Is This Mini PC TOO SMALL?

This is not your average mini PC because it splits. This is a mini PC with a dock, internal battery, and really good fit and finish making it unique to other mini PCs we have reviewed. Let us get into the Khadas Mind.

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Where to Find The Unit We Purchased
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Other STH Content Mentioned in this Video
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- ASUS ROG NUC (review coming soon)

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Timestamps
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00:00 Introduction
01:38 Hardware Overview
04:30 Internal and Mind Dock
08:48 Performance
09:49 Power Consumption and Noise
12:48 Key Lessons Learned and Pricing
16:39 Wrap-up

[tgmct]

The pricing on this thing is nothing less than insane.

[ja]

I have one and love it. I work from 3 offices, have a regular USB-C dock in each office with screens, keyboard and mouse set up, and I just slip it in my pocket when I leave the office. Running Linux on it.

[heeerrresjonny]

I can see a laptop making more sense for a lot of people, but my work laptop is basically permanently docked. Using it undocked incurs a significant productivity hit because I'm going from dual 24-in monitors, ergonomic keyboard & mouse to a 14-in monitor with the laptop keyboard & trackpad. If you just need to do meetings and check dashboards or run a few commands, sure thats fine, but I'm a software engineer who is constantly typing and moving between a bunch of different apps. Having muliple workstations set up in different locations where I can just move the PC portion between them sounds ideal. I'd love that setup but it'd definitely be expensive not only due to the unit but also the duplication of peripherals.

[robotdogmusic]

That little battery is perfect for airplane in-seat power, where the outlet is always janky from people stepping on it.

I'll admit my use case is a bit unique, but I really like the idea of a small, headless unit with battery. I don't like small laptops because I'll need reading glasses to even attempt to see it. The large screen "desktop replacements" are super heavy, and I don't really need that kind of power for office work. I ended up trying a set of NReal Air display glasses, and love them. Big display. No need for vision adjustment. Doesn't light up the cabin. Etc.

These days I use a Steam Deck in desktop mode, but have been looking at things like this to slim down my carry-on even further. The one big fail on the Mind (at least for me) is the lack of headphone jack.

Specific questions I have are :

Does it have internal speaker? or would it just go to silence if Bluetooth headset cuts out?

Did you try Linux? Any hardware compatibility hangups?

[Pekeliini]

I think I'm in the hypothetical target audience for this device. I have work latop that I literally never open the lid of. I have it docked at home and at office. It's always plugged in. This thing would be so much easier to carry around than a full laptop and I wouldn't really loose any of the functionality I'm using at the moment.

Now, will my company buy me 1 of the base units and 2 of the docks just because I want to carry a little less stuff with me when I go to office once a month? I think we all know the answer to that.

[JohnCastleSmokeless]

There are very good reasons to prefer a mini-pc over a laptop. For one thing, not everyone likes laptop-sized keyboards. For another thing, laptop keyboards are a _major_ structure point-of-failure in environments that aren't always tightly controlled. Little kids running around with drinks, college students being rowdy, etc. If _anything_ hits a laptop's keyboard area, there's a non-zero chance that it can fry the laptop.

Whereas something like a mini-pc is a _little_ better protected. Ideally, a tablet like an iPad Pro would have the _best_ passive protection against such events, but until Apple finally caves and puts a desktop-class OS on that, it's still not a serious contender for that use-case.

[lubossoltes]

The price is a huge disadvantage but the dock/expansion idea is an amazing feature. But they need to work on the variations and port selection of the base unit.

[fanshaw]

I'm trying to think of the problem this solves. The best I can come up with is where you have 2+ locations where people would normally carry laptops and plug them into KVM setups. You can do the same, but not carry a full laptop. Its a bit of a niche use-case.

[jmonsted]

This is a very cool product that i would never in a million years buy. Maybe if it cost more along the lines of "cheap NUC" and "USB-C dock", but even then i can't think of a purpose.

[rmcdudmk]

This is a cool machine, but im still on the fence on whether or not i want one. Also i agree the dock should come with the PC for the price.

[These_Old_Engines]

Its aimed at desk hotel'ing.... where people who are hybrid work from home can go into the office with their widdle computer and dock it at work for the day or two that they are there.

[Zonker]

It's easy to believe you're unbiased because you actually say negative things about it. When I see a 'review' where the reviewer was sponsored and has nothing negative to say, fawning over it for the entire video... yah, no respect. You even mentioned a current price for the hub... definitely a review and not a commercial. Well done.

[Bajicoy]

If khandas halved the price, used a standard pcie connector, included a dock, etc etc this could be a good product. Way too expensive in its current state and trying to be a really bad laptop was a very weird direction.

I think the lattepanda sigma was much better designed. Still an expensive product but offers much more utility and options.

[darknessblades]

I really hope they make a version with a Intel N100

that would make it a perfect system for Home-assistant
especially with a plugin/integration that monitors the battery, so the system can safely shut down in case of a power-outage.

[tassadarforaiur]

This would have been far more interesting if the docking connection was a combination of occulink, and thunderbolt / USB 4 physical connectors.
It would only be convenient to use within the kadas ecosystem, but leave the option of bulky cables when used with other hardware, instead of potentially quickly being vendor-locked ewaste.

[FARBerserker]

No Thunderbolt is just a bad decision . .
There is so much periphery that uses Thunderbolt already.

[jamesconnolly]

EzeeCube tried this a few years ago. Base computer, DVD/BD module, 1TB expansion storage, and other planned modules that never happened. I’m not sure what Khadis is trying to be, the EzeeCube was originally aimed at the home theatre market. If the system can have multiple modules stacked then this could be a good thing.

[performa]

A unique and fascinating form factor. Kudos to Khadas for thinking outside the box. I look forward to what they'll come up with next. On the other hand, I can buy 2 Minisforum MS-01 for the same $1280.

[jolness]

I think it’s great that you guys reviewed this. It’s definitely an interesting concept, but too expensive for what it is. I emphatically disagree with the person complaining about sponsored content (STH is so transparent about provided hardware I feel inclined to trust you more than other YouTubers). You guys definitely laid out that it’s too expensive, but that doesn’t mean there’s not value in reviewing it because if it doesn’t sell well, it’ll get discounted. Plus it’s interesting as an idea. But.. I hate the lack of open standard

[rightwingsafetysquad]

The problem with it having a generic PCIe dock is that Thunderbolt is already fast enough for almost anything you would put in such a dock. The docks are rarely small or elegant and usually expensive. So unless you're going to use it with a laptop, it almost always makes more sense to just have a mITX size desktop.