Beelink Mate SE: 16TB SSD Expansion Solution for Mini PC

Beelink Mate SE: Dedicated storage expansion solution

The Beelink Mate SE is an expansion dock specifically designed for the Beelink SER8, SER9, and SER9 Pro mini PCs. It offers a storage upgrade solution of up to 16TB via two M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD slots, while also adding the necessary ports. However, one point to note is the marketing information about the speed of 80 Gbps, which does not reflect the actual performance when combined with the SER series.

Seamless design and simple installation

The Beelink Mate SE has a minimalist design, designed to fit neatly above or below the SER series Mini PCs, forming a uniform block. The SSD installation process is quite intuitive: users just need to remove the rubber pads, unscrew the four screws on the bottom, remove the heatsink and integrated fan, then insert two M.2 SSDs into the slots.

Once assembled, connecting the Mate SE to the Mini PC is done via a short USB-C cable that comes with it. The operating system will automatically recognize the new SSDs as internal drives after formatting. Beelink also equipped a cooling system consisting of a heatsink and fan to ensure the SSDs operate cool, avoiding performance degradation due to overheating when handling heavy tasks.

Real-world performance and connectivity

Although it does not achieve the advertised 80 Gbps speed when used with the SER series, Beelink Mate SE still delivers impressive data transmission performance, well meeting the needs of content creators.

Data transmission speed

In actual tests with CrystalDiskMark software, the read and write speeds of the SSD installed in the Mate SE when connected to the SER9 Pro reached 3368.86 MB/s and 3102.16 MB/s respectively. This speed is completely enough to smoothly handle large image files on Adobe Photoshop or edit 4K videos on Adobe Premiere Pro without any significant lag compared to using the device's internal hard drive.

Expansion ports

In addition to storage capacity, Mate SE also adds many useful connection ports:

• 2.5 Gbps Ethernet Port:Upgrade the network speed for SER8 or provide an additional LAN port for SER9 to connect a network bridge or access a NAS system.
• SD 4.0 card slot:Very convenient for photographers and videographers to quickly copy data from camera memory cards.
• Two USB-A 3.0 ports:Suitable for connecting accessories such as webcam, keyboard, mouse.
• USB-C port (data):Used to connect Mate SE to computer.
• USB-C port (power only):A secondary USB-C port only provides additional power (Power Delivery) when needed, not data transfer.

The problem with 80 Gbps speeds in advertising

One of the most confusing aspects of the Beelink Mate SE is the marketing message of 80 Gbps speed. This speed is only achievable in theory when connected to Thunderbolt 5 devices, such as the latest Mac models. When combined with the Beelink SER8 or SER9 Pro, the actual connection is USB4 with a maximum bandwidth of 40 Gbps. Therefore, users should consider this a high-performance USB4 dock rather than expecting 80 Gbps.

Conclusion: Should you buy Beelink Mate SE?

The Beelink Mate SE is a near-perfect expansion solution if you own a Beelink SER8 or SER9 Mini PC and need to increase your storage capacity in a neat, synchronous way. The ability to add up to 16TB of high-speed SSD capacity and useful connection ports make it a worthy accessory.

However, if you don't use Beelink's Mini PC or are looking for a docking station with a wider selection of high-speed ports, there may be other solutions on the market that are more affordable. The somewhat misleading marketing message about speed is also a minor drawback to consider.