Review on 💻 UM340 Mini PC Review: High-Performance AMD Ryzen 5 3450U, DDR4 16GB RAM+512GB SSD, Windows 10 Pro, 4K@60Hz Output, Dual Band WiFi, Radeon Vega 8 Graphics by Jevon Sterling

Since I have already reviewed the Minisforum UM700, I have a certain perspective when evaluating the Minisforum AMD Ryzen 5 3450U Small Form PC factor UM340. About $20 less than the UM700, the UM340 is ALMOST the same machine but with a few differences. whether you notice them or not depends on your intended use of the machine. There are many competitors in the SFF market, with the lower tier mostly consisting of machines with weak processors (e.g. Celeron J4125) with equally weak integrated graphics. Even newer NUCs with decent i5 and i7 processors mostly have pre-Xe graphics. Here the UM340 is such an interesting product. It has a Zen+ Picasso chip with four cores (and 8 threads). The "U" designation stands for low power consumption, and these chips were once used in laptop designs. This chip is similar to the 3200G - also in terms of the number of CU Vega in the IGP. Overall this is a decent processor provided you don't need to run Maya or heavy analytical workloads. The UM340 looks decent, its case is a mix of plastic and metal. The top can be opened without tools and reveals two equipped SODIMM slots. I was shocked that: 1.) the RAM isn't soldered to the board and 2.) the RAM is dual channel! Fiction. Next thing you notice is you have a REAL M.2 SSD and not eMMC bullshit. The SSD has a heatsink (not really needed) and is user replaceable, which is great. The last thing to note if you don't want to dig into the guts of the device is that the case comes with a combo SATA power/data cable for the 2.5-inch drive. This disc is attached to the underside of the hinged cover. and opens up some really useful options for the device, including running a lightweight NAS or NVR. The UM340's power supply is 65W, so you shouldn't be limited to SATA SSDs. x USB-A (3.1), 1 x USB-C (3.1, I don't know which generation), 3.5 mm combo audio jack, DP, HDMI and TWO (!) RJ-45 ports (supports 1 Gbit /s). multiple NICs open up possibilities for something like an IPCop/pfSense/IPTables router/firewall. I can see the multi-monitor capability (3 total) being attractive to some, although I run mine with only one monitor. Trick with some of the NUCs in front of it. The UM340 comes with a VESA mounting plate to attach to the back of the monitor. UM700 on a plate. The PC comes with a very short HDMI cable (as well as a tiny DP cable) if you use it in this configuration. Please note that this mounting option does not work with all monitors. If your monitor stand ALREADY USES these holes, it will not work. If the back of your monitor has unusual contours and the holes aren't the same depth, this may not work (at least not without longer screws and standoffs). This is a great low profile option for reception or retail stores. Note that you can also use the mounting plate if you are not mounting the UM340 on a monitor! I used the UM340 as a general purpose workstation for several days. I didn't have to run around anymore as I already knew the performance of the UM700. In fact, I had no complaints and I could rarely tell the difference between the two work units. I could see a difference in Adobe Creative Cloud applications and running a long NGen script in the background while doing other work. Less demanding workloads like web browsing, Office 365, and video streaming couldn't even come close to testing the UM340's capabilities. In theory, Vega graphics with 8 CU is enough for light games, but I haven't really tried it. I'm sure a 1080p CoH game would be great. final thoughts? Well, PSP 10.0 is in place, so Windows 11 shouldn't be a problem if you're looking to download it. GigE network adapter - Realtek. I mean, I wasn't expecting Intel, but that might not be the best router/firewall option if your WAN connection is 1Gbps. Wi-Fi is 802.11ac and is provided by an Intel 7265 (mediocre) - antennas are internal. Windows 10 Pro version 20H2 is already loaded so you don't need to upgrade from something like Build 2004. Even though you bought a Kingston NVMe SSD, it's slow. I mean it's faster than SATA SSD or 2 lanes but slow for x4 NVMe drives. It's TLC, only supports 160TBW, and doesn't seem to have any built-in DRAM (HMB I think). At least it's not Toshiba. I have attached some photos of the UM700 opened on the monitor. The UM340 is basically identical, so the images are representative. Especially when equipped with a wireless keyboard and mouse, it can turn into a ridiculously small and unobtrusive workstation. The problem with the UM340 is that there is a UM700. A $20 difference gets you a processor with a higher base and clock speed. It also has a more powerful iGPU (for two CUs). If you don't think you have a current (or future) workload that could benefit from it, then I'd say you're probably wrong. While the processor is decent, I can tether a core at will. so clock difference REALLY matters. If you don't have a corner case, which particularly benefits from the weaker UM340, you should go for the UM700 instead.