Reviews - Page 3 of 140 - CNX Software

April 18, 2026May 6, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Pironman 5 Pro Max Review – A Raspberry Pi 5 Tower PC case with integrated video and audio capabilities, optional UPS kit

SunFounder has sent us a sample of the Pironman 5 Pro Max tower PC case for Raspberry Pi 5 for review alongside a PiPower 5 UPS board. The “Pro Max” builds upon the Pironman 5 Max we reviewed last year, but adds a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 5MP camera module, two speakers, a USB microphone, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The PiPower 5 is a UPS HAT designed for Raspberry Pi Zero/Model B single board computers, and not directly compatible with the Pironman cases, but we’ll still try to use it. I’ll start this review with an unboxing of the Pironman 5 Pro Max and PiPower 5 packages, followed by an assembly guide for the Pironman 5 Pro Max, a test of the new features (display, camera, audio interaction), and finally, I’ll have a quick test of the UPS HAT with the Raspberry Pi 5 enclosure. Unboxing of Pironman […]

March 28, 2026March 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

TerraMaster F2-425 Plus NAS review – Part 2: Configuration, benchmarks, and AI-enhanced media storage

I received the TerraMaster F2-425 Plus 3+2 Hybrid NAS for review last month, and after checking out the hardware in the first part of the review, I’ve finally had time to test the Intel N150 NAS. After installing two 4TB SATA drives and an M.2 NVMe SSD, I’ll report my experience setting up the system with the TNAS Android app, before running some benchmarks, and testing features like photo backup with AI search capabilities. Hard drive installation I already had an old, but little-used, 4TB HGST SATA drive, and I bought a “new” 4TB SATA drive online for a pretty good deal (2979 THB or a little over $90 US). It turns out the HPE MB4000GVY2K drive I got was refurbished, having been manufactured in 2017. However, it’s an enterprise-grade drive, and the TNAS app reports it has been used “only” for 2,517 hours, so I don’t feel too bad […]

March 18, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Review of Open Nextion ESP32-S3-based HMI displays with the Arduino IDE and the ESP-IDF framework

ITEAD has sent us samples of the Open Nextion ONX3248G035 and ONX2432G028 ESP32-S3 HMI displays for review. Open Nextion is a new product line that differs from the original Nextion HMI family, which relies on the Nextion Editor for UI design and UART communication for control. Instead, the Open Nextion features an ESP32-S3 wireless microcontroller handling logic processing, display control, and wireless connectivity, all in one integrated package. ITEAD fully supports the ESP-IDF framework and the Arduino IDE with LVGL graphics library support. The ONX3248G035 model features a 3.5-inch screen, while the ONX2432G028 variant has a 2.8-inch screen. The Open Nextion HMI wireless displays also take accessories such as a dual-microphone array, a speaker, and an I/Os adapter. The new Open Nextion product line is especially well-suited to embedded developers/makers who want an all-in-one board with HMI and wireless capabilities, IoT terminal and Smart HMI panel prototyping, students interested in […]

March 17, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Mini review of the ThinkNode M6 “outdoor solar power for Meshtastic”

Elecrow has sent us a solar-powered ThinkNode M6 Meshtastic device for review. Last year, I reviewed the ThinkNode M1 and M2 Meshtastic nodes, and I was a bit disappointed by the point-to-point range in a suburban environment, where I got about 550 meters of range after switching to LONG SLOW mode. Nine months have passed since that review, and there still doesn’t seem to be any Meshtastic community in the second-largest city in Thailand, probably because typical Meshtastic terminals are more expensive than entry-level Android smartphones, have limited functionality, and the mobile app is still a mess despite a revamp. Nevertheless, when Elecrow asked me whether I wanted to test the “ThinkNode M6 outdoor solar power for Meshtastic”, I thought it might be fun. The main purpose of this mini review is to check the range I get using the M6 as a router between the M1 and M2 nodes. […]

March 7, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 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, 2026June 22, 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 […]

March 1, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 review – Part 3: Ubuntu 25.10 on a mid-range AMD Ryzen 5 6600H laptop

CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 Ubuntu 25.10 Linux review

We’ve already checked CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 hardware in the first part of the review, before testing the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H laptop with Windows 11 Pro, and today I’ll report my experience using the CoreBook Air Plus 16 laptop with Linux using Ubuntu 25.10 distribution. The Ubuntu review will include system information, benchmarks, YouTube 4K and 8K video playback, feature testing, storage and WiFi 6 performance, and measurement of fan noise and power consumption/battery life. Ubuntu 26.04 vs Ubuntu 25.10 installation The initial plan was to install Ubuntu 26.04 (daily image) on the laptop in dual boot configuration with Windows 11 Pro. So I resized the Windows partition in Disk Management to leave a 125GB partition for Ubuntu. I downloaded a daily Ubuntu 26.04 ISO (February 28, 2026), and created a startup disk on my Ubuntu 24.04 laptop using an 8GB USB flash drive. I plugged the USB […]

February 21, 2026March 5, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 review – Part 2: An AMD Ryzen 5 6600H-powered, mid-range laptop tested with Windows 11 Pro

CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 laptop review Windows 11

I’ve already checked out the hardware of the CHUWI CoreBook Air Plus 16 laptop in the first part of the review, so today, I’ll report my experience using the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H laptop with the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro operating system. We’ll start with a software overview and a test of key features, followed by benchmarking, evaluation of WiFi 6 performance, and measurement of fan noise, power consumption, and battery life. Software Overview and Features Testing The CoreBook Air Plus 16 ships with Windows 11 Pro 64-bit 24H2 operating system, upgraded to the 25H2 version after running Windows updates. The System->About window confirms we have a CoreBook Air Plus laptop powered by a 3.3 GHz (base frequency) AMD Ryzen 5 6600H processor with Radeon graphics paired with 16GB of RAM and 447GB of storage. None of the mini PCs and laptops we’ve reviewed in the past come with Microsoft […]