We’ve already checked out the hardware of the Maxtang MTN-FP750 mini PC in the first part of the review with an unboxing and a teardown, and tested the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS Mini PC with 32GB DDR5 and a 512GB SSD in Windows 11 Pro in the second part. In the third part of the review, we will report our experience with the Ubuntu 22.04 Linux operating system. This includes features testing, several benchmarks, storage and networking performance testing, a stress test to check thermal performance, as well as fan noise and power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 22.04 installation Since the plan is to install Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows 11, so we will shrink the Windows 11 partition by about half first, before inserting the Ubuntu 22.04.3 USB drive to install the Linux distribution. The installation went smoothly with no issues to report on. Ubuntu 22.04 System information Going to Settings->About […]
GEEKOM Mini IT12 Mini PC with Core i5-12450H CPU, USB4, 2.5GbE, WiFi 6E goes for less than $400 (Sponsored)
GEEKOM has launched a new promotion for the Mini IT12 mini PC with an Intel Core i5-12450H, 16GB DDR4 memory, and a 512GB SSD which you can get for under $400 when using the coupon code cnxsoftwareit12 for a $20 discount on GEEKOM US or a £20 discount on GEEKOM UK. The mini PC also supports up to four displays thanks to two HDMI ports and two USB4 ports, offers 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E networking, and comes with a total of six USB ports for expansion. GEEKOM Mini IT12 specifications: SoC – Intel Core i5-12450H 8-core/12-thread Alder Lake hybrid processor up to 4.40 GHz with 12MB Cache, 48 EU Intel UHD Graphics @ up to 1.2 GHz; PBP: 45W System Memory – 16GB DDR4-3200 via SODIMM sockets upgradeable up to 64GB Storage 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD, expandable up to 2TB M.2 2242 SATA SSD socket up […]
Review of Blackview MP80 Processor N97 mini PC with Fedora 39 Linux (Part 2)
After reviewing the Blackview MP80 (Processor N97) mini PC with Windows 11 in detail, we now had time to test it with Fedora 39 Workstation to find out how well it works in Linux. In this second part of the review, we’ll explain our “choice” of Linux distribution, go through benchmarks and features testing, as well as measure fan noise and power consumption, among other test Finding a Linux distribution that works with Blackview MP80 Last year, we reviewed the Blackview MP80 model equipped with an Intel Processor N95 CPU and after the Windows 11 review, we were unable to install Ubuntu 22.04 on the machine with the company eventually telling us Linux was not supported. But several months after the review, a reader commented he could install Fedora 39 on the Blackview MP80 and that it “worked like a charm“. We thought maybe the BIOS had been updated and […]
GEEKOM A7 mini PC review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, teardown, and first boot
GEEKOM A7 is a compact mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS (or Ryzen 7 7840HS) processor with up to 64GB DDR5, up to a 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD, four 4K capable video outputs, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E connectivity, and six USB ports for expansion. The company sent us a sample of the GEEKOM A7 with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU, 32GB DDR5, and 2TB SSD for review. We’ll do a three-part review starting by listing the specifications, checking out the hardware design and accessories, and quickly trying it in the first part of the review, before testing both Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 22.04 in detail in a few weeks. GEEKOM A7 specifications SoC (one or the other) AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS 8-core/16-thread processor up to 4.0GHz with 16MB cache, AMD Radeon 780M Graphics; TDP: 35 to 54W AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS 8-core/16-thread […]
Lichee Console 4A RISC-V devkit testing – Part 2: benchmarks and features in Debian 12
When checking out the hardware of the Lichee Console 4A portable RISC-V development terminal in the first part of the review, I noted that I had some troubles with the display that did not work properly. I did a little massage to “fix” the display, but unsurprisingly it ended up not being a long-term solution. So I had to open a case a few times and ended up breaking the wires to the fan… Each time I reassembled the device, the display only worked for a few seconds or minutes if at all. So I decided to test the system by keeping it open, as the display is working reliably that way. So I won’t be able to do a proper review testing the device on the go, but I still tested all features and benchmarked the T-Head TH1520 mini laptop with Debian 12, and will report my findings in […]
Rockchip RK3528 Android 13 TV Box doubles as a Bluetooth speaker
The H96 Max M7 is a Rockchip RK3528 TV box running Android 13.0 that mostly differentiates itself from competitors with the integration of two speakers allowing the box to be used as a Bluetooth speaker. The rest of the specifications are pretty standard with up to 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, 4Kp60 HDMI video output, video playback up to 4K at 60 fps or 8K at 23 fps, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, and a single USB port for extension. H96 Max M7 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3528 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor GPU – Arm Mali-450 GPU VPU H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC up to 4Kp60 or 8Kp23 AVS2 up to 4Kp60 VC1, MPEG-1 MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVS up to 1080p60 System Memory – 2GB or 4GB RAM Storage – 16GB or 32GB eMMC flash; microSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60 Audio Dual-speaker home theatre system […]
GEEKOM Mini IT12 Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 22.04 Linux on an Intel Core i7-12650H mini computer
We first checked out the hardware of GEEKOM Mini IT12 with an unboxing and teardown, before testing the Intel Core i7-12650H mini PC with Windows 11 Pro in the second part of the review, and we’ve now had time to test the device with Ubuntu 22.04 to see how well (or not) it works with a Linux distribution. In the third part of the review, we will report our experience with installing Ubuntu 22.04 on the GEEKOM Mini IT12, checking all main features, and benchmarking the system to evaluate its performance. This includes some networking and storage performance tests, a stress test to check CPU temperature and cooling performance, and the measurement of the fan noise and power consumption. Ubuntu 22.04 installation on GEEKOM Mini IT12 Since we wanted to install Ubuntu 22.04 alongside Windows 11 Pro, we shrunk the Windows 11 partition by about half in the Disk Management […]
GEEKOM Mini IT12 review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro tested on an Intel Core i7-12650H Alder Lake mini PC
We first checked out the GEEKOM Mini IT12 with an unboxing and teardown of the Intel Core i7-12650H Alder Lake mini PC in the middle of December 2023, and we’ve now had plenty of time to test the mini PC with Windows 11 Pro since the device was out of stock for a while and we were asked to postpone the review… Now that the mini PC is for sale again, we will report our experience with the Windows 11 Pro operating system in the second part of the review of the Mini IT12. This will include an overview of the software, features testing, various benchmarks including storage and networking performance, 4K and 8K YouTube video streaming, cooling performance, fan noise, and finally, we will provide some power consumption numbers. Software overview and features testing The System->About menu wrongly shows we have a “Mini Air12” mini PC instead of a […]