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After launching in China earlier this month the **MINISFORUM MS-R1 **desktop computer is now available worldwide. What makes this small form-factor computer unusual is that it’s powered by a high-performance Arm-based processor.

The PC is available from the MINISFORUM website for $504 and up. The entry-level configuration includes 32GB of onboard RAM and no storage, but you can pay extra for up to 64GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

At the heart of the MINISFORUM MS-R1 is a CIXIN P1 (CP8180) processor. That’s a 28-watt, 12-core chip with eight Arm Cortex-A720 performance cores, four Cortex-A520 Efficiency cores, Immortalis-G720 integrated graphics, and an NPU that delivers up to 28.8 TOPS of AI performance. MINISFORUM says that when you leverage the CPU and GPU as well, the system supports up to 45 TOPS of total AI performance.

We’ve seen several single-board computers with the same processor before, but MINISFORUM is one of the first companies I’m aware of to package the chip into a consumer & business-friendly PC.

In fact, MINISFORUM appears to be using the same chassis for this computer as it does for recent Intel and AMD-powered PCs.

The MS-R1 measures 196 x 189 x 48mm (7.7″ x 7.4″ x 1.9″) and while it uses LPDDR5-5500 onboard memory (with ECC support), there are two M.2 slots for user-upgradeable PCIe 4.0 x4 storage. There’s also a PCIe x16 slot that you can use to add a discrete GPU, network card, or other add-ins, although the x16 only actually refers to the size of the connector. Speeds are limited to PCIe 4.0 x8 (16 GB/s).

Built-in networking features include dual 10 Gigabit LAN ports with an RTL8127 controller and an RZ616 wireless card with support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

Other I/O features include:

• 2 x 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (w/DisplayPort 1.4 Alt Mode, 100W USB-PD input, 15W output)
• 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
• 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A
• 1 x HDMI 2.0
• 1 x 3.5mm audio
• 1 x DC power input
• 1 x 40-pin GPIO header

The system supports a 180W DC power adapter or a 100W USB-C adapter.

MINISFORUM says it’s “the world’s first Arm mini workstation to support UEFI boot.” I’m not sure if that’s true, but the point is that it should be relatively straightforward to try out different operating systems on the hardware… although MINISFORUM recommends you stick with its build of Debian 12 at least until the appropriate drivers are available in the upstream Linux kernel.

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