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This tiny PC's Ryzen 5 Pro 2500U is a couple generations out of date—but it's inexpensive, and it still packs a serious punch.
Jim Salter
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Minisforum's UM250 is a very small form factor PC with the power and the ports to take on a lot of tasks. And due to its choice of an older CPU, it's pretty cheap, too.
Further Reading
Minisforum U850—solid hardware and easy upgrades in a little box
A couple of months ago,
we reviewed
Minisforum's Comet Lake i5-powered U850. The UM250 we're looking at today is cut largely from the same cloth—it's got 16GiB RAM, flagship Intel Wi-Fi 6, a 256GB SSD, two wired Ethernet ports, and an attractive VESA-mountable case that's easy to work on (and in).
The biggest real-world difference between the two models is price:
$430 for the fully loaded
, AMD-powered UM250 versus $700 for the
Intel-powered U850
.
Overview
Like many of Minisforum's other models, the UM250 features an easy toolless-open chassis. (The "press here to open" is a removable decal.)
The front side of UM250 includes (left to right) a display-capable USB-C port, a USB 3.1 Gen1 port, a USB 3.1 Gen2 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, the power button, and a BIOS reset pinhole.
On the back side of UM250, we see (L-R) two USB 3.1-gen2 ports, DisplayPort and HDMI ports, two RT8111 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and a DC barrel jack. (There's also a Kensington lock slot on the lower left.)
Minisforum UM250
$433 at Amazon
$499 at Minisforum
(Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through
affiliate programs
.)
Like most of Minisforum's models, the UM250 is an unassuming little silver-and-black brick stuffed with ports—including four USB type-A ports and enough video out to drive three displays via USB-C, DisplayPort, and full-size HDMI.
The UM250 we tested is "fully loaded" with 16GiB of socketed dual-channel RAM, a 256GB Kingston M.2 SSD, and a copy of Windows 10 Professional. If you're looking to supply your own RAM, SSD, and OS there's also a bare-bones version
on Minisforum's store at $320
.
The reason the UM250 is so relatively inexpensive (not much more than half the cost of the Intel-powered U850) is the Ryzen 5 Pro 2500U powering it. The UM250's 2500U is almost two years older than the Comet Lake i5 in the U850, but it goes neck-and-neck with the newer, more expensive Intel part in most benchmarks. Heck, the Ryzen even wins in some areas.
Minisforum also shaved off some cost by only providing a single SATA port versus the U850's two, and by using a slower M.2 SATA model of the Kingston SSD. The UM250 also offers dual RTL8111 Gigabit Ethernet versus the U850's RTL8111 Gigabit + Intel 2.5Gbps Ethernet. We suspect most of the folks in the market for this sort of mini-PC won't mind those sacrifices, especially when considering they come at nearly $300 off the retail cost.
Moving past raw specs, the UM250 is pleasant to share an office with. Even in Time Spy and Cinebench R20 multi-threaded testing, its cooling fan stays reasonably quiet. If you're close to it in a
dead
silent environment, you'll be able to hear it—but even then, it's a steady clean whoosh without any bearing whine. This mini-PC is slow to change RPMs rather than rapidly spinning up and down repeatedly.
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Inside the UM250
Inside the UM250, we see the Kingston M.2 SSD on the left, an unpopulated SATA data+power cable in the center, and two socketed 8GiB DIMMs on the right.
Comparing the UM250 (left) to the U850 (right)—the UM250 only has a single SATA connector, with no interior bay mounting.
We remember readers commenting they'd prefer lower profile to dual bays—but as you can see here, the UM250's profile is only a few mm shorter than the U850's.
If you need to get to the cooling system, you'll have to flip over the UM250, remove the four rubber pads, and unscrew the four bolts hidden beneath them.
Specs at a glance: UM250
CPU
Ryzen 5 Pro 2500U
OS
Windows 10 Pro (pre-installed) / Linux supported
RAM
16GiB DDR4 (2x 8GiB SODIMM)
GPU
Vega 6 (integrated)
Wi-Fi
M.2
Intel AX200
Wi-Fi 6, dual-band + BlueTooth 5.1
SSD
Kingston M.2 256GB SATA SSD
Connectivity
one SATA port
one full-size HDMI 2.0
one full-size DisplayPort
one USB-C (full featured)
DC barrel jack
four USB3.1 Type-A
two 1Gbps Ethernet (Realtek 8111H)
one 3.5 mm audio
integrated mic
Price as tested
$430 at
Amazon
/ $470 at
Minisforum
Much like the U850, the UM250 is extremely easy to get into and work on/in. The top plate can be removed by gently pushing two corners and letting it pop out (similar to some kitchen cabinet doors). Once inside the UM250, you're presented with a socketed M.2 SSD on the left, an unpopulated SATA power+data connector in the center, and two socketed DDR DIMMs on the right.
Unlike the more expensive U850, the UM250 only offers a single SATA connector—and no sunken drive bays in the chassis itself. Instead, you can bolt a 2.5" SATA HDD or SSD to the underside of the top plate. This is functional but a little irritating, since it means your SATA cable is attached to the plate you must remove to get into the box.
But again, considering the massive price disparity between the U850 and UM250, we're not complaining. We're just happy there's a SATA connector and mounting bracket at all, given that the primary drive is NVMe.
