Khadas Mind Maker Kit review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro on an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V AI mini PC

Khadas Mind Maker Kit Review Windows 11

I’ve already gone through the specifications and an unboxing of the “Khadas Mind 2 AI Maker Kit” powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V “Lunar Lake” processor delivering up to 115 TOPS of AI performance and equipped with 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD in the first part of the review. I’ve now spent time with the mini PC/developer kit which is now simply called “Khadas Mind Maker Kit”, and I will report my experience with the Windows 11 Home 24H2 operating system in the second part of the review testing features, running benchmarks including an AI benchmark, evaluating networking and storage performance, testing the thermal design while under stress, and taking measurements for fan noise and power consumption. It looks like some AI features may finally be usable on Windows, but I’ll test that in a separate post since everything is new and Microsoft Copilot+, […]

Barebone Intel Celeron 2955U or Pentium 3805U fanless industrial mini PC goes for $60 (Promo)

Low-cost Intel Celeron 2955U fanless mini PC

If you’re in need of a low-end, cheap x86 platform you’re in luck since XCY is selling the X46G industrial fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron 2955U Haswell processor or a Pentium 3805U Broadwell CPU for just about $60 as a barebone system, or around $74 with 4GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, and a WiFi module as part of a Black Friday 2024’s promotion. It’s even cheaper in some other shops, as we’ll see below. Both CPUs have been discontinued since 2021, and nobody should use those in a desktop system unless you are of the very patient type. However, if you want to run some lightweight Windows or Linux application(s), make use of RS232 ports for industrial control, set up a Full HD HTPC, configure a dual GbE server, or need to run FreeDOS or similar x86-only operating systems, those ultra-cheap Intel mini PCs might prove […]

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 – International deals and coupons

Banggood Black Friday Mega Deals

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday used to be a US-only event, it changed many years ago, and we’ve been writing about international Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and coupon codes since 2014, since a large portion of our audience cannot benefit from promotions on Amazon’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday events that will take place from November 21 until December 2 this year. So I’ve gathered some international Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 deals and discount coupon codes from relevant manufacturers and popular online stores such as Aliexpress, Banggood, and others. Aliexpress Black Friday and Cyber Monday event Aliexpress’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 event has already started. There are three periods: Nov 19-21 PST – Warm Up event where users can find and add items to the cart before purchasing during the main event. Nov 22-30 PST – “On Sale” event with discounts up to […]

MIKRIK V2 Robot Car is an entry-level, open-source robotics kit built for ROS and 3D computer vision

MIKRIK V2 open source robotics kit

The MIKRIK V2 Robot Car is an open-source robotics kit for studying 3D computer vision and is compatible with both ROS1 and ROS2 software suites. The two-wheel-drive robot is powered by a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (as a ROS1 differential drive controller) and a more powerful x86 or ARM single-board computer that can support ROS2 applications like the LattePanda Delta 3, Intel NUC, or NVIDIA Jetson Nano. The robot car uses the Intel Realsense D435i camera for 3D depth vision. It is a less expensive alternative to the iRobot Create, Husarion, and TurtleBot, and compares favorably with NVIDIA’s open-source JetBot AI robot platform. The robot car’s chassis is squared-off and made from shatterproof flex plastic. The CAD files are available on GitHub for self-assembly using a laser cutter and a 3D printer. The assembly and setup process is documented on the Hackster project page. On the software end, it […]

ODROID-H3/H4 x86 SBCs get M.2 PCIe Gen 3 x4 expansion cards with two or four M.2 sockets

ODROID-H4 M.2 4x1 card

ODROID-H3 and ODROID-H4 x86 single board computers have gotten two affordable M.2 expansion cards with the M.2 2×2 card adding two PCIe Gen 3 x2 slots and the M.2 4×1 adding four PCIe Gen 3 x1 slots (ODROID-H4 only) to the Intel SBCs. We’ve seen plenty of PCIe HAT+ boards for the Raspberry Pi 5 since the launch of the Arm SBC last year, but it’s limited by its PCIe Gen2/Gen3 x1 interfaces, and Hardkernel now provides two new M.2 cards leveraging the M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 socket of the ODROID-H3/H4 family allowing users to add up to four M.2 PCIe modules for storage, wired or wireless connectivity, and/or AI acceleration. M.2 2×2 card  for ODROID-H3 and H4 series The M.2 2×2 card also named “M.2 – NVME” adds two M.2 Key-M PCIe sockets for 2280 size modules with each having a PCIe 3.0 x2 interface supporting up to 16GT/s. […]

Simply NUC extremeEDGE fanless edge computing servers are powered by Intel Celeron N5105 up to AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 8840U CPUs

Simply NUC extremeEdge servers

Simply NUC has unveiled the extremeEDGE fanless servers designed with edge computing with a wide range of processors starting with an Intel Celeron N5105 and going up to an AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 8840U SoCs with options for Intel Processor N100 and AMD Ryzen Embedded CPUs. All models feature a NANO-BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) for out-of-band management in a small form factor to monitor, control, and manage hardware health and performance, and come with at least two 2.5GbE ports for networking. The top-end edgeExtreme 3000 series can operate in the industrial-grade -40 to +85°C temperature range, and offers extra features such as 10GbE, up to 96GB RAM, multiple USB 3.2 ports, and more. The extremeEDGE lineup offers three series, and eight models, designed to meet specific needs: extremeEDGE 1000 Series for Edge applications such as IoT gateways EE-1000 Series – Intel Celeron N5105 with up to 32 GB RAM, up […]

Cincoze DV-1100 is a rugged embedded computer with Raptor Lake or Alder Lake SoC for industrial and railway applications

Cincoze DV-1100 Rugged Embedded Computer

Cincoze DV-1100 is a rugged embedded computer powered by a choice of Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake or 12th Gen Alder Lake S Series embedded processors with up to 32GB DDR5 DO-DIMM memory, various NVMe and SATA storage options, up to three display interfaces, 2.5GbE and GbE networking, optional WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G LTE, and/or 5G wireless connectivity, six USB ports for expansion, and more. The system is housed in a fanless enclosure made of extruded aluminum with heavy-duty metal that’s good enough for 35W processors, but an additional fan kit is required for 65W processors. As a rugged embedded system designed for industrial environments, the Cincoze DV-1000 takes 9 to 48V DC input, integrates two RS232/RS422/RS485 COM ports, complies with the MIL-STD-810H shock and vibration standard plus various other industrial and railways standards, and can operate in a wide  -40°C to 70°C temperature range. Cincoze DV-1100 specifications: SoC (multiple options) […]

CWWK NAS mini-ITX motherboard features six SATA connectors, three 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports

CWWK NAS Motherboard

In our last post, we wrote about the CWWK X86-P1 which is a fanless SBC and mini PC that goes for $101 and up, but while writing another product that got my attention was the CWWK NAS motherboard which is built around the Intel Celeron J Series SoC and features six SATA connectors and three 2.5GbE network ports, two of which are connected to Intel i226-V controllers and the other one to a Realtek RTL8125BG controller. The board also has support for dual 2280 M.2 NVMe SSDs and DDR4 memory. Other than that, it has HDMI, DisplayPort, USB 2.0, 3.0, PCIe, and audio output ports. The board follows the mini-ITX form factor, and previously, we have written about many different boards with the same form factor, such as the Sapphire Edge+ VPR-4616-MB, ASRock Industrial Boards, Kontron K3931-N, and many others. Feel free to check those out if you are interested […]

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