The verdict

CPU
Beelink SER8 has 1x the CPU throughput (28,621 vs 28,292 PassMark).
Plex
Beelink SER8 transcodes more 4K HDR streams (~5 vs ~3).
Idle power
Beelink SER8 idles lower (10W vs 12W) - cheaper to run 24/7.
RAM ceiling
Beelink SER8 takes more RAM (96GB vs 64GB).

Which wins for each job

Job Acemagic AM08 Pro Beelink SER8
Plex / Jellyfin ~3 streams ~5 streams win
Frigate NVR ~4 cameras win add a detector
Proxmox / VMs 28,292 PassMark 28,621 PassMark win
Firewall / router 1 NICs 1 NICs
Local AI / LLM no slot no slot

Approximate - capacity estimates from curated specs, the same logic as the recommender. Verify against your exact setup. Prices move; check the retailer.

Full specs

Spec Acemagic AM08 Pro Beelink SER8
Price (list) $499 $499
CPU AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS
Cores / threads 8 8
PassMark 28,292 28,621
iGPU Radeon 780M Radeon 780M (RDNA3)
NICs 1 1
NIC model Realtek 2.5GbE Realtek RTL8125
RAM max (GB) 64 96
M.2 free 1 1
PCIe slot none none
Idle (W) 12 10
TDP (W) 54 54