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FIREBAT S1 Mini PC (Intel N100, 16GB/512GB, 2x LAN, 2x HDMI, 1.9" LCD) US$122.03 (~A$187.51) Shipped @ Cutesliving AliExpress

510
24AN12AE12ZNAF
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This Mini PC is back on sale and considerabely cheaper than last time. This one is quite unique in that it has 1.9" LCD display on the front that can display information like the date/time, CPU/RAM/fan stats, as well as custom backgrounds and more that can easily be customised within Windows.

This is a good option if you want a small media player as it supports H.265 and AV1 hardware decoding, dual 4K output via HDMI and comes with activated Windows 11 and easily upgradeable RAM/storage. It's good for classic gaming and emulation too.

This one uses the Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake N100 4 core, 4 thread CPU with a single stick of 16GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB SSD storage with both an M.2 NVMe and M.2 SATA slot available. In terms of ports there's two HDMI 2.0 ports with 4K@60Hz support, dual Gigabit LAN, 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0 and a headphone jack. For cooling there's an inbuilt fan and a magnetic side cover for easy SSD/RAM access.

Obviously there's been some controversey surrounding Acemagic/Kamrui mini PCs having malware. Firebat is a completely different brand/company and there's no evidence of any malware infections on these. To be safe I recommend reinstalling Windows with a bootable USB.

  • Apply the coupon 24AN12 or AE12ZNAF at checkout

AU$ based on current Mastercard rate, GST inclusive, further US$2.40 off with coins, stacks with 3% off with AliExpress Business and cashback.


How to get the AU$ price in the title.

Setting overseas websites to AUD or letting PayPal do the currency conversion results in an inflated rate. To get the correct rate you need a card without international fees and do the following:

  • Set the website currency to USD
  • Checkout with PayPal
  • Select your card with no international fees
  • Click "See currency options"
  • Select USD to bill the card in USD instead of AUD
  • Proceed with checkout

Now you'll get the correct MasterCard or VISA exchange rate depending on the card.

Original Coupon Deal

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closed Comments

  • does anyone slice 3d files with one of these?

    • +1

      As in generating gcode for printers? That's not a hugely taxing activity.

      I don't use a low power CPU, but slicing barely makes a single core on my home machine tick over much.

      Even a phone or an SBC is enough to generate gcode.

  • Is you link correct? Because I'm getting a "Cannot be found" error.

    • +3

      Turn your VPN off or whatever is masking your location. Unless it's Starlink then I'm sorry.

  • +2

    Suitable for OpnSense? What model are the NICs?

    • Surely there are better machines for similar money for home routers- quad port Intels NICs with passive case cooling.

      • Nah, those are at least $100 more with 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD.

        • That much ram and HDD is pretty much a waste of resources on opnsense. That's what you'd spec for someone's desktop instead of a router.

          • @rumblytangara: Running proxmox on mine with several VMs, one of them opnsense. Even with 4GB RAM/128 GB SSD, the Topton quad-NIC fanless boxes are significantly more expensive than the Firebat.

            • @kackstelze: Fair enough. I'd never consider running my perimeter network security device on a VM.

            • +1

              @kackstelze: I'm running Pfsense on Proxmox also on a shitty celeron CPU 4GB/128GB fanless box, the only other apps it runs is Adguard and Home Assistant and cost less than $100. Hasn't skipped a beat and is serving about 60-80 devices in our home.

              • @frankfu1122: Nice, what's the power consumption? Can you post a store link where it costs less than $100?

                • @kackstelze: I haven't measured the power consumption but I can't imagine it to be much. My wireless AP might be consuming more lol.

                  It was cheaper when I bought it but it's around $160 AUD now

                  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006669771685.html

                  I think if you search for N4000 fanless on Aliexpress you'll find lots of results. Being fanless was a requirement for me rather than the processing power.

                  • @frankfu1122: You said you paid less than $100 for the N4000 4GB/128GB, but the link you sent shows $224.76 incl. GST for that model, much more than the Firebat. Hard to believe you got it at that price.

                    I'm just hunting for a opnsense box for less than $200 with decent NICs, so far it hasn't materialised.

                    • @kackstelze: I bought it barebones without ram/storage, it's hassle but you can get 4GB ram and 128GB storage on the ebay/fb marketplace for cheap. If you want a opnsense box, you'll probably want it to be fanless and the Firebat isn't fanless.

                      • @frankfu1122: Very happy with my fanless N100, however looking to build another one. I like saving money, but I won't buy used RAM/SSD… that's just asking for trouble. From what I can tell, even the bare N4000 was never sold for less than $100.

                        • @kackstelze: Yeah I mean prices have gone up post covid so take what you will.

                          Re used ram/ssd, depends on the use case, if u just need it for a homelab for tinkering, I'd say it is fine. For actual home usage with family members and what not, yeah I'd probably go with a known brand and brand new. I wouldn't use the ones provided by the manufacturers like Firebat/Kamrui/Beelink etc period.

                      • @frankfu1122:

                        bought it barebones without ram/storage, it's hassle but you can get 4GB ram and 128GB storage on the ebay/fb marketplace for cheap

                        Agreed… I either have the parts sitting around spare but if not then I'd prefer to source my own new or secondhand from a known brand rather than go with whatever random stuff that the box manufacturer can get for cheap.

                        I've bought 4-5 of these fanless multi-port boxes over the years, and never once did I order with the factory RAM/storage.

                        Hardware wise, all but the first box have been great. The big downside is the total lack of firmware/BIOS updates so if a hardware exploit comes out (Spectre, Meltdown, LogoFail) the machine will never be proofed against it. As a router that just passes packets controlled by a stripped down OS, probably not a big deal (I am not an infosec guy) but if you're using it to run loads of other stuff it's more a concern.

                    • @kackstelze: Picked up a brand new HP T730 on ebay for around $180, was a pretty good deal. Bought an additional 4 port NIC as well, but all just gathering dust at the moment.
                      A used 620 Plus may be cheaper too.

                      • @Rorschach: Interesting! What’s the total cost with ram/ssd and did you measure power consumption?

                        • @kackstelze: Sorry, I haven't set this up, I tend to lose interest in projects and come back to them much later 🤷🏼
                          These come with the RAM and storage, mine had 8GB RAM and 32 GB SSD. From memory, the NIC cost around 50 bucks or so. Making sure the CPU supports AES-NI is what I remember from my research then.
                          Couple of listings on ebay:
                          https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/126380463422
                          https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/276384159178

                          • @Rorschach: How do you jam a quad port NIC into one of those cases?

                            Only instances I've come across in the past of multi-NIC terminals have involved a dremel and possibly a riser card.

                            • +1

                              @rumblytangara: Took me a bit to gather it all, here you go.

                              • @Rorschach: Wow, I hadn't twigged that these terminal machines came with space for a backplate. That's a very nice solution.

                                The parallel port is quite comical- not sure when the last time is that I saw one of those.

      • I'd love it if you could find a better option for the same price or lower and report back.

        • +1

          Look on Aliexpress using "pfsense." Most the results will have Intel NICs. Usually 4-6 ports. If you're just trying to run a normal router instance, practically any CPU and 2GB of RAM will do.

          The OP machine is not well suited- too much $ spent on RAM and storage, not enough ports. The OP machine is a light desktop.

  • Dual NICs is tempting but has unknown chipset, a UE power brick, you would need an adapter or 12v 30w barrel plug brick to fit and it requires random china software to control the little screen?
    Pass but thanks for sharing.

    • +1

      I'm certain it's the Realtek RTL8125 considering other OEM models have the same.

      • May I ask, whats wrong with it having a Realtek NIC. I'm interested in buying one with the hope of learning Linux/ light coding project/photo editing.

        • +2

          For Linux there's a real lack of support for Realtek NICs and often you'll have trouble finding compatible drivers for your kernel. Some models have native support, some have drivers available on Github and some have none at all.

          Intel NICs typically work out of the box on Linux.

    • -1

      What's wrong with the power brick sorry?

      (PS: Power brick? Surely there's a more suitable name for it that the average person would still understand? Surely 'power supply' would be accurate and still understood to be the box on the power cord …)

    • You can not use the mini screen if you don't trust the software. Even unplug it physically.

    • Both NICs and WiFi working out of the box with ubuntu 23.10.1.
      Quickly tried proxmox and NICs working out of the box too.

  • +4

    It's unfortunate that most of these vendors fail to mention what type of NICs they are running.

    It's important because, for example, Realtek NICs perform terribly on *BSD platforms and only tolerable well on Linux platforms whereas most the Intel NICs can run at line-speed all day long. That also applies to derivative systems such as proxmox, opnsense and similar.

    I'm no tout for Intel even tho they make good NICs, I'm a tout for comprehensive system specs so we buyers can decided with confidence.

    • +1

      If you're wanting to run Linux I'd probably recommend another mini PC anyway. AFAIK the display is Windows only. Other N100's can be had a bit cheaper, i.e. this for ~US$110, though I suspect that's Realtek too.

    • +3

      Good rule of thumb is if the NIC brand isn’t mentioned, you can assume it’s Realtek.

  • +2

    In the time I was writing my post I see that at least two others have asked questions about NICs and their chipsets. Clearly people want to know!!

    • +1

      If it's an Intel NIC, the listing will have it plastered all over the place. Otherwise, Realtek.

  • How would this fare with general office work and browsing?

  • +1

    Am I missing something here? How is this so cheap?

    Ex-Govt. used PCs sell for about this $ with 1 NIC and ancient hardware in a bigger box, let alone a fancy LCD screen. Is the N100 just rubbish compared to even ancient intel Core CPUs?

    • -1

      N100 has been amazing for my cheap little AliExpress unit. Dirt cheap because Australia tries to f*** you in the a** even when it's trying to be nice. Just paying an Aussie to look at your order, grab the item from out back, and shipping it to you cost more than these things new from factory.

      Just the harsh reality we live in here

      • Don't be ridiculous. This has nothing to do with aussie retailing. Otherwise you'd be able to buy every other kind of PC and hardware (e.g. laptops) for dirt cheap off Aliexpress, but obviously that's not the case. So either this thing has absolutely atrocious build quality, as is almost always the case for non-western, no-name brands outta these chinese marketplace sellers, or the underlying hardware is cheap.

        • We're talking refurbished units, not Aussie retail for branded units. These little computers run cheap ram, on cheap chips (normal cost). Build quality is a plastic box with screws holding the 3 components together.

          This in Australia would cost $400 on special after distribution and scalping, but they are around.

          • @Salmando: In the vast majority of cases, the refurb work is minimal, and they're getting the hardware for absolutely dirt cheap.

            Again, if your logic is 'oh, well everything in australia is just marked up and buying from china is just fundamentally cheaper as a result' - Then where's the plethora of i7 & 4080 equipped gaming machines that cost half as much from china as they do here? What about high end laptops, where's the half price high perf laptops?

            … No. There's a rational explanation here. Yes, I can see how aliexpress can definitely be cheaper, but not by this much. I would say it's because the CPU is weak as hell.

    • +2

      It's a very anaemic chip in a tiny plastic box that can fit on the palm of your hands. The 40 bucks of ram on this probably costs more than the chip which idling on Windows will use most of its power.

      Its multicore capability is as fast as a 4 core intel cpu from 12 years ago (3rd gen intel). The difference being it uses 1/10th the wattage to do so. If you've ever heard of celerons, this is basically that but rebranded.

      • Have you got any sources to indicate exactly how the performance stacks up?

        • https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5157vs828/Intel-N100-vs…

          Basically trades blows with intel's 4 core cpus from 12 years ago but uses 6w instead of 77w so much more power efficient.

          • @JerraJones: Passmark is utter garbage.

            • @Grazz989: Passmark is a very good resource, you must be thinking of userbenchmark.

              It gets 3000 multi core and 900 single core in cinebench r23.

              • @JerraJones: It's certainly better than userbenchmark. Still not as good as real world benches IMO.

                Anyway, yeah cool. So it's 10%-ish better. That's … Not great, but still more than fine for a home network firewall or NAS or anything like that, surely.

            • @Grazz989: You're a real ball of fun, aren't you?

              Just about every single post of yours in this thread had been snarky questions questions that can be answered via a single Google search, or just flat out negative. Seems like you're one of these people who think it's clever to be negative.

              Wonder if you are like this IRL too. Probably.

  • Sadly: "Sorry, this item is no longer available!"

  • Would this be good enough for watching youtube, basic office work (excel and so on) and web browsing?

  • I bought the AK2 version, I believe they are very similar. Now I am having issues with sound output to the TV via HDMI, neither HDMI ports works. I have reinstalled the OS to the latest Win11 though, anyone has any suggestions please?

    PS. If I plug some good old AUX earplugs in the the AUX jack, there is sound output, just no sound from the HDMI ports. BTW, the HDMI cable should be fine as I have tested it with my laptop connected to the same TV, sound works fine.

    • This is just a stab in the dark but…

      Have you checked that the AK2 has all the latest drivers installed?
      Driver update is hidden behind "View optional updates" under Windows Update, so I've overlooked it on a number of occasions.

      My AK2 problem was that it BSOD without the updated Wifi driver - it took me a whole day to figure it out.

  • What's the drive expandability on these? Looking for a small Nas box. How many m.2 or sata can these handle?

  • -1

    The N100 rates poorly on CPU Benchmark. About half as well as I require.

    https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5157vs3702/Intel-N100-v…

    I am looking for a mini-PC with specs to meet the requirements of my Quell. So the graphics card also has to be decent.

    https://playquell.com/pages/help-centre?hcUrl=%2Fen-US%2Fmin…

    Does anyone have any suggestions?

  • So how are people Finding the Firebats ?

    Useful ? have any Failed ?

    What barrel plug adapter did you buy to Replace the Stock one ?

    • They are probably only just arriving in country.
      I ordered a few other things from aliexpress that arrived before this did. The Firebat went trough transit country, and only just arrived a few minutes ago.

  • +1

    In case somebody was wondering about the display and linux, found this (but haven't had time to test yet - will keep it on Win11 for now): https://github.com/tjaworski/AceMagic-S1-LED-TFT-Linux

    I didn't have to backup Win11 pro license, it was automatically applied when installing Windows from scratch.

    • +1
    • Did you reinstall windows? Did it detect everything or anything you had to install manually? Thanks

      • Yes, I reinstalled from scratch.
        You need to copy the LED and display app yourself, that's the only thing I copied across.
        License was detected automatically, but can't hurt to extract and copy the code yourself too.
        Everything is working, haven't noticed anything that isn't working.
        (I do have a image of original install, just in case)

        • Thanks mate. when you say copy the apps.. are these just folders i can copy or need to find the exe file?

          • @gimme: There are 2 links on the desktop, the apps are in the same folder:

            C:\Windows\OEM\CYX_TftTool\TFTConfigQMake.exe
            C:\Windows\OEM\CYX_TftTool\LedControl.exe

            Just copy the entire folder

            C:\Windows\OEM\CYX_TftTool\

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