MSI Cubi N CUBINADLS055B 2024, Celeron N100, Black

The MSI Cubi N is a fanless mini PC built for silence, not speed. Its Celeron N100 CPU ranks in the 12th percentile, and RAM sits at the 9th, so multitasking is painful. At $224 in the US it's a niche buy for kiosks and network appliances, but European prices of €655 and £571 are hard to swallow. Unless you specifically need a fanless design with dual LAN, buy something with a real processor instead.

Let's talk about that Celeron N100. It's a 4-core, 4-thread processor with a base clock of just 0.7GHz. That's not a typo. It can boost higher under load, but the base clock tells you what MSI is optimizing for: low power draw, not speed. In our rankings, this CPU lands in the 12th percentile. You'll be fine opening a browser, checking email, or running a lightweight POS app. But open ten tabs and a spreadsheet at the same time, and you'll feel it wheeze.

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics sits at the 36th percentile. It'll push a 1080p display without breaking a sweat, and the HDMI and DisplayPort outputs mean dual monitors are on the table. But don't expect to edit photos or play anything beyond solitaire. The gaming score of 7.7 out of 100 is one of the lowest we've seen. This is a work box, not a play box.

Storage is the real head-scratcher. The spec sheet lists an NVMe SSD, but the total capacity comes up as 0GB in the retailer data. That likely means this particular SKU ships without a drive installed, or with a configuration so minimal it's effectively empty. Either way, you're probably buying your own SSD and installing Windows yourself. That's not unusual for a barebones unit, but it's worth knowing before you click buy.

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen 5 is the most direct competitor. It's a business-focused mini PC with a proper Intel Core processor, and it'll run circles around the Cubi N in any real workload. You lose the fanless design, but you gain actual performance. The HP Elite Mini 800 G9 is even more powerful, aimed at corporate deployments where reliability matters. Our data shows the Cubi N's reliability score is only in the 37th percentile, which is a red flag for business buyers.

On the budget side, the Minisforum DeskMini UM880 Plus and BOSGAME P3 offer AMD Ryzen chips with dramatically better CPU and GPU performance. They're not fanless either, but they're often cheaper than the Cubi N's European pricing. The Dell Optiplex 3060 is older but widely available refurbished, and it'll still outperform the N100 in most tasks. The Cubi N's only real advantage is the fanless design and dual LAN. If you don't need those specific features, almost any competitor is a better buy.

Pricing is all over the map depending on where you live. In the US, you can find this for $224, which feels about right for a barebones fanless box. But in France it's listed at €655, and in the UK it's £571. Those European prices are hard to justify for a Celeron N100 machine. At that point, you're paying a premium for the fanless design and the MSI badge, not for performance.

For comparison, the Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen 5 and HP Elite Mini 800 G9 both offer significantly more powerful processors in similar form factors. They're not fanless, but they're quiet enough for most offices. If silence is your top priority, the Cubi N makes sense. If you want actual computing power per dollar, look elsewhere.

The MSI Cubi N is a fanless mini PC that's trying to be the quietest computer in your office. No spinning fans, no moving parts, just a little black box that sits there and does its thing. It's built around Intel's Celeron N100, a 4-core chip that sips power and generates almost no heat. That's the whole pitch here: silence and simplicity.

Who's this for? Honestly, it's for people who need a basic Windows machine for light tasks. Think digital signage, a reception desk computer, maybe a point-of-sale terminal. The fanless design means it can sit in dusty environments without choking on debris. And with dual LAN ports, it could work as a tiny firewall or network appliance if you're into that sort of thing.

The catch is that "basic" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The Celeron N100 is a budget chip from 2023, and it shows. Our database puts this CPU in the 12th percentile, which means 88% of mini PCs we've tested have more processing power. The RAM situation is even rougher at the 9th percentile. This isn't a machine for multitasking. It's a machine for doing one thing at a time, patiently.

Anyone planning to use this as their main computer should look elsewhere. The Celeron N100 is too slow for comfortable daily use, and the RAM limitations will frustrate you within a week. If you're a student, a remote worker, or just someone who wants a snappy little desktop, grab a Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q Gen 5 or a Minisforum DeskMini instead. You'll get dramatically better performance for similar money.

Gamers and content creators should also steer clear. The 7.7 gaming score is one of the worst we've seen, and the integrated graphics won't handle photo or video editing. If you need any kind of GPU muscle, this is not your box. And if you're in Europe, the €655 and £571 price tags make this a particularly bad deal. At those prices, you're paying a huge premium for the fanless design while getting bottom-tier performance.

If you need a silent, dust-proof computer for a kiosk, digital sign, or network appliance, the Cubi N is a reasonable choice. The fanless design is genuinely useful in those scenarios, and the dual LAN ports are a nice touch. Just keep your expectations grounded. This is a single-purpose machine, not a daily driver.

For everyone else, skip it. The Celeron N100 is too slow for comfortable everyday use, the RAM situation is limiting, and the storage configuration is confusing at best. You can get far more capable mini PCs for similar money, especially if you're willing to accept a quiet fan. The Cubi N is a niche product, and it only makes sense if you're squarely in that niche.