Mini PC for Router (pfsense)

thebesh

Member
TK Supporter
I've been using a Netgate 1100 as my firewall/router for the past 4/5 years and I loved it. I recently upgraded my internet connection from 600Mb to 1Gb. I noticed that my Netgate was the bottleneck and my connection was topping out around 600Mb, which is what Netgate say the device is capable of through the firewall.

I do like Netgate devices and I noticed they have just launched the 4200 model. When I bought the 1100 model, I bought it direct from Netgate and was stung with import tax from DHL after it arrived (£45). If I went for the 4200 model I would be looking at around £550 (including import tax). Looked around at no-name boxes I could run the community edition of pfSense on and couldn't find anything I thought was suitable, or it was still around the £500 mark.

After posting on reddit, someone recommended to look at Beelink. They happen to have an EQ12 model with dual 2.5Gbps NICs, which is perfect for me. I had a look on Amazon on Saturday and it was on offer. I bought it for £228, however it's now back up to £279. Beelink EQ12. I got it all up and running on Monday and I'm delighted with the performance, I can actually see the difference from loading content heavy sites.

My YouTube history is now full of mini PC reviews and information after this wee project. This morning I saw this and this is super interesting. I run many services at home on virtualised Docker server that is hosted on a beefed up desktop PC. None of the services require the CPU/Memory power on that desktop and I'm thinking that I might replace it with something like this in the future. minisforum-ms-01
 
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I've looked at adding one of these a few times but I don't have a real need for it other than wanting to try new tech.

£45 to £550 is quite the jump.
 
I've looked at adding one of these a few times but I don't have a real need for it other than wanting to try new tech.

£45 to £550 is quite the jump.
It says £45 was the import tax alone not incuding the cost of the item, the £550 was the cost of the item including import tax.
 
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