux on it. Ubuntu had no problems with any of the on-board hardware. Installation was quick and easy, and it runs even faster with Linux. I can now switch between Win 11 and Ubuntu by just hitting F7 when it is booting, and selecting the drive I want to boot from. This is not my main desktop, so I didn't expect it to lift the same loads as a computer that is much larger, heavier, and more power-hungry. I strap it to a leg on my telescope and it runs all of my scope camera captures and mount positioning. I connect to it "headless", using Windows Remote Desktop from my main PC. Great system!

If you want a silent, compact, upgradeable, and inexpensive Windows 11 Pro PC to run your Office and other productivity and entertainment streaming apps, this is a good choice. Slipped a second SSD drive (1TB) in immediately (very easy), and you can upgrade the RAM too, though the 16gb model I got runs Office just as well as my high-end gaming PC. The Celeron processor sips electricity, so running this little guy will set you back pennies. And the fan almost never needs to come on. I was initially considering one of the AMD Ryzen models, but frankly, this model is the way to go at less than half the price. Not for gaming or video editing.

Arrived quickly, well packaged. Booting into windows was easy without problems. I purchased to use with Linux and that proved to be a little more difficult. The usual distros I have used, worked, but the Bluetooth and wireless did not work. Ended up contacting customer support. They pointed me to the latest kernel, 6.5.7. I tried updating the kernel and was able to get it updated, but still didn't work as some things were broke. Ended up installing a version of Ubuntu with the kernel I needed. Very satisfied as the system works perfectly and performs better than expected. The path was a little more difficult than it should have been and even though I have used Linux for many years, I have never had kernel issues before so more detailed help would have made it easier. Still very satisfied with the end result.

I love the scaled-down, lightweight, small footprint advancement in technology this mini-pc presents. It works as advertised. That said, it does heat up a little bit and the adaptor remains oversized to enable the small footprint of the feather-light machine. Also, the sound card is slightly weaker than the RealTek brand offered on the HP mini-pcs. I think the slightly diminished robustness of the sound quality is the one thing that was noticeably different, but if the pc is to be used in a portable fashion or for working remotely, this is a great pc for that type of thing.