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MINIX Unveils NEO T5 & NEO U22-XJ Amlogic S905X2 / S922XJ Android TV Media Hubs

We’ve already seen MINIX showcased a fanless Gemini Lake mini PC at IFA 2019, but the company also had two upcoming Amlogic TV boxes on display at the event. MINIX NEO T5 features Amlogic S905X2 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, while MINIX NEO U22-XJ TV box is powered by an Amlogic S922XJ hexa-core Cortex-A73/A53 processor. The former runs Android TV 9.0 with Google certification, while the latter comes pre-loaded with Android 9.0 OS. I had never heard about S922XJ, and apparently, Amlogic has yet to formally announce it, so I wonder whether it could be Amlogic S922X-B tipped by Khadas a while ago with higher CPU & GPU clock speeds. The processor will also come with Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio licenses, and Amlogic has a history of giving different processor names depending on the audio licenses. MINIX NEO T5 Specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X2 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with Arm Mali-G31 […]

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MINIX Unveils NEO G41V-4 Fanless Windows 10 Pro Mini PC

MINIX has launched several Intel-based mini PCs in recent years, but while their lower-end models such as MINIX NEO Z83-4U were fanless, their Apollo Lake (NEO N42C-4) and Gemini Lake (NEO J50C-4) mini PCs all came with a fan, albeit a pretty quiet one. But the company demonstrated a new fanless Gemini Lake mini PC at IFA 2018 with a new approach to thermal cooling compared to their previous fanless design. MINIX NEO G41V-4 mini PC is powered by an Intel Celeron N4100 quad-core processor coupled with 4GB DDR4 RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, and an easy to access M.2 SSD expansion slot. MINIX NEO G41V-4 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N4100 quad-core Gemini Lake processor @ with Intel UHD Graphics 600 System Memory – 4GB DDR4 RAM @ 2400 MHz (soldered) Storage – 64GB eMMC 5.1 flash (soldered), M.2 2280 SATA 3.0 slot, MicroSD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.0a […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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Chuwi HiPAD LTE Tablet Review – Part 2: Android 8.0

Last month, I received HiPad LTE tablet, and in the first part of the review I checked out the specifications of the 10″ tablet with a MediaTek Helio X27 deca-core processor, 3GB RAM, 32 GB storage, and had a look at the accessories including the keyboard dock. I’ve now had more time to actually play with the device, so I’ll report my experience with Android 8.0, and the pros and cons of the latest Chuwi tablet. General Impressions My previous tablet was Onda V18 Pro, and Chuwi HiPad LTE is clearly an upgrade thanks to the faster Heliox X27 deca-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. The 10.1″ display has a 1920×1200 resolution, not quite as good as the 2560×1600 resolution of the Onda tablet, but I still found the screen to be crispy and sharp. I found the tablet to be great for browsing the web and watching YouTube […]

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MINIX NEO S1 & S2 Combine SSD and USB-C Hub into a Single Device

MINIX has sold accessories for mini PCs for a little while, and last year I wrote a short review for MINIX NEO C Plus USB-C adapter with dual HDMI output, Ethernet, USB ports, and microSD and SD card slots. The company is apparently about to launch two new USB-C hubs that come with built-in SSD storage. MINIX NEO S1 & S2 USB-C hub include respectively a 120GB and 240GB SSD, and while they are not yet listed on MINIX website, GearBest is offering the two new accessories for $84.99 and $97.99 with shipping scheduled for early July. MINIX NEO S1/S2 specifications: Storage – Built-in 120GB or 240GB SSD storage up to 415MB/s read speed and 400MB/s write speed Video Output – HDMI up to  4K @ 30Hz USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, USB-C port for power delivery only, USB-C cable to connect to laptop, computer or board. Misc – […]

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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 […]

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Pepper Jobs GLK-UC2X Mini PC Review with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.10

Pepper Jobs is a new company led by Ken Wong who was formerly MINIX’s product director and defined many innovative products such as NEO-X series Android media hubs and NEO-Z series Intel-based mini PCs. The first Pepper Jobs designed and released mini PC is the GLK-UC2X targeting small business, 4K home theater, and living room use with an emphasis on low power and great savings on electricity bills. The GLK-UC2X contains an Intel Celeron N4100 Processor Gemini Lake SOC which is a quad-core processor bursting up to 2.40 GHz together with the Intel UHD Graphics 600 processor that is capable of 4K support at 60Hz. It physically consists of an approximately 139mm (5.5″) square case about 33mm (1.3”) tall with a side panel that includes the power button, a couple of USB ports, a Type C USB port and a micro SD card slot with the rest of the ports […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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Year 2018 in Review, Top 10 Posts, and Some Stats

That’s it, we’ve already reached the last day of 2018, and it’s time to have a look back at what happened during the past year. On the mini PC front, Gemini Lake based mini PCs took over from Apollo Lake with some performance improvements, but I expected the price point to be a bit lower than it is today.  Apart from further developments with regards to mobile processors, it feels 2018 was an off-year for processors, such as the ones found in TV boxes and development boards, with mostly more of the same. Allwinner and Rockchip did not release any really interesting processor, and Amlogic only launched S905X2 and S905Y2 which are mostly evolutions of their previous generation with an OpenGL 3.x capable GPU and USB 3.0. Rockchip RK3399 stood out this year, as despite being launched in 2016, it suddenly became popular again with many RK3399 SBCs coming to […]

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Khadas Captain / Edge SBC Review – Part 2: Ubuntu 18.04

I received Khadas Edge Developer Package with Khadas Edge RK3399 module, Khadas Captain carrier board, and several accessories a few weeks ago, and after checking the hardware in the first part of the review, I’ve now taken the time to review software support, specially Ubuntu 18.04 on the board. Khadas Edge / Captain Firmware There are currently four main choices of firmware for Khadas Edge / Khadas Captain: Ubuntu 18.04 OS with LXDE desktop environment @ https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/Edge/Ubuntu/ Android ROM @ https://dl.khadas.com/Firmware/Edge/Android/ with Android Nougat being a proper release, Android Oreo (available now) a temporary version that will not be supported, and Android P that will be released and supported by Rockchip later on in 2019 Armbian RK3399 for Khadas Edge looks to be work-in-progress right now LibreELEC for playing videos on the platform I decided to focus on Ubuntu 18.04 for this review, and Karl who has his own sample […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC