Established in 2017 and domiciled in Dover, Delaware, USA, ACEPCELECTRONICS LLC is a comprehensive company that integrates product design, R&D, production, sales, and service to its customers. With its commitment to Aesthetic and Compactness Design, they aspire to make superior mini Personal Computers (PC), and make mini PCs become the world’s mainstream! Check more about their vision and mission on their official website
In this review, we are going to break down one of ACEPC’s miniPC under their PowerBox lineup. It is the compact PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U Mini PC made to provide services in a wide range of use cases as we shall be unveiling. We will unbox, check out its amazing features, and proceed with its initial setup until you have a working Windows 11 Pro operating environment just for your joy. From there, you will be free to install your favourite games, applications and have a taste of the mini beast silently working away from view.
Inside the Main box
Unboxing your delivery is as simple as never before:
You will just need to slide off the top cover as shown below towards either left or right.
And lift off the top of the black box to expose what is neatly hidden inside
Inside the Accessories Box
Includes the power brick, HDMI cable, VESA plate and screws.
Top features
The Mini PowerBox Home PC comes with an AMD Ryzen 5500U 7nm six-core processor embellished with 12 threads for superior multitasking which elevates its performance to a fantastic level. With 16GB of DDR4 RAM and a 512GB M.2 SSD, you can be sure that your workload will have a chance to shine hosted inside such power. You are assured of faster read/writes, quick boot times, lower power consumption and a wonderful size (4.92 x 4.92 x 1.57 inches) that you will discover the moment you unbox it.
In case you are a designer or a developer with two screens, then PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U has good news for you. It welcomes you wholeheartedly with HDMI port and support for DigitalPort (DP) dual displays just to make sure that your productivity is augmented with a wonderful experience. Not forgetting to maintain a cableless neat desk, the mini powerhouse comes with the addition of WiFi 5.0 and BT 4.2 which will keep your studio, workshop clean and safe while maintaining your connection. Either way, if you prefer a network cable over WiFi, then fear not, there is an Ethernet RJ45 LAN port just to satisfy your needs. In addition to the beautiful blend of features that the PowerBox Home has, there is a 3.5mm audio jack with microphone support to ensure your entertainment is sorted as well as keeping your important virtual meetings clear of any issues.
Because modern homes and offices have multiple devices that need to be interconnected, PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U was designed with this reality in mind. There are four USB Ports that will be sufficient to connect to your KeyBoard and Mouse as well as other devices like Network Attached Servers, Flash Drives, Printer, your Phones and so much more. Bluetooth and Wifi solves all of your wireless audio requirements and other use cases that Bluetooth or Wifi can support. As far as visuals are concerned, you are in for a first class experience because your Mini friend has support for quality 4K Video viewing to elevate your movie experience with crisp and spectacular pictures. As you can already agree, it is a Mini PC whose potential makes it an all rounded system that will serve in a multifarious of capacities. Check it out on Amazon.
Design
The minds behind the design of PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U Mini PC should be lauded and celebrated due their sheer ability to solve a lot of problems in one system with a small form factor, light weight, economical power consumption while still selling for a very affordable price. The first impression of its beautiful shade of gray and silver branding oozes a calm and collected demeanour and it honestly upholds this personality with the richness of its specifications. With the dimensions of 4.92 x 4.92 x 1.57 inches weighing 469g, this Mini PC includes a small metal bracket purposefully made to connect to the VESA mounts on the rear of a monitor making it completely disappear from your desk and still diligently serve your everyday needs. To show how the designers understand users’ needs, all of its interfaces/ports are intelligently made on one side to avoid the ugly problem of haphazardly placed wires on your workstation.
Hardware
PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U supports a maximum of 32GB of RAM and 2TB ROM, and it is embedded with AMD Radeon Graphics with a base clock of 450MHz and a burst frequency of 800MHz. The top supported screen resolution is 3840 x 2160 4K at 60Hz supporting multiple displays. The PowerBox has an AMD Ryzen 5500U CPU with a TDP of 45 watts which can easily handle your daily tasks such as browsing, streaming, and using Office productivity software. If your daily workflow involves using video editing, photo editing, and CAD applications, the 5500U should have no problem handling such workloads.
PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U server configuration in this review:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5500U (2.10GHz)
- Graphics: AMD Radeon Graphics
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 RAM (SO-DIMM, Max 32G)
- Storage: Storage 512G SSD (M.2 2280)
- Ports: 1x USB 2.0, Gen 1 USB-C, 3x USB3.0, 2x HDMI 1.4, 1 x LAN1, 3.5mm universal audio jack.
- Connectivity: WiFi 5.0, 1x Gigabit LAN adapter, Bluetooth v4.2
- Size: 4.92 x 4.92 x 1.57 inches
- Output Display: Supports HDMI (4K 60Hz) + DP Dual Display
- Weight: 469 Grams
- OS installed: Licensed Windows 11 Pro Pre-installed.
- Wireless Network: WIFI 5.0 and Bluetooth 4.2
- Accessories: Wall-Mounted bracket, Adapter (Input: 100~240V 50/60Hz
- Output: 19V 3.42A), 1 HDMI cable,
Setting Up
Getting your Windows 11 Pro Operating System ready on the Mini PC has been made as simple as possible for everyone. After connecting the PowerBox Home to power, hooking up your mouse and keyboard, and connecting to your monitor via the HDMI cable, simply press the power button. You will know it is on because its fan will give you a wonderful sound and the screen below will appear on your monitor.
Choose your language of preference then hit on “Yes”
The next screen will ask you for your country, Simply choose where you are then hit “Yes” again.
Next, you will be asked to set up your keyboard, choose one that works for you then click on “Yes” again.
Then you can choose to add a second keyboard layout of you need or you can “Skip”
In the next page, you will be asked to review and accept License Agreement, click on “Accept”
The page that follows will ask you for a name you prefer for your device, so just enter it in the box below “Enter your name” then click on “Next”
After you enter your name, the next page will ask for your preferred password, key it in under “Enter a Password” then hit on “Next”
Then you will be asked to confirm what you just entered. Enter the same password again and click on “Next”
Next step is adding your security questions and their answers that will help you in case you forget your main password. Choose three questions you will easily remember from the drop down list and give answers that you will also easily remember.
Two of the questions and their answers are given below as examples.
Click on “Next” each time you are answering the questions.
Once that is done, give the PowerBox some time to set up your desktop. You might see a message saying:
“Do not turn off your computer, this Might take some time.”
Give it a few minutes and when all is done , your desktop will be presented show below
And finally checking the System Settings
Verdict
After going through a couple of its features and having a generous feel of the Mini Beast, the PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U Mini PC performed amazingly well for normal office workloads. The pre-installed Windows Operating System handled applications without much trouble and due to the sufficient 16GB worth of RAM, it can handle multiple applications with a pinch of class before it can begin to be slow. It can load up large files that are accustomed to designers due to the SSD and serve them quickly.
The visuals it proffers are clean and crisp making your day to day entertainment needs completely sorted.
For the gamers however, the PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U Mini PC will struggle to play heavy games. Below are the pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Max connectivity (WiFi, Bluetooth, LAN) | 1 USB is slower 2.0, but other ports are USB 3.0 |
| Amazing Visuals | |
| Economical Power Consumption | |
| Design solves cable clutter problem | |
| Decent Performance | |
| Value for Money (Affordable) | |
| Upgradable Resources | |
| Windows Pre-installed for ease of use | |
| Silent Fan | |
| Small Form Factor |
Conclusion
The PowerBox Home AMD Ryzen 5500U is a massive value for money because of the top notch features packed inside while going for that fantastic price. If you have a home office, a studio, a design workshop and or more, this MiniPC will serve all of your needs. Good thing is that its RAM and ROM can be expanded in case you need more performance from your PowerBox Home Server.
