Minisforum M2 Pro Mini PC running Linux – Power Consumption

This is the third article in my series looking at the Minisforum M2 Pro running Linux. In this series, I’m putting the machine through its paces, examining hardware support, performance, power consumption and everyday usability.

The M2 Pro uses Intel’s Core Ultra X7 358H, a 16-core, 16-thread Panther Lake processor with integrated Intel Arc B390 graphics. My review unit has 32 GB of LPDDR5X memory.

I’m running Ubuntu with GNOME for these tests. I measure how much power the M2 Pro draws at idle, during everyday desktop use and under sustained CPU load.

I compare it with one mini workstation, eight other mini PCs and two desktop PCs. The mini workstation is the Minisforum MS-02 Ultra with a Core Ultra 9 285HX. The desktops use Core i5-10400 and Core i5-12400F processors.

The other mini PCs are the Minisforum M2 (Core Ultra 7 356H), BOSGAME M7 (Core Ultra 9 285H), BOSGAME VTA-439 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 470), Minisforum UM890 Pro (Ryzen 9 8945HS), BOSGAME M6 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370), ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-255H (Core Ultra 7 255H), Intel NUC (Core i7-1360P) and DreamQuest mini PC (Intel N100).

I measured each computer’s total power draw at the mains socket. The readings exclude the monitors’ own power consumption.

Power Consumption at Idle

I measured the M2 Pro at idle with both monitors on and again with both switched off. The monitors stayed connected for both readings.

The M2 Pro drew 8.4 W with both monitors off and 9.8 W with them on. The Minisforum M2 drew slightly less in both cases at 8.1 W and 9.2 W, respectively. The BOSGAME VTA-439 drew 6.4 W with both monitors off and 7.4 W with them on. The M2 Pro drew less at idle than both the BOSGAME M7 and the Minisforum MS-02 Ultra.

I also tested the M2 Pro headless. Disconnecting both monitors lowered its idle draw to 6.7 W, a further saving of 1.7 W compared with leaving them connected and switched off.

Chart notes

• The M2 Pro runs Ubuntu with GNOME. I selected Silent Mode in the BIOS for the idle test.
• The Core i5-12400F desktop has a dedicated ASUS NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti. According to nvidia-smi, the card alone draws about 11 W at idle with both monitors off and 21 W with both on.
• The Minisforum MS-02 Ultra’s readings include a 25GbE network card that draws about 10 W on its own.
• Hardware configurations, power settings, kernel versions and Linux distributions can all affect idle power draw.

Next page – Power Consumption During Light Use

Pages in this article
Page 1 – Power Consumption at Idle
Page 2 – Power Consumption During Light Use
Page 3 – Power Consumption Under CPU Load
Page 4 – Electricity Costs

Complete list of articles in this series