There are plenty of sub-$200 Intel powered fanless mini PCs, but if you’re looking for AMD models it’s more of a struggle. Vnopn K1 is one of the rare low cost fanless AMD mini PCs, and the good news is that it’s sold for just $133.68 on Aliexpress plus a few extra dollars for shipping. There are few tricks to achieve this low price. First that’s a barebone model, and if you want memory, storage, and WiFi, the cost climbs to $168.67 with 2GB RAM, and a 32GB SSD. The 8W AMD A6-1450 quad core processor APU found in the mini PC is rather old as well since it was launched in 2013, or almost 6 years ago. Vnopn K1 specifications: APU – AMD A6-1450 quad core “Jaguar” processor @ 1.0 / 1.4 GHz (Turbo) with 2MB L2 cache, Radeon HD 8250 GPU; 8W TDP System Memory -2GB, 4GB, or […]
KODLIX GN41 Gemini Lake Ubuntu Mini PC Sells for $215
Most Intel mini PC ships with Windows 10, so when we see models shipping with a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu we like to point those out. Recently we covered MINIX NEO-Z83-4U Ubuntu 18.04 mini PC that comes in a well designed and passively cooled enclosure, but also a relatively underpowered Intel Atom x5 processor, and geared towards business use cases such as digital signage player or thin client. KODLIX GN41 is another Ubuntu mini PC that would make a decent entry-level desktop thanks to an Intel Celeron N4100 Gemini Lake processor, 8GB RAM, and 64GB eMMC flash that can be complemented with your own 2.5″ hard drive or SSD. KODLIX GN41 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N4100 quad core processor @ 1.10/2.40 GHz with Intel UHD Graphics 600; 6W TDP; 4.8W SDP System Memory – 8GB DDR4L RAM Storage – 64 GB eMMC flash flash; 2.5″ SATA slot for […]
Acute Angle AA is a Triangle Shaped Mini PC with a Wooden Finish
Most mini PCs are boring black boxes, and maybe that’s the way it should be, but if you are looking for something a bit fancier Acute Angle AA is an Apollo Lake mini PC with a triangular shaped enclosure made of aluminum and something that looks like wood… The mini PC is equipped with an Intel Celeron N3450 quad core processor, 8GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, 128GB SSD, and is currently sold for $199.99 shipped on GearBest. Acute Angle AA was apparently launched at CES 2018 riding the cryptocurrency wave, and selling for $600 as a dual use machine: a standard mini PC and an Ethereum mining machine during idle time working together with other Acute Angle AA mini PCs as part of the Acute Angle Cloud. None of the Ethereum / cryptocurrency mining / cloud options are mentioned in the specifications, but you still get a uniquely designed machine […]
MINIX NEO Z83-4U Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown
MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu mini PC was unveiled just a few days ago as the first mini PC from MINIX HK running a Linux operating systems, namely Ubuntu 18.04. The company has sent me a sample for evaluation, so as usual, I’ll first have a look at the hardware in the first part of the review, before reporting my experience with the mini PC in a few weeks. MINIX NEO Z83-4U Unboxing The company has done away with the black and green package for their Android TV boxes and Windows mini PC, and instead went with a purple and (Ubuntu) orange package. I already wrote the specifications in the announcement post, but here they are again on the back of the package. The main difference, in terms of terms, against MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro (Windows 10 Pro) mini PC is that the storage has been upgraded to 64GB flash since […]
MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu 18.04 Mini PC Launched for $180
Introduced in 2016, MINIX NEO Z83-4 was an Intel Cherry Trail Windows 10 (Home) mini PC powered by Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor coupled with 4GB RAM and 32GB flash, which was followed by MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro the next year with basically the same hardware specifications but based on Atom X5-Z8350 processor running Windows 10 Pro instead. The company has now launched another version with MINIX NEO Z83-4U model that comes with 64GB storage, and more importantly comes pre-loaded with Ubuntu 18.04, a rarity in today’s low power mini PC world. MINIX NEO Z83-4U Ubuntu mini PC specifications with bold highlights showing differences against NEO Z83-4 Pro model: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz / 1.92 GHz (Turbo) with 12 EU Intel Graphics HD graphics 400 @ 200 / 500 MHz (2W SDP) System Memory – 2 or 4GB DDR3L Storage – 64 […]
BOXER-8120AI is a Compact Jetson TX2 Mini PC for Drones, Robots and Surveillance Applications
AAEON has just launched BOXER-8120AI compact mini PC based on NVIDIA Jetson TX2 processor module with 8GB RAM, 32GB storage, and four Gigabit Ethernet ports. The fanless mini PC targets smart surveillance/ security/ parking, unmanned stores, drones and robotic controllers, or any applications that can leverage Jetson TX2’s 256 CUDA cores for A.I. workloads. BOXER-8120AI Jetson TX2 Mini PC specifications: Processor Module – NVIDIA Jetson TX2 with HMP Dual Denver 2 + Quad Arm A57, NVIDIA Pascal GPU with 256 CUDA cores, 4K (HEVC) video encoder, 4K 12-bit video decoder System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 @ 59.7 GB/s Storage – 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash, MicroSD slot Display Interface – HDMI 2.0 type A Networking – 4x 10/100/1000Base-TX Ethernet USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Serial – 2x COM ports (DB9) Misc – Power Button, Power LED, 2x SMA Holes, Remote Power On/Off Power Supply – […]
$89 Sheeva64 Plug Computer is Powered by Marvell ARMADA 3720 Armv8 Processor
Sheevaplug is a Linux plug computer powered by Marvell Kirkwood 6281 ARM9 processor that was launched in 2009 with Ubuntu 9.04. As the name implies, Sheevaplug looks like a power adapter that’s plug directly into your mains socket, but it’s actually a headless computer, i.e. without video output, and instead coming with a USB port, Gigabit Ethernet, and an SD card slot. The device got fairly popular at the time, so it ended up in several hardware projects, and was supported by a long list of open source software projects as you’ll find out in the Wikipedia page. Ten years have passed, and Globalscale Technologies has just introduced an upgraded version with the Sheeva64 plug computer based on the same Marvell ARMADA 3720 dual core Armv8 processor as found in ESPRESSOBin board. Sheeva64 plug computer specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA 3720 dual core 64bit Arm processor up to 1.2GHz System […]
ZOTAC Unveils ZBOX PRO Embedded Mini PC Line-up
ZOTAC is known for their ZBOX consumer and business mini PCs, but they are now entering the embedded computing market with the launch of ZBOX PRO line-up based on their commercial offering but with more robust designs for medical equipment, industrial robots, casino game systems, IoT gateways, ATMs, and more. The company launched 5 models features various Intel processors from Celeron to Core-i7, but I’ll focus on the three passively cooled low power models in this post. ZBOX Pro CI329 nano Specifications mostly follow the ones of ZBOX CI329 Nano model with differences highlighted in bold or stricken-through: SoC – Intel Celeron N4100 quad-core processor (1.1GHz up to 2.4GHz, 4MB cache) with Intel UHD Graphics 600 System Memory – 2x DDR4-2400MHz dual-channel SO-DIMM slots, up to 8GB Storage 1x 2.5″ SATA 6.0 Gb/s HDD/SSD bay 1x M.2 2242/2260 key-M socket for SSD SD/SDHC/SDXC card reader Video Output 1x HDMI 2.0, […]