I noticed a rattle while installing the drives and ram, which was from an errant screw stuck behind the motherboard. Fortunately (unfortunately?) I've made this mistake myself in the past with homebuilt PC's and know that they can easily cause a short and fry the mainboard. It took some persistence to get it out, but once I did everything else went smooth. This may sound like a minor thing, but it bodes poorly for the QC process. I wonder how many DOA systems this kind of thing causes at their scale. Have been running it (linux) for about a month and no other material issues. Nits: Rubber feet are only on the right side if looking at it horizontally, meaning they only intend it to be stood vertically. No big deal, I added some rubber feet to set it horizontally and stack another mini on it. (looks nicer given the logo position this way too). Unfortunately horizontal makes it a little louder than expected given the fan position, and its already a little louder than I'd expect given my use, environment temps, and its relatively efficient chip. I may move it closer to the floor to mitigate. The USB ports (C specifically) don't seem to make a lot of power, not great for device charging or powering a USB hub which you'll likely need given the scant ports... On the USB subject, I added a USB bluetooth since this does not have that onboard and I didn't want to fuss with the card slot. Same would go for WiFi if needed. Factor these adapters into your price comparisons if needed, which I still found to be favorable. I suspect it can be made to boot faster, but I haven't dug into the bios to optimize that or the fan situation. If I do i'll update this review. It's far from a pro workstation, but for a fraction of the price it probably won't be the last MF I buy.
