ACEMAGIC S1

It suits anyone who wants a small Windows 11 Pro machine for email, documents, web apps and video, sitting on a desk or beside a TV with its two HDMI outputs. It also suits a tinkerer who wants a low-key box for a firewall, DNS filter or file sync, since it has two network ports and two M.2 slots.

Skip it if you compile large projects or keep an IDE, many browser tabs and test tools open together, because memory stops at 16 GB in one slot. Gamers and anyone wanting to run language models locally should look elsewhere too, because the graphics is integrated Intel UHD Graphics and the N95 has four cores and four threads.

Everyday use is well suited: the four-core Intel N95 and 16 GB of DDR4 handle browsing, office files and streaming under Windows 11 Pro. Two HDMI outputs also let you work across a pair of screens.

Coding is a poor fit, because one memory slot with a 16 GB ceiling leaves no room to grow for heavier toolchains or virtual machines.

Gaming is a poor fit, since the only graphics is the integrated Intel UHD Graphics, with four cores and four threads behind it.

Homelab use is well suited, thanks to two network ports and two M.2 slots for a router, firewall or small file store. Both ports run at 1GbE, so plan around gigabit speeds.

Local AI is a poor fit. Capacity decides which model sizes fit and bandwidth decides how fast they write text; here memory stops at 16 GB, the operating system keeps about 8 GB of it, and ACEMAGIC does not state the memory bandwidth.

Workstation use is a poor fit: there is no discrete graphics, no expansion card slot, a single memory slot and too little memory for demanding professional software.

Both retail builds share the Intel N95, Intel UHD Graphics, 16 GB of DDR4 and Windows 11 Pro, so storage is the only difference. The 512 GB model uses a SATA drive, while the 1024 GB model uses NVMe. Pick the 1024 GB NVMe model if you keep a large photo or media library on the machine itself. The 512 GB SATA model is enough for office work with files kept in the cloud, and you can add a second drive later in the free M.2 slot.

Memory is not soldered, but there is one SODIMM slot and ACEMAGIC gives a maximum of 16 GB, which both builds already ship with, so there is no memory headroom. Any change is a swap of the DDR4 2666 MT/s module, not an increase. Storage has more room: two M.2 slots take 2280 drives, and they accept SATA M.2 drives as well. The first slot runs at PCIe 3.0, so a faster drive placed there runs at PCIe 3.0 speed. ACEMAGIC does not state the second slot's generation, so plan on adding an M.2 drive there without counting on NVMe speeds.

You can run two screens, both over HDMI: there are two HDMI 2.0 outputs and no DisplayPort. Because the outputs are HDMI 2.0, HDMI 2.1 features such as 4K above 60 Hz are out of reach. For peripherals there are four USB-A ports and no USB-C, USB4 or Thunderbolt. Wired networking comes from two 1GbE ports, and Wi-Fi 5 is built in alongside Bluetooth 4.2. There is no OCuLink, and power comes from an external 12V 3A adapter.

The hard ceiling is memory: one slot and a 16 GB maximum. Networking stops at 1GbE, there are no USB-C ports, and there is no expansion card slot. ACEMAGIC does not state the graphics memory, the memory bandwidth, ECC support, the second M.2 slot's PCIe generation, whether there is an SD card reader, the TDP or a VESA mount.

When you look at other machines, compare the memory ceiling first, since this one stops at 16 GB in a single slot, and the storage type, which here is SATA on the 512 GB model and NVMe on the 1024 GB model. For a homelab, compare the network ports, here two at 1GbE, and for a desk setup check for USB-C and the number of displays, which here is two over HDMI.