This will be yet another real world usage review and this time, it's of the Beelink T45 Mini PC. The T45 packs the slightly older 10W Apollo Lake Intel Pentium J4205 CPU (It runs at 1.5 - 2.6GHz). It's important at this point to note that, future Beelink T45 Mini PCs are being shipped with a Heat sink + fan design & the 6W Intel Pentium N4200 (It runs at 1.1-2.5 GHz...Single Core Burst, Multi-Core Burst max 2.5 GHz) instead. The J4205 CPU is Desktop class, while the N4200 is meant for more mobile solutions. These changes, are considered improvements over the current design, especially in the cooling area. Besides these changes, everything else appears to remain the same. The T45 weighs just 340g and made up of mostly metal + some plastic case with slight rubber strips on either sides at the bottom, to assist with grip and some ventilation. It's a thin yet sturdy rectangular box and I love the metal finish. It's pleasant looking and cool to touch (when it's not running and cooled down). On the front, we have the Beelink's "slogan"...Connected to a wonderful life, and the tiny non-distracting blue light (only) LED. There's an SD card slot and 2 USB 3.0 Type-A ports on the left side, while on the right side, are 2 additional USB 3.0 Type-A ports. Moving to the back, we find the headphone/microphone jack, gigabit LAN port, 2 HDMI ports (capable of driving 2 separate displays at up to 4K@30Hz), the DC IN port and the bright red rubber power button. Lastly, on the bottom are the typical bracket mounting holes. The image below shows what it looks like when mounted behind a monitor.
Specifications
I checked the BIOS to ensure Fast Boot is disabled (which I prefer). Running a fully updated legit 64-bit Windows 10 Pro. Cold Boot takes a total of about 20 seconds for a fully loaded desktop. Shutdown takes around 10 - 15 seconds, depending on actions it has to complete before safely shutting down. Typically it takes 10 seconds. All in all, satisfactory bootup and shut down times.
Using Intel's own Driver and Support Assistant, I was able to check and update all available drivers. Made the process much easier to complete. Plus, the software runs in the background afterwards, monitoring for driver updates, popping a notification when there's one available to install.
Updated Intel drivers
>>>Intel® Graphics - Windows® 10 DCH: From x.x.x.7262 to x.x.x.7584.
>>>Windows® 10 Wi-Fi Drivers for Intel® Wireless Adapters: From V19.51.17.1 to V19.51.26.1
>>>Intel® Wireless Bluetooth® for Windows® 10: From V20.100.3.1 to V20.100.6.4. Ran earphone & microphone tests over Bluetooth, both work perfectly.
Box & Actual Hardware
OOTD & Update Build Information
Network Speed Test
CPU-Z
HWiNFO
Novabench Report
SSD information and Speed Tests.
PassMark
3DMark
PCMark
UserBenchmark
Media Playback
Driving a single monitor at default 4K30FPS...Definitely better performance here over the previously reviewed Beelink BT4 Mini PC.
>>YouTube playback was tested via Microsoft's Edge, Google's Chrome & Mozilla Firefox. All three browsers are the latest versions before tests commenced. Firefox is the clear winner where page rending time is concerned. Surprisingly, with YouTube streaming, it was Microsoft's Edge browser that came out on top. Playing 1080p videos went perfectly fine in both windowed & full-screen mode on all 3 browsers. The Edge browser was the only one to play and ensure proper AV sync for 4K videos in both windowed and full-screen modes. Although, there are noticeable lags in page rendering and switching between windowed & full-screen mode. TBH, nothing unexpected with such hardware. So if you want something that is capable of instant smooth 4K playback and view switching? You simply must seek a more powerful device.
>>Vlc Playback...4K H264 jellyfish files are fine, at least up to 140mbps..Smooth start, pause, and playback. No issues. Unlike the BT4, HEVC/H.265 files fair better on the Gemini T45. Manages to play smoothly up to the "jellyfish-90-mbps-hd-hevc-10bit" file. From 120mbps+, it significantly stutters. Most HEVC media files out in the wild won't reach 120mbps bit-rates. So this shouldn't be an issue as the processor will be able to handle the compression.
>>Kodi playback...Mirrors the above with the exception that HEVC files are somewhat watchable until "jellyfish-160-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit". By 180mbps, the struggle is real.
Conclusion
Major cons would be the passive (heat-sink only) cooling is insufficient for comfort. An issue that Beelink has hopefully addressed by switching to a mobile CPU and a heat-sink + fan design. Nevertheless, Beelink assures (it's even written on the bottom) that the excessive heat being felt is normal and will not damage the unit. I would still suggest, if you do decide to mount it, consider it's ventilation and or the surface it'll be on. Just as a precautionary measure. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 505 GPU helps to push things along. Some light gaming titles and emulators are supported and should play well. More capable games will only be run on lower settings, if you want to have any form of smooth game-play. These are to be expected given the scores above, as it's not a gaming PC. The usual media streaming networks/services (such as Netflix, YouTube, iFlix, Hulu, etc) work well up to 4K resolution (where possible). There is no HDR support. WiFi & Ethernet performance are as advertised, and it has no issues running smoothly while the legendary RAM eating Chrome browser runs in the foreground with about 15 tabs open.
Detailed System Reports
[attachmentid=10411421]
[attachmentid=10411422]
[YOUTUBE]XcmCXOp_I5U[/YOUTUBE]
Official Amazon US Store Purchase URL
Purchase here from an unofficial Aliexpress store
Additional information on the Beelink T45 Mini PC
Beelink official website
Beelink orders
For more information, please pay attention to this space. I'd like to thank Beelink for providing the review unit. As usual, do feel free to comment below should you require further specific information on the Beelink BT4. I'll be glad to assist.![smile.gif]()
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Specifications
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
I checked the BIOS to ensure Fast Boot is disabled (which I prefer). Running a fully updated legit 64-bit Windows 10 Pro. Cold Boot takes a total of about 20 seconds for a fully loaded desktop. Shutdown takes around 10 - 15 seconds, depending on actions it has to complete before safely shutting down. Typically it takes 10 seconds. All in all, satisfactory bootup and shut down times.
Using Intel's own Driver and Support Assistant, I was able to check and update all available drivers. Made the process much easier to complete. Plus, the software runs in the background afterwards, monitoring for driver updates, popping a notification when there's one available to install.
Updated Intel drivers
>>>Intel® Graphics - Windows® 10 DCH: From x.x.x.7262 to x.x.x.7584.
>>>Windows® 10 Wi-Fi Drivers for Intel® Wireless Adapters: From V19.51.17.1 to V19.51.26.1
>>>Intel® Wireless Bluetooth® for Windows® 10: From V20.100.3.1 to V20.100.6.4. Ran earphone & microphone tests over Bluetooth, both work perfectly.
Box & Actual Hardware
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
OOTD & Update Build Information
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Network Speed Test
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
CPU-Z
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
HWiNFO
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Novabench Report
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
SSD information and Speed Tests.
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
PassMark
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
3DMark
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
PCMark
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
UserBenchmark
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Media Playback
Driving a single monitor at default 4K30FPS...Definitely better performance here over the previously reviewed Beelink BT4 Mini PC.
>>YouTube playback was tested via Microsoft's Edge, Google's Chrome & Mozilla Firefox. All three browsers are the latest versions before tests commenced. Firefox is the clear winner where page rending time is concerned. Surprisingly, with YouTube streaming, it was Microsoft's Edge browser that came out on top. Playing 1080p videos went perfectly fine in both windowed & full-screen mode on all 3 browsers. The Edge browser was the only one to play and ensure proper AV sync for 4K videos in both windowed and full-screen modes. Although, there are noticeable lags in page rendering and switching between windowed & full-screen mode. TBH, nothing unexpected with such hardware. So if you want something that is capable of instant smooth 4K playback and view switching? You simply must seek a more powerful device.
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
>>Vlc Playback...4K H264 jellyfish files are fine, at least up to 140mbps..Smooth start, pause, and playback. No issues. Unlike the BT4, HEVC/H.265 files fair better on the Gemini T45. Manages to play smoothly up to the "jellyfish-90-mbps-hd-hevc-10bit" file. From 120mbps+, it significantly stutters. Most HEVC media files out in the wild won't reach 120mbps bit-rates. So this shouldn't be an issue as the processor will be able to handle the compression.
>>Kodi playback...Mirrors the above with the exception that HEVC files are somewhat watchable until "jellyfish-160-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit". By 180mbps, the struggle is real.
Conclusion
Major cons would be the passive (heat-sink only) cooling is insufficient for comfort. An issue that Beelink has hopefully addressed by switching to a mobile CPU and a heat-sink + fan design. Nevertheless, Beelink assures (it's even written on the bottom) that the excessive heat being felt is normal and will not damage the unit. I would still suggest, if you do decide to mount it, consider it's ventilation and or the surface it'll be on. Just as a precautionary measure. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 505 GPU helps to push things along. Some light gaming titles and emulators are supported and should play well. More capable games will only be run on lower settings, if you want to have any form of smooth game-play. These are to be expected given the scores above, as it's not a gaming PC. The usual media streaming networks/services (such as Netflix, YouTube, iFlix, Hulu, etc) work well up to 4K resolution (where possible). There is no HDR support. WiFi & Ethernet performance are as advertised, and it has no issues running smoothly while the legendary RAM eating Chrome browser runs in the foreground with about 15 tabs open.
Detailed System Reports
[attachmentid=10411421]
[attachmentid=10411422]
[YOUTUBE]XcmCXOp_I5U[/YOUTUBE]
Official Amazon US Store Purchase URL
Purchase here from an unofficial Aliexpress store
Additional information on the Beelink T45 Mini PC
Beelink official website
Beelink orders
For more information, please pay attention to this space. I'd like to thank Beelink for providing the review unit. As usual, do feel free to comment below should you require further specific information on the Beelink BT4. I'll be glad to assist.
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I initially observed this from a earlier provided unit, did a couple factory resets and still experienced the same. Discussed with the good folks at Tronsmart, had those returned and got another brand new unit. While the second unit performed better. Given some other similar reports online, I'm still forced to chalk this up as a technical issue plaguing the Onyx Neo. I sincerely hope it's just some "bad luck" that I happened to receive units that performed as they did. Fortunately, I didn't experience any dropped Bluetooth connections and performance across around 40ft is excellent. As such, minimum 5 - 6 hours of reliable stereo output? Works for me.
