Review of GEEKOM Mini Air12 mini PC with Windows 11 Pro (Part 2)

GEEKOM Mini Air12 dual display

We’ve already done an unboxing and teardown of the GEEKOM Mini Air12 mini PC in the first part of the review and we’ve now had time to test Windows 11 Pro on the Intel Processor N100 mini PC equipped with 16GB SO-DIMM DDR5 and a 512GB M.2 SSD. Despite the low-end processor, the mini PC boots quite fast and it’s perfectly usable to browse the web, play YouTube videos, and perform other tasks like office work and photo editing. In part 2 of the review, we’ll test Windows 11 Pro thoroughly with a software overview, features testing, benchmarks, storage and network performance tests, thermal performance, fan noise, and power consumption of GEEKOM Mini Air12. Software overview and features testing Going to System->About in the Windows settings confirms we have a Mini Air12 mini PC powered by an 800 MHz (based frequency) Intel Processor N100 CPU, with 16GB of RAM, and […]

Congatec conga-TC675r – A COM Express Type 6 module with soldered RAM, 13th Gen Intel Core CPU

Congatec has recently announced Six new COM Express Type 6 Computer-on-Modules based on 13th Gen Intel Core(Raptor Lake) processors. The module comes with up to 14(6P+8E) cores and 20-thread, ultra-fast LPDDR5x memory, all within a total TDP of 45W.

We’ve noticed a surge in the popularity of COM Express modules and Congatec has recently announced six new conga-TC675r COM Express Type 6 Computer-on-Modules based on 13th Gen Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors that happen to come with soldered RAM instead of the usual SO-DIMM memory slots found in this form factor. The modules come with up to 14(6P+8E) cores and 20-thread, ultra-fast LPDDR5x memory, all within a total TDP of 45W. According to Congatec, this device is designed to work under extreme temperatures (-40°C to +85°C), and is built to withstand the highest standards for shock and vibrations notably thanks to the user of soldered onboard RAM, making this device suitable for off-road vehicles for mining, construction, agriculture, forestry, and other demanding mobility applications. Previously we have seen manufacturers like ADLINK announce COM Express modules based on the 13th Gen architecture, and both ADLINK and Congatec have also just […]

ODROID-M1S review – Part 1: Ubuntu 20.04, Vu8S touchscreen display, UPS Kit, and WiFi Module 5BK

ODROID-M1S review with UPS module and V8uS module

Hardkernel ODROID-M1S single board board was recently launched to celebrate the company’s 15th anniversary. While the ODROID-M1 board was introduced with the Rockchip RK3568 SoC last year, the new ODROID-M1S board is smaller and cheaper starting at just $49 and comes with a Rockchip RK3566 SoC. Hardkernel sent us a sample of the ODROID-M1S board for review with 8GB of memory and 64GB of storage as well as accessories. Let’s unpack the box before trying it out with Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop and testing each accessory. ODROID-M1S unboxing with ODROID-Vu8S display, UPS kit, and WiFi dongle The review package we received from Hardkernel included the ORDROID-M1S SBC in its plastic enclosure, the VU8S 8-inch touchscreen display, a UPS board, and a dual-band WiFi 5 USB dongle. The UPS module comes without a battery, so we had to find an 18650 battery to use it. As we’ll see further below, the UPS […]

Firefly AIO-3588Q 8K AI Board Features Octa-Core CPU and 6 TOPS NPU

AIO 3588Q 8K AI Board

Firefly has recently launched the AIO-3588Q 8K AI board powered by a powerful Rockchip RK3588 SoC, up to 32GB of RAM, 8K video encoding-decoding, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, 5G/4G, and multiple display support. With all these features this board is designed to target the industrial, commercial, and automotive markets. Previously, we have covered many SBCs and SoMs designed by Firefly such as the similarly named Firefly AIO-3588SG; feel free to check those out if you’re interested. Features and specifications of the AIO-3588Q 8K AI Board: SoC – RockChip RK3588: CPU – Octa-core 64-bit (4x Cortex-A76+4x Cortex-A55), 8nm process, up to 2.4GHz. GPU – ARM Mali-G610 MP4, supports OpenGL ES3.2/OpenCL 2.2/Vulkan1.1, 450 GFLOPS. NPU – Up to 6 TOPS, supports INT4/INT8/INT16, compatible with TensorFlow/MXNet/PyTorch/Caffe. ISP – Integrated 48MP ISP with HDR & 3DNR. VPU – Supports 8K @ 60fps and 4K @ 60fps video decoding/encoding, including H.265/VP9/AVS2, and H.264 AVC/MVC. RAM […]

How to use a monitor and USB mouse/keyboard in Promox VE on an Intel Alder Lake-N mini PC

Intel Core i3-N300 Alder Lake-N Ubuntu 22.04 Promox VE passthrough

We’ve started to see several Alder Lake-N platforms acting both as a mini PC and a router or network appliance with products such as iKOOLCORE R2 or CWWK x86-P5 which features not only the usual HDMI, USB, and single Ethernet port, but come with multiple Ethernet ports making them ideal to run Proxmox VE to simultaneous run a desktop OS such as Ubuntu 22.04 or Windows 11 and a headless network OS such as pfSense or OpenWrt. I’m currently reviewing iKOOLCORE R2 mini PC that comes with four 2.5GbE ports and I could install Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop, pfSense 2.7.1, and OpenWrt 23.05 relatively easily, but the Ubuntu desktop is only visible in the Proxmox VE dashboard and the HDMI display physically connected to the mini PC only shows Proxmox VE login prompt. So at this point, I learned that I had to enable PCIe passthrough for the GPU in Proxmox […]

Chatreey AM08 Pro (Ryzen 9 7940HS) mini PC review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, and first run

AM08 Pro Front and back sides

Chatreey AM08 Pro (also known as AM08pro) is a mini PC based on AMD Ryzen 7940HS CPU with up to 64GB dual-channel DDR5 RAM, one PCIe Gen 4×4 M.2 2280 SSD socket, one SATA3 2.5” drive, WiFi 6E (8852BE) and Bluetooth 5.2, also 2.5GbE Ethernet, a full-fledged Type-C USB port, a 3.5mm audio jack and 4x USB 3.0 porta. I have bought AM08 Pro from Aliexpress with an AMD Ryzen 7940HS (8C/16T, 4.0GHz up to 5.2 GHz), 16GB DDR5 RAM (2x8GB), and 512GB SSD. The review will be done following the usual procedure with the first part listing the specifications, checking out the package content, tearing down the system, and giving it a first try, before testing it more thoroughly with the pre-installed Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 in the next parts. AM08 Pro specifications Model AM08 Pro CPU AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS (8 Cores, 16 Threads, 16MB Cache, 3.2 […]

COM Express Type 6 Compact module features 14th gen Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processor

Intel Core Ultra COM Express

ADLINK cExpress-MTL is a COM Express Type 6 Compact module based on the just-announced 14th gen Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processor family with up to fourteen CPU cores in 6P+8E configuration, eight Xe-cores (128 EUs), and an NPU (11pTOPS/8.2eTOPS) in a 15 or 28W TDP thermal configuration delivering up to 1.9x the GPU performance of the previous generation (Raptor Lake). The power consumption will also be lower thanks to Intel Core Ultra’s new Low-Power E-cores that are 30 to 50% more efficient than the E-cores in 13th gen Intel Core processors, and the faster GPU and built-in NPU will enable hardware-accelerated AV1 encoding/decoding and various devices leveraging AI such as portable medical ultrasound devices, industrial automation, autonomous driving, AI robots, and more. cExpress-MTL specifications: Meteor Lake-H/U SoC (one of the other) Intel Core Ultra 7 MS3 165H 16-core (6P+8E+2LPE) processor @ 1.4 / 5.0 GHz with 24MB cache, Intel […]

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Core i7-12650H mini PC review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Review

GEEKOM Mini IT12 is a 12th Gen Intel mini PC offered with either an Intel Core i7-12650H or Intel Core i5-12450H Alder Lake processor, support for up to 64GB RAM, up to 2TB NVMe SDD, HDMI 2.0 video outputs and high-performance ports such as USB4 and 2.5GbE. The mini PC is also equipped with a WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module and comes preloaded with Windows 11 Pro operating system. GEEKOM has sent us a sample of the Mini IT12 with a 10-core Intel Core i7-12650H processor, 32GB DDR4, and a 1TB M.2 SSD for review.  We’ll start the review by listing the specifications, before going and unboxing and a teardown, and finally boot the device to Windows 11 Pro. This will be followed by detailed reviews of the mini PC with Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 in the next few weeks. GEEKOM Mini IT12 specifications SoC – Intel […]

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