GMK NucBox Review – A palm-sized Windows 10 mini PC

GMK NucBox Power Adapter

GMK released their diminutive mini PC called the NucBox a while ago however they have recently updated the BOM with a new fan and WiFi module together with changing their logo from GMK to GMK TEC. GMK sent the new NucBox for review and the results from various testing are detailed below. Hardware Overview The NucBox physically consists of a 62 x 62 x 42mm (2.44 x 2.44 x 1.65 inches) rectangular metal case with a plastic top and base plate. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s 14 nm J4125 Gemini Lake Refresh processor which is a quad-core 4-thread 2.00 GHz processor boosting to 2.70 GHz with Intel’s UHD Graphics 600. The front has just the power button whilst the rear includes two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and a Type-C USB port for power. The left side has a microSD card slot and a headphone […]

Windows 11 build leaked, Windows 10 support ending in 2025

Windows 11

There’s been some rumors about Windows 11 – codename Sun Valley – in the last couple of weeks, but now I suppose that’s official as a leaked build of Windows 11 has made the rounds in the press, and Microsoft also announced Windows 10 support will be ending in October 2025 both for the Home and Pro version of the operating systems, as well as Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. Websites that tested the Windows 11 leaked build, including XDA Developers and NotebookCheck, report it’s very much like Windows 10, but with the scrapped Windows 10X shell. Since Microsoft is scheduled to announced Windows 11 on June 24, the user interface and experience should be pretty close to the actual release. The most obvious visual change compared to Windows 10 is that the taskbar is now centered. Other cosmetic changes include Windows and menus with rounded corners, a new Windows logo,  […]

IP66 & IP69K-rated stainless steel fanless panel PC’s feature Kaby Lake processor

IP66 IP69K panel pc

Last year, we wrote about IP69K-Rated stainless steel panel PC’s made by ADLINK, powered by an Intel x7-E3950 quad-core Apollo Lake processor, equipped with a 15.6-inch to 23.9-inch display, and designed for special production environments including food, pharmaceutical, and chemical production. If you need an IP69K panel PC with a more powerful processor, Axiomtek has now introduced GOT815W-511 and GOT812W-511 15.6-inch and 12.1-inch stainless steel fanless touch panel computers powered by an Intel Core i5-7300U quad-core Kaby Lake processor, available with either IP69K/IP66 ingress protection rating. Axiomtek GOT815W-511 / GOT812W-511 specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-7300U dual-core/quad-thread Kaby Lake processor @ 2.6 GHz / 3.5 GHz (Turbo) with Intel HD Graphics 620; 15W TDP System Memory – 1x 260-pin DDR4-2133 SO-DIMM for up to 16GB RAM Storage – 1x 2.5-inch SATA SSD or HDD (9.5 mm height max) LCD Panel GOT815W-511 – 15.6-inch TFT LCD with 1920 x 1080 pixels […]

3.5-inch SBC targets industrial applications with 9-36V wide-range DC-in

ECM-3455J 3.5-inch SBC

BCM Advanced Research ECM-3455J is an upcoming 3.5-inch SBC designed for industrial application with 9-36V wide range DC-in support, an Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core Apollo Lake processor, up to 8GB SO-DIMM memory, and 32GB on-board eMMC flash. The single board computer also comes with HDMI and LVDS video out, dual Gigabit Ethernet, an M.2 socket a micro SIM socket for cellular connectivity, as well as up to eight USB interfaces, and a thick and large heatspreader for fanless operation. ECM-3455J specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.5GHz / 2.3GHz (Burst Frequency) with Intel HD graphics 500; 10W TDP System Memory – 1x 204-pin SO-DIMM DDR3L-1600MHz socket for up to 8GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash (option: 64GB), 1x SATA III port, mSATA socket (See expansion), 64Mbit SPI flash for AMI UEFI BIOS Video Output 18/24-bit dual-channel LVDS through Chrontel CH7511B embedded DisplayPort to LVDS […]

GMK NucBox2 Review – Windows 10, Unraid OS on a Coffee Lake mini PC

GMK NucBox2 Review

Karl here. Today we are going to look at a mini PC. It is by GMK. GMK’s first foray looks to be the NucBox, a super tiny mini pc. I would call the NucBox2 its older, bigger, more capable brother. What stood out to me was the M.2 4x NVMe slot. I don’t anticipate a superfast SSD to come with the NucBox2 but we will see. The NucBox2 only had one 8 GB stick of memory and I had an extra stick laying around so I installed it to get dual-channel support. I think they are doing this mini PC a disservice using memory in single-channel mode. A quick Google search shows an 8GB stick is about $50 and I would highly recommend this upgrade. Notable Specs Processor – Intel Core i5-8259U 4-core/8-thread Coffee Lake processor 802.11 AC WiFI M.2 NVMe 256 GB SSD (Netac) 8GB memory single-channel Gig Ethernet […]

Intel Core i7-1165G7 barebone mini PC sells for $455

mini PC with DisplayPort & HDMI

Intel Core i7-1165G7 is one of the most popular Tiger Lake UP3 processors. It’s found in ASRock NUC 1100 BOX Series as well as Intel NUC 11 Enthusiast Phantom Canyon NUC11PHKi7C which Ian (Linuxium) reviewed for us both with Windows 10 and Linux (Ubuntu 20.04). If you’d like a cheaper mini PC with the processor, TOPTON has just launched an Intel Core i7-1165G7 “Mini PC Box”, model number V320, that’s sold for $454.67 with free shipping in barebone configuration. TOPTON V320 mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Core i7-1165G7 quad-core/octa-thread Tiger Lake UP3 processor @ up to 2.8 GHz / 4.7 GHz (Turbo) with 96EU Iris Xe Graphics; 15W TDP (Configurable between 12 and 28W) System Memory – 2x DDR4-2666 SO-DIMM sockets for up to 64GB RAM Storage – 2x M.2 2280 sockets for two SSD’s, including one PCIe 3.0 x4, and the other with SATA? Video Output HDMI 1.4 […]

Arm/Intel Windows systems-on-module come with modular eMMC or/and RAM modules

am335x system-on-module replaceable emmc & ram

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about a Windows CE (WinCE) compatible module,  but apparently, those are still being developed with China-based UNERON offering eSOM335x Windows CE system-on-module based on Texas Instruments AM335x Arm Cortex-A8 processor, and eSOM3735z Windows 10 module equipped with an Intel Atom Z3735G processor. What’s even more intriguing is that the company relies on replaceable & upgradable eMMC flash and RAM modules for the Arm SoM, and while the 1GB RAM is soldered on the Intel module, it’s still possible to upgrade the eMMC flash that way. We’ve seen eMMC modules on several single board computers in the past including ODROID-C4  or Renegade SBC, but I think it’s the first time I see this option on a system-on-module. UNERON eSOM335x AM335x system-on-module Specifications: SoC – Texas Instrumentx Sitara AM3358BZCZA100 Arm Cortex-A8 up to 1GHz with PowerVR SGX530 3D GPU (optional AM3359, AM3354, or AM3352) […]

Topton L4 mini laptop comes with a 7-inch 1024 x 600 display

7-inch touch screen mini laptop

I remember many years ago, I had an Acer Aspire One D255E netbook with a 10.1-inch display with 1024 x 600 resolution. I liked its portability, but the performance was rather poor and I got headaches with the 600-pixel vertical resolution, and some badly designed programs, such as USB firmware flashing tools, would not show fully on the display and be unusable. Well almost ten years later, I’m happy to report you too can experience the same pain, with Topton L4 mini laptop equipped with a 7-inch touchscreen display offering a 1024 x 600 resolution. On the plus side, it comes with an Intel Celeron J3455 processor, 8GB RAM, and up to 1TB SSD storage, as well as a webcam and Lenovo TrackPoint-like pointing stick both of which are pretty rare on 7-inch laptops. Topton L4 mini laptop specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core Apollo Lake processor @  1.50 […]

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