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Notes / Mini PCs

Editorial, 22 Aug 2026. Specs from maker pages and recent street reports. We have not burned these units in. Affiliate tags are not live.

Protectli VP2430e: the 4× 2.5G N150 you can actually warrant

Fanless aluminum, four Intel I226-V, VT-x / VT-d, AES-NI, coreboot, US support. This is the 4-NIC closet box. Not a living-room HDMI toy.

SKU VP2430e: Intel N150 4C/4T, 6 MB cache, up to 3.6 GHz. One DDR5-4800 SO-DIMM. Protectli says they qualified DDR5 to 64 GB; Intel’s datasheet still says 16 GB. M.2 2280 NVMe (PCIe 3.0 x2) plus optional 2.5" SATA. Fanless. Max power listed 45 W. Official bare configurator start was $419 on 22 Aug 2026. Two-year factory warranty, extendable. No soldered RAM.

The older VP2430 shipped 32 GB eMMC. The “e” dropped eMMC in June 2026 to cut cost. Amazon.ca B0F3DR4CQM is VP2430 (not e). Do not send a US reader there. Prefer the US maker store. The existing N100 / N150 roundup waves at “CWWK / Topton 4-NIC.” This is the named, warrantable N150 appliance in that class.

What you are buying

SKUPorts / RAMStreet / dateRole
Protectli VP2430e4× I226-V 2.5G. 1× DDR5-4800 SO-DIMM, Protectli-tested to 64 GB. Fanless.$419 official, 22 Aug 2026 (bare start)WAN / LAN / IoT / lab. The actual firewall node.
Protectli VP2430 (older)Same port story, 32 GB eMMC. “e” dropped eMMC June 2026.Amazon.ca listing exists; skip for USOnly if you already own one.
Protectli VP2440e2× 10G SFP+ (X710-BM2) + 2× I226-V. Same N150 / 64 GB DDR5 story.$499 official, 22 Aug 2026If you need SFP+. Covered in the VP2440e note.

Skip

Skip AliExpress-only Topton clones with no stable Amazon ASIN. Skip used eBay NUCs. Skip treating HDMI living-room minis as this box — see dual-LAN mini vs 4-NIC. If $419 is too much and you will accept a BIOS gamble, the contrast is CWWK N100 4× i226 on Amazon and the Protectli vs CWWK compare.

Sources

Protectli VP2430e product page. VP2430 hardware overview (KB). VP2430 launch note. Also: RAM ceiling, idle / fan.

Also in this lane

Protectli VP2440e: N150 with 10G SFP+ without chasing a sold-out MS-01The N-class 10G SFP+ box that still ships. AOOSTAR N1 Pro N150: dual 2.5G in a palm box, soldered 12 GBDual I226-V palm box. Trap is soldered 12 GB. Amazon listing roulette: EQ14 1G vs 2.5G, G3 Plus vs G3 ProMatch the CPU string, the NIC chip, and the RAM type. Title slugs lie.