Beelink EQ12 Pro review – affordable mini PC with Intel Core i3-N305 and 16 GB RAM

Mini PCs offer more and more performance with compact dimensions and low power consumption, which is why they are becoming more and more popular, especially in offices and home offices. While the selection used to be very manageable, there is now a large number of mini-PC manufacturers and models in all performance and price classes. One of these manufacturers is the Chinese company Beelink, which recently introduced the EQ12 and EQ12 Pro models. In the test, we take a closer look at the Beelink EQ12 Pro, for currently €349, which offers, among other things, an Intel N305 processor, 16 GB of RAM, a 500 GB SSD and a pre-installed Windows 11.

Specifications of the Beelink EQ12 Pro

• Includes mini PC and power supply, as well as two HDMI cables
• A wall mount and screws are also included

The Beelink EQ12 Pro comes in a white box with a blue top that references the EQ series and the exact model. The reference to the 12th generation also states that a 12th generation Intel processor (Alder Lake) is installed. Beelink mentions more info about the hardware on the back of the box. The box is very compact and already hints at the size of the mini-PC.

The box is divided into two parts on the inside. On one side you’ll find a manual and the EQ12 Pro underneath, on the other side a white box with the other accessories. These include the power supply necessary for operation, but also two HDMI cables of different lengths, a wall mount, screws for the wall mount and a 2.5″ drive as well as an Intel Core i3 sticker.

Design and build quality of the Beelink EQ12 Pro

• Very compact dimensions
• Housing made of glossy ABS plastic

The Beelink EQ12 Pro has an approximately square footprint of 12.4 x 11.3 cm and is just 3.9 cm high. Thanks to the very small volume, the mini PC can fit almost anywhere. The weight is also very low at only 333 g.

The case of the EQ12 Pro is made of glossy ABS plastic. The upper side of the case is slightly textured, all other sides are smooth. In addition to the dark blue color that was available for our review, there is also a white, a light gray and a dark gray version. The front ports and the power button are embedded in glossy black plastic, regardless of the selected color. On the left and right side as well as on the back, above the ports, there are vents for air and heat exchange, respectively.

On the bottom of the EQ12 Pro are two larger rubberized and textured strips, which are supposed to prevent the mini-PC from slipping. If you want to open the case, all you have to do is unscrew the Phillips screws, which are located on all four corners, and then you can remove the base plate with the help of the rubber tab.

The workmanship and material quality of the EQ12 Pro are good. The case leaves a sufficiently stable impression and doesn’t have any flaws, but of course can’t keep up with an aluminum case or similar. However, the latter is more likely to be found in more expensive mini-PCs. Furthermore, it should be noted that the glossy surface is susceptible to fingerprints and dust.

Features and ports

• Power-saving Intel processor with integrated graphics unit
• 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 500GB NVMe SSD for mass storage
• WiFi 6 (at up to 600 Mbps) and Bluetooth 5.2

With its hardware, the Beelink EQ12 Pro is aimed at users who want to use the mini PC for surfing the Internet, office or even multimedia applications. Users with demanding applications that require high computing power should probably rather reach for a model with Intel Core i5/i7 or a comparable AMD processor.

It has a current Intel Core i3-N305 processor from the Alder Lake-N series, which was only introduced in January of this year. This offers eight efficiency cores, no Hyper-Threading and clocks with up to 3.80 Ghz or 3 Ghz with Multi-Core Turbo. The graphics unit is integrated, based on the Intel Xe-GPU architecture and offers 32 EUs (Execution Units) that clock with up to 1.25 GHz. The Thermal Design Power (average power consumption when running at base frequency) is specified by Intel with up to 15 W.

Furthermore, the EQ12 Pro has 16 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM. This is also the maximum size and speed that the Intel Core i3-N305 processor supports. For mass storage, Beelink relies on a 500 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe 3.0), which is however only connected via PCIe 3.0×1 and offers transfer speeds of up to 800 MB/s according to the technical data. If you want to expand the storage, it can be replaced with a larger M.2. SSD with a length of up to 80 mm (M.2-2280) or another SSD in 2.5″ format can be installed. For wireless data transfer, Beelink offers Wi-Fi 6, but with only up to 600 Mbps, and Bluetooth 5.2.

Connections

• modern ports, including 2.5 GBit/s Ethernet LAN
• all USB ports allow up to 10 GBit/s
• Unfortunately only one USB-C port

On the front of the Beelink EQ12 Pro, you can find one time 3.5 mm jack and two times USB 3.2 Gen2 type A in addition to the power button. Unfortunately, there is no USB-C port, which is increasingly needed for external SSDs, USB sticks or other devices.

On the back of the EQ12 Pro, on the other hand, you will find another USB 3.2 Gen2 Type A port as well as a USB-C port. This port also supports the DisplayPort legacy mode, which enables a picture output of up to 4K and 60 Hz. PowerDelivery on the other hand is not supported. All USB ports offer a transfer rate of up to 10 GBit/s. Furthermore, you’ll find two HDMI 2.0 ports and two LAN ports on the back, which offer a transmission speed of up to 2.5 GBit/s.

The Mini-PC offers enough ports, but in our opinion, one or two more USB ports and a USB-C port on the front of the case would be desirable. Furthermore, we would also like to see a universally applicable USB-C power supply for powering, as we are increasingly finding in notebooks.

Practical test of the Beelink EQ12 Pro

• Quickly ready to use, thanks to pre-installed Windows 11 Pro
• Good performance in office and multimedia applications
• low power consumption of 31 W max

The Beelink EQ12 Pro comes with Windows 11 Pro already pre-installed. After a few minutes, which include the setup and installation of updates, the mini-PC is ready for use. Beelink does without bloatware or other pre-installed software.

In the test, the Beelink EQ12 Pro convinces in everyday applications, such as surfing the Internet, office or multimedia applications. We did not notice any disadvantages compared to much faster hardware, such as noticeable loading times or delays, and the parallel use of several applications is not a problem. The mini-PC also remains quiet. However, this changes significantly in demanding applications like games. For example, the playback rate of games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider from 2018 often dropped below 10 frames per second at medium details, which makes it far from playable. The volume also increases under high load, although this is not a particularly loud mini-PC specimen.

The power consumption is usually around 12 to 15 W in simple applications, but it rises up to 31 W (measured with a Shelly Plug S) in demanding applications like Cinebench’s Multi Core Test. The included power supply has an output power of 36 W.

Benchmarks

In order to objectively and comparably evaluate the performance of the Beelink Beelink EQ12 Pro in the test, it was also determined in various benchmarks.

For the performance test of the SSD, we rely on the tools known from our SSD tests, AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark. PCMark 10, on the other hand, is suitable for determining the performance of the entire system. It offers a variety of smaller tests that cover everyday (work) tasks like web browsing, office applications, image and video editing as well as gaming. We still determine the CPU performance with Cinebench R23, one of the most well-known CPU benchmarks, which is based on the professional rendering tool Cinema 4D and can evaluate both single and multi-core performance.

Furthermore, 3DMark is also part of the benchmarks. We determine the DX11 performance with the Fire Strike test and the DX12 performance with the Time Spy test. Since it is already clear from the Thermal Design Power of only 15 W and the Intel UHD Graphics Xe with only 32EUs that the mini-PC is hardly suitable for gaming, we do without further benchmarks here.

SSD benchmarks: AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark

The installed NVMe SSD is an unknown model with the MAP 1202A-F1C controller from the Chinese manufacturer Maxio, which is also unknown to us. Since the SSD is only connected via PCIe 3.0×1, this results in a limit of ~875 MB/s (~3,500 MB/s with PCIe 3.0×4). Beelink states transfer rates of up to 800 MB/s, we reach 760 MB/s in AS SSD and 863 MB/s in CrystalDiskMark. The performance of the SSD is thus rather low, but sufficient for typical applications of the mini-PC.

Performance in Cinebench R23 and PCMark 10

In Cinebench R23, the Beelink EQ12 Pro scores 4,239 points in the Multi Core test and 912 points in the Single Core test. For comparison, a current CPU for desktop systems, such as the Intel Core i3-12100, achieves 8,560 points in the Multi Core test and 1,686 points in the Single Core test. However, the CPU’s Thermal Design Power is 60 W, which means it is allowed to consume significantly more power and also produces significantly more waste heat.

The EQ12 Pro achieves 3,686 points in PCMark. The result for Essentials is quite sufficient for an office PC, but the results for Productivity and especially Digital Content Creation are much lower, also due to the rather weak graphics unit. The already mentioned Intel Core i3-12100 again achieves almost twice the score with ~7,000 points. If you look at the scores depending on the power consumption, the result is still good.

Graphics performance in 3DMark

As already mentioned, the Intel UHD Graphics Xe with 32EUs is an integrated graphics unit of the entry-level segment. These are used for image output for various applications, but already reach their limits at low to medium detail levels in more current games. Unsurprisingly, we only achieved 1,743 points in the Fire Strike test (DX11) and 599 points in the Time Spy test (DX12) in 3DMark. This confirms our assessment that the mini-PC is hardly or rather not suitable for gaming.

Beelink EQ12 Pro review: conclusion

The Beelink EQ12 Pro turns out to be a good, and for surfing the Internet, for office or even multimedia applications sufficiently performant, mini PC in the test. Besides the very frugal processor, 16 GB of RAM and the 500 GB SSD, you get fast USB and LAN ports as well as options for up to three displays. Thanks to the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro, the mini PC is also ready for use within a few minutes. In use, it also convinces with a very low power consumption and a mostly low noise level.

If you want to use more demanding software or even play games besides the above-mentioned office or multimedia applications, the EQ12 Pro quickly reaches its limits due to the installed hardware. The low graphics performance, but also the slow connection of the NVMe SSD are particularly negative. The latter is rarely noticed, but the limit of ~875 MB/s remains even with an SSD upgrade because the processor provides too few PCIe lanes.

Thus, the Beelink EQ12 Pro is especially interesting for users who are looking for a very frugal, but nevertheless well-equipped, and also inexpensive mini-PC. Price-wise, the mini-PC started at 349€, which is also currently reached with a voucher. However, the price and the vouchers fluctuate, so that the mini-PC was partly also already available for ~300€, a quite good price in our opinion.