Bmax B6 Turbo

The Bmax B6 Turbo is a small desktop for office work and two-monitor setups, built on the Intel Core i5-8257U, a quad-core laptop chip Intel launched in the third quarter of 2019. Unlike the Bmax B6, which has its memory soldered to the board, the Turbo has two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots, ships with 16GB, and takes up to 32GB. The chip is seven years old, and one of its two video outputs stops at 4K 30Hz.

Pros and Cons

Bmax B6 Turbo Comparison Chart

	Bmax B6 Turbo
Price	List Price: $309.99 Amazon Prices: Loading prices...
Version	16GB/512GB/Core i5-8257U
Performance Rating	3.4
Operating System	Windows 11 Pro
Processor	Quad-core 1.40 Ghz (max 3.90 Ghz) Intel Core i5-8257U
GPU	Integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics
RAM	16 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM (2x SO-DIMM slots, up to 32GB; BMAX does not say whether the 16GB is one stick or two)
Internal Storage	512 GB M.2 SSD
Dimensions width x length x thickness	4.92 x 4.41 x 1.3 inches (124.97 x 112.01 x 33.02 mm)
Weight	0.74 lbs (0.34 kg)
WiFi	Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 5.2
Ethernet	1 Ethernet port at 1 Gbps
HDMI	1 Full-Size HDMI Port
DisplayPort	1 DisplayPort (DP 1.2, 4K at 60Hz)
VGA	No VGA Ports
USB Ports	2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3 Front: 2x USB-A 3.2. Rear: 2x USB-A 2.0
Thunderbolt Ports	No
OCuLink	No
Internal SATA Ports	No SATA ports
Card Reader	No Card Reader
Headphone Jack	combo
Fanless	No
VESA Mount	Yes
In the Box	Mini PC, power adapter, HDMI cable, VESA mount with screws, user guide
Expandability	Two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots, up to 32GB. Two M.2 2280 slots.

Front and rear ports, HDMI 1.4b and DisplayPort 1.2

The case measures about 4.9 x 4.4 x 1.3 inches and weighs about three-quarters of a pound, in a dark green finish with a brushed top. The front panel holds a clear CMOS pinhole, a 3.5mm headset jack, two USB 3.2 Type-A ports, and the power button. The back carries HDMI, DisplayPort, two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and the 12V barrel power input. BMAX ships a VESA bracket and screws, so the box can hang on the back of a monitor.

BMAX lists the DisplayPort as version 1.2 and the HDMI port as 1.4b, and both ports can drive a monitor at the same time. Intel’s specifications for the i5-8257U give 4096 x 2304 as the top resolution on both, at 60Hz on DisplayPort and 30Hz on HDMI. A 4K monitor on HDMI feels sluggish for desktop work at 30Hz, so a desk with two screens works best with the 4K monitor on DisplayPort and a 1440p or 1080p monitor on HDMI.

Wireless comes from a Wi-Fi 6 radio (802.11ax, dual band) with Bluetooth 5.2. Wired networking is a single Gigabit Ethernet port, which suits an office desk but caps file transfers at about 1Gbps.

Core i5-8257U ahead of an N100 on multi-core work

The Core i5-8257U has four cores and eight threads, a 1.4GHz base clock, a 3.9GHz turbo, 6MB of cache, and a 15W rating. PassMark rates it at about 7,381, which puts it ahead of the four-core Intel N100 (about 5,305) and N150 (about 5,343), though well behind current Ryzen and Core Ultra chips.

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645 handles the displays, with 48 execution units and a top clock of 1.05GHz.

BMAX and Intel both rate the platform for 32GB. The chip supports DDR4 up to 2400MT/s across two channels, so faster modules run at that speed. BMAX does not say whether the 16GB is one stick or two, and dual-channel operation needs a module in each slot. Storage spans two M.2 2280 slots: one NVMe slot on two PCIe 3.0 lanes and one slot that takes SATA or NVMe drives on four PCIe 3.0 lanes. The included 512GB SSD fills one, which leaves the other free for a second drive. Windows 11 Pro comes preinstalled, and BMAX includes a recovery tool that resets Windows to factory state.

Beelink SER5 for USB-C video and a third monitor

The Beelink SER5 adds a USB-C port that carries video and a DisplayPort 1.4 output, and its HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C ports drive up to three monitors. Starry Hope’s Mini PC Comparison Chart lines the B6 Turbo up against other models on specs and ports.

Frequently Asked Questions