Minisforum Decks Out MS-01 & MS-A1 Mini PCs With Intel & AMD CPUs: Dual 10GbE Ports & Up To 24 TB SSD Capacity Support

Minisforum has introduced new variants of its AMD-powered MS-A1 and Intel-powered MS-01 Mini PCs with top notch capabilities such as dual 10 GbE support.

Minisforum is updating its MS-01 and MS-A1 Mini PC family with new options featuring a diverse range of Intel and AMD CPUs. The Mini PC is designed as a small form factor workstation with strong I/O features such as support for four M.2 slots, dual 10 GbE LAN ports & dedicated PCIe x16 slots to install a SFF ITX graphics card for added performance.

Starting with the MS-01 (Intel) series, the Mini PC workstation was initially launched with higher-end variants that included the Core i9-12900H and the Core i9-13900H however, these two options are a bit pricey and Minisforum has now decided to offer a Core i5 version as a alternative to those who want the Mini PCs added capabilities but do not require the extra CPU performance.

While the Intel versions include support for up to 64 GB DDR5 SO-DIMM memory, the AMD versions offer support for up to 96 GB of DDR5 SO-DIMM memory while offering support for 65W AM5 CPUs such as the Ryzen 5 7600, Ryzen 5 8600G, and the Ryzen 7 8700G.

All variants of the MS-01 Mini PC come in a black metal chassis which measures 196x189x48mm (1.78L) and can be placed vertically or in an horizontal position.

The I/O on these Mini Workstation PCs include two USB4 ports, (20G Thunderbolt Ethernet Compatible), two 2.5GbE ports, two 10 GbE ports, two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, HDMI 2.0 & a power jack. Minisforum states that the Mini PC can achieve a total network transmission speed of up to 65 Gbps. The MS-A1 option sticks with the more standard dual 2.5 GbE ports and four M.2 slots.

As for the internals, the Minisforum MS-01 and MS-A1 Mini PCs come with four M.2 slots (1 WIFI slot) for up to 8 TB SSD support per slot and a combined 24 TB SSD capacity. The PC also allows users to install a single enterprise-level U.2 SSD while leveraging two 22110 SSDs. The Mini PC also comes with a dedicated PCIe x16 slot which can be used to house a ITX graphics card but do keep in mind that the adapter that is provided by Minisforum is rated at 180W so they only recommend up to an RTX 3050. Anything above may require a a higher-power adapter.

Cooling is provided by a memory-direct heat dissipation system which features an aluminum base plate with copper heat pipes and uses a blower fan which can offer up to 80W of cooling to this PC enclosure.

The Minisforum MS-A1 doesn't features any PCIe x16 slot but does come with an OcuLink port so that users can utilize an eGPU for added graphics performance.

As for pricing, Minisforum sets the baseline (32 GB RAM + 1 TB SSD) price for its MS-01 "Core i5" model at $589 US while the Core i9-12900H version retails for $679 and the Core i9-13900H variant retails for $839 US. The barebone versions are available for $399, $499 and $679 US, respectively.