The Minisforum MS-R1 uses the same Cix CD8180 Arm SoC as the Orion O6 I reviewed earlier this year. But everything else about this thing is different.
What this thing should be, is a box that runs Linux and can compete with at least an Apple M1 Mac mini, or a mid-range Mini PC. But what we got... is something different.
Video
Hate reading? I also published a video on the MS-R1 on my YouTube channel. Watch it here, or scroll on past.
Hardware overview
Let's get started with the hardware. At first glance, it looks great!
You have a 12 core Arm CPU with a Mali G720 iGPU. There's a full-size PCIe slot, NVMe storage, WiFi 6E, and a ton of ports on the front and back.
You have a grand total of 9 USB ports, with 2 of them Type C with DisplayPort 1.4.
There's HDMI, dual 10 Gbps NICs (Realtek RTL8127), and even an old fashioned audio combo jack, so you can plug in a headset.
It looks great on my desk, it's quiet, it uses a 19V 180W power adapter (which is a bit chunky, but par for the course with Minisforum PCs), and overall, the hardware is some of the nicest of any Arm system, outside Apple's walled garden.
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