For Windows users considering a compact file server or home-lab machine, the appeal is keeping the N5 Air’s storage and expansion options at a slightly lower entry price. However, the memory-equipped price needs clarification: Notebookcheck’s report gives conflicting figures for that configuration.
What changes—and what stays
The processor substitution is the main change identified by Notebookcheck. Earlier coverage by Liliputing described the original N5 Air’s processor platform as offering eight Zen 4 CPU cores and Radeon 780M integrated graphics, while Notebookcheck’s original launch coverage identified the Ryzen 7 255 configuration. Those reports also established that OCuLink was already part of the N5 Air’s expansion offering, rather than a feature introduced with this cheaper variant.
According to Notebookcheck, the N5 Air-7640 retains the 199 × 202 × 252 mm enclosure, weighs 4 kg and uses the same slide-out internal design for access to memory and SSD slots. The publication reports the following storage and memory support:
- Five SATA bays accept 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives, with a stated maximum of 30 TB per drive.
- Three M.2 slots support a combined maximum of 24 TB of NVMe storage.
- Two SO-DIMM slots support up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 memory.
- The advertised RAID options are RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 6.
The resulting 174 TB figure is a maximum aggregate drive-capacity claim, calculated as five 30 TB SATA drives plus 24 TB of NVMe storage. It should not be read as a promise of 174 TB of usable, redundancy-protected space: the headline simply adds the stated drive capacities together.
Expansion and Windows support
Notebookcheck reports that the new model preserves separate 10 Gbps and 5 Gbps Ethernet ports, two USB4 ports, HDMI 2.1, OCuLink and an internal physical PCIe x16 slot with PCIe Gen4 connectivity. Its reporting also lists USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and USB 2.0 connectivity.
The physical x16 slot description does not establish that the slot has 16 electrically connected lanes. Buyers planning an expansion card should therefore avoid treating the connector’s size as a bandwidth specification; the available reporting does not establish the new variant’s electrical lane count.
According to Notebookcheck, Minisforum lists MinisCloud OS, Windows 11 Pro and Linux support. That gives the machine relevance beyond a dedicated NAS appliance, but operating-system support alone does not establish that a Windows 11 Pro licence or a ready-to-use Windows installation is included.
The $495 entry price needs a configuration check
Notebookcheck lists the barebones N5 Air-7640 at $495 with 64 GB of OS storage and no system memory, against $535 for the Ryzen 7 255 version. On those figures, the saving is $40, or approximately 7.5%.
The 64 GB of OS storage is not system RAM. A buyer choosing the reported barebones configuration still needs to account for memory when comparing the total purchase cost.
The 16 GB configuration is less clear. Notebookcheck gives both $495 and $679 for the memory-equipped model, while listing the comparable Ryzen 7 version at $719. If $679 is correct, that comparison also produces a $40 saving, but the contradictory listing prevents treating it as a confirmed purchase price.
Notebookcheck reports late-October shipping for both configurations; that timing has not been independently corroborated. For buyers, the supported comparison is therefore a modestly cheaper entry configuration that reportedly preserves the storage platform—not a demonstrated performance-per-dollar improvement. Confirming the RAM-equipped total and dispatch estimate is particularly important before choosing the lower-tier processor for a $40 saving.