Beelink has released the SER4 which is the latest in their ‘SER’ mini PC series and it features a Zen 2 AMD mobile processor. Beelink kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu and dabbled with ‘overclocking’. Beelink SER4 Hardware Overview The Beelink SER4 physically consists of a 126 x 113 x 40mm (4.96 x 4.45 x 1.57 inches) square metal case. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses AMD’s 7 nm Zen 2 Ryzen 7 4800U Renoir processor which is an eight-core 16-thread 1.8 GHz mobile processor boosting to 4.2 GHz with Radeon Graphics. The front panel has an illuminated power button, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Type-C USB 3.1 port with Alternate Mode, dual USB 3.1 ports, and a reset pin-hole ‘CLR CMOS’. The rear panel includes a gigabit Ethernet port, a USB 3.1 port and a USB 2.0 port, […]
Higole F7G Plus Review – An affordable rugged tablet tested with Ubuntu 20.04 & Windows 11
Ruggedized industrial-use PCs are typically expensive so it is refreshing to see Higole F7G Plus, an Intel Gemini Lake Refresh tablet, being offered at an affordable price. Higole kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at functionality and performance running on Ubuntu and also its Windows performance. Hardware Overview The Higole F7G Plus is a 10.1 inch IPS touch screen rugged industrial fanless tablet that uses Intel’s 14 nm Gemini Lake Refresh N4120 processor which is a quad-core 4-thread 1.10 GHz Celeron processor boosting to 2.60 GHz with Intel’s UHD Graphics. Designwise, meeting the MIL-STD-810G standard which is the de facto ‘ruggedized’ standard for consumer products and covers whether the device can work in a broad range of environmental conditions including surviving dropping, is evidenced by the thick protective shell around the tablet. To ensure its IP67 Certification for waterproofing each of the ports are covered by detachable rubber […]
ASRock introduces fanless iBOX 1200 Series Alder Lake-U mini PCs
ASRock Industrial has unveiled the iBox 1200 series family of fanless mini PCs powered by the latest 12th generation 15W Intel Alder Lake U-series processors, equipped with up to 64GB RAM, and supporting up to four independent displays. The fanless embedded BOX PCs also provide plenty of interfaces with 2.5GbE Gigabit Ethernet, six USB 3.2 ports, two USB 2.0 interfaces, SATA and NVMe storage, M.2 wireless expansion, and more. ASRock iBOX 1200 mini PC specifications: SoC iBOX-1215UE – Intel Core i3-1215UE hexa-core Alder Lake processor with two P-cores @ 1.2 / 4.4 GHz , four E-cores @ 0.9 / 3.3 GHz, 64 EU Intel HD graphics iBOX-1245UE – Intel Core i5-1245UE deca-core Alder Lake processor with two P-cores @ 1.5 / 4.4 GHz , eight E-cores @ 1.1 / 3.3 GHz, 80EU Intel Iris Xe Graphics iBOX-1265UE – Intel Core i7-1265UE hexa-core Alder Lake processor with two P-cores @ 1.7 […]
DingDian S3 – A Pocket-sized Intel Pentium N6000 mini PC (Crowdfunding)
DingDian S3 is an ultra-compact, pocket-sized mini PC powered by an Intel Pentium Silver N6000 Jasper Lake processor, and equipped with 16GB RAM, and up to 1TB SSD with two M.2 sockets for either SATA or NVMe storage. The mini PC also includes a 2.5GbE port, an Intel AX201 WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 M.2 module, a 4K-capable HDMI 2.0 port, four USB ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. DingDian S3 specifications: SoC – Intel Pentium Silver N6000 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 1.10 GHz / 3.3 GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics 605; 6.5W TDP System Memory – 16GB LPDDR4 Storage – 128GB SATA SSD, 512GB or 1TB NVMe SSD Video Output 1x HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 1x DisplayPort Alt Mode via USB-C port up to 4Kp60 Audio – 3.5 audio jack, digital audio via HDMI Networking 2.5GbE via Intel i225 controller Dual-band 802.11b/g/n/ax WiFi 6 and […]
BIVROST Lite5 mini-STX motherboard takes up to 96GB RAM for machine vision applications
BIVROST, a manufacturer of solutions in the field of image analysis and live video streaming, has just introduced the Lite5 mini-STX motherboard powered by an Intel Core Coffee Lake processor, and targeting machine vision, digital signage, security, video streaming, and other edge computing applications. The board is fitted with Advantech SOM-5899 COM Express Basic Type 6 module that supports up to 96GB DDR4 ECC memory, while the carrier board offers two Gigabit Ethernet ports, twelve USB interfaces, dual HDMI 2.0 video output, plus five M.2 expansion sockets. BIVROST Lite5 specifications: SoC Intel i7-8850H 6-core/12-thread processor @ up to 2.6 GHz / 4.3 GHz (Turbo) with 9MB cache, 24 EU Intel UHD 630 graphics; 45W TDP Intel i5-8400H 4-core/8-thread processor @ 2.5 GHz / 4.2 GHz (Turbo) with 8MB cache, 24 EU Intel UHD 630 graphics; 45W TDP Some Xeon processors are also available upon request System Memory – Up to […]
Aerofara Aero 2 Pro Review – A Celeron N5105 mini PC tested with Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04
Aerofara’s Aero 2 Pro is an Intel Jasper Lake mini PC and one of the very few new mini PCs to include a VGA port. Aerofara kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. Aero 2 Pro Hardware Overview The Aero 2 Pro physically consists of a 120 x 120 x 23mm (4.72 x 4.72 x 0.91 inches) rectangular metal case with inset front and back plastic panels. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s 10 nm Jasper Lake N5105 processor which is a quad-core 4-thread 2.00 GHz Celeron processor boosting to 2.90 GHz with Intel’s UHD Graphics. The front panel is bereft of anything save a pinhole which is illuminated blue when the device is powered on. The rear panel includes the power jack, a USB 3.1 port, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a […]
Beelink GTR5 Review – An AMD Ryzen 9 mini PC tested with Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04
Beelink’s GTR5 is their most powerful mini PC to date and has been released as part of their ‘GT’ series of slightly larger mini PCs that are notable for expandable storage configurations together with multiple ports and characterized by the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner. Featuring an AMD Ryzen 9 mobile processor with Radeon Graphics, Beelink kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. Hardware Overview The Beelink GTR5 physically consists of a 168 x 120 x 39mm (6.61 x 4.72 x 1.54 inches) rectangular metal case. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses AMD’s ‘Zen 3’ Ryzen 9 5900HX processor which is an eight-core 16-thread 3.3 GHz mobile processor boosting up to 4.6 GHz together with Radeon Graphics. The front panel has an illuminated power button, a ‘CLR CMOS’ button, a USB 3.1 port, a Type-C USB 3.1 port, and a […]
Android 13 virtualization lets Pixel 6 run Windows 11, Linux distributions
The first Android 13 developer preview may have felt a bit underwhelming, but there’s a hidden gem with full virtualization possible on hardware such as the Google Pixel 6 smartphone. What that means is that it is now possible to run virtually any operating system including Windows 11, Linux distributions such as Ubuntu or Arch Linux Arm on the Google Tensor-powered phone, and do so at near-native speed. Android & web developer “kdrag0n” tested several Linux distributions compiled for Aarch64 on the Pixel 6 with Ubuntu 21.10, Arch Linux Arm, Void Linux, and Alpine Linux using “the KVM hypervisor on Pixel 6 + Android 13 DP1”. He/she further explains: As far as I can tell, we can pretty much get full EL2 on production devices now. Protected KVM is optional and can be enabled on a per-VM basis, but for non-protected VMs, it looks like full KVM functionality is available. […]