Beelink Mini PC EQi12, Intel Core 1220P(Max 4.4GHz 10C/12T), 16GB DDR4 500GB PCle4.0 SSD Mini Computers,Dual LAN/Wifi6/BT5.2,Dual 4K Display,Built-in Power Supply Office PC

I purchased this while shopping and researching for a home OpnSense firewall build. Reasons I chose this Mini PC:Compact - Not trying to have an old Optiplex sitting on my TV stand2.5 Gbps Ports - Absolutely perfect for this application. Better than 1Gbps, but not too much for the hardware to handle.Intel Celeron N100 - Low power, but still considered "high performance" by ZenArmor500GB NvME - Great for system performance and plenty of space for log storage16 GB DDR4 - Plenty of overhead for ZenArmor, IDS, IPS, etc.For the uninitiated, OpnSense is an open source, powerful and feature-rich firewall software that allows great visibility and control for your home network. It is free to download and install, and beats the snot out of any consumer wireless router. It can run on a variety of hardware, including old PCs. This Mini PC is perfectly spec'd for OpnSense.For the initiated: My home network is very small: 2 PCs, 2 smart TVs, a robot vacuum and 5 mobile devices. My internet connection is roughly 400mbps down and 10mbps up. I run QoS, ZenArmor and five VLANs. I run OpnSense "bare metal" because I am uninterested in dealing with latency and routing issues brought on by virtualization. I use two TP-Link 8 port Gigabit smart switches and an OpnSense router for wireless VLANs to achieve a multiple SSID network configuration with segmentation.I will admit I was a little bummed that the PC was light grey rather than dark grey like I imagined. I was impressed with the OEM Windows 11 installation, but I immediately wiped it out by installing OPNsense, which went perfectly fine. CPU usage is very low, even during speed tests while running QoS and ZenArmor. I have not installed WireGuard yet but I am certain it will perform just fine.My old HP T620 Thin Client had CPU spikes to 100% pretty consistently and didn't seem to handle local log storage or IDS/IPS very well. It was also much bulkier, and had a 1Gbps NIC.Overall, I am very impressed with this Mini PC's performance. I can't recommend this enough for OpnSense or virtualization projects.

Using this pc to replace an older dedicated router. No problems installing OPNSense and zenarmor on this, although it actually had realtek NIC ports, works fine with drivers I got through Sunnyvale. Running large home network, streaming server, several WAP, total of 85 devices with ease while maintaining 935 Mbps throughput with firewall and IPS software protecting everything. Excellent unit for the price, quiet, low power consumption, zero compatibility problems.

Its working great.

I purchased this system to replace a very old Dell MFF 7070 with an i7 processor. Interestingly, this i3 1220P benchmarks faster than the system it replaces. My purpose for this system is a Proxmox host which installed without any issues. All network connections are recognized but the 2.5Gbe ports only operate at 1Gbe out of the box with Proxmox.I cannot attest to the network port performance with Windows 11 since I replaced the SSD with one of my own for Proxmox. I am still in the processing of troubleshooting. It looks like you have to custom compile a driver for Proxmox to work with the included Realtek network interfaces.The chassis seems well built. Adding a second SSD is a little tricky but relatively easy to figure out. The SSD's stack on top of each other. In order to install/replace the bottom one, you have to remove the top SSD.I also replaced the 16GB RAM with 32GB RAM I had left over from another project. The system handled it without any issues. I may decide to upgrade to 64GB RAM for Proxmox but I want to give the system some time to assess its overall performance. For my use case, running Proxmox with 3 CT's and 4 VM's, the CPU utilization averages about 2%. The thermals and power consumption are much better than the system it replaced.I do not understand why companies cover up the access screws to get to the inside of the box to perform upgrades. The stupid little rubber plugs are a pain to remove and serve no purpose. I did appreciate the little pull flap to remove the cover once you finally get the screws out.This is a very compact mini PC and is a good value for my use case. I have no need for gaming but will likely use the onboard Intel graphics controller for a future application with IP cameras, AI or media server. Overall I am happy with the purchase with the caveat that I need to resolve the Realtek network driver issue to fully utilize the 2.5Gbe speeds.

Few machines out there can match the power to performance ratio of this machine. That combination makes it the best possible solution for Home Assistant for over 99% of people with heavy smart home automation needs with a lot of performance left for future proofing your home. If you are looking at this for Home Assistant you should probably stop reading this review and just buy it already. You will not be disappointed. This machine is worlds better than the best raspberry PI for just a few more dollars.