Review on 💻 IDEARACE Compact Mini Tower PC: Intel i5 8th Gen, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 4K Support, Wi-Fi - Windows 10 by Phil Anderson

Small but powerful, this Mini PC from IdeaRace packs a lot of power, storage and features while staying small without a fan. Overall, this is a great product, but there are a few things to consider before making the switch. SPECIFICATIONS: CPU: 8th Gen Intel i5 quad-core processor. Graphics: Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620. - HAS BLOATWARE installed (with limitations) Memory: 16 GB DDR4 Ram Storage: 256 GB SSD USB ports: 3 x USB 2.0; 4 USB 3.0 ports, 2 serial DB9 ports; 1 x HDMI; 1x VGAWiFi: Dual Band Intel 802.11b/g/nEthernet: 1 port with Realtek 8811PROS:1 NIC. The tiny footprint makes it easy to find a place for it.2. Full size tower performance.3. The powerful quad-core Intel i5 processor is more than enough, even for CPU-intensive tasks4. Many USB ports - only 7.5. RS232 serial ports are welcome!6. Dual monitor support.7. Professional version of Windows 10.8. Microsoft Office 2007 preinstalled (unexpected bonus)9. The fanless mountable chassis can be rack mounted if required.10. Detachable Wi-Fi antennas so you can theoretically increase the range.11. A very responsive and helpful seller provided me with a Windows 10 Pro Key that allowed me to back up the OS before proceeding with the Esxi installation. The seller answered my questions within 12 hours and was helpful with his answers. It's nice to have this kind of product support. CONS: 1. Realtek 8811 NIC means you need to put the drivers in the Esxi image if you plan to do this. There are many options at this price point with a well-supported Intel-based network card that eliminates the hassle of finding drivers, injecting drivers, begging for drivers to be detected, and finally installing Esxi to get "bare metal" to get it running. "2. WiFi only B/G/N - and you can tell. WiFi is TERRIBLE on this thing. limit of ineligibility. The built-in Wi-Fi card is outdated, slow, and has terrible reception after installing long-range antennas instead of the tiny 9 dBi ones that came with it. For that price you really should be getting something with AC support, if not WiFi-6. If you're planning to use this mini PC as a home wireless media server, it's worth serious consideration. SOFTWARE. Apparently the other reviewer got lucky and didn't get a single piece of malware, but what I got had a lot of it. I'm not too upset about that since I got rid of Windows anyway, but I guess a lot of people are probably determined to keep Windows installed. So, brace yourself for the usual malware attack if that's the case. CONCLUSION: This is an amazing mini pc that packs a lot of power and works very well for my purposes of running a server with no software on it. The inclusion of COM ports is a welcome addition and only adds to the versatility and functionality of this little guy. There's room for additional storage and plenty of RAM for most people's needs. I definitely recommend this product, but please make sure you don't have any special WiFi or network interface requirements before purchasing.