A New Astro MiniPC Has Entered The Game! MOREFINE M6 6000 (plus a MeLE update)

[@mikemccann8822]

It works for me, thanks for the report. Since I run a Pegasus box anyway I’ll mount this off tripod. Glad you’re back

[@PatriotAstro]

I've been running my boxes at the tripod or base for a while now. I need a usb hub anyway with the way i am cabling so i just put that up top on the scope. With the amount I am testing and moving PCs, it makes my life easier to not have it up top.

[@mikemccann8822]

@@PatriotAstro do you have a good source for short usb cables that work well down to 5° F, winter conditions?

[@PatriotAstro]

@@mikemccann8822 I wish I could, but I'm fairly certain that most of what is out there comes down to luck (good or bad batch). Maybe someone else could chime in here?

[@IcedReaver]

@@mikemccann8822 Whilst I have no personal experience at your temperature, I use the Lindy Cromo USB cables with my astro setup which are rated down to -5°F. They offer cables as short as 0.5m which may be useful for you. The coldest I've had was -5°C and whilst the cables were a bit stiff, they still operated perfectly fine. I bought mine from First Light Optics.

[@timpearce2281]

Chad, thanks for the tip on this mini. Intel 6000, 500G NVME, 16G ram, all for less than $190. Added a terabyte of memory for good measure. What a steal!!!

[@PatriotAstro]

Yes, an amazing price and value! Make sure that the NVMe drive you add to it is SATA. It already has a PCIe NVMEe, and the second slot will only take a SATA version.

[@timpearce2281]

For sale: 1 Terabyte of unpackaged Crucial NVME.

[@martinsvideo1]

@@PatriotAstro Do you have a recommendation for a SATA drive for the Morerefine unit?

[@bobflynn5940]

Somewhat new to this hobby but just purchsed the Mele 4c..works a treat!

[@calimark7448]

I just got the MeLe Quieter 3C, almost got the 3Q Overclock because of 16gig ram and active cooling, but the power draw was almost twice the 3C. Thanks to your videos, I have it all set up and ready for some dark skies tonight. Keep 'em coming Chad!

[@brucedarling4751]

Ok, I drank the kool-aid and ordered yesterday, arrived tonight! I just installed a 2TB Crucial SSD in the 16GB RAM Mele Q3, when I saw this video in the side bar. Haven’t turned it on yet, but going to follow your Video 2 to put Win 11 on the SSD and then Video 3 to install all the Astro software. Thanks for your very clear guidance.

[@PatriotAstro]

Anytime! Glad I could help!

[@markmruczek4391]

Hi Chad not sure if you have seen Cuiv video on the AstroPC PRO which is a small device that completely replaces your laptop, desktop or handheld controller to control mounts, astro cameras, focusers and other astronomical devices. AstroPC will allow you to control any astronomical equipment wirelessly or over the Internet using your smartphone, tablet or PC. Come preloaded with NINA, PHD2, ASCOM and more. Check it out looks very interesting. Also can’t wait for your new sequencer templets!

[@realmcerono]

The morefine looks like the base for the AstroPc-Pro!

[@PatriotAstro]

Definitely looks interesting!

[@uschi414]

One of the attractive things about small passively cooled PCs is the ability to mount them on a dovetail bar attached to the scope. That generally keeps cables short and eliminates most of the worry of cable drag as the scope slews and tracks. Have you had any problems with the fan from this new mini PC causing high frequency vibration that’s picked up by the camera? I imagine that could cause some issues with a high focal length scope like an SCT, RC, or even big refractor.

[@PatriotAstro]

Depending on the fan and unit, it could be the case although i have not seen this yet. Since I need a usb hub, I chose to mount that high and run a single USB back to the miniPC at the base. Helps to avoid this potential issue as well, plus i can easily swap PCs without rewiring everything... which i do all too often.

[@uschi414]

@@PatriotAstro seems like a good way to go. Maybe I say that because it's also what I do. :). USB hub on the dovetail, PC on a small table next to the tripod, and through the mount USB and power.

[@dlrager]

Hi Chad! I see you ordered one of those after I shared last week. I replaced both of my MeLe's with these and working great so far. Seems to also be a bit faster at plate solving. You mentioned the USB ports, I found a USB splitter on Amazon that handles data as well as voltage and works great for that extra port. The one I got is the Itramax USB Splitter Y Cable 1F. Something to check out. Glad to see you back! Clear skies!

[@PatriotAstro]

Thanks for the info AND for bringing this model to my attention. So far it runs great and is impressive for sure. And the price... crazy!

[@robertw1871]

Thanks for the heads up, grabbed one to play with, not sure I like the idea of a fan, but can’t have too many of these things around especially for the price… It might end up going on a the back of a monitor for a portable ground station…

[@PatriotAstro]

I know, but for the price, you are right - can't have enough around.

[@AstronetSe]

I just started MeLEQ3. It seems really good. Today may use to N.I.N.A. Thanks for your idea.

[@PatriotAstro]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@MrMattp1980]

Hey Chad, great to see you back. Hope you and your family are doing well.

[@PatriotAstro]

Thanks! Getting there one day at a time. :)

[@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy]

Excellent review, Chad. These mini-PCs are getting better and better. I wonder when the desktop PC becomes an archive item. I'm in the market so if I should choose one, I will certainly use your links.

[@PatriotAstro]

They are getting so much more powerful and are definitely great for our particular hobby. There was some news this week however that Intel is exiting the NUC market. There will be tons of other manufacturers still participating in this miniPC space, Intel just won’t build their own miniPC models anymore… Just the components for those PCs. I guess this shows us that the profit margins and market for these miniPCs is too small for the big players, so desktop PCs will be around for a while :-)

[@aradani3]

Hi Chad! Glad to see you back! Hope you daughter is fine! I have seen the Morphine in the past, but just couldn't find any reference about anyone actually using it, I ended up choosing a MELE Q2 after your review (THANKS!!) and it does the job just fine... The only thing that bothers is to copy all the pictures to my laptop for processing, I am never in range of my home WIFI when imaging. I'm either in the field where I use a travel router, and even though I have my laptop, I usually don't keep it powered all night; or I image from the rooftop of the building which is out of range. Maybe you have some idea? Thanks

[@PatriotAstro]

One option is to use the Remote Copy plugin but target a local USB drive instead of a remote computer. Then you get the benefit of writing to your faster NVMe or eMMC drive upon acquisition, and then replicating throughout the session every minute or so to the USB in the background. My video on the plugin should get you there. Easier to just pull the usb drive after shutting down instead of waiting for some long file copy later. Make sense?

[@SouthJerseyAstronomyClub]

Hi Chad. Thanks for all you do for the AP community. I hope your family difficulties are soon behind you. Hey, I have a question about powering the M6 in a remote location. It comes with a 110VAC power adapter which puts out 12 VDC in a USB C connector. Do you, or anyone here, have a solution to providing 12 volts to that USB C port from a 12V battery?

[@PatriotAstro]

I just responded to someone else, so I’ll paste the same answer here for you. :) I just posted something on the community feed. It should work for you, but… I’d worry about low voltage later in the night. You may want to consider using a 13.8v DC Buck-Boost converter and wiring it between the battery and the pc. I got mine on Amazon for around $25US. You can possibly find something cheaper but this one has a wide input range and supports 10A output so I can run everything behind it without a problem. www.amazon.com/dp/B089M5KYZM/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_DXZ8Q18NTE8Z3A2M5F8C?linkCode=ml2&tag=patriotastro-20

[@paulwilson8367]

I have been happy with my Quieter. Except for 1 thing, the heat. Here in Texas, summer nights are blistering (last night 90 degrees at 2100 in my driveway). I am afraid the Quieter is going to melt quietly. I ordered the MoreFine, mostly for that fan. I need 4 USB plugins, which the quieter 3 has, but I can plug a small USB hub into one of the MF ports. I hope the MF is close enough in size that my little 3D printed losmandy holder will fit it. That sure makes it easy to perch atop the scope dovetail.

[@PatriotAstro]

Let me know how it goes! The fan may really help you out.

[@AnakChan]

I've been using the GMKTek NUCBox 7 which is Pentium N6005 based processor with my config, I have 16GB RAM & 512GB storage. It also runs on 12V (I'm presuming that the MoreFine M6 is also 12V based). The 2x drawbacks of the GMK NUCBox 7 is that he storage is SATA SSD, not NVMe, and despite being a 10W TDP, seems to be borderline with 12V. I feel that if I don't have a big enough LiFePO4 or decent supply of amperage, the NUCBox 7 may crash. So whilst the Morefine N6000 may not be as fast as the NUCBox 7 N6005, the 6W TDP of the N6000 is very welcoming.

[@ziggyfrnds]

Thanks for doing this. I'm in the process of building out a EAA rig, I already have a small refractor, ZWO camera and tracking mount (SW ZA gti) and am looking for a mini pc to connect all of those together and run NINA or sharpcap. Subscribed!

[@aughtago]

Hi Chad, I currently run my rig remotely in a sky shed pod from a cheap Lenova laptop which really struggles, especially if I open Stellarium. It is about 10' of cable from the laptop to the base of the pier and have also struggled to find a powered USB hub that works reliably. For these reasons, I have been considering upgrading to a fanless mini PC and permanently locate it on my pier. To add to my connection issues, my previous fork mount constantly lost serial connection (Celestron HC chip was a Prolific- known issue on Cloudy nights). I just de-forked my CPC and purchased a used AP 900GTO which runs on old school DB9 serial connection. It came with a USB to serial hub and two USB to serial adapters. I'm not sure why there were so many unless the previous owner had connection issues. So far I have had lost connection issues with the Serial hub and one of the adapters, the third no-name adapter is working , but I only have 1/2 of a night runtime on it. After a bunch of research, I have ordered a high quality FTDI adapter recommended by AP. I have been shopping for a mini PC with a built in serial port, thinking it would be a more reliable connection than the adapter route. This limits my options for a mini PC. My question: Have I limited my field of mini PC choices unnecessarily or do you think the quality adapter may solve my serial dilemma?

[@petervanderham4725]

There’s a lot of N100 with 16gb and 512gb m2 ssd at the moment. I am probably getting on of those for my Player One Saturn-C.

[@SteveLang-w7p]

Hey Chad. Love the videos, please keep them coming. I purchased a very very similar minipc - a topton (from aliexpress). I got the version with a 5100 CPU (lower default speed, max similar to 5105). The case looks identical, the specs (except CPU) to as well. I would be willing to be they're coming from the same factory. Anyway, after a lot of testing, I did identify one thing with my Topton version. They USBC port (the one with USB, not the one that can only be used for power) would not actually negotiate at US3 speeds/protocols. I raised this with the place I bought it from, and got a generic 'yeah, but that port only does USB2 etc.'. I found that VERY strange, however like you, I needed an external USB3 hub anyway. I would be interested to know if you can get a camera working on USB3 straight into that port. Take care.

[@PatriotAstro]

Right. A USB port is never what you think until you dig into the 'hopefully' published specs. I found some models with USBc 2.x and others with full function USBc (3.2/Display/etc) Weird.

[@HogarthsAstrophotography]

Hi chad, Mele actually released another 3 range mini pc. The 3C. It’s an odd one, as they’ve tweaked the bios so the cpu doesn’t get as hot, but has a little knocked off it’s performance, they’ve also changed the USB 3.0 power delivery. If you Google 3c vs 3q you’ll see the full discussion of differences.

[@PatriotAstro]

Am I wrong in thinking that the current 3C model also has 1 less USB-A port? Maybe a C in its place? I think that is the case.

[@HogarthsAstrophotography]

@@PatriotAstro yes that’s correct.

[@vitalradsvideos]

Chad, how did you attach the Morefine m6 to your mount? Did you find a mouting bracket that can attach to the Morefine and to a Losmandy or Vixen bar? The Morefine came with something that looks like 1/2 of a VESA mount bracket and I see where you attach this plate to the bottom of the Morefine, but then how do you attach that setup to the telescope mount? Hope your doing well.

[@PatriotAstro]

People have done all sorts of things from strong velcro, to customer brackets, to zip-ties, etc. Personally, I mount my usb hub up there with strong velcro, then run the cable down to the M6 at the base/tripod. Then i can access the usb ports for data transfer, etc during a session if needed.

[@davecurtis8833]

Just a heads up, I was running my Mele during the daytime hooked up to my solar controller which was charging my Lithium 12v 200Ah SOK battery which powers my observatory. The load output voltage on the controller went up to 14.4V which the Mele didnt like :-( . I have ordered a new Mele (16GB this time). I will now be using a 12v converter with variable DC input voltage and constant 12v output. I presume a 13.8V out converter would be safe as well ? The Mele did have a warning that the input voltage did have a narrow range.

[@PatriotAstro]

Absolutely right, they do claim to have a tight voltage range. 13.8 has not been a problem for me. Of course, another option is to use one or more Buck/Boost converters, and use different ones for different gear. I had considered running a higher voltage output towards my mount, but leaving a lower voltage output towards my camera and mini PC. Thus far, I’ve had no problems with 13.8 for everything though.

[@astrodojo1]

Hi Chad, nice one a let me tell you that the Astro intuition in you is high. My Mele computer just died, and I mainly blame the transformer and power distribution little box I got broke it. Now I will consider the Morfine but could you plan on giving Power distribution recommendations?

[@PatriotAstro]

I'm not doing anything fancy with power distribution other than customizing cables (length/etc) and running back to a 12V 110AC adapter that runs around 13.6v. Maybe others here have a recommendation though.

[@astrodojo1]

@@PatriotAstro thankfully my Mele is alive and the only part broken was the 12v 5amp transformer, so I fixed that and everything is great now, no need to spend again thanks for your attention.

[@KJRitch]

How is the range of the WIFI of the Mele and the Morefine for Astrophotography. Can it be 60 feet away from my Starlink router? I travel full time in a motorhome and use Starlink. I set the scope out in the campsite area and then monitor within the motorhome. I'm using an ASIAir now but getting a lot of mount disconnected errors with my AVX mount. Thinking of plan B is to go with a miniPC with NINA. Thanks

[@timothysheridan5602]

Hi chad, After watching another gr8 video from you i purchased the morfine m6 16gig unit. I am not quite sure how to set it up. Do i configure it the same way as you set up the MeLE? This is my first attempt at using a mini pc and i am a little intimidated setting it up. I do not want to screw it up.

[@PatriotAstro]

Yep, that setup video is generic and will work on any PC/Laptop/MiniPC. Let me know if you run into anything.

[@timothysheridan5602]

👌 ✌️

[@old_photons]

To add to the cons of the HD3, twice the weight!

[@PatriotAstro]

Yes, I actually cut more of me complaining about the HD3 from the video. I got pretty negative on that box and it was even getting me depressed editing it. LOL I left it on the cutting room floor. :)

[@chlrsnj326]

"If it's not broke, don't fix it." Some the best but most ignored advice out there.... 😅

[@PatriotAstro]

...If I could only follow my own advice...

[@cryhavoc38]

with active cooling, not sure what to think about longevity of the internal components if they are exposed to moist air on those dewy imaging evenings.. Also, are these really running a fully licensed AND activated version of windows 11 pro?

[@PatriotAstro]

It's definitely a thought, although one slip-up and passive cooling can fry a board too. So far the fan seems fine but any part failure is always a concern. At the price I paid for it, plus the 3-year replacement plan, I can look at this like a lease for 3 years and it works out to $5/month plus any defect/failure in the 3-years refunds the unit cost. I of course don't want a failure... but it is hard to argue with the numbers if it keeps chugging along as expected. Oh, and yes, they are running fully lics/act win11 pro. The OEM pricing for those OS have really come way down for the manufacturers.

[@msacco]

I've seen the morefine for a long time now, it's so cheap, sometimes on sales for like $140-$150 too. The new AstroPC thing that cuiv made a video on also seems to be based on the M6, just added antennas and internal DC hub. How is the cooling going in terms of vibrations? Had the chance to try that?

[@PatriotAstro]

I did see that PC in passing but haven't dug into it yet. Sounds cool! As far as vibrations, nothing to report, and all is well. The fan is very small and extremely light weight so i don't expect much.

[@krellon]

MELE -> Great mini pc but it's WiFi connective is has very poor performance for remote desktoping. I connect directly to its LAN port with the iPad (To setup the sequence) then disconnect and just minitor via wifi which seems to work fine.

[@PatriotAstro]

I've had good and bad wifi across my models. It does seem to be getting better with the new Wifi6 chips they are using. That said, I image at home and mostly just use the ethernet cable now to run over to the closest EERO box at the house. Then nothing to worry about for me.

[@ctortolini]

I got a Mele Quieter 3c and a Morefine M6... I have to say, I like the M6... is a lot faster. The only thing I can't figure out is how to configure the auto power on in the bios... Have you found how to do it? Thanks!

[@LeeeB0]

Would this be better than a Beelink N100 for using Sharpcap EAA live stacking?

[@bradashbrook3943]

Looks like an interesting option when my laptop PC craps out totally (already starting with wifi card). Is 512mb enough storage for programs, ASTAP and images for the night? Do you save the FITS to an external drive?

[@PatriotAstro]

It’s actually 512GB and not me so there is quite a bit of space. On the morefine model, you can add a SATA NVME to this. If you need a lot more space, you could also theoretically swap out that NVME SSD that is already installed for a larger one but it would involve reinstalling the operating system. So just going with adding an additional SATA NVMe is easier. If you instead went with the MeLE 16GB quieter 3Q model, you could just buy and install the new NVMEe Drive directly on that. You may want to check out my playlist on building an Astro miniPC. There are four videos. I start with the hardware explanation and take you all the way through a full install. Definitely feel free to reach out via email if needed.

[@bradashbrook3943]

@@PatriotAstro yes my bad, GB! Migrating to NINA and have not been able to image for a full night here in FL. Fairly new and still figuring out my workflow, image on PC, edit on a Mac. Thank you for the quick reply, much appreciated.

[@unleashyourpotential5313]

Hi Chad! I ordered one of those using your affiliated links after I see your video. You make great content!. I installed a 2tb SSD from Kingston to this mini pc to replace the original that came with the mini pc, however, I had issues reinstalling Windows, and I am unable to activate Windows after that. What I did was create a recovery disk and reinstall from a USB Stick but I could not activate Windows 11. I already contact Morefine Tech Support however, the responses that I received from them are not good. Would you have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

[@timothysheridan5602]

I was wondering if it's safe to operate my morfine m6 mini pc with the celestron power tank 17 for use in the field?

[@PatriotAstro]

I just posted something on the community feed. It should work for you, but… I’d worry about low voltage later in the night. You may want to consider using a 13.8v DC Buck-Boost converter and wiring it between the battery and the pc. I got mine on Amazon for around $25US. You can possibly find something cheaper but this one has a wide input range and supports 10A output so I can run everything behind it without a problem. www.amazon.com/dp/B089M5KYZM/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_DXZ8Q18NTE8Z3A2M5F8C?linkCode=ml2&tag=patriotastro-20

[@thomasmastrocinque7132]

Aren't you concerned about vibration from the fan?

[@kellydavis8899]

Interested in your take on Minisforum EM680. Anyone have experience with it? It looks promising.

[@tonycooper0]

How many USB ports does the MOREFINE have? I count 5 but I'm not sure what "1 Type-c Port, 1 Type-c Charging Port" means. Are both those ports USB 3 compatible? Can I plug astro gear into them?

[@realmcerono]

One is a real usb-c port, the other is for supplying power to the pc.

[@PatriotAstro]

Right, just 3 USB-A 3.1 ports. One other USBc is power, and the last USBc is listed as a display port only.

[@denvera1g1]

I'd really like to see something like this with an AMD Athlon 7040e 4 cores with hyperthreading 5-7w max power draw, sigbicnatly more performance than intel's current atom based codes used in most of these mini PCs, even the i3-N305 is only an atom processor, despite being the same SRP of the i3-1215U, which has the same number of Atom cores, but 2 performance cores along side, support for what appears to be up to either 256, or 512GB of RAM instead of a max of 16GB a GPU that is at least 2x faster than the N305, 4x the PCIe bandwidth Now i'd be happy if the N305 were around $100 SRP, but to be the same $309 SRP as an i3 that is literally more than double the processor is just unacceptable for me.

[@PatriotAstro]

I agree. As a side note, I noticed that the long URLs for some of the newer MeLE models product pages on amazon actually say Astrophotography in the title! Here's to hoping that they are paying attention to us and our needs!

[@backgammonbacon]

Having a fan isn't a positive due to vibration. Passively cooled is fine our scopes don't need much CPU power. 16 Gb isn't important either. The real issue with these small PC's is that they need an extra 4 USB ports to be truly useful. Wifi isn't an issue either as you shouldn't be using that use a network cable. You can get passive industrial PC's with 8 USB ports, google "XCY Fanless Mini PC", they are a little larger but not too much larger.

[@PatriotAstro]

I agree that it could introduce vibrations. Whether it does depends on the system and mounting point I guess. I do still like the fanless design if the specs are right, but I don't mount to my scope so I can go either way on this one right now. There were a number of warm weather imagers struggling with the fanless temps so this could give them some options. I have also used the industrial machines in the past. I think the issue for many people is the requirement for low footprint and low power since the image remotely. But points well taken.