MINISFORUM announces the TL50 mini PC with Intel Tiger Lake-U processors and Thunderbolt 4

MINISFORUM is introducing its first Intel Tiger Lake-U mini PC with the EliteMINI TL50. This model will eventually be available globally, but the Chinese company is testing waters in Japan, where those interested in buying a unit can already place a pre-order through the Makuake crowdfunding platform.

The upcoming TL50 model features a chassis that is already used on other AMD-based models like the HM50. It is fairly compact at 5.9″ x 5.9″ x 2.2″, yet still allows for decent upgradability, since users can easily replace the NVMe SSD, plus also add up to two 2.5-inch drives. For the pre-order model available only in Japan, MINISFORUM is offering a Core i5-1135G7 processor with 12 GB of LPDDR4 soldered RAM and 512 GB NVMe SSD. Early backers can get these specs at ~$650, but there is also an option to add up to 2 TB of storage.

Thanks to the Tiger Lake platform, the TL50 supports a Thunderbolt 4 port and has 4x PCIe 4.0 lanes available for the NVMe SSD. RAM is limited to LPDDR4-3200 on the pre-order models, but MINISFORUM is willing to add LPDDR4-3733 modules plus an upgraded Wi-Fi 6 card if the funding goals are exceeded. Given the small chassis, dGPUs are out of the question, but the integrated Intel Iris Xe GPU should still be enough for light gaming and HTPC use cases.

Port selection is very generous considering the size of the device. In addition to the Thunderbolt 4 connector, there are 4x USB-A 3.0 and 2x USB-A 2.0 ports, plus a USB-C 3.1 for the external power supply. Additional connectors include HDMI 2.0 and DP video outputs, 2x 2.5 GbE jacks and 2x audio jacks for mic/headphones.

The early backer units are expected to ship in late July and global availability should follow shortly after.

Buy the MINISFORUM UM250 mini PC with Ruzen 5 APU on Amazon