Review of Tronsmart Ara X5 Windows 10 mini PC with Intel Atom X5 Processor

Tronsmart Ara X5 is one of the first mini PC featuring a Cherry Trail processor, more exactly Atom x5-Z8300 quad core processor manufactured with 14nm process. Price and max TDP are similar to Atom Z3735F Bay Trail-T processor found in many mini PCs designed in China, so it will interesting to compare the two platforms. Yesterday, I took some photos of the device, and found out the design was comprised of a baseboard and system-on-module, but today, I’ll focus on testing the device in Windows 10, checking everything works as it should, as well as running some benchmarks, verifying the Windows license status, test H.265 video playback in Kodi, and more. Tronsmart Ara X5 Setup I had not much to do the first time I booted the device, as it was already configured to use English, and the system logged in with user “User” without password. I still double checked […]

Mygica ATV1900AC Android 5.0 Mini PC Review

4K TV boxes based on Amlogic S812 processor have been around for about 9 months, and I already reviewed MINIX NEO X8-H Plus and CX-S806 mini PCs, but Mygica ATV1900AC is one of the first to support Android Lollipop, so I though it would be interesting to see the progress made compared to devices that run Android KitKat. I’ve already taken apart the TV Box, and found some interesting Toshiba eMMC flash and Realtek 802.11ac WiFi chips on the board, but today, I’ll test the firmware including stability, features and performance in this review. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve connected all ports of the device using the four USB host port with a webcam, hard drive, an RF dongle for a wireless gamepad, the RF dongle for the included remote, as well as inserting an HDMI cable, an optical audio cable S/PDIF, an Ethernet cable to Gigabit switch, […]

Eglobal K8 Z3735F mini PC Includes Up to 2 Ethernet Ports, a COM Port and an IR Receiver (As options)

Most mini PCs based on Intel Atom Z3735F have very similar specifications, but at least one company – Eglobal Technology – is providing some extra options with their mini PC as they offer dual Ethernet (which they call “Router”), a COM port and an IR receiver as options. Eglobal K8 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom Z3735F “Bay Trail” quad core processor @ 1.33 GHz (Bust freq: 1.83 GHz) with Intel HD graphics System Memory – 2 GB DDR3L Storage – 32 GB eMMC + micro SD card slot (up to 128GB) Video Output – HDMI Audio I/F – HDMI, 3.5mm earphone jack, 3.5mm microphone jack Connectivity Standard – 1x 10/100M Ethernet,  802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 Option – One extra 10/100M Ethernet port USB – 4x USB 2.0 host Misc – Power Button, optional IR receiver, optional COM port (DB9) Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – 107 x 107 […]

Beelink i68 (Rockchip RK3368) TV Box Review

Beelink i68 is one of the first 64-bit ARM Android mini PCs available on the market, and could offer an update to Rockchip RK3288 TV boxes thanks to its eight Cortex A53 cores and support for HDMI 2.0 up to 4K2K @ 60Hz. I’ve already taken a few pictures of the device and RK68 board, so today I’ll report about performance, stability, features and video playback capabilities in the full review. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions The box has three USB 2.0 host ports and a micro USB OTG port, so for once I did not have to use a USB hub to connect all my devices and cables. I’ve inserted an Ethernet cable, an HDMI cable, an optical cable to the S/PDIF output, a Class 10 micro SD card, a USB hard drive, a USB webcam, an RF dongle for Tronsmart Mars G01 wireless gamepad, and finally MeLE […]

Updated Ethernet & WiFi HDD Enclosure Supports 300Mbps with Mediatek MT7620N Processor

I featured an HDD enclosure with WiFi and Ethernet on CNX Software a few months ago, and several people were interested, bought one, and found out it was running OpenWRT, and easily to adapt to your needs, although some people complains it was not able to connect as a client. There’s now a new model, looking similar, by powered by Mediatek MT7620N and supporting 300 Mbps WiFi. While hardware specifications were not published with the first model, the manufacturer decided to release the full specifications for the new model: Processor – Mediatek MT7620N MIPS processor @ 580 MHz System Memory – 64MB DDR1 Storage 16MB SPI flash for firmware SATA interface for 2.5″ HDD up to 2TB (10TB is shown in the description) File systems – FAT32, NTFS, EXT64 (Sic.). Connectivity 2.4GHz WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n 2×2 up to 300 Mbps with 2 internal antennas Wireless security – WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK/AES encryption, Intelligent […]

Zidoo X1 Android Media Player (Allwinner H3) Review

In theory, Allwinner H3 is supposed to be a better alternative to Amlogic S805 processor thanks to more powerful Cortex A7 cores, and support for 4K video output and playback, while Amlogic S805 only features four Cortex A5 cores, and support H.265 up to 1080p60 only. Zidoo X1 is one of the TV boxes recently released with H3 processor. If you’ve not read my two previous posts yet, you may want to check out Zidoo X1 specifications, as well as the unboxing and tear-down post. In this post, I’ll focus on testing performance, stability, and video playback capabilities with Kodi. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve connected an Ethernet cable, an HDMI cable, a USB hard drive, and a USB hub with a USB webcam, an two RF dongles for an air mouse and a wireless gamepad.  The box will boot automatically as you connect the power adapter. Boot […]

Wintel W8 Review – Dual Boot Android & Windows TV Box

Wintel W8 (aka Kingnovel K8) is an Intel Atom Z3735F mini PC inspired from Sunchip Wintel CX-W8 (the hardware is a little different), but instead of just running Windows 8.1, the device can dual boot Android 4.4 and Windows 8.1 with Bing. I’ve already taken pictures or torn down Wintel W8, so today, I’ll focus on the software part of the review, first checking dual boot functionality and Windows 8.1 briefly since it should be very similar to MeLE PCG03, before spending more time on Android as it’s my first Android Intel platform. Dual boot in Wintel W8 When you boot the device, you can select Android or Windows icon, with a 10 second timeout that will boot your latest choice. There’s no menu within Windows to start Android, and vice versa, so to dual boot you need to reboot first, and select the operating systems right after UEFI. The […]

Cubieboard4 Benchmarks in Android

Last time I tried running benchmarks in an Allwinner A80 board (A80 OptimusBoard), it either rebooted during the benchmark, or had fairly disappointing results for example for USB storage. I documented my findings in a post entitled “Current Performance and Stability Issues on AllWinner A80 OptimusBoard Development Board” which was written in October 2014. But a few months have passed, and since Cubieboard4 is another hardware platform, so I was interested in running benchmarks including storage and networking performance testing on the new board to see if any progress was made. Cubieboard4 Android Benchmarks – Antutu, Vellamo, and 3DMarks Manufacturers can add the key ro.sys.hiritsu to build.prop in order to artificially inflate their Antutu scores with Allwinner A80 processor. So before running Antutu, I checked /system/build.prop in the firmware, and found out no trace of this variable, which can only be good for CubieTech reputation. CC-A80 board, the other name […]

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