Beelink ME Mini
Updated on
The Beelink ME Mini is a storage box first. The 99mm cube packs six M.2 NVMe slots into a body smaller than most routers, holds up to 24TB of solid-state storage, and idles at 6 to 6.9W with no drives or about 16.9W with six SSDs fitted, according to NAS Compares. An Intel N150 processor and dual 2.5 Gigabit ethernet ports aim it at home users who want a quiet, efficient NAS without the complexity and noise of a hard drive-based build. Pre-configured bundles ship with Crucial SSDs, and the integrated power supply removes the external brick.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Six M.2 NVMe slots with up to 24TB total capacity | Five of six slots limited to PCIe 3.0 x1 bandwidth |
| 99mm cube that weighs 730 grams | Soldered RAM cannot be upgraded beyond 16GB |
| Dual 2.5 Gigabit ethernet with link aggregation | Intel N150 throttled to 15W, limiting compute tasks |
| About 16.9W idle with six SSDs | Network bandwidth bottlenecks storage speed |
| Measured noise of 31-40 dBA | No 10GbE upgrade path available |
| Integrated power supply eliminates external brick | Higher cost when fully populating all SSD slots |
Related Videos
Beelink ME Mini Comparison Chart
7 configurations
| Configuration | Processor | RAM | Storage | Performance | List price | Amazon price | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N150/12GB/64GB | N150CPU Mark 5,326 | 12 GB | 64 GB | 2.8 | $269.00 | Details
| |
| N150/12GB/2TB | N150CPU Mark 5,326 | 12 GB | 2 TB | 2.8 | $369.00 | Details
| |
| N150/16GB/64GB | N150CPU Mark 5,326 | 16 GB | 64 GB | 3.1 | $259 | Details
| |
| N150/16GB/1TB | N150CPU Mark 5,326 | 16 GB | 1 TB | 3.1 | $509.00 | Details
| |
| N95/12GB/1TB | N95CPU Mark 5,278 | 12 GB | 1 TB | 2.8 | $399.00 | Loading... | Details
|
| N95/12GB/64GB | N95CPU Mark 5,278 | 12 GB | 64 GB | 2.8 | $330.00 | Loading... | Details
|
| N150/16GB/1TB/5GbE | N150CPU Mark 5,326 | 16 GB | 1 TB | 3.1 | $525.00 | Details
|
Specs shared by every configuration
| Operating System | Windows 11 Pro |
|---|---|
| GPU | Integrated Intel UHD Graphics |
| Dimensions width x length x thickness | 3.9 x 3.9 x 3.87 inches (99.06 x 99.06 x 98.3 mm) |
| Weight | 1.61 lbs (0.73 kg) |
| WiFi | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.2 |
| HDMI | 1 HDMI Port |
| DisplayPort | No DisplayPort |
| VGA | No VGA Ports |
| USB Ports | 1 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3, 1 USB-C |
| Thunderbolt Ports | No |
| OCuLink | No |
| Internal SATA Ports | No SATA ports |
| Card Reader | No Card Reader |
| Fanless | No |
| VESA Mount | No |
| In the Box | Mini PC, Power Cable, HDMI Cable, User Manual (pre-configured models include Crucial SSDs) |
| Expandability | 6x M.2 PCIe 3.0 slots for up to 24TB storage; RAM is soldered and not upgradeable |
See every Intel N150 configuration in the chartSee every Intel N95 configuration in the chart
Related Mini PCs
-
Beelink EQ mini (Intel N150)A small Intel N150 desktop for office work and media, with 12GB of soldered LPDDR5, two M.2 slots,… -
Beelink EQ14The Beelink EQ14 is a budget Intel N150 mini PC with 16GB of DDR4, two M.2 slots (up to 8TB), dual… -
iKOOLCORE R2The iKOOLCORE R2 is a palm-sized networking mini PC with four 2.5GbE ports (three Intel i226-V, one… -
ACEMAGIC S1 Mini PCThe ACEMAGIC S1 is a compact Intel N95 mini PC with 16GB of DDR4, dual M.2 slots, dual gigabit… -
Bmax B6The Bmax B6 is a small 10th-gen Intel mini PC sold with a Core i3-1000NG4, i5-1030NG7, or… -
MOREFINE M6S Mini PCThe MOREFINE M6S is a 2.83-inch-square Intel N100 mini PC with 12GB of DDR5, a 512GB NVMe drive in…
Six M.2 bays in a 99mm cube
At 99 x 99 x 99mm and weighing 730 grams, it houses six full-length M.2 2280 drives. The “reverse-chimney” cooling design pulls fresh air through the top of the unit and pushes it downward across the stacked drive trays. Liliputing saw all six drives stay under 50C during a 100GB transfer, while NAS Compares measured the base of the case at 58 to 60C under sustained load. The 45W power supply sits inside the chassis, built into the heatsink assembly, so nothing hangs off the cable.
The Intel N150 processor delivers enough power for NAS workloads like file serving, media streaming, and running lightweight containers, and Beelink caps it at 15W to keep CPU temperatures lower and steadier. Liliputing measured Geekbench scores of 1,147 single-core and 2,143 multi-core; the single-core result sits close to N100 mini PCs, while the multi-core result falls well behind them. That cap suits a box meant to run 24/7 serving files; video transcoding and virtual machines are outside its brief.
Beelink’s store now sells only a 16GB/1TB revision with one 5GbE port and one 2.5GbE port. Other builds have dual Intel i226-V 2.5 Gigabit ethernet ports that support link aggregation for improved throughput to high-speed clients, and WiFi 6 with Bluetooth 5.2 covers wireless when a cable run is impractical. A single HDMI 2.0 output handles display duties for initial setup or occasional direct access, though most owners will manage the box headlessly. The front panel hosts USB-C and USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports for peripherals, with an additional USB 2.0 port on the rear for keyboards or backup drives.
Reviewer Insights
Level1Techs’ Take
Level1Techs treated the ME Mini as a deliberately lopsided box that still works, pairing the four-core N150 with six M.2 bays, dual 2.5GbE Intel NICs, and an internal power supply that makes it easy to tuck into a media center without an external brick. The review liked the fully unlocked BIOS but did not gloss over the constraints a NAS builder hits: they described one PCIe lane running to each M.2 slot, capping individual SSD throughput; the Proxmox installer refused to land on the built-in 64GB eMMC until they dropped to a terminal for a manual workaround; and a Thunderbolt 4 handshake failed during testing even though the controller showed up in lspci. Five of the six slots are x1 links, and the sixth runs at x2. Their takeaway was that the spec sheet looks “weird and unbalanced” on paper, yet the box “can still get the job done mostly.” They noted that the N150’s 6W TDP is configured to turbo to 15W “basically forever,” and measured about 11W of total platform power during a light disk benchmark.
Written Review Highlights
According to NAS Compares, the ME Mini earns an 8.8/10 rating, with perfect 10/10 scores for value and 9/10 for build quality. In 24-hour idle and file transfer tests, surface temperatures peaked at 48 to 60C, hottest at the base where the power supply and network ports sit. The reviewer judged the main components to be within reasonable thermal ranges but flagged heat buildup in the bottom panel under sustained load and suggested a future revision could add a base fan.
Liliputing’s review confirmed that the Intel N150 operates with a 15W power limit on both PL1 and PL2, so the CPU gets no extra power to boost and performance lands slightly below other mini PCs with similar processors. Their iperf3 testing measured actual network throughput at 294 MB/s per port, close to the theoretical 313 MB/s maximum of 2.5 Gigabit ethernet. The reviewer’s RAID50 configuration achieved 3,027.8 MB/s sequential reads internally, though network speeds remain the practical bottleneck for file transfers.
Customer Reviews
Amazon buyer reviews are mixed. Buyers who use it for light duty are happy with the value and how quiet it runs. Spkconx, a verified buyer, called it “a bargain and great value at the current price” and said setup was easy. Kevin, also verified, wrote “Really good value. Extremely quiet.” Isaiah, who replaced his Raspberry Pi setup with it, described it as “Super small and compact too.”
Two of the three critical reviews quoted below came from owners running it as a multi-drive NAS. Verified buyer Yam ran TrueNAS Scale with all six M.2 slots filled (6x2TB in RAIDZ2) and reported the “system kept degrading/dropping my drives”; tech support suggested freeing a slot for the OS, which was not an option, so the unit went back. A verified owner named johnny hit the same wall: “atleast once a day i would have a drive randomly disconnect and i would have to restart the device,” which he suspected was overheating and which left it “completely unusable” for his use. Separately, JOE K JOHNSON reported a hard failure, writing that the “Product died after 36 days” with no POST and a black screen, just after the return window closed. If you plan to load every M.2 bay, weigh those drive-stability reports carefully.
A quiet all-SSD NAS for a first home server
The ME Mini arrives as a finished storage platform, with Crucial drives already fitted in the pre-configured bundles and the power supply inside the case. The Intel N150 processor handles file serving, media streaming, and light virtualization; anyone with heavy transcoding or compute requirements should look at a stronger box such as the Beelink SER9.
Buy it if you want quiet 24/7 storage that idles around 17W with six SSDs and can accept soldered RAM and a 15W chip. Builds with dual 2.5 Gigabit ethernet ports and link aggregation have headroom for multi-user environments, and the six M.2 slots leave a clear upgrade path as storage needs grow. Wildcat Lake shoppers can weigh buying an N150 box now or waiting for Intel 18A. At $259 to $525 depending on configuration, that is fair for a machine this focused.
Starry Hope’s Mini PC Comparison Chart lines it up against other compact machines.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many drives can the Beelink ME Mini hold?
Six M.2 NVMe SSDs, in 2230, 2242, or 2280 form factors. With current 4TB M.2 drives that adds up to 24TB of storage in a body smaller than most routers.
Can the RAM in the ME Mini be upgraded?
No, the LPDDR5 RAM is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be upgraded. The device is available in 12GB and 16GB configurations, so choose the 16GB variant if you plan to run memory-intensive workloads like ZFS with deduplication. For a broader look at how soldered memory affects buying decisions across the mini PC market, see our guide on when soldered RAM is a dealbreaker.
What operating systems work with the ME Mini?
The ME Mini ships with Windows 11 Pro and supports popular NAS operating systems including TrueNAS, OpenMediaVault, UnRAID, and standard Linux distributions. The 64GB eMMC can hold the OS, leaving all six M.2 slots available for data storage.
How loud is the Beelink ME Mini during operation?
NAS Compares measured 31-34 dBA at idle and up to 40 dBA under heavy load. With no spinning drives, the only noise source is the small fan, which is quiet enough for a living room.
What is the power consumption of the ME Mini?
NAS Compares measured 6 to 6.9 watts at idle with no SSDs and about 16.9 watts idle with six SSDs installed, peaking at 28 to 31 watts under full load. Running it 24/7 adds only a few dollars per month to an electricity bill.
Are the M.2 slots fast enough for NAS use?
One slot runs at PCIe 3.0 x2 (approximately 1,700 MB/s) while five operate at PCIe 3.0 x1 (approximately 900 MB/s each). While these speeds are slower than modern NVMe standards, they still far exceed the dual 2.5 Gigabit ethernet ports, which top out around 600 MB/s combined.
Does the ME Mini support Plex transcoding?
The Intel N150 includes Quick Sync hardware encoding, enabling hardware-accelerated transcoding for a limited number of streams. For direct play or remux content, the ME Mini handles Plex media serving without issue. Heavy simultaneous transcoding will challenge the 15W-limited processor.