MINIX NEO G41V-4 Fanless Mini PC Review – Part 1: Unboxing & Teardown

MINIX NEO G41V-4 Display Mount

MINIX showcased two new Gemini Lake mini PCs running Windows 10 Pro at IFA 2019 namely MINIX NEO J50C-4 (64GB) actively-cooled mini PC with an Intel Pentium Silver J5005 that’s basically a variant of last year’s NEO J50C-4 mini PC with more storage, as well as MINIX NEO G41V-4 fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron N4100 processor. I’ve already reviewed the former mini PC with Windows 10 Pro, and the company has just sent me a sample of their just-released NEO G41V-4 mini PC which as we’ll see is a completely new design (internally). MINIX NEO G41V-4 Unboxing The mini PC did not come alone, as 240GB M.2 SATA SSD’s for NEO G41V-4 and NEO J50C-4 were also included. The specifications match what we initially reported with an Intel Celeron N4100 quad-core processor, 4GB DDR4, 64GB eMMC flash, and so on. The new enclosure has plenty of ventilation […]

Intel NUC 8 Rugged Fanless NUC is Powered by an Intel Celeron N3350 Processor

Intel NUC 8 Rugged Fanless NUC

Most Intel NUCs are cooled with a fan, and so far if you wanted a fanless NUC you had to purchase a third party enclosure. But Intel has been working on a new model named either “Chaco Canyon” NUC or Intel NUC 8 Rugged that’s both fanless and rugged. The fanless NUC is powered by a dual-core Intel Celeron N3350 Apolo Lake processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and a 64GB eMMC flash both of which are soldered to the board. You can add to storage thanks to an M.2 2280 slot with support for NVMe or SATA SSD’s. Intel NUC 8 Rugged specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core processor clocked at 1.1 GHz / 2.4 GHz with Intel HD Graphics 500; 6W TDP System Memory – Dual-channel 4GB RAM soldered-down Storage – 64GB eMMC flash soldered-down, M.2 2280 key M slot for PCIe x4 NVME or SATA SSD […]

Shuttle EN01J is a Tiny Apollo Lake Mini PC Topped with a Large Heatsink

Shuttle EN01 Mini PC

Many people don’t want heatsink, but in some case fanless designs do not allow for maximum sustained performance. This should not be a problem for Shuttle EN01J mini PC with a choice of 10W Apollo Lake processors, and a rugged design completed with a large heatsink topping the enclosure used to make sure the processor runs optimally for the target applications, which include digital signage, industrial automation, and visual recognition applications as reported by FanlessTech. Shuttle EN01J specifications: SoC (One or the other) – Intel Celeron J3355 dual core, Celeron J3455 quad core, or Pentium J4200 quad core processor with Intel HD graphic; 10W TDP System Memory – Up to 8GB LPDDR4 2,400 MHz Storage – Up to 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 3840z2160 @ 30 Hz Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (Intel) with optional POE-PD or POE-PSE, nano SIM slot for M.2 […]

Tranquil PC’s AMD Ryzen Embedded Mini PC Supports Up to 4 Displays

AMD Ryzen Embedded Mini PC

AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 processor family was introduced  last February, but if you’d wanted to buy a Ryzen Embedded mini PC today, you’ struggle to do so at least for a retail model. One option is to get an UDOO Bolt V3/V8 development board together its metal case and assemble the mini PC yourself.  The solution was launched on Kickstarter however, and will only start shipping in December 2018 if everything goes according to plans. If you’d rather get a Ryzen Embedded mini PC a little earlier,  Tranquil PC’s Mini Multi display PC may be an option with a choice of three Ryzen embedded V1000 processors, a fanless design, and support for up to 4 independent displays. Transquil PC’s mini multi-display PC Basic/Advanced/Advanced+ specifications: SoC Basic – AMD Ryzen Embedded V1202B, 2C/4T @ 2.3 / 3.2GHz, TDP: 12W-25W Advanced – AMD Ryzen Embedded V1605B, 4C/8T @ 2.3 / 3.6GHz, TDP: […]

Shuttle DL10J Fanless Gemini Lake Mini PC Features Intel Celeron J4005 Dual Core Processor, 3 Video Outputs

Several mini PCs based on Intel Gemini Lake processors were unveiled at CES 2018, including Zotac PICO PI226, MeLE PCG63-APL4, and ECS LIVA Gemini Lake models all of which slated to launch in Q2 2018. ASRock and GIGABYTE also announced Gemini Lake motherboards a few weeks later. Most of the products above are for the consumer market, but if you’re after a Gemini Lake mini PC more geared towards business use cases like digital signage and multi-display solutions, Shuttle is now showcasing their DL10J mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron J4055 Gemini Lake dual core processor, and offering 3 video output ports at Integrated Systems Europe 2018 (ISE 2018). Shuttle DL10J mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4005 dual core GLK processor @ 2.00/2.70 GHz with 12EU Intel UHD Graphics 600; 10W TDP System Memory – 2x DDR4 slots @ 2133 MHz up to 8GB Storage – 1x […]

GIGABYTE GA-SBCAP3350 Celeron N3350 Single Computer Computer Offers Upgradeable Memory and Storage

The other day I wrote about MeLE PCG35 Apo mini PC which comes with soldered RAM and eMMC flash, and one person commented about having a model with more than 4GB RAM, but I explained it would  not be cost-effective to add more RAM for low cost Windows 10 mini PCs since they would not qualify for Microsoft discount, and it would significantly add to the price. So Microsoft has a big impact on this market segment, and even if you’re going to run Ubuntu or other Linux distributions, those requirements indirectly affect your choice of hardware.  One solution is to buy barebone mini PC, or at least with upgradeable RAM and storage, but there aren’t that many with an Apollo Lake processor. Intel NUC6CAYS NUC or GIGABYTE GB-BPCE-3350 are options, and on the Chinese side, you could consider Voyo V1 VMac Mini. AFAIK, none of those options are fanless, […]

MeLE PCG03 Apo Fanless Apollo Lake mini PC Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

You’ll now easily find mini PCs powered by Intel Apollo Lake processor, but many of them are actively cooled, and only support HDMI 1.4 output limited to 4K @ 30 Hz. MeLE PCG03 Apo, an update to the company’s PCG03 fanless mini PC, is powered by an Intel Celeron N3450 quad core processor, support HDMI 2.0 video output up to 4K @ 60 Hz, and is passively cooled. On top of that, it can also be upgraded with an M.2 SSD. The company has sent me a review for sample, and while I’ll focus on testing HDMI 2.0 support, audio pass-through, and whether the mini PC can handle high loads without CPU throttling in the second part of the review, I’ll first have a look at the hardware design today. MeLE PCG03 Apo Unboxing I’ve received the device in the usual black retail package showing the key features  with 4K […]

Hardkernel ODROID-XU4Q is a Fanless Version of ODROID-XU4 Exynos 5422 Development Board

[Update May 2018: You may be interested in ODROID-XU4Q review with Ubuntu 18.04] We had already seen ODROID-XU4 development board price drop to $59 earlier this year, but a frequent complain about the board remained: it requires a fan to operate at full speed, and makes noise while the fan turns. To address this issue, the company has now launched ODROID-XU4Q board with exactly the same specifications with Samsung Exynos 5422 octa-core processor, 2GB RAM, eMMC module support, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4 etc…, except the fan is replaced by a large heatsink. The company has also thoroughly tested both versions in different configurations such as setting the maximum frequency to 1.8 or 2.0 GHz, and found ODROID-XU4Q to be slightly slower under high load due to CPU throttling, as the large heatsink does not cool quite as well as the smaller heatsink in combination with a fan. However […]