Minisforum has released the N5 Air NAS in overseas markets, swapping in an AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS processor. The compact network storage box retains high speed connectivity with 10Gbps and 5Gbps ethernet ports alongside an OCuLink port for external graphics cards. Pricing starts at $495 for the barebones unit with 64GB of system storage.
Storage flexibility is the main selling point of the chassis. The unit holds up to 5 SATA drives in 3.5 inch or 2.5 inch sizes with a maximum capacity of 30TB per drive. That allows for massive local storage arrays. Speed focused users also get 3 M.2 NVMe slots with support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 6 configurations. Two SO DIMM slots handle up to 96GB of DDR5 5600 memory, giving the hardware plenty of headroom for heavy virtualization tasks.
Networking and expansion options go well beyond standard consumer storage boxes. Minisforum fitted the machine with a 10Gbps ethernet jack alongside a secondary 5Gbps port to manage large local transfers. You also get an OCuLink interface and a full PCIe x16 slot for attaching discrete graphics cards or extra add in cards. Physical ports include 2 USB4 connectors, 1 HDMI 2.1 video output, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A port, and 1 standard USB 2.0 port.
The chassis measures 199 by 202 by 252 millimeters and weighs 4 kilograms. It comes preloaded with 64GB of dedicated internal storage for operating systems. Software compatibility is broad, allowing users to run the custom MinisCloud OS, Windows 11, or various Linux distributions. At $495 without RAM or storage drives, it targets home lab builders who want desktop grade processor power in their network storage.
