MeLE has launched a new ‘stick’ mini PC called the PCG02 Pro. It comes in two models featuring either a mobile Gemini Lake Refresh or a Jasper Lake processor. Both models appear physically similar however the memory, WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB ports differ plus only the lower-powered model includes an M.2 NVMe or SATA slot. MeLE kindly sent both models for review and I’ve looked at the performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. MeLE PCG02 Pro hardware overview The MeLE PCG02 Pro physically consists of a 146 x 61 x 20mm (5.75 x 2.40 x 0.79 inches) rectangular plastic case that ‘wraps’ around a plastic inner frame. The outside of the case has a knurled or cross-hatched pattern (engineered to provide high thermal conductivity) and the inner frame has the WiFi antennas glued to it. As passively cooled mini PCs, the first model known as the PCG02 Pro J4125 uses […]
Weibu N10 Review – An OEM Mini PC tested with Ubuntu 22.04, Windows 11
Weibu is a B2B company offering total solutions and OEM/ODM services. Their target clients are computer manufacturers like Acer and Hisense as they don’t sell directly to end users. With their products both the specifications and accessories can be customized according to their customer’s requirements. One of their product lines is mini PCs and they have sent a pre-production sample of their N10 design to showcase their capabilities. In this review, I will look at the various options available for the N10 and briefly look at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. Weibu N10 hardware overview The key selling feature of this mini PC is the wide range of ports suitable for commercial/industrial usage together with various options for the processor. The N10 is an actively cooled mini PC and the device is 145 x 128 x 54mm (5.71 x 5.04 x 2.13 inches) large with a metal top that […]
UP 4000 x86 SBC review with Ubuntu 22.04
The UP 4000 is a credit-card / Raspberry Pi-sized single board computer based on an Intel Apollo Lake processor. AAEON sent me the model with an Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad-core processor, 4GB RAM, and a 64GB eMMC flash, and in the first part of the review, I installed Ubuntu 22.04 since the board would initially only boot to the UEFI shell out of the box. I’ve now spent more time with the board, and in this article, I will report my experience with the UP 4000 SBC running Ubuntu 22.04 checking out features, performance, video playback, power consumption, and so on. Ubuntu 22.04 System info Let’s check out some information after I’ve upgraded the system to the latest packages:
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jaufranc@UP-4000-CNX:~$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS Release: 22.04 Codename: jammy jaufranc@UP-4000-CNX:~$ uname -a Linux UP-4000-CNX 5.15.0-48-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Fri Aug 26 13:26:29 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux jaufranc@UP-4000-CNX:~$ inxi -Fc0 System: Host: UP-4000-CNX Kernel: 5.15.0-48-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Console: pty pts/1 Distro: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) Machine: Type: Desktop Mobo: AAEON model: UP-APL03 v: V1.0 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: UPAPBM11 date: 07/01/2022 CPU: Info: quad core model: Intel Atom E3950 bits: 64 type: MCP cache: L2: 2 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 1099 min/max: 800/2000 cores: 1: 1109 2: 1009 3: 1114 4: 1165 Graphics: Device-1: Intel Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel Display: server: X.org v: 1.21.1.3 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.1 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 tty: 80x24 resolution: 1280x800 Message: GL data unavailable in console. Try -G --display Audio: Device-1: Intel Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Audio Cluster driver: snd_hda_intel Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-48-generic running: yes Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 IF: enp2s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:07:32:a2:cd:17 Drives: Local Storage: total: 58.24 GiB used: 12.69 GiB (21.8%) ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SanDisk model: DA4064 size: 58.24 GiB Partition: ID-1: / size: 56.53 GiB used: 12.68 GiB (22.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2 ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 5.2 MiB (1.0%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/mmcblk0p1 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 3.96 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 6280.4 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 6553500 Info: Processes: 215 Uptime: 2h 20m Memory: 3.68 GiB used: 1.09 GiB (29.5%) Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.13 |
Everything looks good with an Intel Atom E3950 processor detected together with 3.68GB RAM and a 56.53GB rootfs EXT-4 partition. UP 4000 features testing There may also be some issues […]
MeLE Quieter HD3Q Review – A fanless mini PC with dual-channel memory, 2.5-inch SATA bay
MeLE has launched a new range of passive mini PCs known as the ‘Quieter HD Series’ and first in the lineup is the Quieter HD3Q. Not only does this new mini PC address the main criticism of their earlier models by now including dual-channel memory, but it is also slightly larger allowing the ability to add a 2.5” SATA drive, and also has a higher power limit to improve performance. MeLE kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. MeLE Quieter HD3Q hardware overview The MeLE Quieter HD3Q consists of a 150 x 105 x 37mm (5.91 x 4.13 x 1.46 inches) rectangular plastic case with a metal base plate. Gone are the faux heat spreader fins from the top of the case as it is now finished with a very fine dimple effect. As a passively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s […]
Beelink SEi11 Pro Review – An Intel Core i5-11320H mini PC tested with Windows 11, Ubuntu 22.04
The latest mini PC marketed in the ‘Pro’ range from Beelink is the SEi11 Pro and features one of last year’s Intel H-series processors typically used in gaming laptops. Beelink kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04. Beelink SEi11 Pro hardware overview The Beelink SEi11 Pro physically consists of a 126 x 113 x 40mm (4.96 x 4.45 x 1.57 inches) square metal case. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s ‘10 nm SuperFin’ Tiger Lake processor and the review model included an i5-11320H which is a quad-core 8-thread 3.20 GHz Core processor (at 35W TDP) boosting to 4.50 GHz with Intel’s Iris Xe Graphics. The front panel has an illuminated power button, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a data-only Type-C USB 3.1 port, dual USB 3.1 ports and a reset pin-hole ‘CLR CMOS’. The rear panel includes a […]
Trigkey Speed S3 review – Part 2: AMD Ryzen 5 3550H mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro
After checking out Trigkey Speed S3 mini PC hardware in the first part of the review, it’s now time to power up Trigkey Speed S3 Mini PC and test it with the preinstalled Windows 11 Pro operating systems. Booting up is fast, and the system runs smoothly while visiting various websites while listening to music, and watching YouTube videos. But in this second part of the review, let’s test the performance of the Trigkey Speed S3 mini PC on Windows 11 Pro in detail. Trigkey Speed S3 memory We can see the two 8GB Crucial memory sticks detected in Windows 11 Pro with a 2,400 MHz speed, while the sticks are rated up to 3,200 MHz. But a quick check on AMD’s website reveals this may be normal since the maximum memory frequency for the AMD Ryzen 5 3550H is listed as 2,400 MHz. Checking out the USB ports Since […]
MeLE Quieter3C fanless mini PC review with Ubuntu 22.04, Windows 11
MeLE’s newly launched Quieter3C is an update to their earlier Quieter3Q product which replaces one of the Type-A USB ports with a Type-C USB port and includes both power delivery and video display output, together with changing one of the HDMI ports to a mini DisplayPort. MeLE kindly sent one for review and given these are the only differences I’m only going to take a cursory look at performance benchmarks together with looking at these new features. MeLE Quieter3C hardware overview The MeLE Quieter3C is physically the same size as the Quieter3Q and consists of a 131 x 81 x 18.3mm (5.16 x 3.19 x 0.72 inches) rectangular plastic case with a metal base plate. The top half of the case has the characteristic fine grooves that mimic the fins of a heat spreader and is made of plastic rather than metal to allow reception to the WiFi antennas as […]
Beelink U59 Pro review – A Jasper Lake mini PC with faster GPU performance
Beelink’s newly launched U59 Pro addresses the weak graphical performance offered by the original Beelink U59, which we also noticed in the Beelink MINI S, and was a direct result of the iGPU limitations. By simply upgrading the CPU from a ‘desktop’ to ‘mobile’ Celeron processor the iGPU received a fifty percent boost in execution units. Beelink kindly sent one for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows and Ubuntu. Beelink U59 Pro Hardware Overview The Beelink U59 Pro physically consists of a 124 x 113 x 42mm (4.88 x 4.45 x 1.65 inches) square plastic case. As before it is an actively cooled mini PC but now uses Intel’s 10 nm Jasper Lake N5105 processor which is the same quad-core 4-thread 2.00 GHz Celeron processor boosting to 2.90 GHz but with improved Intel’s UHD Graphics as the ‘Graphics Burst Frequency’ increases from 750 MHz to 800 MHz […]