Best Mini PC – the Future is Small & Compact
4. MSI Cubi 3 Silent – ENTHUSIAST PC
The MSI Cubi 3 Silent has a fanless design for silent operation. It also lengthens the product life cycle as there are no moving components and reduces the dust into the product. The MSI Cubi is offered as a barebone PC, without memory or storage with all components enclosed in an all aluminium casing available in silver or black to help dissipate the heat.
On the top of the case sits a full size aluminium CPU heat sink to keep the heart of the machine running cool all the time. For the processor, you will need to pick from Intel’s 7th generation Kabylake-U energy efficient range that can be anything from budget Celeron and Pentium to Core i5 and i7 processors.
Installing or upgrading the hard drive (2.5″ HDD/SSD), solid state drive (M.2 SSD) and memory (2 x SO-DIMM) is easy and involves just 4 screws. The system is dual display capable via HDMI and DisplayPort perfect as a multi-monitor workstation. It also supports 4K Ultra-HD resolution at 3840 x 2160 pixels.
For connectivity, there are 4 USB ports (2 x USB 3.1 Type-A in front with one charging port, 2 x USB 3.1 Type-A on the back), LAN port, two COM Ports for commercial model (receipt printer, barcode scanner, credit card reader, barcode hand terminal). Image shown below does not come with the RJ-45 COM1 and Serial COM2 ports for commercial support.
ALSO: MSI Cubi 5 10M – POWERFUL YET EFFICIENT
If you are after something with a little more power, choose the MSI Cubi 5 10M. It uses Intel’s 10th generation Comet Lake energy efficient CPU with up to Intel Core i7 U-processor. The barebone device supports 2 x DDR4 SO-DIMM memory up to 64GB, WiFi 6, USB3.2 Gen 1 Type C ports, dual monitor and dual drive (1 x M.2 SSD and 1 x 2.5-inch SSSD / HDD) storage. All that is packed in a small and tidy package that can also be mounted to the back of a monitor via standard VESA mount.
