KettopBarebone Mini Pc Mi4125L Intel Celeron J4125(Up To 2.70 Ghz) (Barebones) Aes-Ni,4 I226-V 2.5G Lan,Used As A Router/Firewall/Proxy/Wifi Access Point

I bought this device specifically to run pfsense in order to strengthen the security of our home network. It's been absolutely great for this.Rather unfortunately the first one I received was dead on arrival, but the seller was very responsive and helpful and readily offered to send a replacement, which the duly did before even receiving the original on back.The replacement is working perfectly. For anyone considering it, Installing pfsense is an absolute doddle and although there's a bewildering number of options and configuration possibilities, using it in a simple way is easy enough. And there's a plethora of helpful Youtube videos and other material showing you what to do.The unit may not be the most powerful in the world, but it's more than adequate for a simple home network, and doesn't break a sweat routing traffic at the full 1 Gbit speed of my broadband connection. I haven't yet installed any packet inspection tools however which will doubtless load it much more, but as a simple firewall/router it is coasting, running less than 15% CPU doing a Speedtest and typically idling at 1% CPU in normal use. It runs a fairly cool 47% even in this hot weather, so is moderately warm to the touch but miles under Intel temp limits. I imagine it will be stable for weeks/months on end.So I am delighted with my purchase and I cannot recommend the seller highly enough.

I bought this to replace my BT router which has some technical limitations I'm finding difficult to live with. I intend to run PFSense, but initially I just wanted to get it up and running to make sure all is well, so have it running windows 10.I bought this because the original firewall appliance I researched and ordered could not be fulfilled by the Chinese supplier. This one is a lesser spec and to be honest, I'd have rather had the original device as this has some specification shortcomings...1.) Slower/prior version processor2.) Only 2 USB ports as opposed to 43.) No M.2 socket (a big surprise I wish I had paid more attention to)4.) No DP output5.) No Sim Socket.6.) 2.5GB/s network interfaces instead of 4GB/SIt booted fine with an Amibios splash screen, and ran Windows10 from a prior installation on a 128GB 2.5 SSD without issue. It booted straight up and searched for additional drivers which for the most part it found. It didn't find two device drivers nor the network drivers, and unfortunately and I had to download the network drivers from intel and load them via USB stick. These are Intel 1211-AT which unfortunately intel has already marked as discontinued... which didn't leave me feeling particularly impressed.There is no M.2 but there is a cable included to fit a 2.5 inch SATA drive, and this was done easily.Even after windows updates I didn't find the two other device drivers that didn't load. There isn't a single piece of information included with this device, not one scrap of paper so you are on you own in determining the jumpers, headers, sockets and other configuration outside what is listed on Amazon, and let me tell you that isn't much. There is an address in Schenzhen China but not even a website link, so good luck trying to get technical support. Fortunately this isn't going to be doing much more than some routing and firewalling so the need for such support should hopefully be minimal, but at the very least it would be helpful to know what sort of support there is for the OS you intend to install.The unit got very warm fairly quickly my probe registering 46.5 degrees C after just 5 minutes, but it did start running windows updates immediately after sign in so there was some workload involved. However after leaving it idle for about 20 mins I felt it with my hand and it felt hot. The whole case is effectively a heatsink and it was an uncomfortable 50 degrees which again left me slightly uneasy to the point where I thought it best be switched off. Bare in mind this is surface temp so actual CPU core temp will be somewhat higher. To be fair I don't expect the same load doing network routing, and there won't be the added load of running a monitor, but I was still a little uneasy about it getting this hot given it will be running 24/7 as my internet router.I may edit this post after I've installed PFSense, inform you of any issues, concerns or for that matter marvellous developments in how it performs. Everything else aside, my only real concern at the moment is the operating temperature which is just too hot to be acceptable if this is indeed the temp it runs on PFSense. Fingers crossed.08/09/22 - Update.Finally got round to installing PF sense on this little box and it all went very smoothly indeed. The one concern I had was that it wouldn't find the drivers for the NIC's but it didn't even blink on the install and completed successfully in about 3 or 4 mins.It is considerably cooler in the UK now with an ambient of 16C and the little box got warm but not alarmingly so as it did during the hot months. It topped out at 42 CPU (internal diagnostics reading) after running for about 20 mins. PFSense ran well and the CPU barely broke a 4% sweat during normal conditions running some downloads uploads VPN's and speed checks.However I ran into an issue after performing interface checks. There are 4 ethernet interfaces and interface ETH2 would not illuminate any of the LED's I figured it was dead, but it wasn't, and I was able to configure it with an IP address and even ping it from a host on its local network, but it did return pings of 1-3ms whilst the other interfaces all returned <1ms so there is definitely an issue with that interface.Sadly I can't have defective kit that I can't account for in my setup and I was unable to make any headway on a possible resolution of this issue from the manufacturer website, so the item will have to be returned. Will update on that. I'm actually a somewhat disappointed since the testing was going so well and the device seemed to be operating so successfully.I've been refunded for this Firewall/PC without issue, the seller was quite helpful. Actually having run the device, if I had been offered a replacement or certainly the option to upgrade to one of the better more heavily 'finned' devices I would have taken it. Since heat was always a bit of a concern with this one. The case is just too scantly finned for good heat dissipation, but other models this seller stocks have better design.Also I realise the Celeron processor is overkill for what is required. I will go for an lower powered Intel Atom processor if I can find one as an alternative. Even disabling 3 cores from bios and running on one, this device was over spec'd for a firewall/router in my config. VPN's maybe more demanding but I doubt they will push it to its limits.I do recommend this device but there are caveats. No documentation - I now know the two slots are Mini Pcie and MSATA, but jumpers still remain a mystery as does anything else concerning the device. No electrical or operating compliant certification, so you use it at our own risk. I'm tempted to give it 4 stars, but the fact remains it still had a faulty ethernet port which prompted the return, so 3 is the most I'm prepared to give it.

I use this mini pc as a micro server, with Ubuntu Server and about 15 dockers and some OS services that are not available in containers yet.Temp was never higher than 65 C.The 4 ETH ports are individual (4 unique interfaces).It also works very good with Open Media Vault, and in this case the temp is between 45-50 C.The processor used here I have it in my synology nas but the quite part is something that I did not had with synology.So fat so good. PC is stable (I switch it on 3 weeks ago and still works.

J4125 offers hardware crytp via AES-NI, offering excellent performance for OpenVPN applications. Cooling wise, mine sits at about 38 degC with its stock cooling solution. Easy to open up and add SSD, MSATA or WIFI - sockets available to take antenna (not included).Ideal for use as a router with 3rd party OS such as PFSENSE, etc... 4x Intel LAN sockets mean installation is effortless, compared to say an equivalent box with RealTek LAN, etc...Powerful enough to run a desktop OS such as Windows 10 or Linux too.Overall, very happy with it and hasn't missed a beat.