I received my G3 last week (via https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/910994). It's a great mini PC. Very happy. For someone who missed it, this is a good alternative.
It's back in stock and even cheaper with the Coupon Code!
Referee receives a random discount (not specified), referrer receives a $8 off $32 Minimum Spend Coupon which increases in value with successful referrals.
what does zenarmor do?
Even if you don't like Zenarmor, I don't think I'd point someone wanting to learn OPNsense to Asus devices.
AsusWRT is butchered, and while the CLI is still respected over the UI, there's often nowhere it reflects without returning to the CLI….
Zenarmor, in my opinion, is a great place to start homelabbing if you're feeling less than confident going raw.
Genuine question, what is wrong with Zenarmor? I'm one of the dumbasses that don't know how to configure a firewall but would like to learn so unless all dumbasses deserve to stay ignorant, would love to know why Zenarmor is a no go?
@frankthetank: Don't let people gatekeep you, just give it a crack and learn from doing it. You'll learn best that way and discover if it's suitable for you.
@Snorkel2226: I'm all for self hosting and have recently started dabbling I'm proxmox and mucked about with an old pc using a usb ethernet adapter to see how hard pfsense and opnsense are to set up before restoring my Asus routers to service and waiting on a deal like this one to deploy it properly. It's hard at times but there is guides to help you and the end product is usually better if done well.
The poster pushing towards Asus routers though is one thing that has annoyed me the most on this journey. For every guide there's always a comment from someone discouraging it because the requester doesn't just know how to do everything. Learning Linux has at time made me want to tear my hair out, in no way shape or form is it intuitive and simple and for every problem there's multiple different guides to solve it with different terminal commands. It's a confusing mess and I think the experts often forget it is not inviting to newbies trying to get by with it. And this is coming from someone who can use command line in other platforms and has done some coding, it's not a brain issue, it is just hard to start learning it with the sorts of guide most people publish.
Not that jizmo deserves my response, but I'm one of those dumbasses that knows how to configure a firewall (I am a network engineer that started in 1999) including those from cisco, fortinet, Palo Alto and checkpoint. In fact I'm one of those CCIE dumbasses who has probably built many of the networks on public infrastructures that he/she uses on a daily basis.
I use opnsense/zenarmor after I retired my sophos xgs108w due to a noisy fan that drove me mad. I wanted a box that could do basic routing duties as well as act as a a vpn gateway, do some ad blocking. I had a spare box after moving my home assistant install to a vm on truenas so it seemed to fit the bill.
Zenarmor is pretty limited if you don't use ssl inspection because most of the traffic the days is encrypted. Saying that, I've seen it block multiple threats just from basic DNS filtering. I have 4 kids using the internet connection so I use it to block unsavoury traffic and time limit internet.
Overall, its worth my yearly home subscription but you can probably get something better (try untangled if you haven't)
@butter: What made you move HA from this box to a VM on truenas? I was thinking of grabbing this for HA so I was curious.
@CheapCoffee: Just consolidation really.
I like the idea of having HA running on physical hardware so you don't have to deal with passthrough etc. I also didn't worry about the whole house going down after a botched truenas upgrade.
I would say go for it. I just had truenas running with oodles of spare resources and all the redundancy, so it just made sense.
Realtek NIC? no thanks.
I set this exact model up with OpenWRT the other day, will try pfsense next.
Legend thanks, been waiting for another one to go on sale
On buying something similar from Amazon, spyware was a concern so a fresh Windows install was done from a trusted source. Still have a doubt though about more embedded stuff.
Perfect for someone who does not care about cyber security.
Thats always the first step. Do not connect to internet, fresh install once received.
I even factory reset my new phone. I used to clean install the bootloader, but not anymore.
A rookie question here.
Wouldn't you need to pay for Windows 11 separately?
no it'll trigger an activation based on a key in the bios when you reinstall
As stated above, and it's been that way since Windows 7 if not Vista.
At this price, would the OEM Win 11 it comes with even be genuine?
appears so as I've reloaded & authenticated mine
Still have a doubt though about more embedded stuff.
If you're using Windows and have to use their closed source drivers, slightly valid.
If you're installing any type of Linux, these are supported with kernel drivers, so no issues.
If only trojans and backdoors weren’t embedded at the BIOS level…
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-uefi-firm…
You linked to UEFI buffer overflow vulnerabilities, not to anything about embedded trojans or backdoors.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-1891
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-1892
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-1890
It's explicitly Windows driver calls, too.
Wrong link?
Infosec is my jam, so I'm fairly up to date on whats out there; nobodys perfect though, I can easily miss things, so keen to hear more.
You might be refering to how the UEFI is capable of storing and pushing software; but if you think someone out there has a UEFI-deployed, undetected, trojan, and they're exposing it to low value targets, for free? You're far more generous than most!
Those sorts of exploits often sell for literally millions of USD (and then for near nothing, once discovered).
Not even novice script kiddies are giving away that sort of backdoor for free.
@MasterScythe: Thanks for this comment, it's very interesting. I have a few mini pcs (beelink and topton), first thing I did with them is wipe and install linux distros, but I've always wondered about lower level backdoors. If I understand your comment correctly, this is not a realistic risk?
@frisbeedog: A lot of people get caught up in the "magic" of computers, but they're designed by humans, with human goals.
When it comes to worrying about imported goods, just apply some lateral thinking.
To include a full-on trojan or backdoor, would mean the end of GMKtec in the west.
A good example is AceMagic, once the go-to for mini PC's, then after redline was found, you never hear about them.
Is trying to Infosteal the type of customer who wants a $100 mini PC worth destroying your brand name, or exposing your million dollar 'never seen before' virus?
I'd say 7/10 times when reviewers find spyware, they're just finding out the manufacturer is infected themselves.
Almost every alarm-raising youtuber never packet captures the infection, and see's if its going back to the OEM. Odds are, some random pirated software hit the OEM, and thats why its there.
Never attribute to malicious intent, what can better be attributed to stupidity.
You mean embedded like if these devices have additional things on the chips on the inside that do 'spyware type things' on the hardware side instead of software side? Possible…
True, but super unlikely.
And if true, will affect millions of devices worldwide.
'baseband' or microcode based attacks is why the US banned Huawei without proof, it was a completely possible theory (killswitch code), but with no examples.
And with that specific exmaple, since Huawei basically is the chinese GDP (Hyperbole, but it's huge) killing that brand name is truly a world-war desperation level move.
If the Realtek network chip is compromised, or the Intel N100 is compromised, or the Asmedia SATA controller is compromised, not only does it kill those brands (and they're not small…) but it's not really a mini-pc issue anymore, odds are your $3k premium gaming rig has a realtek chip in it somewhere too.
Assume this is fine to run as a media server?
sounds like if you want this in your home theatre which runs videos from your NAS for example it works well, some reviews on kodi forums about N100… atmos/truehd works fine as does 4K… struggles apparently with 8k.. dont believe it supports dolby vision if you need that, plays via HDR10..
only problem is of what dodgy spyware is on there even after an install.. obv running kodi you need to hook up to the internet to download movie/tv show info
only problem is of what dodgy spyware is on there even after an install
It's advised to reinstall the OS on any of these.
LibreELEC (if used for playback) doesn't contain spywayre.
and if he's running a media server, neither does OpenMediaVault, TrueNAS, or plain old Debian.
The N100 supports quicksync up to and including H265-10bit, so it makes for a great Jellyfin server :)
EU plug only. How to go around this issue?
Likely power via USBC or take it to Jaycar and they'll sort you out with an appropriate power cable/brick
Replace the cable.
Or travel adaptor.
It has a USB C port, can anyone confirm if this can be used to power the mini PC?
[updated] The specs say "Power interface: TYPE-C interface, 12V/3A, 36W (charging only) Support for PD power supply" so yes, should be fine.
Yes I ran the unit from a usb charger, no problems.
this one is charging only, but make sure to check spec on others, some with say type c full function meaning display and data plus power/charging
I have this question too.
It looks like it's powered via a USB-c so potentially a generic one will do. Can anyone confirm?
Not really answering your question, but for not many dollars you can get cables with usb-c to fixed voltage barrel connectors, just match up voltage, polarity and plug dimensions.
I have a few of these mini pcs without usb-c power and run them off one single multiport usb power adapter with those cables. Saves power points and gets rid of sketchy wall warts.
Side-note: Apart from specs, the one must-have feature I look for in these things is reboot-after-power-loss, which I found out the hard way not every mini pc has so it wouldn’t hurt to confirm that depending on your use case.
cheap adapter ebay / aliexpress few dollars
Cut the plug off and put an Australian plug on it.
It says AU$118.91 for me
expect $20 tax to be added at checkout.
Add to cart then checkout and it adds AU$20.40 tax
AHHHhh correcto mendo - thanks :D
Weren’t the ones that used to be n150 sold for just 10-30 AUD more before? Why are you saying it’s cheap guys(I don’t understand)
possibly as ddr5 ram is onboard, I have ddr4 sodimm single slot
I’d still choose this one for its lower power consumption, which is what these mini PCs are best suited for, home lab servers.
If you’re after performance for desktop applications, neither option is ideal.
Yeah I got the N150 from Amazon for $149. Only 256GB SSD though.
I useful little box, especially with the dual LAN.
In reality there's almost no performance difference between N100 and N150
I think the $149 deal is the best deal so far. I'd buy another if that rolls round again.
what brand? link please
Same brand, on this site. But it expired. Maybe you should await Prime day next week.
Do the Amazon ones come with an actual AU power plug? (not adapter)
if only it had 2.5gb ports…
One of the lucky few who has greater than gigabit downstream?
Great devices to attach to a vesa mount monitor a cheap general usage pc.
Or a proxmox, etc cluster
Or Batocera :)
Showing $204 for me? has it expired?
Looks like it, same price for me.
I was wondering how GMKTec compares with Geekom (slightly more expensive) which is offering 3 year warranty/support. Looking to replace a couple of home desktops running W10 before the deadline.
I am also debating getting a GMKTec or a Geekom so ive been looking up the minipc subreddit as that is where the discussion is for this stuff.
From what I've quickly seen, its a toss up really: Geekom have the longer warranty but apparently their customer service is hit and miss (more people are buying Geekom but they havent kept up with support levels) while GMKTec have a one year warranty with also some hit or miss customer service although more people use them so there are lots of guides on what to do/look out for if things go pear-shaped.
Thanks for reply. I've also seen secondhand Dell I5-8500 desktop for under $200 on FB, so I am a bit torn. I am going to see what deals comes up on Prime days next week.
Dead deal now. So wanted one for this price. Now can be had for 175ish with coupon.
Still 140
Missed out!
Lol, I identified 1 hour ago that I need an N100 type mini PC to replace an old HP mini PC with some type of pentium chip in
Now i guess i'll need to wait a few months for them to come down in price again!
I got the soyo M4 PRO with N150 to replace an old HP microserver.
Again $140 aud be quick guys
snagged one, thanks :) i was able to apply some other coupon codes which made the final price $120
yep use AUCD07 my final is AUD128
Only uk plug, how are you guys plugging into aus? I bought something with US plug last month from Amazon and then used an adaptor to plug into our electricity socket. Not long after there was smoke.
That would have only happened if the power supply that came with said item isnt auto-voltage meaning its set to 100-120V which is the US standard.
UK and EU operate on 230V but can go between 220-240V so it will work in Australia so long as use a plug adapter.
These look to be usb c powered as well so a replacement power brick is something that is pretty easily attainable.
Better than a raspberry Pi400/500 but that's about it… The power blocks for these such too, no USB-C/PD alas and they don't show the GST so that's another 10% on checkout
“ Item not deliverable to the selected address” eh?
Same error
Same here! :(
out of stock
same here
i really needed one of these too
Can't add to cart.
Any cheap 4 bay das I can use with this as a plex server?
Will CAD like Autocad work on it or it's way too underpowered for that?
I've owned two GMKtec's now, first one had MediaTek wireless card with shockingly bad driver support.
I got this unit as my second and it came with a Realtek which was solid, took it out and put it in the old one, as this unit is just a dual gigabit router.
“This item can't be shipped to the selected region”
I’m in central Melbourne. Why wouldn’t they ship here?
That the message when it's not in stock and thus can't be deliver to the selected region.
these are slow! n100 for desktop is a waste of time.
Horses for courses, will the N100 play GTA6? No
Does it run at a low power draw, transcode Plex or make a great router with dual ethernet? Yes
Not everyone needs lightning fast PCs, as a router is in 24/7 this thing is overkill and low power draw.
Will it play Crysis?
Looks available now but slightly more expensive. Also I cannot apply any code.
Same here, 16.7% GST, no coupon works and all up to around $140
just got one also
Does anyone know of a portable monitor that can run off this device without needing external power? Or is that not possible at all?
i just ran a FIREBAT powered one of the USB A ports, and connected via HDMI. Working fine
wow, super cheap. dual lan as well.
would be perfect for an opnsense box. Will run line rate (1gbps) zenarmor easily