geekom News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

March 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 25.10 on an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U mini PC

GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition mini PC Ubuntu 25.10 linux review

After checking out the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown of the GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition mini PC, and testing it with the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro OS in the second part of the review, we will now report our experience with Ubuntu 25.10 to show how the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U mini PC performs under Linux. The Ubuntu 25.10 review includes an overview of the system, benchmarks, storage and networking (2.5GbE and WiFi 6) performance testing, and measurements of CPU temperature under stress, fan noise levels, and power consumption of the mini PC under various workloads. Ubuntu 25.10 installation We decided to install Ubuntu 25.10 in dual boot configuration alongside Windows 11. To do so, we first shrank the Windows partition (C:) to roughly half its original size, before inserting a USB drive with the Ubuntu 25.10 ISO to carry on with the installation. The installation proceeded […]

March 2, 2026March 13, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition Review – Part 2: An AMD Ryzen 5 7530U mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro

GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition windows 11 review

After checking out the hardware of the GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition mini PC with an unboxing and a teardown in the first part of the review, we’ve now had time to test the AMD Ryzen 5 7530U mini PC with Windows 11 Pro. We will report our experience by providing an overview of the software, testing features, running benchmarks such as PCMark 10, 3DMark, PassMark PerformanceTest 11, Cinebench R23, and Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0, testing 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking performance, evaluating the cooling system, and measuring fan noise levels and power consumption. Software overview and features testing The System > About window confirms that we have an “A5_Pro” mini PC powered by a 2.0 GHz (base frequency) AMD Ryzen 5 7530U processor with 16 GB of RAM, and 954 GB of storage. The mini PC runs Windows 11 Pro 64-bit version 25H2 build 26200.7840. HWiNFO 64 gives us […]

February 19, 2026February 20, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Review of GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition (AMD Ryzen 5 7530U) mini PC – Part 1: specifications, unboxing, and teardown

GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition mini PC review

We’ve just received a sample of the GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition mid-range mini PC for review. It’s powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U 6-core/12-thread processor clocked at up to 4.5GHz, and equipped with 16GB dual-channel DDR4-3200MHz SODIMM memory and a 1TB NVMe SSD. The Windows 11 Pro computer features two 4K-capable HDMI 2.0 ports, two USB-C ports with DisplayPort Alt mode, a 2.5GbE RJ45 jack, a Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module, a full-size SD card reader, and a few USB 32/2.0 Type-A ports. In the first part of the review, we’ll go through the specifications, an unboxing, and a teardown of the GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition mini PC, before booting it into Windows 11 Pro to make sure it’s working fine. In the next two parts of the review, we’ll then report our experience with Windows 11 Pro and an early Ubuntu 26.04 image with detailed […]

November 20, 2025November 26, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025 – International deals, coupons, and events

Like every year since 2014, I’ll list a few international deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025, as many CNX Software readers cannot benefit from promotions on Amazon’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday events, which will take place from November 20 to December 1. I’ve gathered various deals, discount coupon codes, and events from relevant manufacturers of single board computers, MCU development boards, mini PCs, Smart Home devices, and DIY products, as well as popular online stores, including AliExpress, Banggood, and others. AliExpress Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025 event AliExpress sales event for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025 has just started and will last until December 3, 2025 (although I can see until November 29 and December 4 in some places). You can use some of the coupons on the screenshot above, or some alternative coupon codes for the US and some other countries (excluding DE, RU, […]

July 10, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 24.04 on an Intel Core i7-1280P mini PC

GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition review performance ubuntu 24.04

We’ve already checked out GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition mini PC’s hardware with an unboxing and a teardown, and tested the Intel Core i7-1280P mini PC with Windows 11 Pro in detail in the second part of the review. We’ve now had time to test the Mini IT12 2025 Edition mini PC with Ubuntu 24.04, so we’ll report our experience with Linux in the third part of the review. We’ll specifically go through system information, test key features, benchmark the system and compare it against the earlier Mini IT12 “2023 Edition” powered by an Intel Core i7-12650H processor, because checking out storage and USB performance, WiFi 6 and 2.5GbE network performance, stress testing the mini PC, and finally measuring fan noise and power consumption. Ubuntu 24.04 installation We decided to install Ubuntu 24.04 LTS alongside Windows 11 in a dual-boot configuration, so we resized the Windows 11 partition by about […]

June 30, 2025July 10, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition mini PC review – Part 2: Windows 11 Pro features testing, benchmarks, power consumption

GEEKOM Mini IT12 205 Edition Mini PC review Intel Core i7-1280P Windows 11 Pro

We have already checked out the hardware of the GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition mini PC with an unboxing and a teardown in the first part of the review. The new model still relies on a 12th Intel processor, and simply replaced the 10-core Intel Core i7-12650H by a more powerful 14-core Intel Core i7-1280P processor still coupled with 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a 1TB M.2 SSD, although the brands and models of the RAM, storage, and wireless modules have changed. In the second part of the review, we will be testing the GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition mini PC with the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro in detail, notably testing most features and running benchmarks before comparing it to the (2023 Edition) Mini IT12 mini PC with an Intel Core i7-12650H processor. We’ll also test 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking, cooling performance, and finally measure fan noise and power […]

June 23, 2025July 10, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition Review – Part 1: Intel Core i7-1280P mini PC specifications, unboxing, and teardown

GEEKOM Mini IT12 Mini PC Intel Core i7-1280P review

GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition is a mini PC with three 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake CPU options: Core i5-12450H, Core i7-1280P, and Core i9-12900HK. It supports up to 64GB of RAM, up to 2TB NVMe SSD, offers various ports such as HDMI 2.0, USB4, and 2.5GbE, and comes with WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. GEEKOM sent us a review sample of the Mini IT12 with an Intel Core i7-1280P processor, 32GB DDR4, and a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because we previously reviewed the Mini IT12 with an Intel Core i7-12650H in December 2023/January 2024 with the same name but a different processor, and a few other changes, as we’ll see below. In the first part of the review, we will look at the specifications of the GEEKOM IT12 2025 Edition mini PC, go through an unboxing, perform a teardown to check out […]

February 16, 2025February 16, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

GEEKOM A6 Review – Part 3: Ubuntu 24.04 tested on an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC

We’ve already checked out the hardware of the GEEKOM A6 mini PC with an unboxing and teardown in the first part of the review, and thoroughly tested the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC in Windows 11 Pro in the second part, so it’s now time to report our experience with Ubuntu 24.04 Linux on the mid-range mini PC. We’ve gone through features testing, system benchmarks, storage (SSD and USB) performance tests, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 network evaluation, 4K and 8K YouTube video playback, a stress test to check out the cooling ability of the mini PC, and finally fan noise and power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 24.04 installation and system information Since we wanted to install Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS alongside Windows 11 Pro, we resized the partition by roughly half. But since the C: drive was “BitLocker Encrypted”, we knew Ubuntu installation wouldn’t be successful that way, so we went to […]