Thread: Mini-Box and their products: My Opinion

My opinion of Mini-box has been degrading over time.
My bias is definitely against Mini-Box because of various issues with their line of power supplies. I know there are many who use an M1 or M2 and have for quite some time without an issue. There are even a couple happy M4 users out there, I believe.
However, there have been enough issues with their products, deceptive specifications and design flaws, that I have a hard time trusting Mini-Box as a company or their products.

Understand that I have never owned or used a Mini-Box product. I have seen them in action and functioning, so I'm not going to lie and say they don't work or that they are crap (except, perhaps the PW-200 and early PicoPSU). I will say there have been enough issues across their entire product line that make me want to avoid their products.


It all started with the PW-200.
This model was on the market before I got involved in the hobby. This PSU is rated for 200w output and ATX compliant. It's one of the tiny PSUs that is the size of the ATX connector with a small circuit board that sits parallel to the motherboard.
The form-factor is great, but....

First of all, it requires regulated 12v, so using this PSU in the car required a separate 12v regulator. At the time, the commonly used ITPS could put out 12v @ 5A. That limited the PW-200 to about 60w output, and was suitable for the EPIA M10000 series as long as you reduced the 12v peripherals to an absolute minimum.
In their defense, I don't think Mini-Box was considering the vehicle PC market when they designed the PW200M. I believe it was intended for those looking to make utilitarian PCs based on EPIAs low-power motherboards to use as file servers, networking devices or other functions where CPU power isn't a major issue.

At the time, it was a start in the right direction...


Next came the M1-ATX.
The M1-ATX was avtually a good power supply. Sure, it was limited to 90w, but it was ATX compliant, included a startup/shutdown controller and did not require regulated power.
That's all great stuff, but it was overshadowed by the 150w Opus model. The Opus was better because you could use it with a wider variety of hardware because of the higher output, plain and simple. Never mind that you could get an Opus 150 as a bare board or in an enclosure to fit the popular Shuttle cube-style cases.
It's not that the M1 was poor quality at all. It was simply beaten by Opus Solutions.


So Mini-Box created the M2-ATX.
This was the answer to Opus 150w trump card.
The M2 provides 3A more on the 12v rail and a 4-pin P4 aux power connector as well. Granted, there is 2A less on both the 3.3v and 5v rails of the M2-ATX than the Opus 150, but the ability to power a wider range of devices requiring 12v is a huge selling point.

But there are problems. It it well-documented that overloading the M2 will kill the PSU, but can also kill your motherboard, as well. Most PSUs will simply not power the components if the draw is more than the PSU can handle, but the M2 was destroying motherboards.
And then there's the problem of the 4-pin P4 power connector. The 4-pin P4 power connector on the M2 was oriented that the latching mechanism was right up against a capacitor, and simply connecting the P4 cable to the M2 risked breaking the capacitor from M2's circuit board. Sorry, but that's just crap design.

This photo from the Mini-Box website shows the connector on M2. The orientation of the latch is right next to that capacitor:


I apologize for the excess whitespace. This is an unaltered image of an M2 straight from their site. Click the photo and it links to their image. Or follow the link to the product page on their website and see for yourself. This isn't some photochop to make them look bad.
I believe the design flaw has been corrected. The photos of the M2-ATX-HV show the P4 connector oriented differently, so I am guessing the design has been modified to correct this issue. Still, it should never have been an issue in the first place.


After that, the PicoPSU series hit the scene.
The first generation of PicoPSU units were no better than the PW-200, really. They required redulated 12v, making them almost useless for a vehicle install.
And, considering there were a number of other PSU models available that were far more capable at a similar price point at the time of the PicoPSU's introduction, The PicoPSU was silly.
Second-generation PicoPSUs don't require regulated 12v, but they do require a minimum of 12v input (the operational range is 12-25v), so vehicle use isn't really an option unless you are only going to power the PC with the engine running or from a second battery. And forget about surviving engine crank!
But with faster, more power-hungry CPUs dominating the scene, a 60w, 80w or 120w PSU doesn't make a lot of sense.

Of course now that the Atom processor and similar low-power CPUs on the horizon from AMD, the PicoPSU is starting to make sense, especially with its tiny form-factor. It seems to have come around full-circle.
I personally believe that the only viable PicoPSU unit is the 120 unit, and even then, you're limiting yourself. If you want to upgrade the PC to something more powerful, you need a new PSU, as well. Seems a bit wasteful to me.

Very similar to the PicoPSU is the M3-ATX.
This is a product I genuinely don't understand. It has very similar specs and formfactor, but has a lower minimum required input voltage, making it more suitable for vehicle use.
Still the 125 max output is pretty limiting. Sure, it says 150w peak, but that's similar to the peak ratings on speakers, too. You can not continuously run at the peak.
Again, with low-power boards based on the Atom CPU, this could be a viable PSU with a well-planed system that doesn't include many bells & whistles.


And now we have the M4-ATX.
When the M4 hit the scene recently, I was impressed, actually. The 250w output was perfect for just about any system.
And then they started failing all over the place. Read all about it right here. It upset a lot of people, especially since the M4 has a pretty hefty price tag.

As I understand it, the M4 issues have been resolved and Mini-Box (or their resellers) are very good about replacing/repairing them.
The M4 is the newest of their product line, so I think the verdict is still out.

One interesting thing I see with the M4 is the availability of an ATX formfactor enclosure for the M4. I hadn't seen this before, but I think it's a great addition, especially for those who want to use an ATX case for ease of installation and/or removal. RFI shielding for a PSU is also never a bad thing. It seems to me that Mini-Box learned something from their competition.



So that's why I don't trust or recommend anything made by Mini-Box.
I'm sure there are fanbois that use one of their products that have a differing opinion, and that's all cool. We all know about the comparison between opinions and sphincters.

The M-line of DC-DC PSUs is pretty popular and has shown great success, but not without some pretty severe bumps in the road. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to risk my project, my hardware, my money, my time or my sanity on that bumpy road.

So discuss away. Flame me. Flame those who disagree with me. Post-whore this muthah up. Whatever.