In the realm of high-performance Intel-based mini PCs, the first name that often comes to mind is Intel’s own NUC. Unfortunately, as of now, Intel has yet to officially launch its products based on the 13th Gen Core processors.
While many may find the Mingfan brand unfamiliar, it is quite well-known in the mini PC community. Mingfan was the first manufacturer to introduce high-performance AMD solutions and is one of the few that has launched mini PCs with discrete graphics. Their focus on the mini PC sector has resulted in a product line that is more comprehensive and diverse compared to competitors. Additionally, Mingfan has its own R&D center, with most of its products being self-developed. Thanks to its strong R&D capabilities, Mingfan was able to launch this versatile mini PC based on the 13th Gen Core processor ahead of Intel’s NUC offerings.
The main body of the machine features a metal chassis, enhancing both its quality and heat dissipation. The sides and bottom of the chassis have large openings to maximize airflow for cooling. The top cover design continues Mingfan’s tradition of an easy-open structure, requiring no screwdriver; just a press to easily access the internals for adding or replacing hard drives and memory.
The machine provides 2 DDR5 SODIMM slots, supporting a maximum frequency of 5200, which is a slight improvement over the previous generation Alder Lake H45. In terms of storage, it supports one M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD and an additional 2.5-inch hard drive. Furthermore, the NPB7 comes with an active cooler featuring a fan for the SSD to keep it cool during prolonged operation, which is crucial for using the machine as a NAS or soft router.
The network card is the MediaTek MT7921K. Fortunately, the position of the network card is no longer beneath the SSD, preventing the SSD’s heat from interfering with the wireless network card.
In terms of ports, the machine offers4USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, oneUSB-C, and2HDMI 2.0 ports, which is sufficient for daily use. The standout feature of this machine is its22.5G Ethernet ports and240GB full-speed USB4 ports.
This makes the machine suitable for a wide range of applications, from high-end dual-function routers to efficient productivity tools for video and image production.
Next, we will discuss the boot test results.
Using the AIDA64 FPU stress test on the i7-13700H processor, we observed an actual TDP of 45W, with the CPU temperature reaching 84 degrees.
This performance is sufficient to meet the demands of most daily office applications, and at 45W, the machine remains very quiet, with fan noise only at 40 decibels, which is much better than many ultrabooks.
In terms of GPU, this 96 EU Xe graphics unit was tested in games, achieving 130-170 frames at 1080P maximum settings in League of Legends.
The strongest feature of the Xe graphics is its productivity capabilities, with powerful AV1 decoding that makes video editing of AV1 files seamless.
The Mingfan NPB7 is a powerful mini PC that can enhance your work efficiency. This mini PC is also very affordable, with the barebone version priced at only 3599 yuan, which is significantly lower than many big brand products that start at 4000 or even 5000 yuan. Moreover, Mingfan includes a small power supply with it, making it a great value.
The NPB7 is currently available for sale on JD.com; you can click on [Read Original] to make a purchase.