Update | Affordable mini PC with Intel Celeron CPU and dual M.2 slots arriving soon

Bmax has introduced a new mini PC, dubbed the MaxMini B3 Turbo. As the name suggests, the mini PC is a higher-end version of the MaxMini B3 Pro.

Weighing in at just around 270 grams with thickness of just 3.4 cm or 1.34 inches, the B3 Turbo mini PC clearly prioritizes compactness over raw performance. The mini PC packs the Intel Celeron N5095 CPU, featuring a 4-core, 4-thread setup with a modest 15-watt power profile.

The Celeron N5095-equipped mini PC is far from a benchmarking machine

In synthetic benchmarks, the Celeron chip should be able to keep up with a Core i3-10110U laptop CPU found in entry-level laptops from around 6 years ago. 

Needless to say, the amount of CPU horsepower on offer is very meagre, and the B3 Turbo mini PC should only be good enough for the most basic of workloads such as web browsing, lightweight office work, and content consumption.

The same applies to the mini PC's Intel UHD iGPU with 16 EUs, which is far from a performant part and should only be able to manage basic video acceleration and some very, very low-end gaming. To put things into perspective, a Radeon 840M mid-range iGPU is around 6x faster in certain benchmarks.

As for memory and storage, users will have to settle for just 8 GB of non-upgradeable LPDDR4 RAM and dual M.2 2280 slots. One of the slots already come equipped with a 256 GB SSD, while the other is vacant for future upgrades.

The I/O on offer has been detailed below:

• Dual HDMI 2.0
• Dual USB 3.0 Type-A
• 1G Ethernet
• 3.5 mm audio jack

Pricing and availability

Exact pricing details are under wraps for now, but one can definitely expect the B3 Turbo mini PC to be quite affordable. The rather similar B3 (New) sporting the same N5095 SoC as well as 8/256 GB or memory and storage, but a different port layout and a 2.5-inch SSD/HDD bay instead of a second M.2 slot, costs nearly 250 dollars on Romania's eMag e-commerce platform. This one appears to be sold under various other names by other brands, like Peladn, too.

Bmax does offer some of its products on Amazon, where buyers can take advantage of easy returns should things go wrong.

That said, folks who think they might require more compute power down the road might be better served by something like the AceMagic K1 mini PC with an AMD CPU and twice the RAM, currently available for $339 on Amazon.