MINISFORUM MS-01 Mini Workstation Core i5-12600H Barebone Version Mini PC, HDMI + 2xUSB4 8K Display, 2x10G SFP+ Port, 2x2.5G LAN Port, Support M.2 2280/22110/U.2 SSD/RTX 3050 Graphics Cards

The mini workstation is awesome. Tons of connectivity at 10gb and 2.5gb. I initially used it as a temporary workstation replacement until I could build a new one. Now running as a proxmox host. Has tons of nvme slots and can fit a 14mm or smaller u.2 drive. Needless to say it’s a workhorse with a decent amount of power and total ram can be upgraded to 96gb. Very awesome pc in a very small footprint for an i9 mobile processor.

My personal laptop died in late November of 2024 so I decided to replace it with the MS-01. I ordered the Core i9-13900H (32+1T) but in reflection should have ordered the Core i9-13900H (0+0) because I used the 1T NVMe from my dead laptop and ordered the 96GB upgrade kit ( Crucial RAM 96GB Kit (2x48GB) DDR5 5600MHz (or 5200MHz or 4800MHz) Laptop Memory CT2K48G56C46S5) which will arrive after this review. To begin the packaging this comes in is very nice and the padding is almost 2 inches thick making it very ship worthy. Access to the BIOS which is very clean and easy to use is accessed by hitting the DEL key when the Minis Forum logo appears. This unit recognized and booted effortlessly from the NVMe that was in my laptop. I examined the boot drive that came with my MS-01 and all drivers were loaded but downloading the Windows 11 drivers from the Minis Forums sites is a bit challenging but once you find the drivers they are all in one RAR file. The MS-01 is very quiet, sleeps well and wakes up easily. Under heavy load the fan is noticeable but not to the point of being obnoxious. I purchased this primarily for the dual NIC cards and the (3) NVMe slots as well as the (2) Type C ports and once the drivers are installed, they work flawlessly. The build in GPU is running a pair of LG Ultrawide monitors at 2560x1080 each and while the resolution is not quite as crisp as I hoped, it is still very clear and I suspect higher quality type C cables may help this. Screwless entry to open the case is great but there is one design flaw that I have found. One cannot access the button that opens the case with the CAT5e cables in place and one cannot access the locking clips that hold the CAT5e cables in place due to the case design. To remove the CAT5e cables one must use a tiny screwdriver to press down on the locking clips. I spent a few hours researching GPU’s that would fit in this case and the options are few, especially of you are not comfortable tearing down a GPU and installing a custom GPU Cooler. Overall I am very impressed with the unit.

This is an amazing little machine. I chose to upgrade to this as my previous virtualization machine was a cruddy 6-core CPU thin client that barely did the job. Since I share an office with my significant other I can't just get a big system, or a datacenter server, so this is the best option. This thing is a beast. I threw in the maximum 96GB of RAM and filled all of the NVME slots, installed a low profile Nvidia GT 1030 GPU, and installed TrueNAS Scale on it. I'm able to run a handful of my VM's, as well as quite a bit of the applications available from the TrueNAS app library, and this thing has had zero issues. I would highly recommend this if you want some solid virtualization hardware in a small form factor.

I have two of these in a proxmox cluster. I added 64 GB of RAM and a 4TB NVME and smaller NVME for the boot drive. Both SFP+ ports are being used one for VMs and one for NFS storage. Connectivity and stability have been rock solid. VMs are very snappy most Linux based and the system has been up 24x7 since I got them and no issues. Run cool with current workload. They are running a nine node K8S cluster. I plan to add a third unit for full high availability and then the K8S cluster will be evenly distributed across the machines. I also have a few other VMs that are running on them too. Highly recommend for anyone wanting to setup a home lab and minimize their power bill.

I own four of these as servers, and they are among the best mini-servers I've ever had for home lab and work use. Minis Forum stands behind their products; when one of my servers stopped powering up, their support team responded quickly, and they promptly shipped me a replacement. These servers are very fast, have a compact form factor, and operate quietly. I highly recommend them to anyone looking to start a home lab, use low power, and be prepared for any challenges that may arise.

This is a good machine, for a solid price and a nice design. It works well as a home server. First issue I ran into was while the machine has been off for some time as I was moving. The machine would not turn back on. I did get link lights on the back of the machine, but the power button did nothing. I only got the machine running back again by following some recommended steps on reddit saying to disconnect the CMOS battery (left it out for about 30 minutes or so). Then the machine was able to finally boot. But obviously the BIOS settings were lost. I did reach out to minisforum support and received a response right away offering a replacement for a barebones version. I did not take it as I did manage to get the computer to start back up, but followed up with a question regarding any known issues with the device or maybe an issue with the BIOS eating up the CMOS battery while the computer is off. I have not heard back on that yet. I wish I could give this machine 2 more stars as it is great, but this issue makes it less reliable.

For how small it is, it is a great value for the performance you get in such a small package. Works great as a 3-node cluster for Proxmox for home lab use. Thunderbolt does work (but finicky Linux network drivers makes that a mixed bag; use case is this is a portable lab and the Thunderbolt networking CEPH cluster didn't like being brought up and down). Temps are somewhat reasonable as long as the SSDs you use are lower in heat and power draw. The airflow isn't great and the case is best in a place where there is some active airflow blowing around the unit. I guess the main gripe is Intel AMT doesn't work reliably. I got it to show up once in Mesh Commander and that was it.

I sent an email request for drivers after searching everywhere I could think of. I see there are some hacks on forums, but I feel I deserve something safe from the manufacturer that sells this system with Windows 11. (which I was planning on trying first) With no network drivers discovered in the Windows install drivers I feel up-the-creek. I emailed the manufacturer 4 days ago .... no dice! (no reply) I've never purchased a motherboard that didn't come with drivers, and this seems like a silly waste of my time.