Qualcomm has recently announced the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) and Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100 and X2E-80-100) processors for Windows PCs, which the company claims are the “Fastest and Most Efficient” for laptops. All three 3nm parts are equipped with six Performance cores clocked at up to 3.6 GHz, six or twelve Premium cores clocked at up to 5 GHz (single core) or 4.4 GHz (multi-core), an Adreno X2-85 or X2-90 GPU, an 80 TOPS Hexagon NPU for Copilot+, and an LPDDR5x memory interface for up to 128+ GB memory with up to 228GB/s bandwidth. Other highlights include the Snapdragon X75 5G modem, FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 chipset, 4K video resolution for built-in and external displays, USB4, PCIe Gen5 interfaces, and more. Let’s check the full specifications and differences between the three Snapdragon X2 Elite devices in the table below. Qualcomm claims the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme […]
Avalue EMX-TWLP – A Twin Lake mini-ITX motherboard for industrial applications
Last week, we wrote about the Jetway MTX-TWL1 industrial-grade Intel N150/N250 mini-ITX motherboard, but there’s another Twin Lake mini-ITX option: the Avalue EMX-TWLP equipped with Intel N150, N250, or Core 3 N355 processor, and also designed for industrial applications. The thin mini-ITX motherboard takes up to 16GB DDR5 according to Avalue, supports M.2 NVMe/SATA SSD and SATA drives for storage, features two 2.5GbE ports and two M.2 Key-E/M sockets for WiFi and cellular connectivity, one HDMI port, two DP connectors, and eDP or LVDS, a PCIe Gen3 x1 slot, and more. Avalue EMX-TWLP specifications: Twin Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N150 quad-core processor @ up to 3.6 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD graphics @ 1.0 GHz; TDP: 6W Intel Processor N250 quad-core processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD graphics @ 1.25 GHz; TDP: 6W Intel Core 3 N355 […]
MSI MS-C926 ultra-slim, fanless industrial box PC is just 19mm thick
MSI MS-C926 is an Intel Alder Lake-N/Twin Lake fanless industrial box PC that’s ultra-slim at just 19mm thick, making it suitable for space-constrained applications such as digital signage, industrial control, kiosks, and edge computing. This ultra-thin PC also features up to 16GB DDR5 memory, triple 4K display outputs, dual 2.5GbE, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and a COM port. Expansion options include an M.2 B-Key slot with Nano SIM support for cellular, an M.2 E-Key slot for Wi-Fi, and a 2.5-inch SATA drive bay. It also supports optional TPM 2.0, a wide 12–24V DC input, VESA/wall mounting, and operates between -10°C to 50°C. MSI MS-C926 Specifications Alder Lake-N / Twin Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor @ up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24 EU Intel UHD graphics @ 1.20 GHz; TDP: 12W Intel Processor N150 quad-core processor @ up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB […]
ZimaBoard 2 micro server review – Part 1: Unboxing, teardown, and ZimaOS interface
We’ve just received a review sample of the ZimaBoard 2 micro server and mini PC powered by an Intel Processor N150 “Twin Lake” CPU. The system features two 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, two SATA III ports, two USB 3.1 ports, and a miniDP video port supporting 4K resolution. IceWhale Technology provided us with the ZimaBoard 2 model 832 prototype with 8GB RAM and 32GB eMMC flash preloaded with the ZimaOS operating system for review. In this article, we will unbox the device and its accessories, perform a teardown, and boot the micro server with the pre-installed ZimaOS and check the web dashboard. In the second part of the review, we will test ZimaOS in more detail, run some benchmarks since it’s our first Twin Lake mini PC, install an Ubuntu virtual machine, test the SATA ports and PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and more. ZimaBoard 2 unboxing We received a package […]
GPMI is a Chinese alternative to HDMI and DisplayPort with up to 192 Gbps bandwidth, 480W Power Delivery
Defined by the Shenzhen 8K UHD Video Industry Cooperation Alliance (SUCA), GPMI (General Purpose Media Interface) is an alternative to HDMI and DisplayPort supporting up to 192 Gbps bandwidth and 480W power delivery (PD). As far as I know, the specifications have not been made public just yet, but ITHome.com shared some photos and details. The GPMI standard defines two types of connectors: Type-B and Type-C (USB-C) with support for 192 Gbps/480W PD and 96 Gbps/240W PD, respectively. Here’s how GPMI compares to the latest HDMI and DP versions. The best resource I’ve found about the GPMI standard is a white paper shared by Hisilicon. It requires email registration, and it’s only in Chinese, but I’ve translated some of the slides for reference. The Type-B port looks like a compressed HDMI port, which might be great for laptops and tablets, while the Type-C port appears to be identical to a […]
UP Squared 7100 Review – Part 2: An Intel N100 fanless SBC preloaded with Ubuntu Pro 24.04
I’ve already checked out the hardware of the UP Squared 7100 fanless SBC in the first part of the review with an unboxing and first boot to Ubuntu Pro 24.04. I’ve now had time to test the features of the Intel N100 SBC with Ubuntu Pro, so I’ll report my experience with the system in this second part of the review.
I’ll report my experience with Ubuntu Pro features, test hardware features of the board including GPIOs, check out BIOS options, run a few benchmarks, and measurement power consumption.
Kontron 3.5″-SBC-AML/ADN 3.5-inch Amston Lake/Alder Lake-N single board computer offers three DisplayPort video outputs
Kontron 3.5″-SBC-AML/ADN is a 3.5-inch single board computer powered by either Intel Amston Lake (Industrial grade) or Alder Lake-N (commercial grade) processor and designed for applications such as automation, healthcare, smart city, and smart retail. It builds upon the smaller Kontron 2.5”-SBC-AML/ADN Pico-ITX SBC with many of the same features, but replaces eMMC flash storage with an M.2 SATA/NVMe socket and a SATA connector, features DDR5 SO-DIMM memory instead of soldered-on LPDDR5, and the larger PCB size allows it to gain an extra DisplayPort connector, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, additional serial ports, and a board-to-board (B2B) connector for expansion. It also supports a wider 9 to 36V DC range. Kontron 3.5″-SBC-AML/ADN specifications: SoC Standard Intel Atom x7211RE dual-core processor up to 3.2GHz with 6MB cache, 16EU Intel UHD graphics; TDP: 6W Intel Atom x7433RE quad-core processor up to 3.4GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD graphics; TDP: 9W Intel […]
UP Squared 7100 fanless SBC Review – Part 1: Unboxing and first boot to Ubuntu Pro 24.04
AAEON sent me a sample of the UP Squared 7100 fanless industrial SBC for review. The board is powered by an Intel N97 or N100 Alder Lake-N SoC (Amston Lake processors will be offered soon), and is equipped with up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, plus two M.2 sockets for wireless and storage expansion. You’ll find the full specifications in our earlier article. I’ll start the review with an unboxing to check out the hardware, before booting it to Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS to check out some basic system information. In a few weeks, I’ll report my experience after in-depth testing in Ubuntu in the second part of the review which will include features testing from gigabit Ethernet to GPIO, some benchmarks, and power consumption measurements. UP Squared 7100 unboxing I received the UP Squared 7100 board in a retail package that reads “Are you UP for […]


