The Beelink EQi13 Pro lands at $429 with a 12‑core Intel Core i5‑13500H, dual PCIe Gen4 M.2 slots, and a fan noise profile that consistently sits below 46 dBA under load. CNX Software’s Part 2 hands‑on testing confirms that this Windows 11 Pro mini PC delivers 5,743 PCMark 10 points, 10,594 Cinebench R23 multi‑core, and 1.73 Gbps real‑world Wi‑Fi 6 uploads—all while throttling PL1/PL2 to 35 W to stay cool inside a compact metal chassis.
What you give up is obvious and deliberate: no Thunderbolt, no USB4, no DDR5, and idle power that hovers around 12 W. But for an office‑first workstation that can swallow two Gen4 drives and run near‑silently, those trade‑offs look strategic.
A chassis built for quiet serviceability
Beelink abandoned the external power brick. The EQi13 Pro houses an 85 W AC power supply inside its metal shell, so the only cable on your desk is the mains lead. Opening the bottom panel reveals two SO‑DIMM DDR4‑3200 sockets (the review unit came with 32 GB via two 16 GB modules) and two M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 slots—one occupied by a 1 TB NVMe drive out of the box, the other free and ready for an upgrade. The Wi‑Fi card sits in an M.2 2230 slot, populated by an Intel AX200 module.
This layout means you can add a second high‑speed SSD without any tools beyond a screwdriver. CNX Software tested a 2 TB WD_BLACK SN850X in the spare slot and measured sequential reads of 6,930 MB/s and writes of 6,684 MB/s—near the drive’s rated 7,300/6,600 MB/s. For a sub‑$500 machine, dual user‑accessible Gen4 lanes are an uncommon value lever.
Around the back, two HDMI 2.0 ports push video to dual 4K displays. The front panel hosts a 10 Gbps USB‑C port and four USB‑A ports, three of which are also 10 Gbps; one rear USB‑A is USB 2.0 only. There is no DisplayPort Alt Mode, no Thunderbolt, and no 2.5GbE—just two Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet controllers. If your workflow demands single‑cable docking or multi‑gig wired speeds, the EQi13 Pro will require adapters.
Windows 11 Pro and driver experience
The review sample shipped with Windows 11 Pro version 24H2, build 26100.2033. Device Manager, HWiNFO, and GPU‑Z all recognized the platform cleanly: Intel Core i5‑13500H, 80 EU Iris Xe Graphics, Intel AX200 Wi‑Fi, and the pair of Realtek GbE NICs. The reviewer encountered no driver headaches during setup or testing—a reassuring sign for IT administrators planning fleet deployments.
For mixed‑OS environments, CNX Software has scheduled a Part 3 Ubuntu 24.04 test. Intel’s open‑source graphics stack usually plays nicely with recent kernels, but buyers who intend to dual‑boot should verify Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth compatibility before committing to a Linux install.
Benchmarks: productivity first, GPU second
The testing was conducted in a warm room (27–29°C) with Windows set to “Best performance.” The power limits—PL1 at 35 W, PL2 at 35 W, PL4 at 65 W—are notably lower than the i5‑13500H’s Intel‑listed base 45 W and configurable turbo up to 95 W. Beelink clearly tuned for thermal headroom inside the small enclosure, and that shows in both the benchmark scores and the temperature logs.
| Benchmark | Score |
|---|---|
| PCMark 10 | 5,743 |
| PassMark PerformanceTest 11 | 4,734 |
| Cinebench R23 (Single/Multi) | 1,692 / 10,594 |
| 3DMark Fire Strike | 4,290 |
| Unigine Heaven 4.0 (1080p) | 45.2 fps |
These numbers situate the EQi13 Pro comfortably above low‑power N‑series mini PCs and roughly on par with the GEEKOM Mini IT12 (Core i7‑1280P, $499) in CPU‑bound tasks. The Cinebench R23 multi‑core score actually outpaces the GEEKOM IT12’s 6,952 points, likely because the IT12’s P‑series chip has tighter thermal constraints. The AMD‑based GEEKOM A6 (Ryzen 7 6800H, $459) wins convincingly in 3D Fire Strike (6,630 vs. 4,290) and Unigine (70.2 fps vs. 45.2), so buyers who need stronger integrated graphics for light gaming or GPU‑accelerated renders will find the Radeon 680M a meaningful upgrade.
Storage and USB: real Gen4 and 10 Gbps throughput
The value of the dual M.2 slots becomes concrete when you slot in a high‑end drive. CrystalDiskMark reported sequential read/write of 6,930/6,684 MB/s on the spare slot with the WD_BLACK SN850X—essentially saturating Gen4 x4 bandwidth. The pre‑installed 1 TB drive topped out at 5,207 MB/s read and 4,765 MB/s write, still solid for a factory SSD.
On the USB side, CNX Software tested every port with a 10 Gbps NVMe enclosure. The three front USB‑A ports, the rear USB‑A #1 and #2, and the front USB‑C all hit 1,059–1,060 MB/s read and ~1,039–1,040 MB/s write—exactly what USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) can deliver in the real world. The lone USB 2.0 port on the rear panel capped out at 44 MB/s, confirming the labelling (or lack thereof) on the physical unit.
Networking: dual Gigabit and surprise Wi‑Fi 6 speeds
Wired performance is textbook: iperf3 across both Realtek GbE ports produced 938–950 Mbit/s in both directions over 60‑second runs. For Wi‑Fi 6, the Intel AX200 module, paired with a Xiaomi Mi Router AX6000 at one metre, returned 1.52 Gbps download and 1.73 Gbps upload. That’s well above a single Gigabit Ethernet link and within striking distance of the module’s 2.4 Gbps theoretical PHY rate with 160 MHz channels.
A small caveat: the download test experienced a dip to around 1 Gbps during the final 10‑second interval. The reviewer attributes this to environmental interference rather than a hardware fault, and the overall 1.52 Gbps average is still excellent for a built‑in Wi‑Fi solution.
Video playback: 8K60 runs better in Chrome
Connected to a 4K monitor, the EQi13 Pro handled 4K 30 fps and 60 fps YouTube streams in Firefox without dropping a frame. 8K 30 fps was similarly smooth, with only one dropped frame in a five‑minute test.
At 8K 60 fps, however, Firefox collapsed: 6,714 frames dropped out of 7,786, making the video unwatchable. Switching to Google Chrome radically improved the experience, with only 26 dropped frames during a five‑minute run and stable playback. The reviewer suspects that Firefox’s pipeline hits a memory bandwidth wall more easily on DDR4, while Chrome’s video stack makes better use of the Iris Xe hardware decoder.
The practical takeaway: if 8K60 YouTube is part of your routine, Chrome is the browser of choice on this platform.
Thermals, noise, and the 11‑W idle penalty
HWiNFO logged CPU package temperatures of 84°C during 3DMark Fire Strike and 88°C under sustained Cinebench R23 multi‑core. Thermal throttling appeared briefly in Fire Strike and more persistently in Cinebench, but neither test pushed the chip anywhere near its 100°C Tjunction.
The fan compensates with restraint. Using a sound meter placed 5 cm above the chassis, CNX Software recorded 39.4–40.1 dBA at idle and 41.4–45.7 dBA under Fire Strike load. In a room with a 38–39 dBA noise floor, the EQi13 Pro is noticeably quieter than most actively cooled mini PCs. Under office workloads, the fan is essentially inaudible.
Power consumption is the other side of the quiet‑cool coin. At the wall, the mini PC drew:
- Power off: 2.0 W
- Idle: 10.9–12.3 W
- YouTube 8K60 Firefox: 32–34.3 W
- Cinebench R23 multi‑core: 62.4–64.2 W
The idle figure is the outlier. Most mini PCs idle below 10 W, often around 6 W. The internal PSU likely contributes to the elevated draw. Over a year of continuous uptime, that 12‑W drain translates to roughly 100 kWh, or around €40 at German electricity rates. For a single desktop PC, the cost is modest; for a deployment of twenty units running 24/7, it adds up to a noticeable operational expense.
Competitive landscape and value
Beelink prices the EQi13 Pro at $429 (32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD), with similar listings on Amazon. Against the $499 GEEKOM Mini IT12 and $459 GEEKOM A6, the EQi13 Pro is the cheapest of the three and delivers competitive CPU throughput for productivity apps, web browsing, and media playback.
| Feature | Beelink EQi13 Pro | GEEKOM IT12 | GEEKOM A6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | i5‑13500H | i7‑1280P | Ryzen 7 6800H |
| RAM | 32 GB DDR4 | 32 GB DDR4 | 32 GB DDR5 |
| NVMe slots | 2x Gen4 | 1x Gen4 + SATA | 1x Gen4 |
| USB4/Thunderbolt | No | No | No |
| Price | $429 | $499 | $459 |
Its dual M.2 slots and internal PSU differentiate it from both competitors, though the GEEKOM A6’s DDR5 memory and RDNA2‑based Radeon 680M GPU hand it a clear win in 3D workloads.
Who should buy this mini PC?
The EQi13 Pro fits squarely into office productivity, remote work, and homelab duties. It has the grunt to drive two 4K monitors, run Office 365 and dozens of browser tabs, and sustain light content creation workflows. The expansion options make it a candidate for an always‑on file server or media centre when paired with high‑capacity NVMe drives.
If you need sustained CUDA‑accelerated rendering, Thunderbolt docking, or native multi‑gigabit wired networking, you will be better served by a slightly larger mini PC with better cooling and a richer I/O set. Users comfortable with BIOS tweaks can explore raising PL1/PL2 limits to recover some hidden performance, but they should monitor thermals closely, as the compact chassis has limited headroom.
Beelink’s firmware choices—the conservative PL limits and the omission of DDR5—keep the machine stable and affordable. The quiet fan and dual Gen4 slots set it apart in a crowded field. For Windows enthusiasts seeking a near‑silent, expandable desktop that stays under $500, the EQi13 Pro earns its place on the shortlist. CNX Software’s upcoming Linux testing will complete the picture, but for now, the Windows 11 Pro experience is polished and performant.