Beelink has a solution to storage pricing – mobile UFS storage
As you may recall, we previously wrote about Wildcat Lake from Intel’s own point of view . Intel described this budget platform as one that borrows ideas from smartphones, i ncluding supply chain changes aimed at lowering mainstream PC costs. Perhaps we did not expect a mini PC to borrow from that concept so directly by using mobile-class UFS storage.
Beelink has now shown the EQi 304, a compact mini PC based on Intel’s Wildcat Lake platform. The system uses the Core 3 Processor 304, which Beelink lists as an Intel 18A chip. The company promotes it as a low-power AI PC, but the storage configuration is the more interesting part.
UFS 3.1 storage in a mini PC
Beelink lists 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage instead of advertising a standard M.2 NVMe SSD. UFS 3.1 is more common in phones, tablets and embedded systems. It is faster than eMMC, but it is not in the same class as PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe storage used in many modern mini PCs.
UFS 3.1 has a theoretical interface bandwidth of around 2.9 GB/s. PCIe 4.0 x4 offers around 7.9 GB/s of usable bandwidth, while fast consumer NVMe SSDs can reach around 7.0 GB/s in sequential reads. This puts UFS 3.1 closer to PCIe 4.0 x1 than to full x4 NVMe storage. I guess for the market this product is aimed at, it is enough, but forget about future upgrades.
More importatly, the UFS storage is only one of the options. This system still has two M.2 slots: 1x PCie 4.0×2 and PCIe 4.0×1. So not the full speed, but you have other options.
This is not the first x86 mini PC to use UFS storage. MINISFORUM S100 , an Intel N100 stick PC, uses 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage. Dell also lists its Pro Micro Thin Client with Intel N250 and 128GB UFS storage. Needless to say, the Wildcat Lake system should defiantely be faster since it’s much newer architecture.
Source: Beelink
Single DDR5 memory module or LPDDR5
Beelink lists DDR5-5600 memory, with the image showing one Crucial SO-DIMM module. This fits Wildcat Lake’s single-channel memory design, so the system is offered with 16GB, 24GB or 32GB memory options rather than a dual-channel kit.
The rest of the listed specifications include dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, 10G plus 2.5G dual LAN, 32 dB operation and a 500-gram chassis. Worth notingt hat the despite small footprint and only 500g weight, it has a built-in 85W power supply.
Pricing starts at $509 for the 16GB LPDDR5 configuration. The 24GB DDR5 model is listed at $659, while the 32GB DDR5 model costs $739.
Source: Beelink
