Taking a step ahead of its direct competitors, Beelink has chosen to equip its brand new SER9 with a latest generation Ryzen AI processor. Without forgetting to equip it with other very appreciable exclusives.
Along with Minisforum and Geekom, Beelink is clearly one of the most active mini PC manufacturers. And the most innovative. Particularly dynamic in recent years, the Chinese manufacturer has continued to enrich its catalog with new models that are completely convincing by integrating recent chips and technologies (see the tests of the excellent SER8 and GTR7), which, moreover, at very reasonable prices. More recently, Beelink has distinguished itself again by being the first to offer mini PCs with an integrated power supply instead of an external block (see our article). Better still, some models are equipped with microphones and speakers, which is still unique on the market – an excellent idea that we would like to see become more widespread.
And to continue on this great momentum, the manufacturer has just unveiled the first mini PC powered by a latest-generation AMD chip. This is the SER9which is equipped with the brand new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, a chip that has just appeared on a few high-end laptops. And which holds great promise, as its AI name suggests.
Beelink SER9: an ultra-powerful processor and little extras
Inaugurating AMD’s AI 300 family, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 combines three modules: a CPU (general-purpose central processor), a GPU (graphics circuit), and an NPU (a processing unit dedicated to AI). An unprecedented combination at AMD, which promises a cumulative power of 80 TOPS, sufficient in principle to run AI locally – and to receive the famous Copilot+ PC label from Microsoft, since the NPU alone can already provide 50 TOPS. However, while waiting for truly useful applications to take advantage of this very fashionable unit, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 has power to spare for classic uses.
Based on AMD’s new Zen architecture and benefiting from ultra-fine 4nm engraving (TSMC’s FinFET process), its CPU has 12 cores in hybrid mode (4 Zen 5 cores and 8 Zen 5c cores) capable of handling 24 threads. Its integrated GPU (iGPU for short) is not left out, since it is based on AMD’s new RDNA 3.5 graphics platform, with the Radeon 890M: a 16-core module, offering superior performance to that of the excellent 780M present on the best Ryzen of the previous generation, and capable of handling many very high definition display modes (8K at 60 Hz and even 4K at 240 Hz). In short, a very beautiful beast!
For its part, the SER9 manages simultaneous display on three screens in 4K at 120 Hz with different outputs, which is already excellent. The mini PC is also well equipped in terms of interfaces, with a fairly complete range (USB 4, DisplayPort, HDMI, 2.5 Gbit/s Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, etc.). It is also well equipped in memory, with 32 GB of fast LPDDR5X-7500 type RAM and two NVMe 2.2 2280 SSD slots in PCIe x4 accommodating up to 8 TB of storage in total.
Above all, it benefits from two recent innovations introduced by Beelink: a microphone system materialized by four small holes on the front, and a pair of speakers delivering stereo sound (certainly not hifi, but very practical). On the other hand, there is no integrated power supply on this model: you still have to rely on a classic external block.
As you can see, with its superb metal case, its dustproof grille, its ultra-quiet cooling system, like the SER8, its new generation processor and its exclusive little extras, the SER9 is shaping up to be one of the most innovative and promising mini PCs of the moment. A status that is also reflected in its price: nearly 900 euros with 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. But we are clearly at the top of the range, the new Ryzen and LPDDR5X memory are quite expensive, and the SER9 is currently unrivaled. And, in any case, we are still very far from Apple’s prices!