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PiPo Snapdragon 850 2-in-1 Laptop to Sell for around $400

Current Qualcomm based Windows 10 laptops are mostly interesting for people wanting all-day battery life and/or being always connected over 4G LTE, as they are still pretty expensive, and performance somewhat underwhelming, although Snapdragon 8cx processor should change that. Chinese-based PiPo, known for their tablets,  mini PCs and Arm Android laptops, is working on solving affordability of Arm Windows 10 laptop with their Snapdragon 850 2-in-1 laptop, heavily inspired by Huawei MateBook E 2019, and expected to sell for half the price or around $400. PiPo 2-in-1 laptop preliminary specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 octa-core Kryo 385 Arm cores clocked @ up to 2.96 GHz with Adreno 630 Visual Processing Subsystem, Hexagon 685 DSP Systmem Memory – 8GB RAM Storage – 256GB flash storage Display – 12.3″ IPS display with 3000×2000 resolution, 10-point touch Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, Connectivity – WiFi 5 802.11ac/b/g/n + 4G LTE Camera – […]

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System76 Introduces two Intel Comet Lake Linux Laptops with Coreboot Firmware

Intel officially launched Comet Lake processors last August with Y-series (4.5-5.5W TDP) and U-Series (15W TDP) targeting 2-in-1 hybrid laptops and tablets. Since several Windows 10 Comet Lake laptops launched such as OneMix 3Pro 8.4″ mini laptop with an Intel Core i5-10210Y Comet Lake-Y processor. If you’d rather get a Comet Lake laptop running Linux, System76 got you covered with two models, namely Galago Pro and Darter Pro laptops running a choice of Pop!_OS 19.10 (64-bit), Pop!_OS 18.04 LTS (64-bit), or Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (64-bit) operating systems, as well as System76 open firmware based on Coreboot, EDK2, and System76 firmware apps. Galago Pro & Darter Pro share many of the same specifications, except for the display, battery, and other items highlighted in bold: SoC (one of the other) Intel Core i5-10210U  quad-core/eight-thread processor @ 1.6 GHz / 3.9 GHz (turbo all cores) / 4.2 GHz (turbo one core), 24EU Intel […]

ArmSoM RK3588 AIModule7 NVIDIA Jetson Nano-compatible SOM
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MINIX NEO J50C-4 (2019) Mini PC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Pro

Last week, I received the latest MINIX NEO J50C-4 (64GB) mini PC that hardware-wise is very much like last year, never released, MINIX NEO J50C-4 mini PC, except it comes with a 64GB eMMC flash instead of just 32GB. I’m now spent time testing the updated version, with a focus on the potential performance benefit of the new storage device, as well as features I was unable to test last year, such as USB-C DisplayPort output, or WiFi AC, and check out if some of the issues I encountered last year are now solved. System Info We’ve got basically the same info as last year with J50C-4 mini PC powered by an Intel Pentium Silver J5005 CPU coupled with 4.00 GB memory and running an activated (i.e. properly licensed) version of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. We’ve now got more space to play with thanks to a 57GB Windows partition, which […]

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Sm@rtDock 15 Touch is a 15″ 2-in-1 Laptop Dock for Samsung DeX Devices and Smartphones with a USB-C Port

We’ve already covered several laptop docks for smartphones such as  NexDock 2. AFAICR, all those modes would come with a full laptop body with non-touch display and keyboard. “Losing the wires” company offers something slightly different with their Sm@rtDock 15 Touch as it aims to convert Samsung DeX smartphones into 2-in-1 hybrid laptops. That means the 15″ display comes with a touchscreen, and the keyboard is separate. Sm@rtDock 15 Touch kit includes the following items and features: 15.6″ LCD display Full HD/1080p resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) with 10 point capacitive touch USB – 1x USB-C port to smartphone, 1 x micro-USB port for peripherals, 1x USB- C charge port Video Output – Mini-HDMI in for use as a secondary display for another device Battery – Up to 4 or up to 7 hours life (model specific) Dimensions – 356 x 224 x 9mm Weight – 900g (without case) UK […]

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Rikomagic R6 Mini Android Projector Looks Like a Vintage Radio

Rikomagic has been releasing Android TV boxes at least since 2012, but in recent years the company has also started to work on Android projectors, and a couple of years ago I reviewed Rikomagic RKM R1 mini projector, and I was fairly satisfied despite the system using an entry-level quad-core Cortex-A7 processor (Rockchip RK3128). Based on the same industrial design, Rikomagic R5 projector launched in 2018 is more up-to-date to today’s user’s requirements with Rockchip RK3328 and 2GB RAM. But with Rikomagic R6 mini Android projector, the company is trying something different, at least in terms of appearance, as the projector looks like a vintage radio. Rikomagic R6 specifications: SoC – Rockchip quad-core processor System memory – 1 or 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8 or 16GB eMMC flash, microSD slot Projector 4000 lumens (real 70 ANSI lumens) Resolution – 720p physical lense; up to 1920×1080 output Contrast ratio – 2000:1 […]

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XIDU PhilPad 2-in-1 Hybrid 2K Laptop Review

I had never heard about XIDU laptops and tablets, and it’s apparently the brand name of “Shenzhen Baohuazhong Co Limited” that was founded in 2014 and specializes in the design, development, manufacturing, distributions, and support for computer systems. I came to know about the company as they approached me to review one of their laptops, namely XIDU PhilPad XT133A model with an Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core Apollo Lake processor coupled with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, and equipped with a 13.3″ touchscreen display with 2K (2560×1440) resolution. XIDU PhilPad Specifications SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.10 GHz / 2.40 GHz (Turbo) with 12EU Intel HD graphics 500 GPU; 6W TDP System Memory – 6GB DDR3 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Display – 13.3″ touchscreen IPS display with 2560 x 1440 resolution Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in microphone and speaker Camera […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs and SoMs in 2025
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Pi-Top [4] mini-PC runs the New Raspberry Pi 4

The features and design have changed, but the reliability and the advanced processing capability are all the well-known new Raspberry Pi 4, housed in the new Pi-Top [4]. The popular platform has come out with a portable design with expanded connectivity, scalability, and increased processing capabilities. It boasts an OLED display in a mini-PC form-factor that the company has announced will go on sale on Kickstarter. The SBC industry is seeing a general increase in features and processing ability. Added device connectivity, especially in multimedia capability. The Pi-Top [4] is no exception. The laptop version of Pi-Top is still a viable computer with many features for an SBC footprint. The new Pi-Top [4] mini-PC has expanded RAM, increased ports, and comes with an inventor’s kit. The Pi-Top [4] comes with a roster of accessories that include; sensors, LED’s, and potentiometers to get those just beginning their journey on the path […]

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Raspberry Pi 4 Benchmarks & Mini Review

Raspberry Pi 4 has just been released with many improvements over Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ including a faster processor, a proper Gigabit Ethernet port, USB 3.0 interfaces, and 4K video support. That’s the theory, but how does it work in practice? I can now let you know as I’ve received a Raspberry Pi 4 sample courtesy of Cytron, and ran some tests and benchmarks on the very latest boards from the Raspberry Pi foundation. System Info Before starting with the benchmarks, let’s go through some basic system info:

For reference, you’ll find Raspberry Pi 4 Linux boot log here. Phoronix benchmarks Let’s go ahead and install the latest version of Phoronix benchmarks:

Now let’s run the test to compare the performance of Raspberry Pi 4 model B to some other Arm Linux boards including Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.

For reference, my office has an […]

Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications