$300 Mini PC with Power! MinisForum UM450 Review

The MinisForum UM450 is a new budget-minded mini PC that packs an impressive amount of performance for its current price ($220 barebones, $309 with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage). In this video we'll do a bunch of testing to see if this is a good option for PC gaming, Windows-based emulation, or as a Batocera retro gaming console.

This was a review unit sent to me by the manufacturer. All opinions are my own, they did not see this review ahead of time, and no money was exchanged in any way.

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
01:36 price and specs
02:15 unboxing and impressions
03:36 teardown
05:19 software and benchmarking
06:57 PC game testing
10:57 emulation testing
15:40 Batocera testing
17:12 portable gaming setup
18:58 summary (likes and dislikes)
21:40 conclusion

Theme song written by Jim Gray of Our Ghosts:

This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only.

#minisforum #miniPC #pcgaming

[crimson]

Killer device. This is the route I want to go once my old desktop PC gets obsolete. Also some of the emulators that ran poorly, like Citra were more of a software issue rather than hardware: Open GL is terrible on AMD on Windows. We have to wait until Vulkan is released or run the emulator on Linux.

[Heldermaior]

300 bucks for all this? What a time to be alive. I mean I am rediscovering the gamecube catalogue atm and if you add PS2 and Wii to that, what an excellent emulation box you got there. Also some light PC games like Hades and Hollow Knight to boot. This is spetacular.

[marcushopkins]

I just realized how extensive you are in all of your content. The fact that you include written guides to so many of your how-to videos is impressive. I attribute that to your military background. I refer to your Steam Deck and Odin guides regularly. I apologize for not always remembering to "like" your videos I watch.

[racingaerials]

I definitely want to invest in one of these to make a retro console for my tv. I probably wouldn't go past PS2 in that regard either so this device seems perfect for me! Thank you for your amazing reviews 🙏

[CellPhish]

I’m so fascinated by these mini PCs for an all in one concept build I’ve been working on for over a year now. I just can’t decide what PC performance to include with the actual game consuls in the build

[GYTCommnts]

Your content is amazing, the in depth analysis, the quality... Thanks for you awesome job! 🕹️

[youzernejm]

This chip was used by a then cheap Aya Neo handheld. And yes, the company was called Aya back then, and their first handheld was called Neo, and back then was actually 2 years ago. This is definitely exciting time for the emulation fans.

[doolittle_]

Not only are Russ' videos exhaustive with their amount of information, but they're hilarious if you're really paying attention.

[wwasdwtfcantmove]

Nice, I've been looking for something like this. Thanks for all you do, Russ!

[mindcraft]

I want to thank you for your videos wich are always high quality and very precise and very easy to understand

[SirRobinson]

Russ... You're great bro!
I was looking into a SFF or mini that i can play retro games on, maybe stream from my main setup or Xbox, and get some work done, make a song or something. Pretty sweet!

I really appreciate all the content, your channel feels like home. Thank you

[sweetasdude]

That is a nice spreadsheet, thank you.

[Bushidounohana]

Retro Benchmark Core 😂😂😂 … don’t know why, but that one really tickled me. Great work, as always!

[AFarCryAway]

I think it's worth saving the extra hundred dollars or so for a Steam Deck over this, however for the price this really isn't bad for those willing to compromise on resolution and frame rates for modern games. As for emulation, this is incredible.

[DucksInMayonnaise]

Thanks for the very informative video.

I'm building an arcade from an old ms pacman cabinet and I was hesitating upgrading from an i5 to a ryzen 5. This absolutely proved me the upgrade is justified. While 90% of mame games were playing well, there was still a portion with some 3D that was struggling.

I did not buy the model reviewed though as this would be largely overkill for my purpose, but found a pc that had a Ryzen5 2400G. I watched some video and seeing how it still easily handled Wii U emulation, I'm pretty positive it will be powerful enough for any mame games :). My upgrade is on the way!!

Thanks for your insightful reviews as always!

By the way, is it me or Ryzen5 prices has dropped substantially ? I remember PCs with Ryzen5 being at least 200$ dollars more expensive not too long ago...

[kismet]

Kerrygold buttery smooth transition at 5:18

[pixelpuppy]

Tifa: No good?
Cloud: Needs power, I think.
lol good one.

[seethruhead]

It's really hard to understand where each of the devices you review stand relative to eachother.
Can you place make a bar graph showing each systems relative performance for a given game.
This is standard in PC hardware reviews, like gpus or cpus.
But instead of components you can put single board computers into the chart.
For games that are cross arch (like emulation) you can even include android devices on the bar graphs.

I think that would really elevate your content and help your viewers make informed decisions about what device to purchase for the games they want to play.

thanks!

[lordnikonx]

I saw your video talking about the best handhelds for 4:3 retro gaming and wondered what you'd think about the specs of the upcoming Pixel Fold:
"So, the Pixel Fold will get two displays: a 7.6-inch main display with 6:5 aspect ratio, 2208×1840 resolution and 380ppi, and an additional 5.8-inch screen with FHD+ resolution and 17.4:9 ratio. Both displays will have 120Hz OLED matrices."

[numberoneappgames]

I would love to see a video on your Excel Spread sheet. :D