This mini PC has a detachable docking station that hides a hard drive, and I am not convinced whether it's a good idea

• Ninkear MBOX 8 Pro delivers performance but with unconventional design choices
• Magnetic hard drive bay raises concerns about heat management
• High-end specs meet unconventional storage in this unique mini PC

The Ninkear MBOX 8 Pro is a modular mini PC with a detachable docking station for a 3.5-inch hard drive, offering expandable storage but raising concerns about its practicality, especially when compared to the best portable SSDs.

Per Androidpc (originally in Spanish), the MBOX 8 Pro design includes a magnetic external hard drive bay with four USB ports, integrating a traditional hard drive instead of relying solely on internal SSD storage that suits the best video editing computers.

However, hard drives generate heat and are more prone to mechanical failure than SSDs, so placing one in an enclosed, magnetically attached base may impact thermal management, making their integration into a mini PC debatable.

A bold storage experiment

The MBOX 8 Pro stands out for its ability to drive three 8K monitors via HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, and USB4 Type-C, with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and dual Gigabit Ethernet.

It features a 4nm AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS processor, an octa-core APU with 38 TOPS AI acceleration, paired with up to 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD.

Combined with the Radeon 780M iGPU, this mini PC delivers performance that rivals some desktops, handling demanding applications and even 1080p gaming with ease.

Priced at around €586, the Ninkear MBOX 8 Pro provides a unique take on the mini PC market, though its unconventional design choices may not suit everyone, particularly those who rely on SSDs for speed and stability in video and photo editing PC workflows.

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