B95 Mini PC Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake-N95, 16GB DDR4 RAM 512GB NVME SSD Win11 Pro Mini Computers, 4K UHD Triple Display, 2.5G LAN, USB-C, 4*USB 3.2 Gen 2 Ports

This is my fourth mini PC. As older laptops and/or desktops need replacing I have turned to these mini PC's. Typically, these are in applications where they are tied to a TV via HDMI. Add a wireless mouse and keyboard and you are good to go at a pretty significant savings. This one, for example, is connected to a powered USB hub with seven drives with about 30 TB of video and audio files. Its HDMI output is to an HDMI distribution amp which sends the signal to a monitor and four TV's or AV receivers. That's a lot of stuff to hang on a tiny little box, but it all works perfectly. The solid-state drive and generous RAM means that it boots very quickly and runs cool. Streaming 4K video is flawless. I calculate that when compared with buying four conventional laptops or desktops I have saved from $1200 to $2000. That's worth five stars in my book!

I didn't really do my research and bought this to use with PfSense. Well, the Realtek 2.5 Gbps NICs in this do not work with the default driver in the version of FreeBSD that PfSense 2.7.2 uses. There is a realtek-re-kmod driver that is supposed to support this chipset but after successfully installing it and adding the required lines to the loader.conf.local file... nothing.Ah well. So how is this little device as a mini PC? WAY better than I expected. IT appears to have a base stock windows 11 install that is activated by digital license. That is a good thing. After fighting with FreeBSD for a few hours I installed win11 back on and it activated Pro with the hardware license.This is far more responsive than I expected. My previous experience with intel low TDP SOCs was the last model of Atom. This is way better. Windows updates didn't really take all that much longer than my i9-12900hx equipped laptop. Normal everyday tasks were snappy. Of course this thing is terrible for any 3d gaming.I ran Prime95 SmallFFT and for the heck of it browsed the web while it was running. Surprisingly responsive! There is a very small pancake fan on the SOC and it is pretty quiet. It seems to be able to dissipate about 14.5 watts as that is where the CPU hoovered while running Prime95.The RAM and NVME (yes, it is not a SATA M.2) drive are incredibly easy to access with two small screws.I don't really know what I am going to use this thing for but it is easy to recommend for a basic computing device, say for a kid to use for school or general office tasks.I have only had it 2 days so of course I cannot comment on longevity. Some of the complaints I have read about earlier iterations seem to be addressed. there are no obstructions to the airflow.

To be clear, the hardware is good, it was the out of box experience that lost a star, and many would think it should be even fewer stars. On initial bootup, all I was able to get was a BIOS "BOSGAME" logo, sits for 20 seconds then shuts down. All indications of heat, ram, disk issues. Short story, it was none of those, just a bad load of Windows 11, the boot sector thought it should boot, couldn't and didn't. I had to download an ISO, make a bootable image on a USB drive, enter the BIOS and change the boot order to USB, wipe the existing 5 partitions, load Windows 11, remember to enter the BIOS after the first reboot to switch the primary boot drive back to the SSD, and this worked fine. This is not a process your typical end user would figure out. So, for the general public, this is not a good buy. For the tinkerer it is a decent option. Great performance, that 16GB or RAM makes a big difference for my little home game server host.Steps in general:On a working PC, go to Microsoft's Windows 11 download page and get an ISOUse a tool like "rufus" to create a bootable USB thumb drive (needs to be 16GB+, the image is over 8GB)Plug in peripheralsBoot and tap (ESC) key to enter BIOS, navigate to Boot Order and change to USBBoot to the USB, then delete all pre-existing partitions from the SSDChoose the now empty partition and allow the process to start.Pay attention to it and when it automatically reboots, tap (ESC) again, go into the BIOS and change the boot order back to the SSD or it will keep starting the installation process over and over.Let the installation finish and you should be golden.

This mini PC is powered at 12 volts DC and the USB-C connector in front using the supplied cable will drive an Innoview 15.6-inch flat monitor with both power and data/display. With a Microsoft Arc Bluetooth mouse and a foldable Bluetooth keyboard (I'll have to check the model), there is only two wires to it: power (to a 12 volt dc battery or the provided power adapter) and a USB-C cable. I was looking for a battery powered PC after an extended power outage and son was moaning about lack of a PC. It's not a terribly fast machine although I did try a FPS game but the display would go black for about 5 seconds during screen changes.I have the 512 Gb M.2 SSD and it comes with an adapter to add another M.2 (?), or as it says a 2.5-inch HDD. Something to experiment with.I also have a Beeline mini PC (12 vdc also and both come with Windows 11 Pro) but that one also needs a HDMI cable to the display. This BOSGAME machine boots up very fast; on the order of just a few seconds compared to the Beelink. I use the Beelink on the home network and the BOSGAME for blackouts and emergency communications (sorry, I'm a ham radio operator who likes to experiment with PCs and networks out of family necessity).It is plug-and-play tho' and you will need USB-A keyboard and mouse initially to configure it for Bluetooth devices. It also has two VESA 100 mounting holes to mount to the back of a display maybe.The picture shows my whole setup using wall wart power. Everything there plus a very light case for PC/Power is 4.7 lbs. A laptop would probably be easier but this one is kinda fun to play with. The paperwork indicates it could handle 3 displays (one USB-C and 2 HDMI). I might try that...