Linux on Intel’s N150: Beelink EQ14 Tested!

[@ChrisMcDonough]

Always appreciate your Linux content

[@espertempo]

Always? Isn't this the first and only video in the channel?

[@ChrisMcDonough]

@espertempo he has another

[@espertempo]

@@ChrisMcDonough ok, thanks.

[@hejjaahmad86]

I hope you have good luck with success with this new channel.

[@user-cj9fk8un3i]

very cool channel. i actually found it trough the video suggestions without being familiar with your main channel.

[@waydegutman7339]

Just came across this, liked what I saw and subscribed. Like what I see in the Beelink offerings.

[@readwriter]

I haven’t unboxed my N100 Beelink Mini S 12 Pro purchased for $150 in December. I’m mostly a Mac person but can’t wait to get it running with Linux (MX or straight Debian). Glad to see this new channel of yours!

[@markdawson25]

I have one of those (a white one purchased July '23 Prime Day for $139) deployed as a backup at work (for personal "work" in the office, checking personal email and making travel reservations, etc). I probably use it for an average of 30 minutes a day... but it's nice to have when I need it, and have never had an issue with it slowing down, etc. It browses the web like a champ, and runs Office 2021 Pro just as well as my work i7 13 gen laptop. I did upgrade the RAM just because I had a lonely 32GB stick.

[@TanguyR]

Excellent stuff, looking forward to more linux focused content and reviews.

[@avalagum7957]

You got a new subscriber for reviewing Arch & Ubuntu Linux with new hardware 🙂 Knowing that this EQ14 works that well with Arch, I want one (but don't know what to use it for). This machine + a 4k monitor are perfect for a student.

[@saszab]

I'm in IT for 30 years, and I'm still happy with 1.3K monitors (1280x1024 and 1366x768), which have respectively 6.3 and 7.9 times less pixels than the 4K monitors :-) BTW my first computer had 0.25K resolution (169 times less pixels)!

[@avalagum7957]

@@saszab Good for you: you don't need to spend a lot of money on monitors. I'm selling a few 1080p VA panel monitors for $7 each. If you live close to me, you can come and pick them up for $5/monitor 🙂

[@yes_man_lol]

I am about to purchase N150, thanks for sharing, it really saves me alot of headache in advance! Thanks!

[@bryans8656]

I didn't know you had a new channel! I've got a mini PC with Linux Mint on it so this is right up my alley, and I've subscribed.

[@Watchandlearn91]

Joined and subscribed. Wish you all the success in this new channel

[@vanyasmirn]

Subscribed and here is the comment for the algorithm Can never be too many mici/SBC Linux reviews

[@emlyndewar]

I do really think Linux shines on these machines. I recently bought a GMK G3 for my wife's folks, and did a quick bit of messing about on Mint. It just felt nicer to use than Windows 11 did, even after the debloat. Hoping the new channel takes off fast! Your Linux stuff is always good to watch.

[@deechvogt1589]

Watched and subscribed. Thanks and good luck!

[@jcams438]

I see linux, I click subscribe.

[@krzysi3k-yt]

Could you do Zorin OS review? This is quite nice distro especially for the windows users like me. Good luck with the new yt channel !

[@LiftingLinux]

I’m looking at doing a “Top 5 Linux Distros for Windows Users” video at some point.

[@goudaonion]

Let's go here's the start of a wonderful youtube channel.

[@rwiankowski]

Really nice to see someone focusing on Linux. There’s a lot of cool mini pcs on the market, but don’t support Linux out of the box.

[@saszab]

I also subscribed to lift Linux. More than 1K subscribers in just 5 days - that's great!

[@WigglyCastle]

Love to see linux content!

[@NakedLeonard]

Very informative. Would like to see you review compatibility with older hardware, i.e. old laptops and oem towers.

[@Louis-AlexandreDuchesneau]

There is no architecture change between Nx00 and Nx50, only a CPU/GPU frequency increase. These are basically an Alder Lake/12th gen refresh and are still using Gracemont E-cores.

[@LiftingLinux]

99% of the time, an intel CPU refresh involves either an update/change to the wafer manufacturing process or microcode changes. In most cases, both. These changes do, in fact, change the architecture. But not to the extent that it is a new sku. It's like adding a room, not building a new house. Significant modifications have certainly been made to how the GPU manages power states or interacts with the CPU, necessitating updates in the DRM for proper operation. A refresh involves more than turning up the frequency. That's just binning. The N100 and N200 have identical Gracemont cores, the N200 just has higher binned silicon, allowing for higher frequencies. The N150 is more than that. Not that it actually made any real difference, mind you.

[@dgtheone]

Sorry but the manufacturing and microcode changes don’t qualify as architectural changes to the CPU. Great video but maybe just add a comment to the video as a correction. Having said that I did subscribe.

[@iokwong1871]

​@@LiftingLinuxN200 got a better iGPU.but the CPU is weaker and has less potential.

[@paulwarner5395]

Thanx for the video. Another sub..

[@Taverius]

Neat review. Good start. I run NixOS wherever I can, but that doesn't need extra testing. I would say, if the platform supports Virtualization Extensions, try installing Proxmox and PCI-passthrough a spare network adapter/USB device/spare drive to a VM. VM box for *thing* is a common use for mini pcs. Otherwise I'd say you got it mostly covered, though Fedora *would* be nice, Atomic Fedora is my default "family member needs a basic pc for basic things" install.

[@tschaller6774]

After distro hopping for years I settled on lmde but the eq14 does look cool

[@yghhhhrffv]

Glad to be the 36th subscriber

[@guilherme5094]

👍Thanks!

[@LiftingLinux]

Welcome!

[@Tech2C]

Can you monitor and adjust the CPU fan speed in Linux?

[@LiftingLinux]

Fan curves can be set in the UEFI.

[@AlistairBrugsch]

Love the TNG warp core in the background. Is it self built/printed or off the shelf? Most don't have the PTC's as well, just the main matter/anti-matter reaction chamber

[@LiftingLinux]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3SUYYurYt5lh8ksi=fyJoo4g2K1PWmUt1

[@AlistairBrugsch]

Ha that was quick! I already found and watched it but you got inb4 😂 (not B4...)

[@Cyco_Nix]

It seems solid, but I already have the GMKTec G5 with the n97 so no real benefits that I see over those, and it only cost $145. Great content! I love to see stuff tested with Linux.

[@ashneel]

Thanks for letting us know bro

[@ManuelGrau]

I got that one too. I haven't tried to install linux yet. Does everything work? what distro did you install?

[@Cyco_Nix]

@@ManuelGrau I used it for testing first and test Arch, Fedora, Ubuntu, and openSUSE. Currently it is running Fedora, but none had any issues.

[@iokwong1871]

The G5 is amazing.

[@KevinRollman]

Good video. OpenSUSE is a rolling release distro and much easier to install than Arch.

[@markdawson25]

OpenSUSE Leap mini pc user here (also running it on a laptop).

[@WIImotionmasher]

You labelled Arch as "Arc" on the graphs, just wanna say might be confusing since a number of things in computing are named "Arc", namely Intel's first GPUs. Awesome benchmark ideas though, spreadsheets and browsers! Very practical!

[@LiftingLinux]

I should have noticed that when I was proofing the final edit but it was about 2 am and just a few hours before the video was scheduled to be published. I was too focused on making sure the numbers were correct. Besides I figure my Linux audience is smart enough to understand what I was communicating. 😜

[@proffessorclueless]

Great format and should be really helpful to someone looking to upgrade their old computer especially those. like me, tat have been using Linux for a few years and wouldn't dream of going back to windows and cant justify the price of a mac.

[@kingneutron1]

You can get a Mac M4 mini for $500-600 these days with educational discount, and Apple offers a monthly payment plan :) Dunno if you want to risk Sequoia bugs tho

[@NotRealNamesAgain]

Great video, thorough as all hell. As for the little machine- I genuinely don't get low spec Intel CPUs. They *can* do stuff but you won't enjoy that stuff on them.

[@LiftingLinux]

They’re geared towards basic home or small office productivity and they are surprisingly good at that workflow.

[@NotRealNamesAgain]

@@LiftingLinux I mean- kind of. I've got a small N100 machine for odd job Windows apps (I use Linux otherwise, even at work) and just idling in Windows 11 it hovers from 20-50% cpu usage even after chopping a LOT out. It's not a great experience for me.

[@kingneutron1]

This is the kind of mini-pc that I would buy for Proxmox Backup Server and put a 1-2TB SSD in it with a 2.5Gbit USB3 NIC

[@QuantumKurator]

Good stuff

[@michaeleber4752]

I have run Linux on two mini-computers 1) Ace Magic 2) Minisforum and both ran without problems and gamed.

[@LiftingLinux]

I assume the hardware was probably pretty well established?

[@bilditup1]

love the channel avatar

[@garryconnors8804]

Let’s Gooooo!🎉

[@examancer]

How are we counting the 6 moths we have to wait for Ubuntu's HWE. Can I just turn on a light outside at night and speed things up?

[@kingneutron1]

Man we are just spoiled for choice these days. Back in the 90s I plonked down ~$2k on a credit card for a Pentium-90 desktop tower with less than 1GB RAM and far less than 512GB of spinning IDE storage!

[@desireco]

Can you review more beefier models, I plan to get one, load it with memory and use it for AI related tasks.

[@jdl3408]

DDR4 is a performance limiter on these CPUs. Would be nice to see a version with DDR5.

[@LiftingLinux]

There is a version with DDR5 but the N series is limited to single channel, the performance increase is barely measurable but the DDR5 is double the cost. I did a full comparison of a DDR5 vs DDR4 equipped N100 here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZSYXniqd655nc0si=BUGjsm2MYXcf_wC4

[@jdl3408]

@ ok, I thought I saw some gaming tests that showed a N150 with DDR4 as slower than a N100 with DDR5. I guess it’s marginal as your tests show.

[@iokwong1871]

DDR5 is a must for this line up, DDR4 version is just a scam, in my opinion. Not much cheaper (like up to 20$ of a difference, but like 30+% slower....)

[@ElevatedSystems]

@@iokwong1871slower in what?

[@iokwong1871]

@@ElevatedSystems everything, including the performance of the iGPU.

[@33yoal]

20 year Linux novice here. Ventoy is a pain, Arch, bigger pain. I have this unit and attempting PF Sense / Opn Sense as a transparent bridge. Prayers or even better, money appreciated...

[@joebonsaipoland]

So PFSence doesn’t work on this

[@33yoal]

@@joebonsaipoland It should work, still configuring. Operator issues...

[@larrywebber2971]

New subscriber here - running (preferably) Debian or (second choice) Linux Mint as secondary. Agreed Debian isn't stellar on newer hardware but wondering if Debian unstable which runs the 6.9.x kernel as of this writing would run all this little PC's hardware?

[@LiftingLinux]

I’ve heard some anecdotal evidence that the N150 is fully supported on Kernel 6.9, but i know for sure it’s not on 6.8 and it is on 6.12. I also know that Debian stable runs fine on the N100 or N200.

[@laletemanolete]

¡More linux content!

[@LPFan4]

wow latest Ubuntu uses 6.8 kernel.. I really didn't know how much more up-to-date Fedora is until now! It uses linux 6.12 at the time of writing! It seems I had 6.8 more than a month or two ago..

[@LiftingLinux]

Ubuntu often sticks to slightly older kernels because it prioritizes stability and long-term support. They thoroughly test and patch each kernel version before rolling it out to ensure fewer bugs and smoother upgrades. Fedora, on the other hand, aims to be more cutting-edge, so it adopts newer kernel releases faster-though that can mean a little less stability at times.

[@Kamion008]

Fedora has the same kernel version as arch

[@MichaelSaamone]

I have used Ubuntu for 20 years and I usually have a stable experience .

[@laletemanolete]

Ohh, hello there!

[@fredbompard7097]

Nice nuc-like pc. Just miss a point: replace SATA m.2 by Nvme and replace 2x 1Gbps by 2x 2.5Gbps, and it is the perfect one!!

[@LiftingLinux]

There’s not enough PCIe lanes on the N150 for that. It only has 9 total. Each M.2 SSD slot only gets 2 PCIe 3.0 lanes, hence the SATA 3 SSD.

[@fredbompard7097]

@LiftingLinux yes, you're right. Thanks. Maybe by moving pcie lanes from USB 3.2 to NIC? ,😁

[@JonathanSwiftUK]

I have several Beelink mini PCs, some have dual Intel NICs, which I needed for pfSense. I'd probably not buy a system which doesn't have 2.5Gb ethernet as I've gone 2.5 anywhere I can. I like the idea, I think, of a built-in PSU.

[@markdawson25]

Seconded... purchased the EQ12 because of the dual 2.5Gb Intel NICs.... DDR5 RAM was a bonus.

[@zil6470]

❤

[@erikkarsies4851]

Problem with current N150 MiniPC's is their performance for the price. While the CPU being slightly faster the single channel DDR4 memory ruins especially the GPU performance! Because Ryzen based MiniPC's support dual channel money the performance penalty for DDR4 is not bad, but for the N150 certainly is!!!

[@LiftingLinux]

But what tasks on a sub $200

[@erikkarsies4851]

@@LiftingLinux Why is my comment removed 2 times? I guess it doesn't fit your business model to be honest about the offerings available?

[@LiftingLinux]

I have removed zero comments from this video, and do not remove comments unless someone is attacking another viewer. Also, KZbin has not held any comments on this video. However, if you included links in your comment, KZbin may have prevented the post. I have no control over that, or the visibility of it.

[@erikkarsies4851]

@@LiftingLinux Well I wasn't attacking anyone I was only explaining what you can do with a mini pc and that the n100 with ddr5 is faster and cheaper than the n150 with DDR4. Leepsvideo made a good review of the performance of those two. Thanks for your response anyway

[@s-nooze]

🐧❤

[@diyortestit]

Next time use CACHY OS for an arch test. It come whit kernel 13 and is optimise so you don t have to nothing

[@Kq4hcuDan]

I havent been a Ubuntu fan since it was taken over by canonical years ago when they became weird. I mainly ran mint, xandros, elementary os and last few years in been running q4os Linux. I would like to see how this runs on haiku OS and Freebsd since i like storing photos and music on physical drives.

[@marioprawirosudiro7301]

"Taken over by Canonical"? What? 🤨

[@Kq4hcuDan]

@marioprawirosudiro7301 canonical is f**ked up they weren't as f**ked up when Ubuntu started, early 2000's Ubuntu was better compared to now.

[@Winnetou17]

195th subscriber! Do I get a free lifetime Brilliant membership for being in the first 200 ? 😄 I was a bit curious if the comparisons to N100 have the same margins on Linux, including the efficiency, but I guess that will happen another day. Didn't knew the processor officially launches tomorrow, I guess that's why it's not listed on Intel's ark site (though I haven't checked again right now).

[@LiftingLinux]

The N150 does have the same performance margins with the N100 and N200 on linux as on windows. Which is marginal lol.

[@Winnetou17]

@@LiftingLinux Oh, good to know, thanks!

[@-iIIiiiiiIiiiiIIIiiIi-]

Steer clear of the N150; it's not really any better than the N100. The performance difference between the two processors is minimal, with benchmarks showing only a 1% difference in single-core performance and up to 5% in multi-core performance.

[@LiftingLinux]

@@-iIIiiiiiIiiiiIIIiiIi- but it demonstrates a 20% or more improvement in basic office and browser based workloads, which is what it’s intended for. What type of multicore workloads are you doing on a sub $200, 4 E-core PC anyway?

[@iokwong1871]

NO REASON to upgrade, but good product only if it comes with DDR5

[@treehugger3615]

I won't touch an Intel until sh!t gets sorted out wrt power.

[@thomasgood3472]

The black colour is horrible.

[@cosmicusstardust3300]

Intel sucks these days I wouldn't use it on anything especially for their integrated graphics its well known at this point AMD's iGPUs are far more superior over intel's and has been for a long time

[@LiftingLinux]

Unfortunately due to it’s popularity AMD doesn’t offer anything at the sub $200 price point. You may still find some Mini PCs with a Ryzen 5 3550H, but thats a nearly 6 yo APU with a massive TDP for a Mini PC. I’d love if AMD put the 7320U in a Mini PC but as of now you can only find that in >$500 laptops. The bottom line is for most people looking at entry level devices, cost is their #1 concern and right now Intel dominates the “cheap but effective” sub $200 market.

[@cosmicusstardust3300]

@@LiftingLinux Good point, I got my Beelink SER8 mini PC for $499 last year and I installed Arch Linux on it. The Ryzen 7 8745HS with the 780M iGPU in this tiny thing is a total beast at 1080p gaming, epspically from games that were around from the PS3/Xbox 360 era, and also emulation.

[@wikwayer]

220 dollars or wait a little bit longer and get 300 dollars AMD

[@christopherbohling5719]

For hardware encoding, like if you were using it as a dedicated media server and not a gaming device, Intel is arguably still superior here, especially considering price.

[@erikkarsies4851]

First the N100 were sold with DDR5 memory giving almost 30% more performance than the currently mostly sold ones with DDR4 memory and a N100 with DDR5 is faster than N150 with DDR4 memory. So people are scammed based on reviews with benchmarks of the versions with DDR5. The AMD iGPu's are less hampered by DDR4 if they use dual channel memory which the Nxx0 doesn't support.