iKOOLCORE R2 mini PC and router review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

Four 2.5GbE Mini PC Firewall Gateway

iKOOLCORE R2 is an Intel Alder-Lake-N mini PC and network appliance (router/firewall/gateway) that comes with four 2.5GbE ports, up to 16GB RAM, NVMe storage, and the usual HDMI and USB ports, and offered with either Processor N95 or Core i3-N305 SoC. It’s the successor of the iKOOLCORE R1 with four gigabit Ethernet ports and Intel Celeron N5095 or Jasper Lake processor, and the company sent us a sample for testing, so we’ll start with listing the specifications, check out the mini PC and accessories with an unboxing, teardown the multilayer mini PC to check out the hardware design and explain how to update the SSD or install a wireless module, and check whether it can still boot to Windows 11 (default, preinstalled OS) after my adventurous teardown… iKOOCORE R2 specifications Alder Lake-N SoC Intel Processor N95 quad-core processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD […]

AAEON PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX Alder Lake-N SBC features Processor N50 to Atom x7425E SoC

AAEON PICO-ADN4

AAEON PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX SBC comes with a choice of four Alder Lake-N processors – Processor N50, Processor N97, Core i3-N305, or Atom x7425E – and is available in SKUs with both standard (0°C ~ 60°C) and wide-temperature (-40°C ~ 85°C) ranges for industrial applications. The single board computer comes with up to 16GB LPDDR5, SATA and mSATA storage, three display interfaces (HDMI, eDP/LVDS, DDI), dual Ethernet with 2.5GbE and GbE RJ45 ports, USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and M.2 and mPCIe sockets for expansion. The board supports 12V DC power input by default, but AAEON company offers a 9V to 36V DC input option. PICO-ADN4 specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N50 dual-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 12W Intel […]

MeLE Overclock4C is an ultrathin pocket-sized mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N95 CPU

MeLE Overclock4C

Mele Overclock4C is an Intel Processor N95 Alder Lake-N mini PC with an ultrathin (21mm) design which, as its name implies, supports “overclocking”, although what it really means here is the ability to increase the PL1 and PL2 power limits in the BIOS/UEFI in order to increase performance without actually changing the top frequency of the processor… It’s the same idea and virtually the same design as the MeLE Overclock3C which boosts the TDP of the Celeron N5095 Jasper Lake processor up to 18W instead of the 15W default. Here the TDP of the Processor N95 is likely boosted up to 20 Watts (as per Intel Ark) delivering a 33% performance improvement over the Celeron N5095. The Overclock4C is available with 16GB or 32GB DDR4, a 256GB eMMC flash, and a 256GB SSD. MeLE Overclock4C specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N95 quad-core Alder Lake N-series processor @ up to 3.4 […]

ZimaCube 6+1-bay NAS offers 2.5GbE, PCIe slots, with either Intel Processor N100 or Core i5-1235U SoC (Crowdfunding)

ZimaCube personal NAS

IceWhale Technology, the company behind the line of ZimaBoard x86 SBCs, has now introduced the ZimaCube (Pro) 6+1-bay NAS equipped with either an Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N processor or a more powerful Intel Core i5-1235U Alder Lake-P CPU with additional 2.5GbE ports, PCIe expansion slots, and M.2 sockets. Both models support up to six 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA drives, support for M.2 NVMe SSDs, offer 2.5GbE networking, six USB ports, and one or more PCIe expansion with either PCIe Gen3 (Processor N100) or PCIe Gen4 (Core i5-1235U) enabling the addition of a graphics card, high-speed network cards, and more. ZimaCube (Pro) specifications: SoC ZimaCube – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ up to 750 MHz; TDP: 6W ZimaCube Pro – Intel Core i5-1235U 10-core/12-thread Alder Lake U-Series processor with 2x Performance cores @ 1.3/4.4GHz, […]

GEEKOM Mini Air12 Mini PC features Intel N100 CPU, 16GB DDR5, 512GB NVMe SSD, WiFi 6 module

GEEKOM Mini Air12

GEEKOM Mini Air12 is a new mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N100 CPU with 16GB DDR5 SO-DIMM memory, a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, and a WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module from Azureware. The device also comes with a gigabit Ethernet port, support for up to three displays with HDMI 2.0, mini DP 1.4, and USB-C ports, as well as a few USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack, plus a full-size SD card slot and a Kensington lock slot. GEEKOM Mini Air12 specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N quad-core/quad-thread processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ up to 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 16GB DDR5-4800 via SO-DIMM socket Storage 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3 x4 NVMe SSD, upgradeable up to 1TB; note: the socket also supports M.2 SATA drives Full-size […]

AOOSTAR R1 – An Intel N100 2-bay NAS, mini PC, and 2.5GbE router

AOOSTAR N1 Intel N100 2-bay NAS mini PC

AOOSTAR R1 Intel N100 mini PC triples as a 2-bay NAS thanks to two bays for 3.5-inch SATA drives and as a router through two 2.5GbE network interfaces. It’s a lower-cost version of the Ryzen 5-powered AOOSTAR N1 Pro that was introduced last June. It ships with up to 16GB DDR4 RAM, an optional 512 GB NVMe SSD, offers WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, supports up to three displays via HDMI, DisplayPort and USB-C ports, and comes with five USB ports.   AOOSTAR R1 (also called WTR R1) specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – Optional 16GB DDR4-3200 via SO-DIMM socket Storage Optional 512GB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD 2-bay NAS compatible with 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA drives MicroSD card slot Video Output 4Kp60 video output […]

KAMRUI AK1 Plus Processor N95 mini PC comes with a detachable base for SATA storage expansion

Processor N95 mini PC detachable base

Alder Lake-N mini PCs keep on coming, the latest model is the KAMRUI AK1 Plus with an Intel Processor N95 CPU and a detachable base that can take a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive or SSD. The computer also features 8GB or 16GB soldered-on memory, up to 1TB M2 SSD, two HDMI ports, gigabit Ethernet and dual-band WiFi 5, four USB ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. KAMRUI AK1 Plus specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N95 quad-core Alder Lake N-series processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel HD graphics @ 1.2 GHz; TDP: 15W (up to 20W) System Memory – 8GB or 16GB DDR4 RAM Storage 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB M.2 SSD (apparently SATA and not NVMe, TBC) 2.5-inch SATA bay in detachable base for HDD or SSD Video Output – 2x HDMI ports up to 4Kp60; dual independent display support Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, […]

Rugged fanless Alder Lake-N mini PC features 6x RS232/422/485 ports, dual 2.5GbE, dual HDMI

AAEON BOXER-6617-ADN

We’ve covered many Alder Lake-N mini PCs, but the AAEON BOXER-6617-ADN is a little different as a robust, fanless industrial embedded PC with up to six RS232/RS422/RS485 serial ports, two 2.5GbE ports, and two HDMI video outputs. Powered by up to an Intel Core i3-N305, the latest mini PC from AAEON works in a -20°C to 70°C temperature range and supports 9V to 36V DC input with circuit protection suitable for industrial environments like the previously announced BOXER-6406-ADN fanless embedded computer from the company, but with a slightly different feature set. BOXER-6617-ADN specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Atom x7211E dual-core processor up to 3.2 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; 6W TDP Intel Processor N50 dual-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC