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August 11, 2026August 11, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM IT13 Max review – Part 2: An Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro (in 2026)

We previously checked out the hardware of the GEEKOM IT13 Max mini PC with an unboxing and a teardown of the 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini PC in the first part of the review, before booting it up to Windows 11 Pro. We’ve now had time to test it in more detail. So we will report our experience with the GEEKOM IT13 Max on Windows 11 Pro, covering feature testing, system performance benchmarks, AI benchmarks, YouTube 4K and 8K video playback in Firefox, 2.5GbE and Wi-Fi 6 network performance testing, and thermal performance, as well as measurements of fan noise and power consumption. Since we had already reviewed the GEEKOM GT1 Mega mini PC with the same Intel Meteor Lake CPU in 2024, we’ll compare the results to report any improvements or regressions since then. Software Overview and Feature Testing The System->About window confirms we have an “IT13_Max” […]

August 7, 2026August 11, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

GEEKOM IT13 Max mini PC review – Part 1: specifications, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

We’ve just received a sample of the GEEKOM IT13 Max mini PC powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU for review. With up to 35 TOPS, sixteen cores clocked up to 5.1 GHz, and up to 24 GB LPDDR5 memory, the Meteor Lake mini PC is well-suited for AI workloads, creative tasks, coding, and heavy multitasking. Two configurations are available: one with 16 GB DDR5 SODIMM RAM and a 1 TB PCIe Gen4 SSD, and another with 24 GB soldered-on LPDDR5-5600 memory and a 500 GB SSD. Both feature two 40 Gbps USB4 ports, five USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two HDMI 2.0 ports, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and dual 2.5 GbE networking, and come pre-installed with Windows 11 Pro. GEEKOM specifically sent us the IT13 Max mini PC with 24 GB LPDDR5 and a 500 GB M.2 SSD for testing. In this article, we will cover […]

July 26, 2026July 29, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Creality Pika review – An affordable, portable 3D scanner with infrared and blue laser modes

Creality has sent us a sample of the Pika portable 3D scanner for review. In some ways, it shares some of the features of the high-end Sermoon S1 3D scanner, like blue laser and NIR structured light scanning modes, but it’s more affordable and compact, works out of the box through USB or WiFi, and is offered in a design and form factor similar to an action or point-and-shoot camera. In this review, I’ll start by listing the specifications, then go through an unboxing, and test the Pika with an (underpowered) Android phone, before spending more time testing the portable 3D scanner on a powerful mini PC connected to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GPU dock. Pika 3D scanner specifications and host requirements Pika (CRS15CPK) specifications: SoC – Unnamed octa-core processor clocked at 2.0 GHz Display – 3-inch touchscreen display Scanning Modes 7 Parallel Blue Laser Lines Working […]

July 25, 2026July 25, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Beelink ME Pro 2-bay hybrid NAS gets Wildcat Lake treatment, gains 10GbE and Thunderbolt 4, loses a few M.2 slots

Beelink “ME Pro 2-Bay AI NAS Mini PC Intel Wildcat Lake 304” offers two SATA bays and one M.2 PCIe Gen4 socket, and is equipped with 16GB DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM memory and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage. It’s an upgrade to the Beelink ME Pro Intel N95/N150 NAS and mini PC introduced last February. Besides the faster processor, the NAS trades its 5GbE port for a faster 10GbE port, and gains two Thunderbolt 4 ports. One downside, due to the lower number of PCIe lanes in Wildcat Lake processors, is that it now features one M.2 PCIe Gen4 socket, instead of three M.2 PCIe Gen3 sockets, which is somewhat mitigated by the built-in UFS storage. Beelink ME Pro specifications: SoC – Intel Core 3 304 “Wildcat Lake” 5-core CPU – 1x P-cores @ 1.5/4.3 GHz (Turbo) + 4x LPE-cores @ 1.4/3.3 GHz (Turbo) Cache – 6MB L3 cache GPU – 1-core Intel […]

July 24, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

$379.99 BOSGAME E6 ECO mini PC features Intel Core 3 304 Wildcat Lake CPU, 12GB LPDDR5X, 512GB NVMe SSD

BOSGAME E6 ECO is another Wildcat Lake mini PC powered by the penta-core Intel Core 3 304 processor, paired with 12GB LPDDR5X and a 512GB NVMe SSD, and an attractive price tag of $379.99 and up. It also features three video outputs via HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, and USB-C ports, dual GbE networking, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity, a 3.5mm audio jack, and five USB ports. BOSGAME E6 ECO mini PC: SoC – Intel Core 3 304 “Wildcat Lake” 5-core CPU – 1x P-cores @ 1.5/4.3 GHz (Turbo) + 4x LPE-cores @ 1.4/3.3 GHz (Turbo) Cache – 6MB L3 cache GPU – 1-core Intel Xe3 Graphics @ 2.3 GHz (9 TOPS) NPU – 15 TOPS Manufacturing processor – Intel 18A System Memory – 12GB LPDDR5x @ 6400MT/s Storage 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD; upgradable to up to 4TB Additional M.2 2242 PCIe Gen4 slot Video Output HDMI 2.0 video […]

July 22, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

ACEMAGICIAN Kron K1 mini PC gets low-cost variant with AMD Ryzen R2544 CPU, 8GB DDR4, 256GB SSD

Previously offered with AMD Ryzen 5/7/9 CPUs, the ACEMAGICIAN Kron K1 mini PC has now gotten a low-cost version based on the AMD Ryzen R2544 quad-core processor paired with 8GB DDR4 and a 256GB SSD and sold for just $279.99 on Amazon. With everything going up in price, companies are trying to offer more affordable systems. ACEMAGICIAN has decided to use a processor from the Ryzen Embedded R2000 family introduced in 2022 that’s typically found in industrial-grade modules and motherboards such as the AAEON COM-R2KC6 COM Express module or the Kontron D3723-R mini-ITX motherboard. ACEMAGICIAN Kron K1 R2544 specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen Embedded R2544 CPU – Quad-core/eight-thread processor @ 3.35 / 3.7 GHz (Turbo) GPU – 8-core AMD Radeon Vega Graphics TDP – 45 Watts System Memory 8GB DDR4 RAM pre-installed Upgradeable up to 64GB via two DDR4 SO-DIMM sockets Storage 256GB M.2 SSD pre-installed 2x M.2 2280 slots: […]

July 19, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Beelink EQi 304 review – Part 3: Ubuntu 26.04 on a Wildcat Lake mini PC

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake mini PC Ubuntu 26.04 review

After checking out the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown of the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake mini PC, we reviewed the Intel Core 3 304 computer with Windows 11 in detail. We’ve now had time to test the Beelink EQi mini PC running Ubuntu 26.04 with Linux 7.0/7.1 kernels. We’ll report our experience with feature testing, benchmark results, 2.5GbE, 10GbE, and WiFi 6 networking evaluation, storage and USB/Thunderbolt tests, and more, including power consumption measurements. Ubuntu 26.04 installation and system information I’d usually resize the Windows partition to install Ubuntu alongside it in dual boot configuration. However, since the Beelink EQi mini PC also comes with two PCIe Gen4 x1/x2 sockets, I installed Ubuntu 26.04 on a 256GB NVMe (PCIe Gen3 x4) SSD fitted into the PCIe x2 socket and left the Windows 11 partition on the UFS storage alone. Despite the Intel Core 3 304 chip being a […]

July 12, 2026July 19, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Beelink EQi review – Part 2: An Intel Core 3 304 “Wildcat Lake” mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 Windows 11 mini PC review

We’ve already checked out the specifications and hardware of the Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake mini PC in the first part of the review, with an unboxing and a teardown, before booting the mini PC into the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro for a first quick look. We’ve now had time to test the Intel Core 3 304 mini PC in more detail on Windows 11 Pro, so we’ll report our experience. The review includes feature testing, benchmark results, 4K and 8K YouTube video playback, 10GbE, 2.5GbE, and WiFi network performance evaluation, cooling performance, and measurement of fan noise and power consumption. Software Overview and Feature Testing After fully updating Windows 11 Pro and drivers to the latest version (excluding previews), I went to System > About window again. We still have a 1.50 GHz (base frequency) Intel Core 3 304 processor with 16GB 6400MT/s memory, and 834GB of storage from the […]