Welcome viewers to a special featured product review.
Beelink is known for their high-performance TV boxes and Windows mini-PCs but in recent
times they have ventured into USB storage accessories.
In today’s video we take a look at one of their USB type C devices called the Beelink
Expand M. At first glance it appears to be a simple USB type C hub but in fact it’s
a type C hub with a portable M.2 SSD drive built-in.
So you get two devices in one.
In this review we look at this innovative device what makes it so special and why Beelink
saw it fit to venture into this market.
So that’s up next stay tuned.
Welcome back.
So here we have the device and it adopts the same layout as your typical USB type C hub.
With a flexible type C connector to one end an HDMI port and two USB 3.0 ports.
It also has a USB type C charging port.
There is one more feature unique to this device that can only be seen if you take a look on
the inside.
On the inside this is what it looks like and here you can see this device comes with an
M.2 slot with a 500GB M.2 SATA3 SSD inserted.
This makes it a portable SSD drive also.
So to use this device there are a few ways you can apply it.
The most popular way is with your mobile phone or tablet that has a USB type C port for screen
mirroring or desktop mode.
With the Expand M it not only allows you to use your mobile phone or tablet as an Android
computer but you also get access to the 500GB of SATA SSD storage.
And for those who would like to install their own SSD it can accommodate up to 4TB 2280
M.2 SATA3 SSDs.
So Here I have it connected to a HUAWEI cellphone that has the EMUI desktop interface and the
Expand M allows you to connect your TV or monitor via its HDMI port.
With mobile devices you get 1080p at 60hz as most mobile desktop interfaces are limited
to HD.
You also get audio and direct access to the SSD storage.
However in order to access the M.2 storage you need to connect a USB type C power source
to the hub as the reverse charging feature from phone is in adequate to power that feature.
Located on the surface of the hub is a button labeled with the letter M and this is an on
off switch for the SSD storage.
This switch prolongs the life of the SSD by allowing you to disable it while not in use.
It also has an LED that indicates if the SSD is active or not.
If it’s blue it means the SSD is not active and when it’s green it means that it’s
on and the device can access it.
When connected to a mobile phone without a power cable connected to the type C port it
will never go green because the mobile phone cannot provide adequate power.
You have to connect a separate power source for it to go green.
To measure the transmission speed of the SSD on Android the A1 SD bench app shows that
the M.2 SATA SSD has a read speed of 332 MB/s and a write speed of 239.
Another way the Beelink expand M comes in handy is when connected to your laptop or
notebook that has a type C display port.
Once connected you get access to additional USB ports via its hub feature you get extended
display to a second monitor via its HDMI port at 4K 2160p 60Hz resolution and you also get
access to its M.2 SSD storage.
All this is done simultaneously.
When used with your laptop or notebook you must also connect a power source to the hub
for the SSD storage to work.
However please be mindful of what power supply you are using and ensure that it’s a variable
power supply as using a power supply with too high of a voltage will cause the hub not
to respond or even damage the device.
So I plugged it into my desktop gaming PC to test its read and write speeds and the
crystal disk app registered 423 MB/s read speed and 412 MB/s write speed.
This confirms what is advertised on Beelink’s website.
And finally when connected to Windows desktop PCs MacBook Computers and Windows NUC mini-PCs
that have powerful power supplies you can use the expand M as a straight up external
storage device and type C hub without the need to attach a type C power cable.
You can also add a monitor if you so choose.
So in summary the expand M can work on a wide variety of mobile and computing devices once
it has a type C port that supports data-transfer or display.
This may be one of the first USB type C hubs to incorporate an M.2 SSD port that can support
up to a 4 TB SSD.
One thing to note is that the entire housing of the hub is made of metal and when I took
a look on the inside I saw that the housing itself is used as a heatsink.
So while in use especially with a power supply attach to its type C port you may notice the
housing of the hub heating up.
And with that said have come to the end of my review.
If you would like to get your hands on the Beelink expand M you have the option of purchasing
without the M.2 SSD storage for $42.99 and you can get a further discount with a coupon.
You can get it with a 128 GB SSD for $66. 256 GB for $70 and the 512 GB model seen in
this video for $106 and this can be reduced with a discount coupon.
So to get your hands on the expand M with or without SSD storage together with a discount
code see the link in the description below this video.
If you are on your mobile phone click the little down arrow below the video to access
the description area.
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