MINIX NEO J50C-4 Pentium J5005 Mini PC Review – Part 1: Unboxing, Windows Remote, M.2 SSD, and Teardown

MINIX NEO J50C-4 Review

MINIX has just announced a new Windows 10 Pro mini PC with MINIX NEO J50C-4 mini PC that just looks like their previous models like MINIX NEO N42C-4, except it comes with a Pentium Silver J5005 “Gemini Lake” processor. The company sent me a sample together with some accessories, and it will be interesting to see how it performs. But before I’ll go through the specifications, checking the devices and some extra accessories namely NEO W2 windows remote control, and an M.2 SSD pre-loaded with Windows 10 Pro. Finally, I’ll have a look at the internals in the first part of this review. MINIX NEO J50C-4 Specifications SoC – Intel Pentium Silver J5005 quad core “Gemini Lake” processor @ 1.50 / 2.80 GHz with 18 EU Intel UHD Graphics 605 (10W TDP) System Memory – 4GB DDR4 upgradable to 16GB via 2x SO-DIMM slots Storage – 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash, […]

TopJoy Falcon Mini Laptop Features an Intel Pentium N5000 Processor, an 8″ Display (Crowdfunding)

TopJoy Falcon mini laptop

UMPC’s (Ultra Mobile PC) or mini laptops have made a sort of comeback in recent years with products such as GPD Pocket 2 mini laptop or One Mix Yoga pocket laptop. Those products come with a low power Intel processor running Windows 10, and a 7″ display, and compact keyboard. TopJoy Falcon is another upcoming mini laptop that should deliver performance right between the Atom x5-Z8350 processor found in One Mix Yoga and the more powerful Core m3-7y30 powering the GPD device with an Intel Pentium Silver N5000 Gemini Lake processor. The device looks similar to its competitor, except it also comes with a larger 8″ display, and as a consequence a slightly larger keyboard. TopJoy Falcon specifications: SoC – Intel Pentium Silver N5000 quad core “Gemini Lake” processor @ 1.10 / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics 605; 6W TDP System Memory – 8GB RAM Storage – 256GB […]

Axiomtek SDM300S is an Intel Apollo Lake Smart Display Module (SDM-S) for Digital Signage

SDM300S Intel Smart Display Module (SDM)

Way back in 2010, Intel introduced the Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) defining mechanical and electrical parameters for players to be integrated into digital signage displays, with the goal of providing an easier upgrade path. Even if it was defined by Intel we’ve seem some Arm based OPS digital players such as the ones offered by ZidooLab. If you’ve checked out the latter link, you’ll know OPS players normally come with a case, and measure 180 x 119 x 30mm to comply with the specifications.  But it turns out Intel also introduced a more compact card format for digital signage / displays with Intel SDM (Smart Display Module) available as SDM-S (Small: 60 mm x 100 mm x ~20 mm; up to ~10W TDP) or SDM-L (Large: 175 mm x 100 mm x ~20 mm; up to ~45W TDP) Axiomtek made one of those module with their SDM300S SDM-S module equipped with […]

More Speculative Execution Exploits – Meet Foreshadow / L1 Terminal Fault

Speculative execution is a feature to speed up performance of recent processors which works by predicting and loading likely future instructions ahead of time.  The features became somewhat famous a few months ago with Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities exploiting the features. The exploits impact Intel, AMD, Arm, and other processors to various degrees, and since the feature is built-in into the hardware, there’s no easy fix, and instead operating systems vendors, cloud service providers, hosting services and other stakeholders implemented mitigations. While a lot of progress has been made, work is still going on with the just released Linux 4.18 still getting some code changes related to the exploits. But just as solutions were found for Spectre and Meltdown, a new speculative execution exploitation has raised its ugly head: L1 Terminal Fault also known as Foreshadow.  The new flaw appears to be just as serious, and a dedicated website has […]

Lanner NVA-3000 Machine Vision Computer is Equipped with 8 PoE+ Ports

Lanner Electronics, a company headquartered in Taiwan, and specializing in   network appliances and rugged industrial computers, has recently introduced NVA-3000 embedded computer powered by Intel Pentium N4200 or Atom x7-E3950 “Apollo Lake” processor, and targeting video surveillance & machine vision applications with 8 PoE+ ports. Lanner NVA-3000 specifications: SoC Model NVA-3000A – Intel Pentium N4200 quad core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.10 / 2.50 Hz with 18 EU Intel HD graphics 505; 6W TDP Model NVA-3000B – Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.60 / 2.00 GHz with 18 EU Intel HD graphics 505; 12W TDP System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 2400MHz via 1x SO-DIMM slot Storage 32Mbit SPI Flash for BIOS, 2x SATA ports, 1x 3.5″ SATA/SSD drive bay, eMMC flash Model NVA-3000A – 8GB capacity Model NVA-3000B – 64GB capacity Network Connectivity Ethernet controller – Intel I210IT, I210IS, Marvell 88E6390 Ethernet Switch, 88E1512 PHY 2x […]

Microsoft Surface Go Tablet Based on Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y Processor to Sell for $399 and Up

Microsoft Surface Go

Microsoft Surface devices are powerful but usually expensive ($2,000+) tablets and laptops, but the company has now launched an entry-level model called Surface Go, powered by an Intel Kaby Lake Pentium processor with 4 to 8GB RAM, 64 to 256 GB storage, and a 10″ high resolution display, and selling for $399 and up. Microsoft Surface Go specifications: SoC – Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y dual core/four thread Kaby Lake-Y processor @ up to 1.6 GHz (base frequency), with  24EU Intel HD Graphics 615 @ 300 / 850 MHz; 6W TDP System Memory – 4 or 8GB LPDDR3-1866 Storage –  64GB eMMC flash, 128GB or 256GB SSD, micro SD card slot Display – 10″ 1800×1200 PixelSense display; 3:2 aspect ratio; built-in kickstand with full friction hinge that extends to 165 degrees Cameras – 8MP Rear camera, 5MP Front-facing camera with Windows Hello facial recognition Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack Connectivity – […]

Canonical Releases Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Certified for Intel NUC

In the x86 world, the theory is that you can take a single Linux distro image should work on any x86 compatible hardware. But for Atom-class processors however,  including Bay Trail, Cherry Trail, Apollo Lake and Gemini Lake it has not always been the case, especially with features like audio output, Bluetooth, touchpad, and others. That’s why for example, Linuxium (Ian Morrison) decided to write isorepin.sh script in order to respin Ubuntu ISO images for such platforms and fix various issues. However, it appears Canonical and Intel have decided to take matters into their own hand, and have now released Ubuntu 16.04 LTS certified for Intel NUC mini PCs, kits, and boards for IoT deployment. Canonical made available both Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Core images. Most supported devices are based on Intel 7th generation Intel Core processors: NUC7i5DNKPC Mini PC with Intel Core i5-7300U NUC7i3DNKTC Mini PC with Intel Core […]

NanoCOM-APL Apollo Lake COM Express Module is Designed for Machine Vision & Factory Automation

AAEON has just launched  NanoCOM-APL, a Type 10 COM Express module based on Intel Apollo Lake Atom, Celeron, or Pentium processor with up to 8 LPDDR4 memory, and on-board support for dual MIPI CSI interfaces. The module is designed for machine vision and factory automation, and also features Gigabit Ethernet, optional on-board eMMC flash, PCIe x4, ten USB interfaces, and more. NanoCOM-APL Apollo Lake COM Express Module There are currently three variants of NanoCOM-APL module with the following specifications specifications: SoC NANOCOM-APL-A10-0001 – Intel Pentium N4200 quad core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.10 / 2.50 GHz with Intel HD Graphics 505; 6W TDP NANOCOM-APL-A10-0002 – Intel Celeron N3350 dual core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.10 / 2.40 GHz with Intel HD Graphics 500; 6W TDP NANOCOM-APL-A10-0003 – Intel Atom x7-E3950 quad core Apollo Lake-I processor @ 1.60 / 2.00 GHz with Intel HD Graphics 505; 12W TDP System Memory – […]