Blackview MP80 Mini PC Review: Compact Yet Powerful

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Abdul Hannan

At HI Digital I test and write about different hardware configurations to show other PC users what they can expect from their build. My end goal is to educate the masses to make the right decision when they are looking for new PC parts to buy

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I’ve been wanting to get my hands on one of those Mini Pcs. They may have a bad reputation for being slow, but a vast range of prices and performance levels are available, and even the most basic offerings serve many purposes. It is not surprising that in this fast-paced period of time, individuals multitask like experts who need technology that is portable, efficient, and easy to use whenever and wherever we choose. Rest assured, my tech-savvy friends for Blackview have responded to our demands and introduced the Mini PC MP80.

Mini PCs can’t be much more portable or efficient than the Blackview MP80. Because of its compact and lightweight build, it requires very little room when not in use and is convenient to bring along for either personal or professional trips. It offers rapid performance and plenty of storage with its 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake N97 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD. For an enjoyable experience, the MP80 has active noise-cancelling technology and efficient cooling.

Furthermore, it is compatible with Windows 11 Pro and offers a wide range of connection choices. It’s an ideal choice for business, study, and enjoyment. Last week, I had the opportunity to test out Blackview’s MP80 Mini PC. As of its introduction, the MP80 is the smallest device the firm has ever made. Its portability is undeniably great. What does it offer more? Let’s look into it further. Find out my thoughts on it below.

Key Takeaways

• The Blackview MP80 Mini PC is a compact and lightweight computing solution powered by a 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake N97 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, and it offers efficient performance for on-the-go professionals, students, and casual users.
• The things I liked about the Blackview MP80 Mini PC are its efficient portability, adequate performance, versatile connectivity, minimalist aesthetic, and effective cooling system.
• The things I did not like about the Blackview MP80 Mini PC are its limited upgradeability, graphics performance for gaming, not being designed for specialized workloads, and potential cable management issues. 
• The Blackview MP80 Mini PC is a perfect fit for on-the-go users. Its compact and lightweight design makes it an ideal choice for users who need a portable computing solution for business trips, studying, meetings, or presentations.

Let’s begin with the specifications.

Box Content

Design

Approximately the same size as some renowned media player set-top boxes, the Blackview MP80 Mini PC is housed in a little, square plastic casing. The small mini PC is only 37 millimeters tall and covers an area of 87.7 x 87.7 millimeters. With a weight of only 214g, it is remarkably portable and ideal for work on the go. Its small size means it won’t take up much room on a desk or behind your monitor screen.

Compared to the average mainstream mini PC, its size is 45 percent less. The MP80’s petite form factor makes it very portable. You can even hold it with only one hand. Plastic has been the material of choice for the device’s design. When you consider the pricing, it’s reasonable and acceptable. Our review unit showed no obvious signs of poor construction. There is an Intel sticker and an embossed Blackview logo on the top of the casing.

The front of the casing has a number of ventilation vents and a spherical power button. On the other side, you’ll find three USB 3.0 ports. The three USB 3.0 ports make connecting external devices easy and transmit data quickly.

Power and Wireless Connectivity

A headphone port, two-gigabit ethernet RJ45 connections, and the power connector are all located on the rear side. Whether you’re using it for virtual meetings or just want to listen to music, the 3.5mm auxiliary connector lets you connect your headphones or microphone. Like every decent Mini PC should have, this one comes with an external 30-watt power supply. Up to 2.5A/30W, it produces 12V. Mini PCs have a number of benefits, one of which is their low power usage. The Blackview MP80 may potentially do very well in this regard as well.

Furthermore, you can experience seamless online connectivity with two Gigabit Ethernet connections, which provide lightning-fast internet rates. To top it all off, the MP80 has a fast and dependable wireless connection thanks to its support for Bluetooth 4.2 and dual-band WiFi (2.4GHz/5.0GHz). In reality, the Bluetooth function provides a wireless range of up to 10 meters and a transmission rate that can reach up to 1Mbps.

HDMI Inputs

There are three 4K 60-compatible HDMI connectors on the left side of the device. Visually stunning and compatible with many screens, the MP80 is a powerhouse. Ports and connection choices are well grouped, which adds to its flexibility. Designed for flawless graphics, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a casual or an experienced PC user. Although it may not be the ideal option for demanding games, it really shines in every other aspect.

LED Strip

The case’s base has four rubber feet in black color, two slots for screws for the VESA mounting bracket, the PC’s specifications, and all the usual regulatory information. Another alternative to placing the tiny PC on your desk is to use a VESA mount to connect the MP80 to the rear of a display. If your monitor has 75 or 100-mm VESA mounting holes on the back, you can attach it to that.

One standout feature of the Blackview MP80 is the bottom lighting strip. A ring of LED lights surrounds the Mini PC base. They embrace the whole table desk in a relaxing blue light. In sleep mode, the computer’s lights will turn red. This softly lights the gadget from the bottom and makes the PC a great show-stopper. To me, the lighting doesn’t strike me as being very bold.

Setting Up

This is identical to setting up a brand-new, out-of-the-box computer. In every way, it resembles a Standard Windows PC. I turned it on after connecting the power cord, HDMI cable, and ethernet connection, keyboard, and mouse. Windows completed its setup and gave me an entirely fresh install after I made a few initial selections with different account and region settings. As a whole, the setup procedure was easy and quick.

To my utter delight, Blackview did not install any unnecessary “bloatware” or applications that I would never use. Checking for updates was one of the initial things I did. This took around an hour to complete, with much of that time spent quietly running in the background while I adjusted various settings in the Control Panel to my preference. As is common with major Windows updates, there have been a few restarts.

Following this, I felt prepared to begin familiarizing myself with the PC and installing all of my favorite software. Some people may be concerned that the operating systems on these Mini PCs and TV boxes are pirated versions of Windows, but I don’t see any evidence of that on this one. It is fully functional and receives Windows updates without any problems. 

Cable Connections

Fortunately, I haven’t had any problems with the devices I’ve connected to the MP80 since it runs the newest version of Windows OS. I have used a few different peripherals and pieces of hardware, the standard products I always use. I was pleasantly happy to see that I didn’t need to hunt for drivers to get anything running. From above, you can see how it appears with all the other cables attached. With wires protruding from every angle, cable management may be a bit of a pain, but it certainly wouldn’t steal the show.

Overall, Blackview MP80 Mini PC’s compatibility with Windows 11 Pro enhances its privacy and business applications that help users simplify their work. It provides you with a safe, easy-to-use, and efficient workspace for business, education, and enjoyment. The Blackview MP80 excels in meeting the requirements of users, whether they are professionals or individuals. Everything about it is great, and there are hardly any negative aspects. Setting everything up was a breeze. For the MP80, one additional point.

What’s Inside? 

The MP80 is unwilling to compromise on performance despite its small size. Featuring an integrated GPU that supports up to 4K UHD graphics and a 3.6 GHz 12th Gen Alder Lake N97 Intel CPU, the Blackview MP80 Mini PC is quite the boaster. The MP80 Mini PC’s ability to display multiple images and breathtaking visuals is guaranteed to amaze you.

Its dynamic frequency of 1200 MHz allows for more detailed typography, more vibrant colors, and more realistic movie and video graphics. When streaming content from Netflix, YouTube, or Disney+, it is prepared to provide excellent quality without any latency. It’s a budget mobile CPU designed for lightweight laptops and notebooks. This SoC was introduced in January of this year and is rather new.

Designed on Intel’s Alder Lake architecture, it comes with four built-in cores. Regrettably, hyper-threading cannot be used, limiting the processing capacity to four threads simultaneously. Nonetheless, with this strong CPU, multitasking is a breeze, and even high-load office settings are handled efficiently.

RAM & SSD

Portability is paramount with this Windows 11 Pro Mini PC, which comes with 512GB SSD and up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It has excellent multitasking capabilities because of its enormous amount of RAM. The choice to utilize DDR5 RAM is a positive one, as it will allow the SoC to use its full potential far more effectively than with the slower DDR4 RAM. In addition, there is enough room for users to save a plethora of data, such as documents, pictures, movies, and software.

Thanks to the SSD’s lightning-fast read and write speeds, your data will always be accessible and running smoothly. The MP80 is a practical and flexible device for a wide range of uses because of its large storage capacity, which allows users easy access to and management of their data. It guarantees that even under intense load, it will operate smoothly. In sum, for those in need of a lightweight and powerful device, this compact PC is an ideal companion. Portable, space-saving, and designed with a minimalist aesthetic in mind.

Can I Open Up the Blackview MP80 Mini PC?

Opening up a Blackview MP80 isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Cleaning the fans requires almost total disassembly of the device. To do this, you need to find the screws under the rubber feet on the bottom and remove them. After that, you’ll need to remove the little plate that houses the lights by unscrewing a few additional screws. Moreover, changing either the SSD or WLAN module alone necessitates all of the aforementioned. Unfortunately, it is not possible to install an extra SSD. There is no way to add more RAM since it is soldered on.

Cooling System

A cooling fan and copper heat pipe provide an effective cooling system for the MP80. Its heat dissipation abilities guarantee peak performance. A copper heat pipe of 47,117 mm³ and a fan for cooling operating at 3500 RPM sum up the cooling system. Together, these parts maintain the Mini PC’s temperature, allowing for a relaxing and pleasant usage experience. This is an excellent feature that will make your Mini PC last longer than you would have thought. Not to mention how little the cooling system is that’s already in place.

The MP80 also has innovative active noise-canceling technology that keeps the noise low, making it ideal for usage in environments where background noise is an issue. With no ambient noise to interfere, you can focus on your job or enjoy your favorite show. Furthermore, the Blackview MP80 remains remarkably silent in idle mode. Even though I sometimes pick up a tiny low-frequency whining from the fan, it’s not at all bothersome and certainly not like some other computer fans.

During several games, the air that has been expelled by the fans has been little more than warm. Even though I can feel a little increase in temperature whenever I bring my hands close to the air vents, I am not worried about it being too hot. Overall, the MP80’s effective cooling mechanism keeps the device cool and running smoothly, delivering a dependable computing experience whether you’re working on demanding tasks or watching multimedia content.

Geekbench 5 and Cinebench Testing

Mini PCs often have smaller or less expensive components. Sometimes, they are quite similar to the ones used in laptops, and the parts used in laptops aren’t always up to the high level of performance when compared to desktop PCs. However, I was pleasantly pleased by how well the Blackview MP80 Mini PC performed, even with Intel’s low-end offerings. For simple, productive office work, the affordable Intel Pentium N97 is an ideal SoC choice. The SoC’s lightning-fast DDR5 RAM allows it to provide top-notch performance. With 16 GB of RAM, it’s really generous.

Moreover, the Blackview PC is equipped with an Intel UHD Graphics featuring 24 EUs. Built on the Intel N97 system on a chip, this iGPU has very few limitations when it comes to 3D performance. The review unit I tested has slightly enhanced 3D performance due to its marginally quicker RAM. Chrome has been my go-to browser for the most part. This PC seems to have picked up my tendency of having too many tabs open at once, but it manages it adequately and hasn’t slowed down anything I’m doing.

SSD Benchmark

This has an SSD manufactured by Netac. I further checked the SSD’s speed. Based on my expectations, such SSD speeds are in line with those of a SATA drive, which is much quicker than a traditional hard drive but still slower than an NVME disk. The storage drive isn’t powerful enough to do much audio or video editing, but then again, I wouldn’t purchase such a little, underpowered PC for such tasks. Despite the fact that the installed model only supports SATA speeds, it is more than enough.

In most cases, using the Blackview PC is a breeze. It takes very little time to boot up the PC, so you can get right to work. There isn’t a single thing II can say about its storage capacity; 512 GB is enough for a Mini PC. There is no way to add extra storage; replacing the current one is the only option if you need more space. The case’s build height is the only constraint; it is only compatible with M.2 SSDs up to 42 millimeters in length.

Gaming Performance

Just so we’re clear, this is not a gaming rig capable of running all the newest AAA titles. Still, for the sake of this review, I booted up a few games to test it out, like Valorant and Fortnite. According to the results, the MP80 performed exceptionally well for desktop usage but inadequately at gaming. For gaming, it’s not the right choice. Obtaining frame rates that were playable was a challenge, and it was mostly limited to older games running on the lowest possible resolution and detail settings.

Should You Buy the Blackview MP80 Mini PC?

Buy it if

✅Efficient Portability: The MP80 Mini PC excels in providing a compact and lightweight solution for on-the-go computing. Its petite form factor, weighing only 214g, makes it remarkably portable and ideal for both personal and professional use.

✅Adequate Performance: With a 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake N97 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, the MP80 delivers rapid performance and ample storage. Whether for business, study, or entertainment, this Mini PC offers the power needed for multitasking and demanding tasks.

Don’t Buy it if

❌Limited Upgradeability: The MP80’s compact design limits certain upgrade options, such as adding extra storage or RAM. If future expandability is a crucial factor for you, consider whether the MP80 meets your long-term needs.

❌Graphics-Intensive Gaming: While the MP80 is efficient for everyday tasks and moderate computing needs, it may not be the best choice for graphics-intensive gaming. If you’re a serious gamer requiring high-end graphics capabilities, you might want to explore dedicated gaming PCs with dedicated GPUs.

Pricing and Availability

The price tag of around $300 for this setup is reasonable. The Blackview MP80, equipped with a 3.4 GHz 12th Gen Alder Lake N95 Intel CPU, 16 GB RAM, and a 512 GB SSD, is available for $20 less. For an additional $20 less, you can have the same CPU along with 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD. However, we still think our review unit arrangement is the best option.

For a limited time, you may save 14–15% on the Blackview MP80 by purchasing it straight from the manufacturer. For your convenience, I have included an Amazon link to MP80 along with the discount code (7V6R276B) that drops the price from $300 to $170, a 43% reduction. December 24, 2023, is the expiration date of the code. Then, if you’re interested, get it before it’s gone.

Final Verdict

 In my opinion, the Blackview MP80 Mini PC is an excellent device for its intended use. The Mini PC has a relatively new SoC that is based on Intel 97. Even after all this time, the SoC still performed well in my tests, much outperforming the earlier Intel 95 chips. I think the DDR5 RAM is the deciding factor.  Regarding its design, there is no fault.  To be honest, I wish I also could have the option to turn out the lights.

Despite its small size, it has three HDMI outputs, which is a bonus. The two LAN ports are no different. You won’t find this feature on many Mini Pcs. Since the storage capacity of this computer is restricted, you will need to make some sacrifices. You shouldn’t be surprised to find that the RAM is soldered on and that there’s only room for one SSD.

The second point is just one more reason in favor of the 16-GB version. In sum, it has solid components and versatile connection options. No matter what, you need it for work, school, or casual usage. The Blackview MP80 Mini PC can handle it. Users can easily install it behind a display or carry it in a single hand, thanks to its lightweight and small design.

Abdul Hannan

[How-To Guides Expert]

Laiba, our tech guru at HI Digital, simplifies and crafts How-To Guides with a Google IT Support Certificate. Beyond tech, she captures the city’s aesthetics through her lens. Join her journey where tech meets creativity!

Get In Touch: Laiba@hidgt.com