Most mini PCs are offered with Windows 10 or 11 operating systems, but MinisForum DeskMini UM350 Manjaro Edition mini PC ships with Manjaro Linux, making it one of the rare mini PCs pre-loaded with a Linux distribution.
The mini PC hardware is pretty standard with a 35W AMD Ryzen 5 3550H quad-core processor, support for up 64GB RAM, 2.5-inch SATA and M.2 2280 SSD storage, and the only real highlights are Linux support, and relatively affordable pricing.
DeskMini U350 Manjaro Edition specifications:
- SoC – AMD Ryzen 5 3550H 4 Cores/8 Threads processor @ 2.1 GHz / 3.7 GHz (Turbo) with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics @ up to 1200MHz
- System Memory – 2x SO-DIMM slots for DDR4 RAM up to 64GB
- Storage
- 256GB or 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe/NVMe SSD
- 2.5-inch SATA III bay
- Video Outpu
- HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60
- DisplayPort up to 4Kp60
- USB-C port up to 4Kp60
- Audio
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Digital audio output via HDMI or DisplayPort
- Digital microphone
- 3x independent display support
- Networking
- 2.5 GbE RJ45 port
- M.2 2230 Wireless-AC 7265 (Dual-Band Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4.2)
- USB – 3x USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 port with power-off charging support, 1x USB USB 3.x Gen2 Type-C port
- Misc – Power button, Clear CMOS pinhole, Kensington lock
- Power Supply – 19V via DC jack
- Dimensions – 127x127x51.3mm
- Weight – 500 grams
The mini PC ships with a power adapter, HDMI and USB cables, a mounting bracket, and a user manual. The Manjaro OS Plasma Edition pre-loaded into the device includes Firefox, Vivaldi Browser, Okular PDF, VLC media player, Elisa audio player, Gwenview image viewer, LibreOffice, Steam, Skype, Crossover One, and others can be installed with Pacman package manager. Crossover One is a commercial software used to run Windows applications on Linux, and Minisforum says the first 1000 boxes will come with a free activation code. You can get an idea of AMD Ryzen 5 3550H performance by checking out Ian’s review of the Beelink GT-R mini PC.
Four variants of the Manjaro mini PC are sold with the following configuration:
- 256GB of storage with no RAM for $299
- 8GB of RAM + 256GB of storage for $339
- 16GB of RAM + 256GB of storage for $369
- 16GB of RAM + 512GB of storage for $399
You can purchase DeskMini UM350 Manjaro Edition on Minisforum store. Note the prices are exactly the same as for the DeskMini UM350 with Windows 10 Pro, so you don’t save on the license cost, but it may help Manjaro Linux development, as the email press release I received mentions “MinisForum Teamed up with Manjaro“.
Thanks to Linuxium for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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35W AMD Ryzen 5 3550H = fan. A mechanical Achilles heel makes it uninteresting for mass usage in non-commercial environments like schools. The fan will be the first component to fail, and probably the only.
I’m not sure what the appeal is?
The Asus PN50/PN51 or Asrock 4X4 with a 4300U/5300U is about the same price (minus Windows license) and performs similarly while consuming 15W in lieu of 35W.
perhaps Manjaro is a gimmick to help them clear out obsolete stock? Like a runout sale where car manufacturers load up the previous generation with free extras to get them off the showfloor.
They are even still selling Ryzen 2500U based machines.
https://store.minisforum.com/collections/amd-%C2%AE-ryzen-%C2%AE/products/minisforum-um250-mini-pc
I think it is more likely that they were trying to position themselves with an easy(er) to set up Linux option when the system is set up from the start to require less technical ability.
And… I did a search after writing that, and I just found out that this was the official line from the company.
Frankly I would have liked it better if they had aimed it with a server release of Linux too like Ubuntu server or Debian given how helpful to would be for slightly technical home users to be able to buy a stock *nix server for their household data storage (and of course for running a local web server and some RDBMAs for development purposes). We have Petabytes of data in our house..