Most mini PCs are offered with Windows 10 or 11 operating systems, but MinisForum DeskMini UM350 Manjaro Edition mini PC ships with Manjaro Linux, making it one of the rare mini PCs pre-loaded with a Linux distribution. The mini PC hardware is pretty standard with a 35W AMD Ryzen 5 3550H quad-core processor, support for up 64GB RAM, 2.5-inch SATA and M.2 2280 SSD storage, and the only real highlights are Linux support, and relatively affordable pricing. DeskMini U350 Manjaro Edition specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen 5 3550H 4 Cores/8 Threads processor @ 2.1 GHz / 3.7 GHz (Turbo) with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics @ up to 1200MHz System Memory – 2x SO-DIMM slots for DDR4 RAM up to 64GB Storage 256GB or 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe/NVMe SSD 2.5-inch SATA III bay Video Outpu HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 DisplayPort up to 4Kp60 USB-C port up to 4Kp60 Audio […]
AMD Ryzen 5000 C-Series processors target Chrome OS devices for work
AMD has just introduced the 15W Ryzen 5000 C-Series “Zen 3” processors for premium Chrome OS devices designed for work and collaboration. The processors can with up to eight cores and sixteen threads and are said to offer all-day battery life. AMD Ryzen 5000 C-Series processors for Chrome OS are expected to offer up to 67% faster responsiveness and up to 85% better graphics performance when comparing a Chromebook based on AMD Ryzen 7 5825C against an earlier model based on AMD Ryzen 7 3700C introduced in 2020 using respectively WebXPRT 3 and Motion Mark 1.2 benchmarks. Multitasking performance comparison using Geekbench 5 shows a 107% improvement that is probably mostly due to the doubling of the number of cores. The AMD Ryzen 5000 C-Series “”Barcelo” family is currently comprised of four parts. We can look at the Ryzen 7 5825C other features for more details: Cache – 512KB L1 […]
Morefine S500+ Review – An AMD Ryzen 7 5700U mini PC tested with Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04
Morefine has recently released their S500+ series of mini PC series which features models with either a Zen 2 or Zen 3 AMD mobile processor. Morefine kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. Morefine S500+ Hardware Overview The S500+ physically consists of a 149 x 145 x 40mm (5.87 x 5.71 x 1.57 inches) square metal case with a plastic top. As an actively cooled mini PC, it is available with either an AMD Zen 2 or Zen 3 mobile processor. The review model came with AMD’s 7 nm Zen 2 Ryzen 7 5700U Lucienne processor which is an eight-core 16-thread 1.8 GHz mobile processor boosting to 4.3 GHz with Radeon Graphics. The front panel has a power button, a light to indicate power, two USB 3.1 ports, and a Type-C USB 3.1 port with Alternate Mode. The rear panel includes a […]
ASRock 4X4 BOX-5000 Series mini PC features AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 U-Series processor
ASRock Industrial has announced the 4X4 BOX-5000 Series Mini PCs powered by AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 U-Series with three models, namely 4X4 BOX-5800U, 4X4 BOX-5600U, and 4X4 BOX-5400U, based on respectively Ryzen 7 5800U, Ryzen 5 5600U, and Ryzen 3 5400U processors. The mini PCs support up to four 4K display outputs, come with up to two Ethernet (2.5GbE + GbE) ports, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, offers M.2 Key M SSD and SATA 3.0 storage, as well as five USB 3.2/2.0 ports for peripherals. ASRock Industrial 4X4 BOX-5000 Series specifications: SoC (one of the other) 4X4 BOX-5400U – AMD Ryzen 3 5400U quad-core/8-thread processor @ up to 2.6GHz / 4.0GHz (Turbo) with AMD Radeon Graphics; 15W TDP 4X4 BOX-5600U – AMD Ryzen 5 5600U hexa-core/12-thread processor @ up to 2.3GHz / 4.2GHz (Turbo) with AMD Radeon Graphics; 15W TDP 4X4 BOX-5800U – AMD Ryzen 7 5800U octa-core/16-thread processor @ up […]
Beelink SER4 Review – Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04, and “overclocking” AMD Ryzen 7 4800U SoC
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, […]
Linux 5.17 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures
Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 5.17: So we had an extra week of at the end of this release cycle, and I’m happy to report that it was very calm indeed. We could probably have skipped it with not a lot of downside, but we did get a few last-minute reverts and fixes in and avoid some brown-paper bugs that would otherwise have been stable fodder, so it’s all good. And that calm last week can very much be seen from the appended shortlog – there really aren’t a lot of commits in here, and it’s all pretty small. Most of it is in drivers (net, usb, drm), with some core networking, and some tooling updates too. It really is small enough that you can just scroll through the details below, and the one-liner summaries will give a good flavor of what happened last week. Of course, this means […]
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 […]
CHUWI LarkBox X mini PC is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 3700U mobile processor
CHUWI LarkBox X is an affordable mini PC based on a 15W AMD Ryzen 7 3700U mobile processor coupled with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB NVMe SSD, dual Gigabit Ethernet, 4K video output, and more. Contrary to the earlier Celeron-based LarkBox and LarkBox Pro palm-sized mini PCs, the LarkBox X comes with a larger form factor providing additional ports and possibly better cooling for the more performant AMD processor. LarkBox X specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen 7 3700U quad-core/eight-thread processor @ 2.30GHz / 4.0GHz (Turbo) with Radeon RX Vega 10 Graphics; 15W TDP System Memory – 8GB DDR4, dual channels via 2x 260-pin DDR4 SO-DIMMs (upgradeable up to 32GB RAM) Storage – 256GB NVMe M.2 2280 SSD (PCIe 3.0) upgradable up to 2TB Video Output 1x HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 1x DisplayPort up to 4Kp60 1x USB Type -C up to 4Kp30 with DisplayPort Alt. mode Three independent displays […]