Beelink EQ13 review: it's a budget low power Alder Lake N200 Mini office/cloud/(HT)PC

Beelink is a brand known to us here at Neowin. Last year, we reviewed the powerful SER6 Max, which included a Ryzen 7 7735HS. Today, we're back to Intel with a low-powered (25W TDP) Alder Lake N200 Mini PC, and we'll find out how it stacks up.

Below are the full specifications of it.

Beelink only has the one configuration listed for the EQ13 which includes a 12th gen Alder Lake-N N200, a CPU which debuted in Q1 of 2023, 16GB of DDR4 Single Channel RAM (3200MT/s) with an oddly small 512GB AZW M.2 SATA SSD for storage. A Windows 11 Pro license is also preloaded. As of writing it is currently listed on the website for $259, but you can also get it $10 cheaper over on Amazon for $249 when you apply the $50 off discount coupon.

Thanks to its smaller height, that means that a 2.5-inch SSD cannot be added, but there are two internal M.2 slots, so you can add a second SSD, but you should be aware that the slot which is used is an M.2 SATA, limited to PCIe 3.0 x1 speeds. However, there is a second NVMe slot which can also be used.

The packaging follows the same design and experience as the full-sized Mini PCs, although it is shorter in height. After removing the outer cardboard sleeve and pulling the top off the box, you are presented with the Mini PC sitting on a plastic "shelf," and under that, there is a "Hello" card. Below the documentation, you can find the power lead and HDMI cable.

What’s In The Box

• 1 x Beelink EQ13 Mini PC
• 1 x Power Lead
• 1 x HDMI Cable
• 1 x User Guide
• 1 x Hello Card

As you can see below, you have everything you'll need to get started.

Design

The look of it is quite nice, the color is as described on the product page, "Navy Blue", the top has a slightly textured feel to it, with the Beelink and EQ branding in the bottom right corner on the top.

The sides are completely smooth, and all of the edges are rounded off, so there are no sharp edges. And although the outer housing is plastic, it has a premium feel to it. The EQ13 is light as well: it's just 493 grams, so it won't weigh you down when carrying it from place to place.

The front of the EQ13 includes two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (Type-C and A). Having Type-C on the front of a Mini PC is a personal preference of mine given how external storage and most devices already come with Type-C these days. There's also an audio jack and a clear CMOS pinhole.

As far as looks go, and as previously mentioned, it's a Navy Blue color with a completely plastic outer shell, and thanks to the fact it's not glossy, it's not a fingerprint magnet. However, despite the plastic build, it doesn't feel cheap and isn't flimsy either, and even when the base is removed it remains sturdy.

To access it, you must first remove the tiny rubber feet covering the four Philips head screws located in each corner. A small Stanley knife to remove the rubber feet and hobby screwdriver is enough for the job.

You might need to carefully use the Stanley knife again, to prise the plate free, however you won't have to worry about any ribbon cables, because the backplate does not include a 2.5-inch SSD sled or WiFi antenna cables. The screws do come loose, so be sure not to lose them.

As you can see from the above images which can be enlarged when clicked on, there's a heatsink over the two SSD slots, but also ample room to manage the single SODIMM, and AZW 512 GB M.2 SSD, yes Beelink went with an M.2 SATA, which is a bit disappointing, considering the other slot is the PCIe 3.0 x4 option.

Usage

Bios

The EQ13 uses a full featured Aptio BIOS which is not locked down at all, meaning you can tweak CPU and power settings to your heart's content, this will afford options like being able to use DDR5 memory and configure an XMP profile, if present.

On first boot, you are prompted to complete the setup of Windows 11 Pro, meaning you do not have to fork out for a license, which is nice. After the setup was completed, I saw that it landed on 22H2 (build 22621.3527), which is relatively recent (April 2024), so even though I had to install a bunch of updates, it wasn't like having to upgrade from the original Windows 11 from 2021. In addition, Beelink does not include any bloatware in their PCs, so that is always a bonus.

It's only possible to attach two screens to the EQ13 using the two HDMI. The EQ13 supports up to 4K @ 60Hz through those HDMI 2.0 ports.

Regarding connectivity, on the back from left to right, there are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, one USB 2.0 Type-A port, two HDMI ports, two RJ45 1GbE ports, along with a power lead connection. Above the ports are grills for ventilation

Around the front, there are two more USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, with one being Type-A and the other Type-C, and a port for a 3.5mm headphone jack. Unfortunately, the Type-C port is data only, so you can't connect a screen or charge a phone with it. I was able to link my Edifier 360DB speakers over Bluetooth 5.2, and I did not experience any noticeable audio delays.

There is no Kensington lock option or SD card slot on the EQ13. Air cooling is done through the bottom, with smaller grills to expel heat on the back.

Benchmarks

Before I started running benchmarks, I ensured that Windows 11 and drivers were up to date. At the time of testing, the EQ13 was running Windows 11 Professional 22H2 build 22621.3737 with the June 2024 Patch Tuesday update (I was not offered 23H2), and I also upgraded to the latest Intel 31.0.101.5592 WHQL Certified (June 2024) Intel Arc & Iris Xe Graphics drivers.

With that out of the way, and because people like that sort of thing, I ran some benchmarks and compared it to the beefier Ryzen 7 7735HS, but also the less powerful Alder Lake N100 purely for reference.

For the benchmarks, I used 3DMark, PCMark 10, Geekbench, Cinebench R23, and 7-Zip. 3DMark Time Spy tests gaming capability with DX12 graphics performance, and 7-Zip for compression and decompression speeds..

PCMark tests are a mix of CPU and real-world productivity tests, such as using an office suite, web browsing, light photo/video editing, and making conference calls.

Cinebench stresses the entire CPU as it is a multi-threaded rendering test. Finally, Geekbench is a synthetic benchmark that is great for a quick look at the potential performance across a wide range of workloads.

As you can see, the N200 in the EQ13 performed better than the Air12 thanks to the small speed bumps and 8 extra EUs in the Iris Xe iGPU. However, the Ryzen 7 7735HS blows it out of the water, proving that it is more suited for light gaming, whereas the EQ13 certainly isn't.

On paper, the N200—introduced in Q1 of 2023—at first glance looks impressive enough with support for AV1 decode, HDMI 2.1, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, LPDDR5, DDR5 and DDR4, but with a max TDP of 25W and only 4 E-cores; but on the flip-side, it only supports a maximum of 16 GB of single channel memory, with a measly 32 EUs, so we're entering Chromebook-level territory here. The lack of bandwidth due to the single channel memory reflected in the poor Time Spy score, as both the CPU and GPU were clearly fighting over scraps.

It's a Celeron, even if Intel isn't calling it that anymore; therefore any expectations should be adjusted with this fact.

Even Beelink isn't touting this as something you can use for light gaming. In fact, the product page only says "light office, multimedia playback, virtual machine, NAS, meeting all your daily needs, and helping you balance work and entertainment." for this Mini PC.

I also tested the SSD's capability using AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark.

The poor results here clearly show through the choice of shipping this with an M.2 SSD, despite the fact there is an empty PCIe 3.0 x4 slot sitting right next to it. One could argue that for an additional $100 or so, you could significantly improve the performance of this Mini PC by simply buying an NVMe SSD for it, but it does automatically increase the cost.

When running the above benchmark tests, the EQ13 did get a little warm on the top and toward the back of the mini PC, but there were no annoying noises coming from the single fan that cools the unit. The 25W TDP really leaves its mark here.

Speaking of the fan, the EQ13 also includes a laptop-inspired cooling system that Beelink claims is "near silent" and efficient at dissipating heat, and I can confirm the EQ13 never got hot to the touch and barely made any noise that I could hear.

Conclusion

As can be expected of a Mini PC, the EQ13 isn't a gaming PC. You will not be able to enjoy even light gaming on it, but it is suited as something like a cloud PC office workstation or perhaps a good solution for a student or office worker without a permanent desk; this thing also isn't taking up much room in your bag, affording the ability to pack it away after every use.

When you're spending a few hundred dollars to replace the job of a full-sized PC, you're going to want it to replicate as much of the capability as possible, aside from the obvious lack of GPU prowess. As I said earlier, the decision ultimately comes down to what you're willing to pay for the options you need.

As of writing, only $259 on the official website, or $249 on Amazon (with a $50 coupon applied), for this Beelink EQ13, which includes a CPU launched only a year and a half ago, 16 GB of DDR4 memory, and a 512 GB M.2 SATA with Windows 11 Pro installed on it, it's not going to leave a massive dent in your wallet.

The negatives here are certainly the tiny M.2 SATA storage option and also not having a USB Type C port on the front (or back) that supports a powered screen. DDR4 is also a bit disappointing, considering it supports DDR5, but that's still pricey compared to DDR4, so at only $259, perhaps we can forgive these omissions.

If you're happy with the relatively weak CPU and iGPU, you are still getting a capable office-class Mini PC with a vast array of connectivity options that utilize a tiny footprint. It may not be clamoring to set any records as a Mini PC, but this could be a smart decision for small businesses that utilize a cloud PC environment or maybe as an HTPC for super energy-efficient home use.