@Patrick's review of the J4125 and N5095/N5105/N6005 hardware from AliExpress seems to have raised the profile of these little boxes, or at least created some interesting threads in the forums.
The overwhelming theme that I've taken from the threads is that the AliExpress hardware isn't always what you expect and that the quality can be hit or miss. The i5-1135G7 system I ordered was problematic to get set up and died within a few days.
While troubleshooting can be a fun challenge, trying to debug bad hardware is not. Which leads me to my main topic: What are the benefits of going through a VAR such as Protectli, Netgate, or OPNsense/Deciso instead of AliExpress. What's the "V" and VAR?
AliExpress Hardware:
Purchases from AliExpress are a gamble at best. There is limited support from the vendor and they are not often willing to exchange or return faulty hardware. Multiple hardware revisions exist for the "same" hardware so care has to be taken to compare the pictures with what others have had success with. Others have been able to find updated BIOS for some boards.
Hardware is offered from stores such as:
I suspect that the sellers have multiple stores so that a problem with one account will not affect listings on other stores. Interpret that as you will.
Shipping is often included in the price. The item description and value is usually fabricated or under declared to slip by customs fees. Interpret that as you will.
Protectli Hardware:
Protectli is one of the easier VARs to determine the added cost since much of their hardware is manufactured by Yanling and sold on AliExpress. Their prices range from $50 - $200 over AliExpress. We can expect that they are purchasing larger quantities and therefore have larger margins on most systems.
Protectli develops and supports the coreboot BIOS on all current devices. I've spoken with one of their support engineers and he told me that the new platforms will be receiving coreboot support as well. Part of their overhead goes to support this development. There are reports that the bios will work on systems from Yanling as well.
Protectli has a 30 day return policy and 1 year warranty. Warranty and Returns - Protectli Speaking from personal experience, they did an advance RMA on a failing SSD without a deposit and were totally cool when it took me about 2 months to ship the failed drive back.
Yanling has a 7 day return policy and a 1 year warranty.
The prices here are for a barebones system, giving the option of using lower priced parts from Newegg, etc. The i5/i7 systems support up to 64GB.
Adding the smallest memory and SSD option adds about $50-$70 to the cost from both Protectli and Yanling.
Yanling shipping costs on AliExpress are all over the place, ranging from $62.21 up to $210.52. The same pieces on Alibaba cost about $60 across the board so it may be possible to get the hardware for slightly less. Yanling says, "About customs fees, we are not responsible for buyer's customs taxes or VAT. We will declare true value by default." There may be some additional costs as a result.
I'm only listing the fanless desktop units since that's what I'm interested in.
Netgate hardware includes some storage and memory. Memory doesn't appear to be user upgradeable. Storage is upgradeable on all but the 1100.
Netgate appliances include pfSense Plus
Netgate offers a 30 day return policy and a 1 year warranty on all hardware.
Lawrence Systems has reviews of the N1100, N2100, N4100, and N6100.
OPNsense hardware includes storage and memory. The difference between similar models is mostly in storage and memory. Both appear to be user upgradeable.
Netgate hardware includes one year OPNsense Business Edition.
The overwhelming theme that I've taken from the threads is that the AliExpress hardware isn't always what you expect and that the quality can be hit or miss. The i5-1135G7 system I ordered was problematic to get set up and died within a few days.
While troubleshooting can be a fun challenge, trying to debug bad hardware is not. Which leads me to my main topic: What are the benefits of going through a VAR such as Protectli, Netgate, or OPNsense/Deciso instead of AliExpress. What's the "V" and VAR?
AliExpress Hardware:
Purchases from AliExpress are a gamble at best. There is limited support from the vendor and they are not often willing to exchange or return faulty hardware. Multiple hardware revisions exist for the "same" hardware so care has to be taken to compare the pictures with what others have had success with. Others have been able to find updated BIOS for some boards.
Hardware is offered from stores such as:
- YANLING Official Store,
- KingNovy PC Store,
- KingNovy 3C Store,
- KingNovyPC ComputerStore,
- Topton Direct Store,
- Topton 3C Store,
- Topton Official Store,
- Topton Computer Store,
- tuofudun Topton Factory Store,
- qotom Official Store,
- WooYi Store.
I suspect that the sellers have multiple stores so that a problem with one account will not affect listings on other stores. Interpret that as you will.
Shipping is often included in the price. The item description and value is usually fabricated or under declared to slip by customs fees. Interpret that as you will.
Protectli Hardware:
Product Comparison - Protectli Firewalls at a glance
Compare our trusted Firewall appliances with all its capabilities side by side. Find the one that works best to secure your network!
protectli.com
Protectli is one of the easier VARs to determine the added cost since much of their hardware is manufactured by Yanling and sold on AliExpress. Their prices range from $50 - $200 over AliExpress. We can expect that they are purchasing larger quantities and therefore have larger margins on most systems.
Protectli develops and supports the coreboot BIOS on all current devices. I've spoken with one of their support engineers and he told me that the new platforms will be receiving coreboot support as well. Part of their overhead goes to support this development. There are reports that the bios will work on systems from Yanling as well.
Protectli has a 30 day return policy and 1 year warranty. Warranty and Returns - Protectli Speaking from personal experience, they did an advance RMA on a failing SSD without a deposit and were totally cool when it took me about 2 months to ship the failed drive back.
Yanling has a 7 day return policy and a 1 year warranty.
The prices here are for a barebones system, giving the option of using lower priced parts from Newegg, etc. The i5/i7 systems support up to 64GB.
Adding the smallest memory and SSD option adds about $50-$70 to the cost from both Protectli and Yanling.
Yanling shipping costs on AliExpress are all over the place, ranging from $62.21 up to $210.52. The same pieces on Alibaba cost about $60 across the board so it may be possible to get the hardware for slightly less. Yanling says, "About customs fees, we are not responsible for buyer's customs taxes or VAT. We will declare true value by default." There may be some additional costs as a result.
- FW2B
J3060
2x 1Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $259
Yanling Listing: 198.0US $ |Yanling Latest Intel J3060 Fanless Mini Pc Dual Gigabit Lan Nuc Case Barebones Computer Linux Support 2 Hd Aes-ni Pfsense Vpn - Barebone & Mini Pc - AliExpress
Yanling Cost: $312.89 ($198 + $114.89 s/h) - FW4B
J3160
4x 1Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $339
Yanling Listing: 193.38US $ 27% OFF|Yanling New Nuc Mini Pc Celeron J3160 Quad Core 4 Intel I211at Nic X86 Computer Soft Router Linux Server Support Pfsense Aes-ni - Barebone & Mini Pc - AliExpress
Yanling Cost: $286.51 ($190.73 + 95.78 s/h) - VP2410
J4125
4x 1Gbps (individual controllers)
Cost: $429
OEM/ODM: Unknown
Yanling Listing (similar specs): 182.17US $ 25% OFF|J4125 Quad Core Network Firewall 4 Intel Gigabit Soft Router Dp Hdmi 4 Usb3.0 Sim Slot Vpn Firewall Aes-ni - Barebone & Mini Pc - AliExpress
Yanling Cost (similar specs): $241.96 ($179.75 + $62.21 s/h) - FW6A
3867U
6x 1Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $389
Yanling Listing: 264.6US $ 10% OFF|Yanling In stock Intel Celeron 3867U Pfsense Mini PC Dual Core 6 Lan Port Advanced Fanless Linux Firewall Router Support AES NI|Mini PC| - AliExpress
Yanling Cost: $337.44 ($264.60 + $72.84 s/h) - FW6B
i3-7020
6x 1Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $459 (out of stock)
Yanling Listing: Not available - FW6C
i5-7200U
6x 1Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $539
Yanling Listing: 320.35US $ 26% OFF|Yanling Newest Pfsense Box 7th Gen Kaby Lake Intel I5 7200u 2.5ghz Dual Core Fanless Case 6 Lan Mini Server Pc Support Aes-ni - Barebone & Mini Pc - AliExpress
Yanling Cost: $530.88 ($320.35 + $210.53 s/h) - FW6D
i5-8250U
6x 1Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $589
Yanling Listing: 362.88US $ 19% OFF|Yanling 2020 New Pfsense Router 8th Gen Kaby Lake R Intel I5 8250u Quad Core Mini Server 6 Lan Fanless Pc Support 4g And Wifi - Barebone & Mini Pc - AliExpress
Yanling Cost: $435.72 ($362.88 + $72.84 s/h) - FW6E
i7-8550U
6x 1Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $689
Yanling Listing: 422.65US $ 23% OFF|Yanling 6 Lans Mini Sever 8th Gen Kaby Lake R Intel 8550u Quad Core Fanless Firewall Pc I7 Network Router Support I211-at Lan - Barebone & Mini Pc - AliExpress
Yanling Cost: $490.00 ($417.16 + $72.84 s/h) - VP4630
i3-10110U
6x 2.5Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $679
OEM/ODM: Unknown
Appliances
Compare the wide range of appliances by Netgate. From desktop to rack there are products that meet all different cost, performance, and specification needs
www.netgate.com
Netgate hardware includes some storage and memory. Memory doesn't appear to be user upgradeable. Storage is upgradeable on all but the 1100.
Netgate appliances include pfSense Plus
Netgate offers a 30 day return policy and a 1 year warranty on all hardware.
Lawrence Systems has reviews of the N1100, N2100, N4100, and N6100.
- Netgate 1100
Dual Core Cortex-A53 ARM64 Soc @ 1.2GHz
3x 1Gbps (Marvell, switched)
Cost: $189 - Netgate 2100
Dual Core Cortex-A53 ARM64 Soc @ 1.2GHz
1x 1Gbps RJ45/SFP combo (Individual controller)
4x 1Gbps (Marvell, switched)
Cost: $349 - Netgate 4100
C3338R
2x 1Gbps RJ45/SFP Combo (Individual controllers)
4x 2.5 Gbps (Individual controllers)
Cost: $599 - Netgate 6100
C3558
2x 1Gbps RJ45/SFP Combo (Individual controllers)
2x 10 Gpbs SFP+
4x 2.5 Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $799
Hardware – OPNsense® Shop
shop.opnsense.com
OPNsense hardware includes storage and memory. The difference between similar models is mostly in storage and memory. Both appear to be user upgradeable.
Netgate hardware includes one year OPNsense Business Edition.
- DEC675 / DEC695
AMD G-Series SOC, 4 cores (Most likely GX-416RA)
4x 1Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $587.92 - DEC740 / DEC750
Embedded Ryzen V1500B
2x 10 Gbps SFP+ (From SoC)
3x 1 Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $748.56 - DEC840
Embedded EPYC 3101
2x 10 Gbps SFP+ (From SoC)
4x 1 Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $1176.92 - DEC850
Embedded EPYC 3201
2x 10 Gbps SFP+ (From SoC)
4x 1 Gbps (Intel, individual controllers)
Cost: $1391.11
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