Just when I ranked and compared 5 mini PCs with the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip to find the best one, Beelink sweeps the competition away with the GTR9 Pro, probably THE BEST Mini PC with a 395 chip.
Let’s see what it has to offer that makes it a cut above the rest, and compare it to both the no-longer-so furious five, as well as the computer that clearly…. inspired the Beelink’s design, the Mac Studio.
Memory, Storage and Price
Firstly, the Beelink GTR9 Pro comes in at $1985 and you order it with a 35 day lead time on shipping. The price is just below the standard $2000 price point for a Max+ 395 chip mini PC with 128 GB of memory and 2 TB of storage, so it doesn’t have an advantage there.
In fact the Bosgame M5 is still the best value at only $1700. But if you compare the Beelink to the $2000 M4 Max Mac Studio, that thing only comes with 32 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage. If you want to go up to 128 GB of memory and 2 TB of storage on the Mac Studio, it’ll cost you $4099! That’s more than TWICE the price!
And the storage on the Mac Studio isn’t easily upgradeable, especially compared to the 2 M.2 SSD slots you get on the Beelink.
Cooling and Noise
So if it’s not the price, then what DOES make the Beelink the best?
Firstly, the cooling system, or the promise of it. Although they didn’t copy the Mac Studio’s pricing, they did seem to try to copy it’s amazing cooling power and silent operation, at least on paper.
Beelink claims the cooling system they used allows for sustained peak performance at 140 watts, which is higher than the 120 watts sustained max that the 395 chip offers. Indeed, the other Mini PCs only claim 140 watt boost or peak power, but 120 watts sustained. So the Beelink could actually offer greater performance if what they say is true.
Just as important, they also claim the cooling system provides essentially silent operation, with some actual numbers ranging from 32 to 37 decibels under load. At first glance, this seems worse than the Framework Desktop’s claimed numbers of 29 decibels to 34 decibels under load.
However, manufacturer numbers are hard to compare since how they were measured can greatly differ. I’m hopeful that Beelink was able to copy what Apple did, since the Mac Studio proved it’s possible to put a silent cooling solution into that form factor.
But it’s also likely the Framework Desktop can be made quieter, due to the larger size and thus bigger cooling system and 120mm fans. However, the Framework is 35% larger than the Beelink, and even the Mac Studio is larger than it by 20%.
Networking
The other big advantage of the Beelink is the networking support. Unlike most of the other Mini PCs with 2.5 GbE, or the Framework with 5 Gb, the Beelink has 10 GbE similar to the Mac Studio. However, it’s actually got TWO 10 Gig ports and not just one Ethernet port like all the rest, making it by far the fastest in networking.
Give that Like button a press if you’re impressed by the dual 10 Gig ports like I am.
Wifi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 are there for wireless connectivity as well, which beats out the Mac Studio’s Wifi 6e and Bluetooth 5.3.
Displays and Ports
The rest of the ports on the Beelink GTR9 Pro are also creme of the crop. You’ve got an HDMI 2.1, 2 Type-C USB4 ports, and a DisplayPort 2.1 port to support up to 4 displays. The Framework Desktop is the only other offering with a DisplayPort connection, and with 2 of them at that, but still only supports up to 4 displays.
The Mac Studio wins here with up to 5 simultaneous displays supported, as long as you don’t need a DisplayPort shaped connector.
On the Beelink, you get another 2 Type-A USB3.2 ports on the back and another Type-C USB port on the front, making a total of 5 USB ports. Two 3.5mm audio jacks, and an SD card reader round out the ports.
The Beelink’s port setup is very similar to the Framework Desktop equipped with 1 USB-C port and an SD card reader module in the front, except it trades 1 of the 2 DisplayPort connections for an extra (and faster) Ethernet port.
The M4 Max Mac Studio has 8 total USB ports, 4 of which are Thunderbolt 5, 2 are 10 Gbps USB-C, and 2 are 5 Gbps USB-A, so overall a few more and faster ports. It’s also got an HDMI 2.1 port, a single 10 GbE port, one audio jack, and an SD card reader.
Why The Beelink Wins
Alright, so here’s why I think the Beelink wins compared to the Framework Desktop, and by extension the other Max+ 395 Mini PCs, and against the Mac Studio.
When it comes to the Mac Studio, it simply cannot compete with any of these Mini PCs on price if you want 128 GB of memory and lots of (expandable) storage space. The M4 Max chip is faster in single core than the Max+ 395, while it trades blows in multi-core benchmarks, but it can’t make up for the enormous price difference.
Against the Framework Desktop, the Beelink wins on 3 factors. First is price. The Framework not only costs a bit more in base price than the Beelink, but you also need to shell out extra for storage, Windows if you want it, a CPU fan, power cable, front panels, and front port expansion cards, making a comparable config about $450 more expensive than the Beelink GTR9 Pro.
Second, only the Beelink has 10 Gbit Ethernet, and two of them at that. While the Framework’s 5 GbE port is faster than the other Mini PCs with only 2.5, it’s still a far cry from the Beelink.
And finally, I’m currently assuming that the Beelink’s cooling system is as powerful and silent as they say it is, truly allowing for sustained 140 watt performance while keeping noise down to a level similar to the Framework Desktop.
If it truly is capable of that, then in my opinion even the Bosgame M5’s $300 cheaper price is offset by the Beelink’s value. But if the Beelink’s cooling system turns out to not live up to the hype, then my previous rankings of the Bosgame M5 for the best value and Framework Desktop for the most power, flexibility, and silent cooling potential will continue to hold.
