Mini-PC
Khadas is a well-known vendor in the ARM-based single-board computer (SBC) circles. Recently, the company made its first foray into the small form-factor x86 PC space with a rather unique product - the Khadas Mind. Unlike regular mini-PCs, the Mind is actually an ecosystem of products created with the aim of bringing a portable modular workstation to the market. Rather than relying on Thunderbolt to achieve this vision, the company has created a proprietary Mind Link connector and interface with an intent to produce a more close-knit set of products. The main processing unit in the ecosystem is the Khadas Mind, which comes with either an Intel Core i7-1360P (Mind Premium) or an Intel Core i5-1340P (Mind Standard). Equipped with the Mind Link Connector, it...
ASRock Beebox-S 6200U Review - An Alternative to the Skylake NUC
The Skylake-U platform for mini-PCs has turned out to be an interesting one. Numerous challenges were faced by the first one in the market - the Intel Skylake NUC...
31 by Ganesh T S on 8/10/2016More Atom: Apollo Lake On Display
Further to our recent post about spotting Denverton silicon on display at Computex this year, we also caught an Apollo Lake mini-PC motherboard doing the rounds at the ECS...
17 by Ian Cutress on 7/15/2016ASRock DeskMini 110 mini-STX PC Review
Intel introduced the 5x5 mini-STX form factor late last year with the aim of creating a small form-factor PC between that of a NUC and a mini-ITX build. Compared...
85 by Ganesh T S on 6/8/2016ZOTAC MAGNUS EN980 Detailed - A SFF VR-Ready PC with GeForce GTX 980
Several months ago, ZOTAC introduced its ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 PC featuring NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 980 Notebook GPU. It was positioned as one of the world’s smallest VR-Ready systems. This...
18 by Anton Shilov on 5/30/2016The Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK mini-PC Review
The desktop computing market has been subject to severe challenges over the last few years. The ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) PC market that emerged with the introduction of the Intel...
133 by Ganesh T S on 5/23/2016Intel Unveils New Low-Cost PC Platform: Apollo Lake with 14nm Goldmont Cores
This week, at IDF Shenzhen, Intel has formally introduced its Apollo Lake platform for the next generation of Atom-based notebook SoCs. The platform will feature a new x86 microarchitecture...
96 by Anton Shilov on 4/15/2016MSI Releases Vortex: A Mac Pro-Like SLI PC for Gamers and VR, from $2199
We originally laid eyes on the final design back at CES, but now MSI has begun to sell its Vortex gaming desktops in the US. The 6.5-liter systems resembles...
31 by Anton Shilov on 3/17/2016ZOTAC to Offer Small Form-Factor PC with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 980 GPU
Various kinds of small form-factor PCs are on a roll these days. Mini-ITX systems have been offering performance of full-size desktops for several years now and even smaller systems...
17 by Anton Shilov on 3/11/2016Voyo V3 Review - A Fanless Intel Atom x7-Z8700 (Cherry Trail) mini-PC
Intel transitioned their Bay Trail-T Atom lineup (targeting affordable 2-in-1s, tablets and Compute Stick form factors) to 14nm with the introduction of Cherry Trail-T. The Atom x5 and x7...
69 by Ganesh T S on 3/1/2016ECS Goes Skylake with LIVA One
At CES 2016, ECS displayed their consumer-focused as well as OEM products to the press and business customers. On the direct-to-consumer side, ECS had some 100-series chipset boards on...
13 by Ganesh T S on 1/19/2016Zotac Updates ZBOX mini-PC Lineup at CES
Zotac had announcements in multiple segments at CES. Obviously, the SSD entry was the big talking point with the PCIe variant boasting good performance numbers. Zotac also had a...
14 by Ganesh T S on 1/16/2016CES 2016: MSI’s Vortex Gaming PC on Display and It Looks Almost Like a Mac Pro
One of the most interesting PC designs to come out in recent years was that of the Mac Pro. Sure, it looked like a cylinder into which one might...
28 by Ian Cutress on 1/14/2016CES 2016: GIGABYTE’s Double Length Gaming BRIX
The BRIX mini-PC line from GIGABYTE is an odd internal mashup within the company whereby the server business unit designs it, but the consumer arm does the marketing and...
12 by Ian Cutress on 1/12/2016Intel Expands Compute Stick Family with Cherry Trail and Core M Models
The desktop PC market is seeing growth only in two areas - the gaming high-end and the mini-PCs (in the NUC form factor). Intel has been strengthening its offerings...
34 by Ganesh T S on 1/11/2016Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN970 Review - A Gaming mini-PC Done Right
In the course of our coverage of mini-PCs, we have seen offerings from vendors such as ASRock, GIGABYTE and Zotac targeting the gaming market. Usually, 'mini' doesn't fit the...
88 by Ganesh T S on 9/28/2015ECS LIVA x2 Review: A Compact & Fanless Braswell PC
The popularity of the NUC form factor has led to a resurgence in the nettop category. Thankfully, the core computing performance of the new systems have been miles ahead...
30 by Ganesh T S on 8/24/2015Intel Launches New Socketed 5x5 mini-PC Motherboards
Over the last couple of years, the ultra-compact form factor (UCFF) has emerged as one of the bright spots in the troubled PC market. Kickstarted by Intel's NUC (Next...
44 by Ganesh T S on 8/24/2015ASRock Beebox Review: A Fanless Braswell UCFF PC
ASRock had taken an early lead in serving the mini-PC market, thanks to its Core / Vision series units. Based on motherboards meant for the notebook market (smaller than...
45 by Ganesh T S on 7/14/2015The MSI Gaming Booth Tour with dGPUs in AIOs and Notebooks plus Motherboards
It has been held as fact that for the past couple of years, gaming is helping to prop up a slowly decreasing desktop PC market. While many casual PC...
50 by Ian Cutress on 6/29/2015ASUS GR Series Goes Broadwell i5-5200U: The GR6
At Computex last year ASUS formally announced its mini-PC platform in the shape of the GR8. It was designed to fit within a bookcase on a shelf and act...
25 by Ian Cutress on 4/15/2015