mini pc News - Page 8 of 145 - CNX Software

May 6, 2024May 9, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

AMD Ryzen 5 5500U mini PC goes for $177 with 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD

Among all the inexpensive Intel Alder Lake-N mini PCs, ZXIPC is selling a no-name AMD Ryzen 5 5500 mini PC for $177 with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, or $143.03 as a barebone system. This weekend, I compared the benchmarks of various Intel Alder Lake-N processors using results from our mini PC reviews, and one user asked me whether I could do the same for AMD systems: It would be interesting to compare the performance on these to similarly priced AMD offerings. I’m specifically thinking here of Mini PCs based on the Ryzen 5560U and the Ryzen 5800U/H Since we haven’t reviewed this type of mini PC, I won’t be able to do such a comparison, but I was still intrigued, as most AMD mini PCs I had seen sold for at least $300. So I went to Aliexpress and found a few AMD Ryzen 5/7 mini PCs […]

May 6, 2024May 5, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Review of CrowVi 15.6-inch portable USB-C and HDMI touchscreen display with Windows 11, Ubuntu 24.04, and Raspberry Pi 5

Elecrow CrowVi VF156T – or just CrowVi for shorts – is an ultra-thin 15.6-inch portable touchscreen display with mini HDMI and USB-C input ports making it suitable for a wide range of devices from Windows 11 and Linux mini PCs or laptops, SBCs such as the Raspberry Pi 5, and smartphones featuring a USB-C port with DisplayPort Allt. mode. The display supports 10-point multitouch, offers a 1920×1080 “Full HD” resolution, and includes stereo speakers and a 3.5mm audio jack. Besides the USB-C input, it also comes with an additional USB-C PD port for power in case the host does not provide enough power or only HDMI input is used without the touchscreen function. There’s also a “smart case” acting as a foldable stand on the back so you don’t need to bring your own stand. Elecrow sent us a sample of the CrowVi 15.6-inch portable monitor for review and we […]

May 4, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Intel Processor N95 vs N97 vs N100 vs Core i3-N305 benchmarks comparison

Intel N95 vs N97 vs N100 vs Core i3 N305 benchmarks

Intel Alder Lake-N processors have been pretty popular in mini PCs and to a lesser extent in single board computers in the last year or so, thanks to their excellent performance/price and features/price ratios. All processors have more or less the same features, but performance differences do exist and do not always match the increasing part number. Since we’ve reviewed a bunch of Alder Lake mini PCs, I’ve decided to compare the performance of the Processor N95, Processor N97, Processor N100, and Core i3-N305 CPUs to have a better understanding of the differences between each part. For this purpose, we’ll rely on five mini PCs: Blackview MP80 (Processor N95), Blackview MP80 (Processor N97), the Intel N100-powered MINIX Z100-0dB and GEEKOM Mini Air12, and the Weibu N10 with a Core i3-N305 CPU. A summary of the specifications is listed in the table below. Some important remarks: Prices are taken from Amazon […]

May 1, 2024May 1, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

UP Squared Pro 710H Edge mini PC combines Processor N97 or Core i3-N305 CPU with 26 TOPS Hailo-8 AI accelerator

AAEON UP Squared Pro 710H Edge is a mini PC with an onboard Hailo-8 edge 26 TOPS AI accelerator and an Intel Processor N97 or Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N CPU designed for edge AI applications. The fanless Edge AI mini PC comes up to 16GB LPDDR5 soldered-on RAM, up to 128GB eMMC flash, and offers dual 4K video output through HDMI and DisplayPort connector, dual 2.5GbE, optional WiFi and cellular connectivity, two USB 3.2 ports, an RS232/RS422/RS485 COM port, a 40-pin female GPIO header, and a wide 12 to 36V DC input. UP Squared Pro 710H Edge specifications: Alder Lake N-series SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics Gen 12 @ 1.2 GHz; TDP: 12W Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor up to 3.8 GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD Graphics Gen 12 @ 1.25 GHz; […]

May 1, 2024May 1, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

GEEKOM XT12 Pro review – Part 3: Ubuntu 24.04 on an Intel Core i9-12900H mini PC

We’ve already looked at GEEKOM XT12 Pro specifications and hardware design in the first part of the review and followed up by reviewing the Intel Core i9-12900 mini PC with Windows 11 Pro in the second part. We’ve now had time to review the GEEKOM XT12 Pro mini PC with the just-released Ubuntu 24.04 operating system to evaluate the compatibility and performance in Linux. In this third and final part of the review, we’ll test features in detail, evaluate performance with benchmarks, test storage and network capabilities, check YouTube video playback at 4K and 8K resolution, perform a stress test to check the cooling solution and provide numbers for fan noise and power consumption of the GEEKOM XT12 Pro mini PC. Ubuntu 24.04 installation and system information We’ve resized the Windows 11 by half in order to install Ubuntu 24.04 in dual boot configuration. After that, we inserted a USB […]

April 29, 2024April 30, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 35 Comments

Raspberry Pi 5 vs Intel N100 mini PC comparison – Features, Benchmarks, and Price

The Raspberry Pi 5 Arm SBC is now powerful enough to challenge some Intel systems in terms of performance, while Intel has made the Intel Alder Lake-N family, notably the Intel Processor N100, inexpensive and efficient enough to challenge Arm systems when it comes to price, form factor, and power consumption. So we’ll try to match the Raspberry Pi 5 to typical Intel processor N100 mini PCs with a comparison of features/specifications, performance (benchmarks), and pricing with different use cases. That’s something I’ve been wanting to look into for a while but I was busy with reviews and other obligations (Hello, Mr. Taxman!), and this weekend I had some spare time to carry on the comparison. Raspberry Pi 5 vs Intel N100 mini PC specifications I’ll start by comparing the specifications of a Raspberry Pi 5 against the ones for typical Intel Processor N100-based mini PCs also mentioning optional features […]

April 27, 2024November 5, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Azulle Access Pro Intel N100 PC stick ships with Windows 11, Linux, or Zoom

Azulle Access Pro is a PC stick based on an Intel N100 quad-core Alder Lake” processor with up to 8GB RAM, 128GB eMMC flash, and a male HDMI port which is offered with Windows 11 Pro, Linux, or “Zoom” operating systems (more on that below). The mini PC also provides a microSD card slot, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 with an external antenna, USB 3.0 Type-A and Type-C ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. We’ve written about pocket-sized mini PCs based on Alder Lake-N processors before, for instance, the MeLe PCG02 Pro N100 or the slightly wider MeLe Quieter4C, but the Azulle model is different since it comes with a male HDMI connector which would allow users to connect it directly into a TV or monitor without a cable. Azulle Access Pro specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) […]

April 26, 2024June 5, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM XT12 Pro review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro tested on an Intel Core i9-12900H mini PC

GEEKOM XT12 Pro mini PC Review windows 11

We’ve already checked out the specifications, and gone through an unboxing and a teardown of the GEEKOM XT12 Pro mini PC in the first part of the review, so we’ll now report our experience with the 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H mini PC with Windows 11 Pro operating system. In this second part of GEEKOM XT12 Pro, we’ll test the features of the Alder Lake mini PC in Windows 11 Pro, run benchmarks, test networking and storage, evaluate cooling performance, and finally provide some numbers for fan noise and power consumption. Software overview and features testing The System->About menu confirms that we have an XT12 Pro mini PC with a 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H processor clocked at 2.50 GHz (base frequency) and 32GB RAM that runs Windows 11 Pro operating system version 23H2. The system was tested with Windows 11 OS build 22631.3447. HWiNFO64 program provides more details about […]