alder lake News - Page 6 of 17 - CNX Software

December 17, 2023December 17, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

How to use a monitor and USB mouse/keyboard in Promox VE on an Intel Alder Lake-N mini PC

Intel Core i3-N300 Alder Lake-N Ubuntu 22.04 Promox VE passthrough

We’ve started to see several Alder Lake-N platforms acting both as a mini PC and a router or network appliance with products such as iKOOLCORE R2 or CWWK x86-P5 which features not only the usual HDMI, USB, and single Ethernet port, but come with multiple Ethernet ports making them ideal to run Proxmox VE to simultaneous run a desktop OS such as Ubuntu 22.04 or Windows 11 and a headless network OS such as pfSense or OpenWrt. I’m currently reviewing iKOOLCORE R2 mini PC that comes with four 2.5GbE ports and I could install Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop, pfSense 2.7.1, and OpenWrt 23.05 relatively easily, but the Ubuntu desktop is only visible in the Proxmox VE dashboard and the HDMI display physically connected to the mini PC only shows Proxmox VE login prompt. So at this point, I learned that I had to enable PCIe passthrough for the GPU in Proxmox […]

December 14, 2023February 4, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Core i7-12650H mini PC review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, and first boot

GEEKOM Mini IT12 is a 12th Gen Intel mini PC offered with either an Intel Core i7-12650H or Intel Core i5-12450H Alder Lake processor, support for up to 64GB RAM, up to 2TB NVMe SDD, HDMI 2.0 video outputs and high-performance ports such as USB4 and 2.5GbE. The mini PC is also equipped with a WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless module and comes preloaded with Windows 11 Pro operating system. GEEKOM has sent us a sample of the Mini IT12 with a 10-core Intel Core i7-12650H processor, 32GB DDR4, and a 1TB M.2 SSD for review. We’ll start the review by listing the specifications, before going and unboxing and a teardown, and finally boot the device to Windows 11 Pro. This will be followed by detailed reviews of the mini PC with Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 in the next few weeks. GEEKOM Mini IT12 specifications SoC – Intel […]

December 12, 2023December 12, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

SZBOX DS135D – A dual-screen laptop with an Intel Processor N100 CPU

A few companies have been making dual-screen laptops – where one of the screens is placed where you’d typically find the keyboard and touchpad – for several years, and this type of design was brought back to the forefront with the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i introduced earlier this year with two 13.3-inch displays and a 13th-gen Intel Core Raptor Lake-U processor for $2,000 and up. If you like the concept but don’t quite have that much money to spare, SZBOX DS135D dual-screen laptop is a much cheaper option with two 13.5-inch displays, an entry-level Intel Processor N100 SoC, 16GB DDR5, and 128GB to 2TB NVMe SSD going for $699 and up on Aliexpress. SZBOX DS135D specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core processor up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 16GB DD5 Storage – 128GB to 2TB […]

December 11, 2023December 11, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

CWWK x86-P5 fanless mini PC with two 2.5GbE ports ships with up to Intel Core i3-N305 CPU

CWWK x86-P5 is a fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Alder Lake N-series N100 (quad-core) or Core i3-N305 (octa-core) and equipped with two 2.5GbE ports using Intel i226V controllers making it suitable for networking applications such as a firewall or a soft router. But it’s also a standard mini PC with two HDMI 2.0 ports, two USB 3.2 ports, and up to four USB 2.0 ports making it a candidate to run Promox with both a desktop OS like Windows 11 or Ubuntu 22.04 and a networking OS such as pfSense or OpenWrt. CWWK x86-P5 specifications: Alder Lake-N SoC(one or the other) Intel Processor N100 quad-core processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 15W System Memory – Up to 32GB DDR5 […]

December 10, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

UP 7000 SBC review – Part 2: Ubuntu 22.04 on a fanless Intel N100 single board computer

The UP 7000 is a credit card-sized Alder Lake-N single board computer that can be used as an alternative to the Raspberry Pi 5 for industrial applications. AAEON sent me a model with an Intel Processor N100 CPU, 8GB LPDDR5, and a 64GB eMMC flash, and I went through an unboxing in the first part of the review, compared its mechanical design to the earlier UP 4000 and Raspberry Pi 5 SBC , and also installed Ubuntu 22.04 since the UP 7000 board did not come with any OS and would initially boot to the UEFI shell. I’ve now spent more time with the board and I will report my experience with the UP 7000 SBC running Ubuntu 22.04 in this article checking out features, performance, video playback, power consumption, and so on using the UP 4000 review with Ubuntu 22.04 I did last year as a template plus some […]

December 6, 2023December 12, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

MINIX Z100-0dB fanless Intel N100 mini PC supports 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking

Companies keep on releasing new Intel Processor N100 mini PCs, and the latest one is the MINIX Z100-0dB fanless mini PC with support for 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking, and dual display setups through two HDMI ports. The mini PC is said to support up to 32GB RAM, ships with up to 512GB NVMe SSD, and comes with the usual USB 3.2/2.0 ports, microSD card slot, and 3.5mm audio. The “0DB” name comes from the fact that it is a fanless system as shown on the top of the top device with the string “ZERO dB Cooling System”. MINIX Z100-0dB specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB DDDR4-3200, upgradable to 32GB Storage 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB M.2 SSD (PCIe Gen3 x4), upgradable […]

December 5, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

MeLE Quieter4C ultrathin fanless Intel N100 mini PC supports up to three displays

MeLE has just launched a new model from its Quieter family with the Quieter4C ultrathin fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor, 8GB to 16GB LPDDR4, and 128GB to 512GB eMMC+SSD storage, and supporting up to three independent 4K displays. Intel N100 mini PCs have become popular due to their excellent price/performance ratio, but although a few are fanless, many are actively cooled, and the Quieter4C differentiates itself by its low profile with the system being just 18.3 mm thick. MeLE Quieter4C specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 8GB or 16GB LPDDR4X Storage 128GB or 256GB eMMC flash Optional 256GB M.2 SSD (for 512GB storage in total) via M.2 2280 SATA III/PCIe Gen3 x4 socket MicroSD card reader Video […]

December 4, 2023February 4, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Review of GEEKOM Mini Air12 Processor N100 mini PC – Part 1: unboxing and teardown

GEEKOM Mini Air12 is a mini PC powered by the popular Intel Processor N100 CPU and coupled with 16GB DDR5 SO-DIMM memory, a 512GB NVMe SSD upgradable up to 1TB. The Windows 11 Pro mini PC also features USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB Type-C ports, HDMI 2.0 video output, gigabit Ethernet, as well as WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 via an Azureware module. GEEKOM sent us a sample of the Mini Air12 for review. Since we’ve already written about the Mini Air12 specifications, today we will go through an unboxing and look at the hardware design with a teardown, before testing the mini PC in more detail with Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 in the next parts of the review. GEEKOM Mini Air12 Unboxing We received the mini PC is a retail package that protects the device and accessories inside well. The back side of the package lists some basic […]