Beelink SER9 Pro

It suits you if you want a small Windows 11 Pro desktop, 135 x 135 x 44.7 mm, for office work, browsing and development. It also fits a desk with several monitors, since it drives up to 3 displays, and a home network running at 2.5GbE. Developers should go straight to the 32 GB build.

Skip it if you want demanding games, local language models or workstation work: all three are a poor fit, with integrated Radeon 780M graphics and no card slot. Skip it too if you expect to add memory later, because the memory is soldered and there are no slots.

Everyday work is well suited: eight cores, sixteen threads and 24 GB or 32 GB of LPDDR5X leave plenty of room for browsers, office suites and video calls.

Coding is workable on the two 24 GB builds and well suited on the 32 GB build. The gap exists because soldered memory cannot be raised, which matters once an IDE, a browser and containers run together.

Gaming is a poor fit. The Radeon 780M is integrated graphics, and there is neither an OCuLink port nor a card slot. Treat it as a machine for work and video rather than play.

Homelab use is workable. Two M.2 slots and 2.5GbE networking make it a tidy host for containers or a media library, but Beelink does not state how many network ports it has, so do not plan a router or firewall around it. Windows 11 Pro comes installed, so plan a reinstall if you want a hypervisor instead.

Local AI is a poor fit. Memory capacity decides which model sizes fit, and every build stops at 32 GB.

Workstation work is a poor fit too: no discrete graphics, no PCIe card slot, no memory slots and a 32 GB memory ceiling.

All three builds share the Ryzen 7 H 255, the Radeon 780M, LPDDR5X and Windows 11 Pro; only memory and storage change. The first pairs 24 GB with a 500 GB NVMe drive, the second keeps 24 GB with 1024 GB, and the third has 32 GB with 1024 GB. Storage can grow later through the M.2 slots and memory cannot, so let memory decide: the 32 GB model is the one for coding, and the 24 GB models suit everyday use.

Memory is fixed. There are no memory slots, the LPDDR5X is soldered at 6400 MT/s, and the 32 GB maximum is what the top build already ships with, so no build has headroom. Buy the memory you need on day one.

Storage is where you can grow. The two M.2 slots take 2280 drives, and the first runs at PCIe 4.0, so a PCIe 5.0 drive there runs at PCIe 4.0 speed. Beelink does not state the second slot's generation, so check it before paying for a fast M.2 drive.

Up to 3 screens are supported: one on HDMI, one on DisplayPort and one over USB-C, which carries DisplayPort alt mode. Beelink does not state the HDMI version, and 4K above 60 Hz over HDMI needs HDMI 2.1 on the computer and the display plus a matching cable. A USB-C monitor with a video input can take the picture over one cable, though it will not power the mini PC.

Networking is 2.5GbE wired, with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 from the included wireless module. There is one USB4 port, no Thunderbolt and no OCuLink.

The memory is soldered with no slots, so the build you pick is the build you keep. There is no PCIe card slot and no SATA bay. Beelink does not state the memory bandwidth, the graphics memory, the second M.2 slot's PCIe generation, M.2 SATA support, ECC support, the number of network ports or USB-A ports, the HDMI and DisplayPort versions, an SD card reader, the power supply, the TDP or VESA mount support.

The SER9 Pro is easiest to judge against other machines on a few concrete points. Compare the memory ceiling and whether memory is socketed, since this one stops at 32 GB, soldered. Compare the number of network ports and the PCIe generation of every M.2 slot. If gaming matters, compare graphics too, because this machine relies on the integrated Radeon 780M and has no OCuLink port.