MINISFORUM N5 Air NAS arrives at $499 with plastic chassis and Realtek LAN

MINISFORUM has introduced the N5 Air network-attached storage device, positioned as a more affordable alternative to their existing N5 model. At a starting price of $499 without RAM, the N5 Air undercuts the metal-bodied N5 by approximately $100 while retaining most core specifications.

The cost reduction comes primarily from two changes: a plastic chassis replacing the N5's metal enclosure and a different network controller for the 10GbE port. Where the N5 uses a Marvell AQC113 controller, the N5 Air utilizes a Realtek RTL8127 chip. This plastic construction reduces weight from 5kg (11 lbs) to 4kg (8.8 lbs), though the unit remains substantial.

Internally, both models share the AMD Ryzen 7 255 processor featuring an 8-core/16-thread Zen 4 CPU and Radeon 780M integrated graphics. This Hawk Point chip lacks an NPU and operates within a 35-54W power envelope. The system supports up to 96GB of non-ECC DDR5-5400 memory via two SODIMM slots and includes a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot (electrically x4) for expansion cards.

Storage configuration remains unchanged from the N5:

• 5 bays for 3.5" or 2.5" SATA drives
• 1 M.2 2230/2280/22110 slot (PCIe 4.0 x1)
• 1 U.2/M.2 2280/22110 slot (PCIe 4.0 x1)
• 1 U.2/M.2 2280/22110 NVMe slot (PCIe 4.0 x2)

Port selection includes:

• 1 OCuLink (64Gbps PCIe 4.0 x4)
• 2 USB4 Type-C (40Gbps)
• 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (10Gbps)
• 1 USB 2.0 Type-A
• HDMI 2.1 output
• 10GbE LAN (Realtek RTL8127)
• 5GbE LAN (Realtek RTL8126)

The 199 x 202 x 252mm (7.8" x 8" x 9.9") chassis dimensions match both the N5 and higher-end N5 Pro models. While the base configuration excludes RAM, a version with 16GB DDR5 is available for $679. The plastic construction represents a calculated trade-off for budget-conscious users needing substantial storage expansion capabilities.

Potential buyers should consider network performance characteristics of the Realtek controller versus the Marvell solution in the metal-bodied model. For many home and small business use cases where maximum throughput isn't critical, the N5 Air presents a compelling value proposition for a 5-bay NAS with modern connectivity options.