MINIX NEO N42C-4 Apollo Lake Mini PC To Launch Soon with SO-DIMM and M.2 Slots

I’ve just completed MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro review, a Cherry Trail mini PC with Windows 10 Pro, but if you’d like something with a more recent and faster processor, the company will soon launch a MINIX NEO N42C-4 with an Apollo Lake processor, and upgradeable memory and storage. MINIX NEO N42C-4 preliminary specifications: SoC – Intel Pentium N4200 quad core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.10 / 2.50 GHz with 18 EU Intel HD Graphics 505 (6W TDP) System Memory – 4GB DDR3L SO-DIMM module (upgradeable to 8GB via 2x SO-DIMM slots) Storage – 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash, 1x 2280 M.2 SSD slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 4K @ 30 Hz, mini DisplayPort up to 4K @ 60 Hz, USB type C up to 4K @ 60 Hz(video only, no audio); supports for up to 3 independent displays Audio – Via HDMI, miniDP, 3.5mm audio combo jack Connectivity […]

Intel Pentium Silver N5000 “Gemini Lake” Notebook Shows Up in Benchmarks

We all know that Gemini Lake processors will succeed Apollo Lake family, we have a good idea of the supported features. and even know that Intel is expecting 10 to 15% CPU integer performance improvement between the two generations. I’ve now been informed that an Intel Gemini Lake notebook powered by Intel Pentium “Silver” N5000 quad core processor clocked at 1.09 GHz was spotted in SiSoftware Sandra benchmark database. If we compare those results to the ones for Intel Pentium N4200 Apollo Lake processor with the same 1.1 GHz base frequency, we can indeed see some progress, and the results, albeit early, are quite encouraging, except for the GPU part with similar results. Intel Pentium N5000 Intel Pentium N4200 Delta Processor Arithmetic 31.11 GOPS 21.42 GOPS 1.45x Processor Multi-Media 44.65 MPix/s 41.38 MPix/s 1.08x .NET Arithmetic 11.5 GOPS 7.31 GOPS 1.57x Processor Crypto 2.8 GB/s 1.41 GB/s 1.99x It’s quite […]

Asus WA039T All-in-One PC is Powered by Intel Pentium J4205 Apollo Lake Processor

Intel Pentium N4205 is the most powerful Apollo Lake processor launched by Intel with four cores up to 2.6GHz (turbo), and 18 EU HD graphics, but so far I have not seen many products with the processor, with only ASRock J4205-ITX motherboard and Beebox J4205 mini PC. So I went to Aliexpress, and nothing at all shows up for J4205, I had better luck on Alibaba with Unistorm / ACEPC AK1 mini PC apparently also having Pentium N4205 as an option (for OEM only), and several industrial computer and motherboards. But none of those products seem to be easily purchasable just yet. A final search on GearBest led me to their one and only J4205 based product: Asus WA039T AIO PC, so let’s have a look. Asus WA039T AIO computer specifications: SoC – Intel Pentium J4205 quad core “Apollo Lake” processor @ 1.50 / 2.60 GHz with a 18 EU Intel […]

Intel Gemini Lake Block Diagram and Yet More Info

So yesterday, I wrote about some of the new features of Intel Gemini Lake processors like native HDMI 2.0, 4-wide pipeline, 10-bit VP9, and possible built-in 802.11ac wireless controller. I went to bed, and somehow this morning I woke up with something that looks like Gemini Lake (GLK) block diagram, and a few more details. So we indeed have HDMI 2.0 output, as well as DP 1.2a and eDP 1.4, and an embedded wireless controller via the CNVi (Connectivity Integration Architecture) block for WiFi’s MAC and Bluetooth’s MAC + Baseband modem. We’ll have plenty of USB 3.0 host interfaces, and the usual PCIe and SATA 3 interfaces. Still no UFS support, but eMMC 5.1 is supported, as well as x128 DDR4, LPDDR3 and LPDDR4 memory up to 2400 MHz (No ECC support). Cache size is confirmed to be 4MB for up to four GoldMont Plus (GLM+) cores, which combined with […]

New Features of Intel Gemini Lake Processors – HDMI 2.0, 10-bit VP9 Codec, 4-Wide Pipeline, and More

Most recent low power Intel mini PCs are now based on Apollo Lake family with SoC such as Celeron N3450 or Pentium N4200, but we’ve known for a while that Gemini Lake processors will succeed those starting in Q4 2017, and we can expect some Celeron/Pentium SKUs like Intel Pentium J5005 or Intel Celeron N4000, but so far I had not seen that many details. However, an anonymous tip pointed me to some interesting publicly available information. First, a kernel patch reveals a little about the CPU pipeline: Add perf core PMU support for Intel Goldmont Plus CPU cores: – The init code is based on Goldmont. – There is a new cache event list, based on the Goldmont cache event list. – All four general-purpose performance counters support PEBS. – The first general-purpose performance counter is for reduced skid PEBS mechanism. Using :ppp to indicate the event which want […]

Phoenix OS 2.1 Android 7.1 based Desktop OS Released for 32-bit and 64-bit x86 Platforms

With Jide’s announcement that they’d stop working on Remix OS for the consumer market, focusing on the enterprise market instead, people who like to use Android as a desktop OS lost an option. Luckily, others have not given up on the concept yet, and Phoenix OS 2.1 based on Android 7.1 with desktop improvements has just been released for computers based on Intel/AMD 32-bit and 64-bit x86 processors. Phoemix OS user interface is a mix between Windows desktop with a desktop, a taskbar, and a start menu, and Android with notifications, and Back/Home/Recent buttons. The OS also supports Android apps, multi-window, window resizing, better multi-tasking, and so on. Changelog for Phoenix OS 2.1: Keyboard mapping updates to version 2.5 with smart casting for Strike of Kings. The bug that window size won’t be saved after restart has been fixed. Enhance the hardware compatibility, including: sound card, network adapter, etc. “Start […]

ROCK64 and UDOO X86 Boards and Accessories are Now Available for Purchase

Pine64 ROCK64 is a development board powered by Rockchip RK3328 quad core processor, while UDOO X86 board is based on Intel Atom x5-E8000 or Celeron N3160 processor plus a Quark SE MCU. What do they have common? Not much, except both boards are now officially available for sale. Just a quick reminder of the specifications for ROCK64 board: SoC – Rockchip RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-450MP2 GPU System Memory – 1, 2, or 4 GB LPDDR3 Storage – eMMC flash module socket + micro SD card slot + 128 Mbit SPI flash Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10 and HLG support, 3.5mm AV port (composite video + stereo audio) Video Codec – 4K VP9, H.265 and H.264, 1080p VC-1, MPEG-1/2/4, VP6/8 Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 port Expansion Headers […]

Intel Compute Card Apollo Lake and Kaby Lake SKUs, Block Diagrams, and Specifications

Intel Compute cards are the latest ultra-thin CPU cards introduced by Intel at the beginning of the year, with a concept similar to EOMA68 CPU cards, that it to allow  CPU card upgrades or replacements, and interoperability across compatible devices such as smart kiosks, IoT gateways, and so on. But at the time, Intel did not reveal that many details about the different cards, although we know NexDock is working on laptop dock compatible with Intel Compute Cards. But I’ve recently received some block diagrams for Apollo Lake Pentium/Celeron, and Kaby Lake Core M/Core i5 compute cards.There will two SKUs for Apollo Lake compute cards sharing the same specifications, except for the processor: SoC CD1C64GK SKU – Intel Celeron N3450 quad core processor @ 1.1 / 2.2 GHz (base/turbo) with 12EU Intel HD Graphics Gen9; 7.5W TDP CD1P64GK SKU – Intel Pentium N4200 quad core processor @ 1.1 / 2.5 GHz […]