Newsmay Technology's AC6-M mini PC in review: A full-fledged mini PC for the office!

Office Tiny! If you think that Intel has small office PCs in its portfolio with its NUC series, you should take a closer look at the mini PCs from Newsmay Technology. The AC6-M model offers a full-fledged office PC in a miniature format with a footprint of only 63 x 63 millimeters and a height of 58 millimeters.

Sebastian Bade, 👁 Sebastian Bade, ✓ Brian Burriston (translated by DeepL / Ninh Duy), Published 08/14/2021 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 ...

Desktop Mini PC

Small office PCs are very popular because they are small, space-saving and also very economical in terms of energy consumption. With the AC6-M, we received a sample directly from the manufacturer(Newsmay Technology), which really lives up to the name mini-PC. Because with a footprint of just 63 x 63 millimeters (~2.5 x 2.5 inches), the small PC is really very space-saving. With its 58 millimeter (~2.3 in) height, the device is also very flat and has everything important in the compact case to withstand everyday office use.

More precisely, the manufacturer has installed an Intel Celeron J4125 which belongs to the Gemini Lake series. Thus, it is clear that this is a 14nm SoC and is specified with a TDP of up to 10 watts. The latter is actually the case according to the technical data sheet. Alternatively, the AC6-M is also available with a 6-watt SoC. There is a choice between 4 and 8 GB of working memory. However, you should keep in mind that it cannot be expanded at a later time. Our sample is equipped with 8 GB DDR4 RAM. For the test, we equipped the device with a 512 GB M.2 SATA SSD, although the sample came with a 256 GB SSD. The price of the small mini-PC of $128 (+ taxes) is not too much of a burden on the budget. However, the purchase of a mass storage device and the Windows 10 license should be considered. If you don't want to use Windows, you can also run the AC6-M with Linux. Drivers are provided by the manufacturer.

CPU performance of the AC6-M in detail

The AC6-M is a simple office PC, which can definitely be recommended for undemanding home use with the given performance. The Intel Celeron J4125 is no longer one of the most up-to-date processors, but the native 4-core nevertheless offers a solid computing performance for simple office applications or surfing the Internet. The 8 GB RAM suits the tiny device quite well, which is also recommended in our opinion.

The Intel Celeron J4125 clocks with 2.0 GHz in the base and can reach up to 2.7 GHz on one computing core. The test shows that our AC6-M is on the same level as the competition in terms of performance. The Beelink GK Mini and also the GMK NucBox K1 are equipped with the same SoC. Nevertheless, the GMK NucBox K1 is significantly slower than our AC6-M in many tests. The reason is that the SoC in the GMK NucBox K1 is clocked a bit slower.

For further comparisons and benchmarks, we refer to our CPU comparison table.

Cinebench R20
CPU (Single Core)
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	428 Points +150%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	200 Points +17%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	174 Points +2%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	171 Points
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (155 - 174, n=5)	166.2 Points -3%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	161 Points -6%
CPU (Multi Core)
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	1820 Points +227%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	610 Points +10%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	556 Points
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	491 Points -12%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (304 - 610, n=5)	449 Points -19%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	304 Points -45%

Cinebench R15
CPU Single 64Bit
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	168 Points +118%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	117 Points +52%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	108 Points +40%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	84 Points +9%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	79.1 Points +3%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	77 Points
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	75.3 Points -2%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (63.1 - 79.1, n=5)	72.5 Points -6%
CPU Multi 64Bit
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	790 Points +219%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	298 Points +20%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	271 (263.32^min - 271.42^max) Points +9%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	261 Points +5%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	248 Points
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	243 (199.13^min - 242.53^max) Points -2%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (148 - 271, n=5)	223 Points -10%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	220 Points -11%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	211 (209.9^min - 211.39^max) Points -15%

Cinebench R11.5
CPU Single 64Bit
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	1.91 Points +108%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	1.33 Points +45%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	1.28 Points +39%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	0.92 Points
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (0.84 - 0.92, n=3)	0.87 Points -5%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	0.84 Points -9%
CPU Multi 64Bit
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	8.66 Points +180%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	3.26 Points +6%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	3.09 Points
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	3.06 Points -1%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	2.86 Points -7%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (2.13 - 3.09, n=3)	2.76 Points -11%

Blender - v2.79 BMW27 CPU
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (2198 - 3860, n=5)	2772 Seconds * -17%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	2391 Seconds * -1%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	2379 Seconds *
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	2198 Seconds * +8%
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	585 Seconds * +75%

wPrime 2.10
1024m
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	732 s * -29%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	620 s * -10%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (566 - 654, n=3)	608 s * -7%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	603 s * -7%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	566 s *
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	558 s * +1%
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	217.8 s * +62%
32m
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	23.1 s * -33%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	19.5 s * -12%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	19.42 s * -12%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	18 s * -4%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (17.3 - 19.4, n=3)	18 s * -4%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	17.37 s *
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	6.78 s * +61%

X264 HD Benchmark 4.0
Pass 2
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	49.35 (49.1^min - 51.6^max) fps +195%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	19.3 fps +15%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	16.75 (16.7^min - 16.9^max) fps
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	16.46 fps -2%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	13.75 fps -18%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (11.3 - 16.8, n=3)	13.7 fps -18%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	11.31 fps -32%
Pass 1
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	184.5 (184^min - 186^max) fps +134%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	105 fps +33%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	88.5 fps +12%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	78.9 (77.1^min - 81.7^max) fps
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	74 fps -6%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (52.6 - 78.9, n=3)	64.3 fps -19%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	52.6 fps -33%

TrueCrypt
Serpent Mean 100MB
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	0.48 GB/s +164%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	0.182 GB/s
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	0.178 GB/s -2%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (0.163 - 0.182, n=3)	0.1743 GB/s -4%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	0.166 GB/s -9%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	0.142 GB/s -22%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	0.133 GB/s -27%
Twofish Mean 100MB
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	0.79 GB/s +197%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	0.283 GB/s +6%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	0.266 GB/s
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	0.262 GB/s -2%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	0.245 GB/s -8%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (0.196 - 0.266, n=3)	0.2413 GB/s -9%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	0.199 GB/s -25%
AES Mean 100MB
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	4.7 GB/s +147%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1.9 GB/s
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (1.8 - 1.9, n=3)	1.833 GB/s -4%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1.8 GB/s -5%
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	1.7 GB/s -11%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	1.5 GB/s -21%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	1.3 GB/s -32%

Geekbench 4.4
64 Bit Multi-Core Score
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	13949 Points +155%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	5761 Points +5%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	5468 Points
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (4246 - 5761, n=3)	5158 Points -6%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	5066 Points -7%
64 Bit Single-Core Score
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	3680 Points +91%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	2613 Points +36%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1997 Points +4%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (1922 - 1997, n=3)	1948 Points +1%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1922 Points

HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 - 4k Preset
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	6.28 fps +324%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1.61 fps +9%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1.48 fps
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1.46 fps -1%
Average Intel Celeron J4125 (0.95 - 1.61, n=5)	1.352 fps -9%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	0 fps -100%

* ... smaller is better

Cinebench R15 multi-loop

The load test, which we simulate here with the Cinebench R15 multi-loop, shows that the cooling system of the AC6-M copes well with the generated waste heat. With an average of 247 points, our sample is in the midfield in the direct comparison.

AC6-M Mini-PC Intel Celeron J4125, Intel Celeron J4125: Ø247 (245.01-250.05)

GMK NucBox K1 Intel Celeron J4125, Intel Celeron J4125: Ø238 (199.13-242.53)

Beelink GK Mini Intel Celeron J4125, Intel Celeron J4125: Ø268 (263.32-271.42)

System performance

Our AC6-M cannot use its advantage over the GMK NucBox K1 in the synthetic benchmark PCMark 10 and ranks at the end of the comparison table. However, the gap of only 4 to 5 percent is marginal and not noticeable in reality. However, the performance is clearly below the Core i3 models. This is also evident in the measured latencies, which increase significantly when rendering 4K content. During playback of the 4K test video, the average iGPU load was around 50%. The 207 dropped frames occurred at the beginning when the video was buffered. So, if you decide on the AC6-M as a work device, you shouldn't expect miracles from the Intel Celeron J4125. However, the SSD ensures a halfway smooth working in Windows. NVMe support would probably not bring much more performance here. If you want to expand the mass storage with a micro-SD memory card, you should know that the transfer rates of about 20 MB/s are not really fast. We tested this with our UHS-II Angelbird AV Pro V60 micro-SD card.

Maximum latency when opening multiple browser tabs and playing 4K video.

Maximum latency after 10 seconds Prime95

Drivers ranked by longest execution time

PCMark 10 | SD Card Reader | DPC Latencies / LatencyMon

PCMark 10
Score
Average Intel Core i5-10210U (3448 - 4742, n=33)	4046 Points +124%
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	4019 Points +123%
Average Intel Core i5-8265U (2247 - 4192, n=36)	3744 Points +107%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	2391 Points +32%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1898 Points +5%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1831 Points +1%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1806 Points
Productivity
Average Intel Core i5-10210U (5980 - 7332, n=33)	6717 Points +129%
Intel NUC10i5FNK, Intel Core i5-10210U 1600 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 620	6494 Points +122%
Average Intel Core i5-8265U (2941 - 6755, n=36)	6114 Points +109%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	4084 Points +39%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	3050 Points +4%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	2948 Points +1%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	2928 Points

SD Card Reader
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs)
Average Intel Core i5-8265U (16.1 - 184, n=27)	69.6 MB/s +277%
Average Intel Core i5-10210U (26.7 - 82.4, n=25)	63.7 MB/s +245%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	47.1 MB/s +155%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	18.46 MB/s
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB)
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	84.3 MB/s +301%
Average Intel Core i5-8265U (23.5 - 192.6, n=27)	79 MB/s +276%
Average Intel Core i5-10210U (27.1 - 88.6, n=23)	73.3 MB/s +249%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	21.03 MB/s

DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	3767 μs *
Average Intel Core i5-10210U (466 - 5702, n=17)	1904 μs * +49%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1717 μs * +54%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	1318 μs * +65%
Average Intel Core i5-8265U (561 - 915, n=3)	748 μs * +80%

* ... smaller is better

Mass storage

The buyer will have to take care of the mass storage and equip the AC6-M with a suitable M.2 memory. There is a small maintenance hatch on the bottom that hides the M.2 slot. Important: It has to be an M.2 SATA module with the form factor 2242. Fast PCIe-SSDs will therefore not run. However, the high temperature of the installed SSD is striking. We used another SSD to rule out a problem with the used SSD, but it reached comparable temperatures. The lack of cooling is the sticking point here and should perhaps be reconsidered.

Graphics card

The AC6-M's integrated graphics unit is the already known Intel UHD Graphics 600. As part of the Intel SoC, this iGPU offers about the same performance as in the similarly equipped mini-PCs in this comparison. Thus, this iGPU is only suitable for pure office applications.

More benchmarks for the Intel UHD Graphics 600 can be found here.

3DMark 11 | 3DMark

3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	2322 Points +286%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	1458 Points +142%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	1175 Points +95%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	613 Points +2%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	602 Points
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	589 Points -2%
Average Intel UHD Graphics 600 (410 - 854, n=27)	558 Points -7%

3DMark
1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Graphics
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	61979 Points +142%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	25631 Points
Average Intel UHD Graphics 600 (14412 - 35101, n=10)	23582 Points -8%
1920x1080 Ice Storm Extreme Graphics
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	40670 Points +183%
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	14600 Points +2%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	14360 Points
Average Intel UHD Graphics 600 (8277 - 19919, n=12)	13725 Points -4%
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics
Intel NUC6i5SYH, Intel Core i5-6260U 1800 MHz, Intel Iris Graphics 540	1479 Points +232%
Intel NUC5i5RYH, Intel Core i5-5250U 1600 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 6000	1033 Points +132%
Intel NUC5i3RYK, Intel Core i3-5010U 2100 MHz, Intel HD Graphics 5500	770 Points +73%
Beelink GK Mini, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	455 Points +2%
AC6-M Mini-PC, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	446 Points
GMK NucBox K1, Intel Celeron J4125 2000 MHz, Intel UHD Graphics 600	433 Points -3%
Average Intel UHD Graphics 600 (307 - 637, n=21)	421 Points -6%

3DMark 05 Standard		6619 points
3DMark 06 Standard Score		4025 points
3DMark Vantage P Result		2522 points
3DMark 11 Performance		680 points
3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score		26393 points
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score		3262 points
3DMark Fire Strike Score		416 points
Help

... in comparison

	low	med.	high	ultra
Dota 2 Reborn (2015)	41.5	17.2	8.1	7.4
Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018)	5.17	2.14	1.5
X-Plane 11.11 (2018)	6.36	4.84	4.39

Emissions

Temperature

The temperatures of the AC6-M are sometimes very high when we take a closer look at the SoC under load. At 102 °C (215.6 °F), the SoC is not far from the maximum 105 °C (221 °F). This also results in the average clock of 1.9 GHz, which is slightly lower than the base clock (2.0 GHz). There are no conspicuous features in the casing. The small fan in the upper area ensures that the heat is blown out of the case. We already discussed the installed SSD and the read temperature. When the case is opened, we measured 48 °C (118.4 °F) on the upper side, although the board underneath is considerably warmer with almost 58 °C (136.4 °F).

The AC6-M's power supply during the stress test

Noise emissions

Our AC6-M is very quiet in idle and under low load, although the small fan is always working. However, the mini-PC is already louder than some laptops with 33 dB(A). We measured the highest rate of 34.5 dB(A) in the stress test. However, this is subjectively a bit louder due to the high fan frequency. For a small office PC that is further away than a notebook in operation, the measured volume is good and not annoying.

Energy consumption

The small and frugal mini-PC is convincing in terms of energy consumption. Our sample only needs a bit over 8 watts in idle. The AC6-M is also very frugal under load with a maximum of 19.4 watts. The compact power supply doesn't even reach its capacity limit. It supplies up to 24 watts and is connected to the device via the Type-C port. This is a plus point because the AC6-M can also be used with other Type-C power supplies. It should also be possible to supply the AC6-M with energy via power delivery. However, we could not test this so far.

Power Consumption
1280x720 Prime95 28.10 and Furmark 1.25
AC6-M Mini-PC	19.4 (19^min, 19.1^P1 - 20^max) Watt *
Prime95 V2810 Stress (external Monitor)
AC6-M Mini-PC	17.4 (15.8^min, 16.8^P1 - 18^max) Watt *

* ... smaller is better

Pros

+ very compact

+ simple design

+ all necessary connections available

+ inexpensive

+ energy efficient

Cons

- Cooling unit works at its limit under load

- no active cooling of the SSD

- outdated SoC

Conclusion - Office PC in miniature format

The AC6-M is a mini-PC that is in no way inferior to its name. With 63 x 63 millimeters (~2.5 x 2.5 in), the footprint is very small. With the Intel Celeron J4125, you get a reasonably up-to-date SoC, although a Tiger-Lake U SoC would have been a better option in the medium term. Nevertheless, our sample with the Intel Celeron J4125 does well and is mostly on the performance level of the similarly equipped comparison devices. The bottom line is that the performance of the frugal SoC is sufficient to cope with daily office tasks. After all, the SoC offers four native processing cores and an iGPU that unloads the SoC when playing high-resolution videos.

The AC6-M is a very compact mini-PC at a low price. However, the weaknesses of the cooling system can't be explained away.

The equipment is good and the AC6-M offers all necessary ports. In addition, a card reader is not omitted, but it is only available in micro-SD format.

The office PC is very inexpensive for about 128 USD (before taxes). Nevertheless, it has to be considered that further investments are required for an SSD and the operating system. Nevertheless, a very inexpensive device can be put together under certain circumstances.

The biggest drawback of the AC6-M is the cooling unit, which has a hard time cooling the SoC under load. The cooling of the SSD was completely omitted. A small airflow would work wonders here.

The GMK NucBox K1 is probably one of the main competitors, if we stay on the topic of dimensions. This one is available for about 220 Euros (~$260) with a 128 GB SSD and thus costs about the same as an AC6-M with this equipment. In Europe, the AC6-M is not available.

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Editor of the original article: Sebastian Bade - Senior Tech Writer - 498 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2012

I was already interested in technology from an early age, and I was able to study for my dream job as an IT Systems Electronics Engineer. Subsequently, I started 12 years of military service, during which I learned a lot about technology and constantly kept my knowledge up to date with the latest developments. As I like to share my knowledge, I found Notebookcheck was a very good opportunity for this. In addition, I also work a lot with water cooling and network security.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Newsmay Technology's AC6-M mini PC in review: A full-fledged mini PC for the office!

Sebastian Bade, 2021-08-14 (Update: 2021-08-14)