Hi all, It's good to be back on here. Apologies for the extended leave of absence as I had to take some time off to work on myself, life etc. But hey the good news is that I've got a backlog of devices to review to aid your purchasing decisions, with more new devices scheduled. I would also like to thank all of you who reached out via PM to check up on me



Today I'm reviewing the recently launched Beelink SEi12 i5-1240P Pro Mini PC. This is one sleekly built Windows 11 Pro Mini Desktop PC equipped with the 2022 Intel® Core™ i5-1240P Processor (12th Gen) and Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics. This should not be confused with the i5-1235U version yeah (has 10 cores) or the more powerful and equally pricier i7-1260P equipped SEi12 variant. The Beelink SEi12 i5-1240P Pro Mini PC packs Dual Channel 16GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM, while it's i7 variant packs a whopping Dual Channel 32GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM. Depending on your needs, I can confirm that this 16GB RAM, 500GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD is plenty power enough. A cold boot takes 8 seconds to a fully loaded desktop ("loading circle-free" mouse icon) and a clean beautiful desktop experience this Windows 11 Pro is. Rebooting takes 25 seconds and a full shutdown takes a mere 7 seconds or less. See detailed specifications below.



Specifications
*CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-1240P Processor (12th Gen); 12Cores, 16Threads, Base: 3.3GHz, Max Turbo Frequency: 4.4Ghz, 12MB Intel® Smart Cache; Base Power: 28W, Turbo Power: 64W.
*GPU: Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics; Max Dynamic Frequency: 1.30GHz, Quadruple 4K UHD Monitors & Intel® Quick Sync Video support.
*RAM: Crucial Dual Channel 16GB DDR5 4800MHz (2*8GB); Supports up to 64GB.
*Sound: Senary Audio (Audio, Voice, Speech) with Windows Sonic for Headphones support.
*Storage: 500GB "Kingston SNV2S500G" PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD; Supports additional 2.5" 7mm HDD/SDD up to 4TB; Maximum read/write speed of 3500MB/s.
*Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit; Version: 22H2; Build: 22621.1105
*Wireless Connections: Dual-band Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz; Bluetooth 5.2
*Cooling: Heat Sinks; 2 Fans
*Dimensions (HxWxD): 42mm X 126mm X 113mm
*Ports
***2x USB Type-A 3.2; 2x USB Type-A 3.1
***1x CLR CMOS or RTC Key
***1x 3.5mm Audio (HP & Mic)
***1x Power (DC 19V 6.32A)
***1x 2.5Gbps Ethernet
***2x HDMI V2.1; Max Res: 4K@60Hz per port.
***1x Thunderbolt 4 (Type-C Port); Maximum throughput: 40Gbps; Supports 2 additional monitors at 4K (4096 x 2304) 60Hz; Possibly a single monitor at 8K resolution.
*Box Contents
***2x HDMI Cables (Average length and a short one for Monitor mounting)
***1x SATA Cable (Inside the Mini PC)
***1X 120W Power Adapter (EU/US/UK/JP)
***1x Multilingual User Manual
***1x Vesa Mounting Bracket & Screws

For the uninitiated, the above specs are most impressive and while it's no "gaming" PC, it does a decent job handling popular titles like PUBG, Fortnite, CS:GO, GTA-V, DOTA2. Naturally, you would have to lower the game's resolution to get higher FPS. Something like DOTA2 nets about 120 - 135 FPS. Here are some other numbers with screengrabs** below;

Game : Set Resolution : Average FPS : Highest FPS Spotted (Despite 4K UHD Monitor)
Apex Legend : 720p Very Low Textures : 63 : 75
Fallout 4 : 720p Medium Preset : 65 : 76
Forza Horizon 5 : 720p Low Preset : 45 : 47
GTA V : 1080p : 60 : 65
Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered : 720p Lowest Settings : 33 : 46
Red Dead Redemption 2 : 720p Ultra Textures : 41 : 45
CS:GO : 1080p Lowest Settings : 103 : 127

In-Game Screengrabs

So you don't care about its gaming capabilities.. How does it fare as a workhorse? Splendidly!....Read on to find out...

Build Quality
This device is solid, I mean at 465g, it is very much a lightweight PC that you can bring around with you on trips or mount behind most monitors. The unit looks like its made from one ABS plastic (initially mistook it for metal) piece bent quite smoothly around the edges if I may add, and has silicone strips on the bottom to prevent sliding around atop even the slickest table tops. There's also the rubber flap on the bottom that helps lifting up the bottom plate. The top has a fabric mesh design I like (not fingerprint magnet) that Beelink says makes this the first waterproof fabric design mini PC. However, I did not test that out as the top is a breathable material and doubles as an air intake. Perhaps if enough people request, I'll splash some water on it and report back..gg...

Box & Hardware Images

English Manual

Everything here on is mostly positive. The heat dissipation technology on the SEi12 Pro 1240P is very effective. It includes heat sinks, two separate fans; one for the CPU and another for the rest of the system (basically the SSD, RAM, & Motherboard) that facilitate airflow throughout the chassis and preserve the PC's steady cooling performance while ensuring quick processing and responsiveness. This allows reported lower temperatures and decibels when running key software such as Brave Browser, Adobe Photoshop & Microsoft Office. Honestly it remained as quiet as if still on standby. Ofcourse, I could hear the fans spin up when I pushed the PC running multiple games and benchmarks. Still manageable, bet your aircon late at night makes a louder noise and don't get me started on how loud some standing fans get.



Before we move on to some benchmark scores, here are the System default information, some installed updates and build information. The last image is where I'm at fully updated.

System Default, Updates, & Build Information

Basically it shipped with Windows 11 Pro V21H2, Build 22000.918 and I updated it to V22H2 Build 22621.1105. OOTB, we had 434GB of usable SSD storage which got reduced to 430GB after all windows updates and some key software are installed. No games yet..Increasing storage shouldn't be an issue as you can install an additional 2.5" 7mm HDD/SDD up to 4TB.



Now some Benchmarking numbers; SSD Information, R/W Speeds. All this time the SEi12 Pro is connected via HDMI to a single Lenovo L32p-30 4K Monitor and run at 4K@60Hz resolution. I'm all about the real world experience and so left the Power Mode set to "Balanced" which is the typical setting most users would run it on as opposed to the benchmark loving "Best Performance" mode. So if you like what you see, expect it to fare even better unshackled.

Cinebench R23 Single & Multi-Core

UNIGINE:Superposition

Novabench Report

Web Browser Performance

SSD Speeds
Crystal Disk Mark Software; Image 1 is NVMe SSD Test Peak Performance while the second image tests NVMe Real World Performance.

File Transfer Speeds (Copying from USB3.0 Flash Drive

LAN & Internet Speedtest
The SEi12 Pro 1240P is rated for up to 2.5Gbps but unfortunately my current router like most of us is limited to max 1Gbps. My internet connection is even worse at a paltry 100/20 Mbps. Missing my 500/500Mbps TIME connection since day one. Should be on 1Gbps internet plan by now... Well I can, but over here it costs a bomb in comparison to bolehland..Hai...Anyways, I'm fairly certain the SEi12 Pro 1240P can handle proper wired gigabit and Wi-Fi 6 internet connections just fine.

Media Playback
The SEi12 Pro 1240P handled all my test files with ease, right up to the 1.4GB 4K UHD 400Mbps Level 6.1 Main10 HEVC Jellyfish video bitrate test file. It smoothly played this while I continued web browsing & simultaneously played a 4K video on YouTube. Effortlessly switching between the windowed and fullscreen mode. No issues with audio playback over the Bluetooth 5.2 connection.

Conclusion
Let's get the facts out of the way. The SEi12 Pro 1240P outperforms rival Intel NUC 11. The Intel Core i5-1240P is a mid-range Alder Lake-P family SoC designed for use in ultra-light, ultra-thin (yet actively cooled) laptops. Means it's powerful enough to require active cooling and Beelink rose to the challenge with this mini PC. The Intel Iris Xe is not great by any careful standard. But this does not mean you have to flee and run the moment you see a device that has it. You can definitely play older AAA titles and newer, less-intensive games using it. Running in 4K though is an impossibility, but as shown above you'll be able to play new titles with reduced settings and this is also due to the presence of them fast RAM. So game away! Otherwise with its compact size, above average performance and a wide array or ports...That Thunderbolt 4 port on the front allows you to connect a dock and expand your connections even further. As a home, media or office PC, you will undoubtedly get a quiet stable Mini PC capable of meeting all your daily working and entertainment needs.

Purchase Links
Official Beelink Website (Free Shipping Worldwide)

SocMed URLs
Twitter
Facebook

For more information, please pay attention to this space. I'd like to thank Beelink for providing this review unit. They are viewing the results at the same time as you are. As usual, fellow forummers, do feel free to comment below should you require further specific information or test done on the Beelink SEi12 i5-1240P Pro Mini PC. I'll be glad to assist.
**Screengrabs courtesy RandomGaming HD on YouTube

This post has been edited by voncrane: Feb 10 2023, 06:40 PM

Good to know you are back bubba. Hope all will be well from here onwards

Thanks...That's the plan..

Very informative