Bmax B1 Plus Mini PC Review: A Budget Desktop for Office Basics
A budget mini PC for the lightest office jobs, held back by 6GB of RAM and eMMC storage.
A workable single-task desktop for reception, kiosk, and thin-client roles, held back by 6GB of RAM and slow eMMC storage the moment a desk needs to do more than one thing at a time.
Check price on Amazon →| Processor | Intel Celeron J3355 (up to 2.5GHz) |
|---|---|
| Memory | 6GB LPDDR3 RAM |
| Storage | 128GB eMMC (expandable via M.2 SSD slot, up to 2TB) |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 500 |
| Display output | Dual HDMI, 4K @60Hz dual display support |
| Operating system | Windows 11 Home (Linux/Ubuntu supported) |
| Wireless | Dual-Band WiFi (2.4G/5G) and Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Wired networking | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Dimensions | 4.2 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches |
| Weight | 0.49 lbs |
| Warranty | 12-month Bmax warranty with lifetime technical support |
The Bmax B1 Plus is a budget mini PC built around Intel's dual-core Celeron J3355 processor, paired with 6GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 128GB of eMMC storage in a case about the size of a paperback book. Bmax positions it as a home and office desktop for web browsing, document editing, and other light daily tasks, rather than as a machine for gaming, heavy multitasking, or local AI work.
That ceiling comes mostly from the eMMC storage and six gigabytes of memory, and the dual M.2 slot is the one upgrade path that changes it. Every spec here comes directly from Bmax's own listing for this unit, checked against the other mini PCs ranked in the same category.
What the Bmax B1 Plus Is, and Who Should Buy It
The Bmax B1 Plus is a palm-sized desktop computer built for the lightest end of office computing. It runs Intel's dual-core Celeron J3355 processor with 6GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 128GB of eMMC storage, and it ships with Windows 11 Home already installed, with support for Linux and Ubuntu as well.
It fits a narrow set of jobs well. Think a reception desk that only needs a browser and a scheduling app, a kiosk running one program all day, a thin client that connects to a remote desktop or cloud workspace, or a spare machine for checking email and filling out forms. It is not built for running several heavy applications at once, editing video, or any kind of local AI model. The Celeron J3355 has no dedicated AI hardware, and only two CPU cores to share across everything running.
Bmax markets the B1 Plus for home and office use, and that framing fits. The processor and memory ceiling here match a single-task machine, rather than a general-purpose workstation for an employee juggling a dozen browser tabs and a spreadsheet at the same time.
- Best for: reception desks, kiosks, digital signage, and thin-client setups
- Also good for: a spare desk for email, forms, and basic web browsing
- Skip it if: your team needs to run several applications at once or any local AI workload
Weighing a budget mini PC like the Bmax B1 Plus against something with more headroom for your office? At Layer3Labs, we help small businesses match hardware buys to their actual workflow needs instead of the lowest sticker price alone.
Book a ConsultationPerformance: What the Celeron J3355 Can Handle
The Celeron J3355 is a dual-core, dual-thread processor from Intel's Apollo Lake generation, clocked up to 2.5GHz, and Bmax's listing states it delivers a 25% performance boost over previous generations of the chip. Two cores is the number to plan around, since this processor was built for the lightest computing tasks, rather than for running many programs side by side.
With 6GB of RAM, the B1 Plus can comfortably run a browser with a handful of tabs and a document editor at the same time, and not much else. Windows 11 itself uses a meaningful share of that memory just to run. Stacking a video call or a second heavy application on top of an open browser is where this machine starts to slow down.
Graphics come from the integrated Intel HD Graphics 500, a display-focused engine built into the same chip rather than a separate graphics card. It handles video playback and office work fine, but it was never designed for gaming, 3D rendering, or the parallel math that local AI inference needs.
Storage: 128GB Onboard and the M.2 Upgrade Path
The B1 Plus ships with 128GB of eMMC storage, and that fills up fast once Windows 11, its updates, and a few applications are installed. eMMC storage uses the same technology found in budget tablets and older phones. It reads and writes data more slowly than a solid-state drive (SSD) and was never meant to hold a large software library on its own.
The upgrade path is the one design choice that sets this machine apart from many similarly priced mini PCs. Bmax built in a dual M.2 slot, one SATA and one NVMe, so an owner can add a separate SSD up to 2TB without removing or replacing the built-in 128GB eMMC drive. That means the fix for a full drive is a single SSD purchase and an install, rather than a full replacement of the machine.
If you're planning to run anything more than light office software, budgeting for that SSD from the start is worth doing. A fresh Windows 11 install with a handful of common business applications can use up much of the built-in 128GB on its own, leaving little room for files and updates before the SSD goes in.
4K Dual Display Support and the Compact Design
Two HDMI ports on the back of the B1 Plus each support 4K resolution at 60Hz, and running both at once drives two separate 4K monitors from the same small box. For jobs that benefit from more screen space, comparing a spreadsheet against a reference document, or a dashboard next to an email inbox, that dual-display support does real work without needing a separate graphics card.
The case itself measures 4.2 by 4.1 by 1.4 inches and weighs 0.49 pounds, small enough to sit behind a monitor using the included VESA mounting bracket instead of taking up desk space. Bmax also built in a fan and heat sink system designed to run quietly, which matters for a machine meant to stay powered on in a reception area or an open office where fan noise would stand out.
Connectivity, Recovery, and Support
Dual-band WiFi covering both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, Bluetooth 5.0, and Gigabit Ethernet are all built into the B1 Plus, covering a wired and a wireless setup without an added adapter. Gigabit Ethernet is worth using over WiFi wherever the desk has a wired jack nearby, since a wired connection avoids the interference a shared office network with many devices can run into.
Bmax also includes a One-Click Restore function, triggered with the F9 key at startup, which returns the system to its factory state in minutes rather than requiring a full Windows reinstall. Combined with the 12-month warranty and Bmax's stated lifetime technical support, that gives you a straightforward recovery path if a unit gets misconfigured or a startup issue comes up.
Where the Bmax B1 Plus Falls Short
The B1 Plus's limits trace directly to its budget positioning, rather than to a design flaw, and they are worth planning around before it becomes the standard machine for more than one or two simple desks. A version with 8GB or more of RAM and an SSD instead of eMMC storage out of the box would close most of this gap and make it a far easier recommendation for general office use.
In the workflows we build for small business clients, entry-level hardware like the Celeron J3355 and 6GB of RAM here is usually the right call for a single fixed task, rather than a shared desk that needs to run several applications at once.
- 6GB of RAM is thin for Windows 11, and running more than a browser and one other program at a time will slow the machine down
- 128GB of eMMC storage is small and slower than an SSD, and fills up quickly once Windows 11 and its updates are installed
- No hardware for local AI, so any AI feature needs to run through a cloud service instead of on the machine itself
- Two CPU cores only, so multitasking headroom trails even other budget mini PCs built on four-core chips
- Adding the SSD needed for real storage headroom is an extra purchase and an install, rather than something included out of the box
Bmax B1 Plus vs the Alternatives
Against the other mini PCs ranked in this category, the B1 Plus competes almost entirely on price rather than raw capability. The KAMRUI AK1PLUS uses a newer Intel N5030 processor with more than double the RAM, at 12GB, and a full 256GB SSD in place of eMMC storage, which makes it the closer match for a desk that needs to run more than one program at a time.
The KAMRUI Pinova P1 and P2 models move to AMD Ryzen processors with four cores and, on the higher-end P2 configurations, 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of SSD storage. Those specs put them in a different tier, suited to multitasking and the kind of local workloads the B1 Plus was never built to handle, at a correspondingly higher price.
The Apple Mac mini options sit in a different category altogether. Both the M6 and M4 chip versions run macOS rather than Windows, cost meaningfully more, and fit you if you've already standardized on Apple hardware, rather than if you're shopping for a budget Windows desktop. For a single reception desk, kiosk, or thin client on a tight hardware budget, the B1 Plus remains the more direct fit. For any desk expected to multitask, one of the KAMRUI models is the safer choice.
Where to buy the Bmax B1 Plus Mini PC (Intel Celeron J3355)
A workable single-task desktop for reception, kiosk, and thin-client roles, held back by 6GB of RAM and slow eMMC storage the moment a desk needs to do more than one thing at a time.
Check price on Amazon →Alternatives worth comparing
If the Bmax B1 Plus Mini PC (Intel Celeron J3355) is not the right fit, these are the other mini pcs ranking alongside it right now.
Frequently Asked Questions
- It works for light, single-task business use, such as a reception desk, a kiosk, or a thin client connecting to a remote desktop. The Celeron J3355 processor and 6GB of RAM are not enough for an employee who needs to run several programs at once.
- It ships with 6GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 128GB of eMMC storage, according to Bmax's listing. That covers Windows 11, a browser, and one or two light applications, but leaves little room for a growing software library without adding storage.
- No, not in any practical way. The Celeron J3355 has no NPU or dedicated AI hardware, and its integrated Intel HD Graphics 500 was built for display output, rather than the parallel math local AI inference needs. A mini PC with a discrete GPU or a modern NPU is a better fit for that job.
- Yes. It includes a dual M.2 slot, one SATA and one NVMe, that supports adding an SSD up to 2TB without removing the built-in 128GB eMMC drive. That is the main upgrade path for a B1 Plus running low on space.
- Yes. Its two HDMI ports each support 4K resolution at 60Hz, so it can drive two separate 4K displays at once without a separate graphics card.
- It ships with Windows 11 Home pre-installed, and Bmax's listing states it also supports Linux and Ubuntu for anyone who prefers to run those instead.
- Pressing F9 at startup triggers Bmax's built-in One-Click Restore function, which returns the system to its factory state in minutes instead of requiring a full Windows reinstall from external media.
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