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June 16, 2021June 16, 2021 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 9 Comments

GMK NucBox Review – A palm-sized Windows 10 mini PC

GMK released their diminutive mini PC called the NucBox a while ago however they have recently updated the BOM with a new fan and WiFi module together with changing their logo from GMK to GMK TEC. GMK sent the new NucBox for review and the results from various testing are detailed below. Hardware Overview The NucBox physically consists of a 62 x 62 x 42mm (2.44 x 2.44 x 1.65 inches) rectangular metal case with a plastic top and base plate. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s 14 nm J4125 Gemini Lake Refresh processor which is a quad-core 4-thread 2.00 GHz processor boosting to 2.70 GHz with Intel’s UHD Graphics 600. The front has just the power button whilst the rear includes two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and a Type-C USB port for power. The left side has a microSD card slot and a headphone […]

June 1, 2021 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 9 Comments

MeLE Quieter2 Review – Windows 10, Ubuntu 20.04, and eGPU

MeLE has recently released a passive mini PC called the Quieter2. What is particularly interesting is that whilst it only has a low-powered Intel Celeron CPU it also supports an M.2 2280 NVMe SSD drive which theoretically makes using an eGPU possible. MeLE provided a 99% discount coupon so that I could purchase one for review and the results from various testing are detailed below. Hardware Overview The Quieter2 physically consists of a 131 x 81 x 18.3mm (5.16 x 3.19 x 0.72 inches) rectangular plastic case with a metal base plate. The top half of the case is finely grooved to mimic the fins of a heat spreader but is made of plastic rather than metal to allow reception to the WiFi antennas as one is directly connected to it. As a passively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s 14 nm J4125 Gemini Lake Refresh processor which is a […]

May 27, 2021May 31, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

QMiroPlus-201W – Arm router and Intel NAS in one device with Qualcomm IPQ4019 & Celeron J4125

QNAP QMiroPlus-201W is an unusual networked storage device that’s acting both as a 2.5GbE & WiFI 6 router and NAS combining Qualcomm IPQ4019 Arm SoC for the router functions, and an Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake processor for the NAS functions. Usually, you’d get the choice of either an Arm or Intel processor, but here QNAP decided to use both to keep the same performance as having separate Arm-based router and Intel-based NAS, but in a much more compact form factor. QNAP QMiroPlus-201W hardware specifications: SoC/memory/internal storage For router SoC – Qualcomm IPQ4019 quad-core Arm Cortex A7 @ 716.8MHz Memory – 512MB DDR3 Internal Storage – 4MB SPI NOR Flash & 4GB eMMC flash For NAS SoC – Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake processor @2.0 GHz Memory – 4GB DDR4 Internal Storage – 4GB eMMC flash Data Storage – 2x 2.5-inch SATA 3Gb/s (Compatible with 6Gb/s SSD/HDD) bay Networking […]

April 27, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments

MeLE Quieter2 is an ultra-thin fanless mini PC powered by an Intel Celeron J4125 processor

Intel Celeron J4125 Gemini Lake Refresh is found in several interesting hardware platforms include Chuwi Larkbox and Beelink Gemini M mini PC’s, as well as the just-announced ODYSSEY-X86J4125 SBC. There’s now another option with MeLE Quieter2 mini PC, that is even smaller than the Gemini M mini PC, albeit slightly thicker, and more important does without the fan, as a completely fanless, silent design as the name implies. MeLE Quieter2 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake Refresh processor @ 2.00 GHz / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD Graphics 600; 10W TDP System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4 Storage – 128GB or 256GB eMMC flash, M.2 2280 SATA/NVMe socket, MicroSD card reader Video Output – 2x HDMI 2.0 ports up to 4K @ 60 Hz Audio – 3.5mm headphone+mic jack, digital audio output via HDMI Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet port, dual-band 802.11b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 USB […]

April 23, 2021April 29, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ODYSSEY-X86J4125 SBC gets a faster Celeron J4125 SoC and a price increase

ODYSSEY-X86J4105 is an Intel Gemini Lake SBC designed for makers with Arduino compatibility thanks to a Microchip SAMD21 microcontroller, as well as Raspberry Pi headers. We reviewed the board and enclosure last year both with Windows 10 Enterprise and Ubuntu 20.04, and we also successfully tested the Arduino and Raspberry Pi GPIO headers with the latter. But the Intel Celeron J4105 quad-core Gemini Lake processor has been scheduled for discontinuance since last year, and the last order on January 22, 2021, and the final shipment on planned for July 9, 2021. So Seeed Studio had to find a replacement, and they’ve now launched ODYSSEY-X86J4125 single board computer with the same features, but switching to a slightly faster, and still available, Intel Celeron J4125 processor. ODYSSEY-X86J4125800 SBC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core Gemini Lake Refresh processor @ 2.0 / 2.7 GHz (Turbo) / 2.4 GHz (Turbo all cores) with […]

January 12, 2021January 12, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

Intel Jasper Lake N-Series launched with 6W Celeron and 10W Pentium Silver processors

Pentium Silver J5040 vs Pentium Silver N6005

Intel has finally announced the Gemini Lake processor family successor at CES 2021 together with other processors. The Jasper Lake family currently comes with six different Celeron and Pentium Silver parts with respectively 6W and 10 TDP. The company positions those for the education market, but I’d expect them to also be found in various mini PCs, single board computers, and systems-on-module. The processors are manufactured with the company’s 10nm process, and are said to deliver up to 35% better overall application performance and up to 78% better graphics performance compared to Gemini Lake Refresh processors. The new parts listed on Ark are not really new for CNX Software readers as we published the list of Jasper Lake processors in September following a leak. But we know have more details, so let’s compare the top parts of both Gemini Lake Refresh (Pentium Silver J5040) and Jasper Lake (Pentium Silver N6005) […]

January 4, 2021January 6, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 393 Comments

MINIX NEO J50C-4 Max mini PC international giveaway

Right before Christmas, I posted a review of MINIX NEO J50C-4 Max mini PC powered by an Intel Pentium J5005 Gemini Lake processor coupled with 8GB RAM and a 240GB SSD. It’s basically the same as the previously reviewed MINIX NEO J50C-4 except for the extra memory and faster & higher capacity SSD storage. MINIX asked me if I could do a giveaway of three units on CNX Software after the review, and I thought it would be a good idea so here we are. I wanted to complete the review before launching the giveaway and tested MINIX NEO J50C-4 Max with the pre-installed Windows 10 Pro. I worked just as well as the previous model with no CPU throttling and the performance one should expect from a Gemini Lake processor, but you may want to add an extra 8GB memory stick to take advantage of the higher bandwidth provided […]

December 31, 2020December 31, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

ECS GLKD-HTI is a “Half mini-ITX” motherboard with Gemini Lake processor

If you’ve never heard about a “half mini-ITX” motherboard, that’s normal, as I don’t think it’s actually a thing. At least until now, as ECS GLKD-HTI is an Intel Gemini Lake motherboard that’s half the size of a standard mini-ITX motherboard. The board still comes with the usual HDMI, DisplayPort, USB and Ethernet ports, as well as a SODIMM slot for DDR4-2133 memory, an M.2 socket for 2280 SATA SSDs, as well as a SATA 3.0 port. ECS GLKD-HTI “half mini-ITX” motherboard specifications: SoC – Choice of Intel Gemini Lake processors with Intel UHD 600 graphics System Memory – 1x DDR4 SO-DIMM socket for up to 8GB DDR4 2133 non-ECC memory Storage 1x M.2 slot for SSD for 2280 single side SATA SSD 1x SATA 3.0 6Gbps connector 128 MB SPI Flash for AMI BIOS / UEFI Video Output – HDMI 1.4a up to 1920×1200 1x LVDS connector Audio 2x […]