Mini PC for Ubuntu: Best Picks & Setup Guide

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A mini PC is one of the most efficient ways to run Ubuntu around the clock — low idle draw, small footprint, and enough CPU for containers, a media server or a full desktop. The catch is that "Ubuntu-compatible" is a meaningless phrase on its own. Nearly every current x86 mini PC installs Ubuntu; the machines that stay pleasant on day thirty are the ones whose Wi-Fi, Ethernet, graphics and firmware are supported in-tree by a current kernel, with no third-party driver roulette.

The release you install matters as much as the hardware. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (kernel 7.0) is the sensible default for a new machine, and Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS now ships the same 7.0 hardware-enablement kernel — which means the fix for "my N150's iGPU is invisible" is a current kernel, not a random GitHub driver. Ubuntu 25.04 reached end of life on January 15, 2026, and 24.10 is likewise obsolete, so neither belongs in a new build.

This guide does two things. First it shortlists seven mini PCs that hold up under Linux for specific reasons — Intel Wi-Fi instead of an obscure module, Intel Ethernet instead of driver guesswork, a graphics stack that transcodes headlessly, and a documented idle draw. Then it walks the setup from BIOS to first boot: kernel choice, Secure Boot, /dev/dri, Jellyfin and Plex acceleration, and the number that actually matters for an always-on box, wall idle power.

It is written for homelab builders, self-hosters and developers who want a small 24/7 machine that runs Ubuntu without babysitting — and who would rather know the exact chipset before buying than discover it after.

Quick Picks

What Actually Matters for Ubuntu on a Mini PC

In-tree drivers, not marketing claims. The single most useful thing you can learn about a mini PC before buying is which Wi-Fi and Ethernet controllers it uses. If the answer is Intel AX200/AX211 and Intel I226, Ubuntu drives them out of the box through the in-tree iwlwifi and igc modules. If it is a Realtek RTL8852BE or an unnamed Wi-Fi card, you may be one kernel update away from hunting a vendor driver. The expected module for each common component:

The kernel is part of the spec. A CPU that "supports" hardware transcoding does nothing if the kernel does not expose the render node. The clearest example in this category is Intel's Alder Lake-N generation: on the original Ubuntu 24.04 GA kernel (6.8), N100/N150 systems could leave the iGPU out of /dev/dri entirely, and owners restored it by moving to a newer kernel. In practice, install Ubuntu 26.04 LTS or 24.04.5 LTS — both carry the 7.0 kernel — and the problem does not exist.

Intel Quick Sync versus AMD VA-API is a workload question. For a desktop, Docker host or development box, a Radeon 780M and an Intel Arc iGPU are both first-class on Linux. For Jellyfin, AMD is the more natural fit: Jellyfin recommends open-source VA-API through Mesa/RadeonSI, which covers the Radeon 780M. For Plex, Intel is the lower-risk path — Plex documents Linux hardware acceleration through Intel VA-API/Quick Sync, and treats AMD GPU acceleration as "as is" rather than fully tested. Both work on a headless server. Plex hardware streaming requires an active Plex Pass.

Wall power is not TDP. A 6-watt processor does not make a 6-watt computer. The Beelink EQ14 can idle near 6 W in a lean homelab configuration, but the older N100 EQ12 measured around 14 W under Ubuntu in one controlled test. Conversely, the much faster GEEKOM A8 was measured at 4.3–4.9 W idle. Firmware, NIC count, SSDs, memory, ASPM and connected displays move idle power far more than the CPU's headline number.

Channel count, not capacity, drives iGPU performance. Radeon 780M and Intel Arc share system memory. A single populated SO-DIMM halves memory bandwidth and drags gaming and compute performance down. ASUS is explicit that the NUC 14 Pro's Arc GPU configuration requires two SO-DIMMs, and the MS-01's integrated graphics fall back to a reduced configuration with one channel. Buy matched pairs.

SKUs are not stable, so verify the unit. Vendors swap Wi-Fi modules, storage controllers and even NIC chipsets under the same model name across production batches. The Beelink EQ14 in particular ships in two materially different networking builds — dual 1GbE (Realtek RTL8111H) or dual 2.5GbE (Intel I226-V) — so the NIC is part of the SKU, not the chassis name. After purchase, lspci -nnk on the real unit outranks any listing title.

Beelink SER8 — Best Overall

The SER8 is the safest default because nothing exotic is required: mature Phoenix/Hawk Point graphics, a known-good Intel wireless card, and 2.5GbE over a normal in-tree driver.

Specs

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, 8 cores / 16 threads, Zen 4, up to 5.1 GHz
• GPU: Radeon 780M, RDNA 3, 12 compute units
• Memory: 2× DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM, dual-channel
• Storage: 2× M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0
• Networking: Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE
• I/O: HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, USB4, USB-A

Ubuntu notes

• Runs on the 6.8 kernel of Ubuntu 24.04 GA; 26.04 LTS / kernel 7.0 is preferable for a new build. No out-of-tree module needed for CPU, Radeon 780M, AX200 or RTL8125.
• AX200 uses iwlwifi; RTL8125 normally uses r8169. Do not pre-emptively install r8125-dkms — reserve it for a demonstrated problem.
• Radeon 780M accelerates through amdgpu + Mesa; Jellyfin's preferred AMD path is VA-API.
• Measured idle around 7–10 W at the wall in Ubuntu and OS-agnostic testing.
• Scattered analog-audio and suspend reports exist on older 6.8-era installs and should be treated as firmware/kernel-specific rather than a platform defect.

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Verdict: For an Ubuntu desktop or a general Docker server, the SER8 is a safer pick than a newer CPU bought purely for benchmark gains. Perfect for: the reader who wants zero driver work and a mature AMD media stack.

ASUS NUC 14 Pro (Core Ultra 7 155H) — Best Officially Supported

This is the one machine on the list where the vendor states its Linux support in writing: ASUS explicitly lists Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and RHEL as supported operating systems for the NUC 14 Pro.

Specs

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, cTDP 40 W
• GPU: Intel Arc integrated graphics (requires two SO-DIMMs)
• Memory: 2× DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM, up to 96 GB
• Storage: M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 ×4 + M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0 ×4; tall variants add a 2.5-inch option
• Networking: Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211, Bluetooth 5.3; Intel I226-V or I226-LM 2.5GbE depending SKU
• I/O: 2× Thunderbolt 4, 2× HDMI 2.1, USB-C 20Gbps, USB-A

Ubuntu notes

• ASUS's declared Ubuntu 24.04 support makes kernel 6.8 a manufacturer-backed baseline; 26.04 LTS / kernel 7.0 is the cleaner choice now. No out-of-tree modules for normal hardware.
• AX211 uses iwlwifi; the I226-V/LM uses igc.
• Meteor Lake Arc accelerates through the kernel Intel stack and the iHD media driver. Jellyfin prefers QSV on mainstream Intel GPUs, and Plex's Linux documentation favors Intel VA-API/Quick Sync — so this is the strongest Plex pick here.
• Bare-metal Ubuntu is unusually low-risk because the vendor validates it. Some Proxmox users report ACPI/headless quirks on NUC-class hardware, but that is not a documented Ubuntu defect.
• Idle measured around 10.5–12 W in a Linux homelab test, with roughly 80.5 W under a CPU stress test.
• Non-obvious buying point: populate both SO-DIMM slots, or ASUS says the Arc GPU configuration is not available as intended.

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Verdict: The safest pick when vendor-declared Linux support and Plex transcoding matter more than performance per dollar. Perfect for: Plex-first homelabbers and anyone who values a supported OS statement.

GMKtec NucBox K8 Plus — Best Dual-LAN Value

The K8 Plus avoids the two components that cause the most Linux buyer anxiety: it uses Intel Wi-Fi and Intel Ethernet, not an obscure wireless module or a driver-guessing NIC.

Specs

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, 8 cores / 16 threads, up to 5.1 GHz
• GPU: Radeon 780M, RDNA 3
• Memory: 2× DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM, up to 96 GB
• Storage: 2× M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 ×4
• Networking: Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 2× Intel I226-V 2.5GbE
• Expansion: OCuLink PCIe 4.0 ×4
• Displays: HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1, 2× USB4

Ubuntu notes

• Verified Linux benchmark evidence exists on Ubuntu 25.04 / kernel 6.14, and all core hardware is upstream. A fresh install should use 26.04 LTS / kernel 7.0. No out-of-tree module required.
• AX200 uses iwlwifi; both I226-V ports use igc.
• Radeon 780M accelerates through amdgpu + Mesa; use VA-API for Jellyfin.
• OCuLink is not hot-pluggable — connect or disconnect OCuLink devices only with the system powered off.
• K8 Plus-specific Ubuntu wall measurements are not established; figures from the related non-Plus K8 should not be used.

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Verdict: More compelling than the SER8 precisely when dual LAN or OCuLink earns its keep; otherwise the SER8 has the stronger Linux test record. Perfect for: a dual-NIC router, firewall or NAS-plus-services build that wants Intel networking end to end.

Minisforum UM890 Pro — Best Expandable AMD

The UM890 Pro pairs Ryzen 9 performance with unusually good expansion. Its Linux weakness is not CPU or GPU compatibility — it is component transparency.

Specs

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS, 8 cores / 16 threads, up to 5.3 GHz
• GPU: Radeon 780M
• Memory: Dual-channel DDR5-5600, up to 96 GB
• Storage: 2× M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0
• Networking: Dual 2.5GbE, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
• Expansion: OCuLink PCIe 4.0 ×4
• I/O: 2× USB4, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, 4× USB-A

Ubuntu notes

• Ryzen 8945HS / Radeon 780M support is mature in Ubuntu 24.04-era kernels; 26.04 LTS / kernel 7.0 is the clean recommendation. No proprietary kernel module is needed for the iGPU.
• Minisforum documents dual 2.5GbE and Wi-Fi 6E/BT5.3 but does not publish stable controller part numbers, and points toward MediaTek wireless on some batches. Verify the real unit with lspci -nnk rather than assuming a chipset.
• Radeon 780M uses Mesa RadeonSI VA-API; Jellyfin fully accelerates Polaris and newer on Linux.
• Measured under Ubuntu: 9.9 W idle, 0.4–0.8 W shut down, up to 96.3 W during a Linux stress workload.
• For GPU passthrough under Proxmox, community recipes commonly involve IOMMU/VFIO and may require Secure Boot or ReBAR changes. Those are virtualization-specific, not bare-metal Ubuntu requirements.

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Verdict: CPU and GPU compatibility are not the concern here — controller disclosure is. Perfect for: an expandable AMD Ubuntu box where you will confirm the exact silicon after it arrives.

GEEKOM A8 — Best Measured Idle Power

The A8 produced one of the most useful real-Linux results in the category: extremely low idle draw from a high-end Ryzen HS processor, offset by a specific Bluetooth caveat.

Specs

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS
• GPU: Radeon 780M
• Memory: Dual SO-DIMM DDR5, up to 64 GB
• Storage: M.2 PCIe 4.0 ×4, officially up to 2 TB
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E (MediaTek MT7922), Bluetooth 5.2, 2.5GbE (Realtek RTL8125)
• Displays: four outputs, up to 8K

Ubuntu notes

• Ubuntu 24.04 / kernel 6.8 was directly tested for CPU, GPU, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and NVMe — all worked, with no out-of-tree module for those core devices.
• MT7922 uses in-tree mt7921e; RTL8125 uses in-tree r8169. The RTL8125 case is direct proof that modern Realtek 2.5GbE over r8169 is fine — do not install vendor DKMS by reflex.
• Bluetooth on the MT7922 did not work in that original 24.04/kernel 6.8 test. Kernel 7.0 carries a much newer MediaTek stack, but the fix has not been confirmed on this specific model, so treat it as a historical caveat rather than a current confirmed failure.
• Measured idle of 4.3–4.9 W at the wall under Ubuntu 24.04, with Wi-Fi, keyboard receiver, mouse and an HDMI display connected. Several PCIe devices showed ASPM disabled by default in the same test.
• Only the 8945HS SKU belongs in this recommendation; earlier A8 ASINs correspond to different CPU revisions.

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Verdict: If idle watts decide your power bill, this is the strongest measured Linux result on the list. Perfect for: a premium AMD desktop or service host where idle draw outweighs the wireless Bluetooth caveat.

Beelink EQ14 (N150) — Best Budget 24/7 Server

The N150 is a case study in why "Ubuntu-compatible" needs a kernel qualifier. The hardware is excellent for DNS, Home Assistant, Docker and media-server work — but on early 6.8 installs it created the false impression that Quick Sync was broken.

Specs

• CPU: Intel Twin Lake N150, 4 cores / 4 threads, up to 3.6 GHz
• GPU: Intel UHD, 24 execution units
• Memory: 1× DDR4 SO-DIMM, officially up to 16 GB
• Storage: 2× M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 slots; the shipping SSD may be SATA III
• Networking: Intel AX101 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2
• Ethernet: either dual 1GbE (Realtek RTL8111H) or dual 2.5GbE (Intel I226-V), depending on SKU
• Displays: 2× HDMI, up to 4K60

Ubuntu notes

• Do not build an N150 media server on the original Ubuntu 24.04 GA kernel 6.8 — community reports found the iGPU absent from /dev/dri until a newer kernel. Use 26.04 LTS / kernel 7.0 or 24.04.5 HWE / kernel 7.0. No random DKMS packages; the fix is a current kernel.
• AX101 uses iwlwifi; the I226-V uses igc and the RTL8111H uses r8169. Both are in-tree — but the purchased SKU determines which you get.
• The Intel UHD iGPU accelerates through the kernel Intel DRM stack and the iHD media driver; use QSV for Jellyfin or Plex.
• Headless BIOS note: on one N150 build, setting the iGPU to Auto complicated a monitorless server, and explicitly enabling integrated graphics helped expose /dev/dri.
• Idle measured around 6–6.2 W in recent homelab data.
• Community reports of hard freezes and network dropouts exist on some EQ14 units under Proxmox. They are genuine warnings but do not prove a bare-metal Ubuntu stability defect.

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Verdict: Buy the N150 because Quick Sync works, not because the CPU can brute-force 4K. Perfect for: a lean always-on container or media-server node — provided you verify which NIC SKU you are buying.

Minisforum MS-01 (Core i9-13900H) — Best Homelab / Workstation

The MS-01 should not be sold as "the fastest normal mini PC." Its real advantage is homelab topology: native 10GbE, dual 2.5GbE, three NVMe positions, U.2 support and a genuine PCIe slot.

Specs

• CPU: Intel Core i9-13900H, 14 cores / 20 threads, up to 5.4 GHz, vPro
• GPU: Intel Iris Xe with dual-channel memory (falls back to a reduced UHD-class configuration with one channel)
• Memory: 2× DDR5-5200 SO-DIMM, up to 96 GB
• Storage: M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 ×4 + M.2 2280/22110 PCIe 3.0 ×4 + M.2 2280/22110 PCIe 3.0 ×2; U.2 via adapter on the first slot
• Expansion: half-height PCIe 4.0 ×16 physical slot, ×8 electrical
• Networking: 2× Intel X710 10GbE SFP+, 2× 2.5GbE based on the Intel I226 family
• Wireless: M.2 2230 slot supporting Wi-Fi 6 / BT 5.2 (no single card guaranteed)
• I/O: 2× USB4, HDMI 2.0

Ubuntu notes

• Ubuntu 24.04-era kernels already support Raptor Lake, Iris Xe, I226 and X710; 26.04 LTS / kernel 7.0 is still preferred for a new deployment. No out-of-tree NIC or GPU modules.
• I226 uses igc; X710 uses i40e. The wireless card is not guaranteed — treat it as a replaceable M.2 2230 and prefer an AX200/AX210 if you buy barebone.
• Iris Xe gives an excellent QSV/VA-API path for Jellyfin and Intel-supported Plex acceleration.
• The three NVMe slots are not equal — PCIe 4.0 ×4, PCIe 3.0 ×4 and PCIe 3.0 ×2. Put the fastest workload in the first slot.
• Idle is configuration-dependent: 14.4 W on an i9 system with 64 GB RAM and one NVMe after removing an add-in NIC, 27.1 W with that NIC installed. Update to a known-stable BIOS before a 24/7 deployment.

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Verdict: Adding NICs, SFP+ optics and storage can double idle draw, so buy it for the topology, not the headline performance. Perfect for: a serious homelab or workstation that needs 10GbE and real PCIe expansion.

How to Choose — Match the Box to the Workload

A quiet always-on service node (DNS, Home Assistant, a few containers). A Beelink EQ14 on a current kernel is ample; the N150 has far more compute than Home Assistant needs. Buying a Ryzen 9 or MS-01 to run Home Assistant alone wastes idle watts on a machine that will sit near the bottom of its power curve forever.

A Jellyfin media server. Any Radeon 780M system here — SER8, K8 Plus, UM890 Pro, A8 — is straightforward, because Jellyfin prefers VA-API and Mesa/RadeonSI covers RDNA 3 fully. Alternatively, an Intel box (NUC 14 Pro, EQ14, MS-01) works through QSV, which is the better choice if Plex is also in play.

A Plex server. Go Intel. Plex documents Intel Quick Sync/VA-API on Linux and treats AMD GPU acceleration as "as is," so the NUC 14 Pro, EQ14 or MS-01 are the lower-risk picks — and Plex Pass is required for hardware transcoding either way.

A virtualization host (Proxmox, multiple VMs, passthrough). Prioritize IOMMU quality and expansion over raw CPU. The MS-01's PCIe slot and multi-NIC layout, or the K8 Plus's dual Intel 2.5GbE, serve this better than a compact single-NIC box. Remember that SFP+ optics and multiple NVMe drives raise idle power sharply.

A daily desktop. The SER8 is the pick: dual-channel DDR5, mature graphics, and a network stack with no driver adventure. Add matched 2×16 GB or 2×32 GB SO-DIMMs.

A network appliance (router/firewall). The K8 Plus with dual Intel I226-V is the cleanest of these for BSD-based router distributions because the controller is known and Intel-driven; a single-NIC box like the EQ14 needs VLAN-on-a-stick, and the MS-01 is overkill unless you want the 10GbE SFP+ ports.

Ubuntu Setup, Step by Step

1. Pick the Ubuntu release first

• Default: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS / kernel 7.0 — best current hardware coverage.
• Valid alternative: Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS, whose hardware-enablement stack is also kernel 7.0, and which ASUS explicitly validates on the NUC 14 Pro.
• Avoid Ubuntu 25.04 (EOL January 15, 2026) and 24.10. Neither is a current deployment target.
• Special case: any Alder Lake-N system (EQ14 N150) needs the 7.0 kernel specifically to expose the iGPU.

2. BIOS and UEFI checklist

1. Flash firmware only from the exact manufacturer page for the exact model and board revision — never a "similar" image.
2. Boot in UEFI mode, not legacy CSM.
3. Leave Secure Boot enabled for stock Ubuntu; its signed kernel and modules work with it. Disable it only when a planned workload needs unsigned VFIO/custom modules, or enroll a Machine Owner Key for DKMS.
4. If the installer cannot see the NVMe and the system exposes Intel RST/VMD-style storage, switch storage to AHCI before installing.
5. For virtualization, enable AMD SVM/IOMMU or Intel VT-x/VT-d.
6. For a headless server, enable Restore on AC Power Loss / Power On after AC loss.
7. Enable Wake-on-LAN only if required; it can alter low-power behavior.
8. On a headless EQ14/N150 where /dev/dri is missing despite a current kernel, inspect the BIOS iGPU setting and test explicitly enabled rather than Auto.
9. Start on balanced/default CPU power limits; do not select maximum-performance firmware modes on a 24/7 server.

3. Install, then inventory the actual hardware

After first boot, update and capture what the machine really is:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade -y
sudo reboot

Then, once rebooted:

uname -r
lspci -nnk
lsusb
ip -br link
ls -l /dev/dri
sudo dmesg -T | grep -Ei \
'firmware|iwlwifi|rtw89|mt792|amdgpu|i915|xe|igc|r8169|i40e|nvme'

Vendors change Wi-Fi and NIC modules during a product's lifecycle, so the actual PCI ID and the "Kernel driver in use" field are more reliable than any listing title.

4. Do not solve a driver problem that does not exist

With a current Ubuntu LTS, the components in this guide are fundamentally in-tree. Intel AX cards use iwlwifi; MediaTek MT7921/MT7922 use mt7921e; Intel I226 uses igc; Realtek RTL8125/RTL8111 normally use r8169; Intel X710 uses i40e; Radeon 780M uses amdgpu + Mesa; Intel UHD/Iris Xe/Arc use the kernel Intel DRM stack with the iHD media driver. A guide that immediately tells every user to download a GitHub Wi-Fi driver or a Realtek DKMS module is outdated.

The Secure Boot rule follows from that: stock drivers keep Secure Boot on; a genuinely required DKMS module must be signed and enrolled through a Machine Owner Key; only experimental VFIO/kernel work where signing is inconvenient justifies disabling Secure Boot.

5. Headless server setup

1. Install over wired Ethernet.
2. Choose Ubuntu Server 26.04 LTS, and select OpenSSH in the installer — or afterwards:

sudo apt install openssh-server
sudo systemctl enable --now ssh
systemctl status ssh
ip -br a

3. Add and test an SSH public key before disabling password authentication.
4. Prefer a router DHCP reservation for home networks; use Netplan only when a true static host-side address is required.
5. Reboot once with no display attached and verify SSH reconnects, both NICs return if used, /dev/dri/renderD128 is still present, and services start automatically.

6. Jellyfin hardware transcoding — Intel

Verify the render node, then test with Jellyfin's bundled FFmpeg:

ls -l /dev/dri
sudo /usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/vainfo \
  --display drm \
  --device /dev/dri/renderD128

A successful Intel path reports the iHD VA driver. Jellyfin recommends its bundled jellyfin-ffmpeg; arbitrary upstream FFmpeg builds can provide only partial acceleration. In Docker, pass the render device through:

devices:
  - /dev/dri/renderD128:/dev/dri/renderD128

and make sure the container receives the host's render group GID. The Intel targets here are the EQ14 N150, the NUC 14 Pro and the MS-01.

7. Jellyfin hardware transcoding — AMD Radeon 780M

For the SER8, K8 Plus, UM890 Pro and A8, use VA-API, not Linux AMF, and grant the Jellyfin account access to the render nodes:

sudo usermod -aG render jellyfin
sudo usermod -aG video jellyfin
sudo systemctl restart jellyfin

Then confirm the codec list with the same vainfo command against /dev/dri/renderD128. Jellyfin's VA-API path provides full acceleration on Polaris and newer; the Radeon 780M is RDNA 3, well inside that range.

8. Plex hardware transcoding

Plex differs from Jellyfin in three ways that matter editorially. A Plex Pass is required for hardware-accelerated streaming. Linux is officially supported. And Plex's documented Linux hardware path strongly favors Intel Quick Sync/VA-API, describing AMD GPU support as "as is" and recommending Intel QSV or NVIDIA for the most predictable results. If Plex transcoding is the primary workload, choose an Intel box — NUC 14 Pro, EQ14 or MS-01.

9. Proxmox, LXC and Home Assistant

For Home Assistant alone, an N100/N150 has ample headroom. A Ryzen 9 or the MS-01 makes sense only when the same machine also runs VMs, databases, media workloads or network services. For Jellyfin or Plex inside an LXC container, passing /dev/dri/renderD128 is usually preferable to full PCIe GPU passthrough — reserve VFIO for workloads that genuinely need exclusive device ownership. On AMD mini PCs especially, passthrough recipes can involve IOMMU groups, ReBAR and Secure Boot changes that bare-metal Ubuntu never requires.

10. RAM, NVMe and idle power

• 16 GB covers an Ubuntu desktop, Home Assistant and a modest Docker/Jellyfin host.
• 32 GB is the better general recommendation for a mixed homelab, ZFS cache plus services, or several VMs.
• 64–96 GB serves serious virtualization and databases, not Ubuntu itself.
• Always use matched dual-channel modules on a Radeon 780M or Arc machine.
• Do not treat "two NVMe slots" as equal. On the MS-01 the slots are PCIe 4.0 ×4, 3.0 ×4 and 3.0 ×2 — the fastest drive goes in the first. The EQ14's PCIe 3.0 storage makes expensive flagship Gen4/Gen5 drives pointless.
• Multiple NVMe drives raise enclosure heat and idle draw; use the supplied heatsink or thermal pads and check sudo nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0.
• Measure idle with a wall meter, not powertop, and only after updates and indexing have stopped, with the same display state, NICs and storage configuration. This is why MS-01 figures from about 14 W to over 25 W can all be correct — the configuration changes the answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

The best mini PC for Ubuntu is not the one with the highest benchmark score — it is the one whose Wi-Fi, Ethernet, graphics and firmware a current kernel already supports. On that measure, the Beelink SER8 is the safest all-rounder: Intel AX200 wireless, a Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE port that works through the in-tree r8169 driver, and a Radeon 780M that accelerates headlessly through VA-API. If you need vendor-declared Linux support or Plex transcoding specifically, the ASUS NUC 14 Pro is the stronger pick — just populate both SO-DIMM slots for the Arc configuration.

Around that core, the right choice is workload-driven. A dual-NIC firewall or NAS-plus-services build should look at the K8 Plus and its two Intel I226-V ports. A power-sensitive always-on host should weigh the GEEKOM A8, which measured 4.3–4.9 W idle under Ubuntu, against its MediaTek Bluetooth caveat. A budget service node should take the EQ14 — on a current kernel, and with the exact NIC SKU confirmed before purchase. A serious homelab with 10GbE and real expansion should take the MS-01, and should accept that adding NICs and storage can double its idle draw.

Whichever you choose, the setup discipline is the same: install a current LTS with the 7.0 kernel, keep Secure Boot on for stock drivers, verify the real hardware with lspci -nnk, expose /dev/dri/renderD128 for transcoding, and measure idle power at the wall rather than trusting a TDP.

→ Check the current price of the Beelink SER8 on Amazon