When it comes to portable computing, mini PCs are one of the best devices that you can rely on. They pack a reasonable amount of computing power within a small form factor. Even when compared to a laptop, these mini PCs can hold their own. This makes it the ideal device for office spaces, work-from-home setups, or any other space-constrained environments.
The NGC-5 Pro from Minix is a minimal yet highly-functional mini PC that packs a reasonable amount of processing power within an ultra-compact chassis. We have had the opportunity to get our hands on one of them and will be unboxing, testing, and reviewing it to see whether it lives up to its potential. So, without further ado, let’s open up the box.
Design
With the unboxing out of the way, let’s just appreciate how clean this Mini PC is. The build quality looks premium while the sturdy plastic chassis feels durable. The front of the PC is quite simple with just an LED indicator while the other sides incorporate a plethora of connectivity options. On the right, we get to see the power button, a 3.5mm audio combo jack, a micro SD slot, two USB 3.1, and an RS232 COM port. At the back, we have the reset switch, antenna mounts for the two dual-band antennas, and a Kensington lock. And finally, on the left, we have two Gigabit Ethernet ports, a single USB 3.1 port, a DisplayPort 2.1, one HDMI 2.0 port, a USB-C port, and the power jack.
Specs
The interior of this Mini PC is housing a 10th Gen i5-10210U processor with 8GB of DDR4 memory and 256GB of M.2 NVMe storage. While these specs are adequate for daily computing, you can unleash the NGC-5’s true potential by upgrading it with up to 64GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage.
Wireless connectivities consist of Wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 which is quite amazing to see in a mini PC belonging to this price range. Surprisingly, this PC also incorporates a sim card slot that supports both 4G and 5G for reliable network performance. Gotta appreciate all these values that we are getting from it.
Operating System
Even more good news is that this PC runs on Windows 11 Pro operating system, making the overall user experience quite versatile. The software runs smoothly and the browsing experience was also quite appealing.
Performance
One of the most striking features of the NGC-5 Pro is how it can support up to three 4K monitors at 60Hz from its HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C port. This makes content creation tasks such as video and photo editing more dynamic. Other than that, both the wired and wireless connectivity was pretty responsive and we have faced no trouble while browsing and downloading resources from the internet. It is quite astonishing how a mini PC of this scale can do so much.
In terms of raw performance, we have run the Cinebench R23 test and compared it with the base Minix NGC 5 which has an i5-8279U processor. In terms of single-core performance, we are looking at a score of 851 which is slightly higher than that of the base NGC 5’s 779. Multi-core performance also yielded a slight performance bump as we can see 2382 in the Pro model and 2225 in the base model.
Final Words
In summary, the Minix NGC-5 Pro is a superb small form factor computer within a reasonable price range. It can handle low to medium levels of computing really well while keeping the internal temperature and noise down to a minimum. Thus, for people who are looking for a reliable mini-PC without having to worry about spending a hefty amount of cash, we highly recommend the MINIX NGC-5 Pro.
