Minisforum N5 Air debuts as hybrid NAS mini-PC with AMD APU

Minisforum recently added the N5 Air to its product range. Like several Minisforum models we’ve reviewed, this network-attached storage (NAS) device can also double as a typical desktop PC because it supports Windows and features a standard, reasonably powerful AMD Ryzen 7 255 processor. One HDMI interface and two USB-C ports enable 4K output to multiple monitors at up to 144 Hz. Whether it makes sense to use the N5 Air as a mini-PC depends largely on your environment. However, running it as a NAS/mini-PC hybrid can certainly be practical. For example, files stored on the desktop PC could be accessible across the network. MinisCloud OS comes preinstalled on the included 64 GB SSD.

The Minisforum N5 Air offers five bays for traditional HDDs and three M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs. An included adapter lets users install U.2 drives in the M.2 slots. Network connectivity is handled by two Ethernet ports rated for up to 5 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s, respectively. The NAS device supports Link Aggregation, though your existing network hardware must be fast enough to avoid significant bottlenecks elsewhere.

The Minisforum N5 Air ships with 16 GB of DDR5 RAM, expandable by the user to 96 GB. An OCuLink interface allows it to connect to an external GPU or additional storage drives, and a PCIe slot is also available. In the US, the model is priced at roughly $1,174. The Minisforum N5 Pro – which we have previously reviewed – could be an alternative.