Reviews - Page 45 of 119 - CNX Software

October 28, 2019February 29, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

NanoPi M4V2 Kit Review – Part 2: FriendlyCore Desktop

We’ve already seen how to assemble NanoPi M4V2 metal case kit which offers an Arm mini PC solution with support for NVMe SSD. The new NanoPi M4V2 Rockchip RK3399 SBC is an evolution of the M4 board that brings faster LPDDR4 memory and adds power & recovery buttons. Since we’ve already tested several RK3399 SBC‘s and TV boxes, I planned to focus the review on thermal design evaluation (i.e. see how well the board cools), and see how memory bandwidth evolved from LPDDR3 to LPDDR4. I wanted to do so both with Linux and Android, since I could compare NanoPC-T4 (LPDDR3) benchmarks in Android. But this requires an eMMC flash module, and I don’t own any. So instead I planned to run Armbian because of support for armbian-monitor for nice temperature chart but it’s not working just yet, so instead I’ve done all tests with FriendlyCore Desktop (rk3399-sd-friendlydesktop-bionic-4.4-arm64-20190926.img) based on […]

October 28, 2019November 30, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

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

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 […]

October 23, 2019November 24, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Khadas VIM3L SBC Review with Android 9 Firmware

Khadas VIM3L is the first and so far only Amlogic S905D3 SBC on the market, so I first ran some benchmarks and checked system info. But it is also designed to be an HTPC, I’ll continue the review with some 4K video and audio playback testing, some gaming, and I/O benchmarks. Khadas VIM3L Unboxing As you may remember (or not), VIM3L ships either as a bare board pre-loaded with Android 9 or as an HTPC kit with the board running CoreELEC. I’ve received the bare board which also comes with two WiFi antennas. It can do much more than a simple TV box however, since it also comes with an M.2 NVMe socket (extra adapter board required), and sockets with MIPI DSI + touchscreen, and MIPI CSI camera. It’s one of the few boards with a low profile Ethernet connector, so if you ever wanted to build a farm of […]

October 18, 2019November 14, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Rikomagic R6 Review – Part 1: Android Mini Projector’s Unboxing and First Boot

Rikomagic R6 is a mini Android projector that looks like a vintage radio, or depending on your point of view a mini vintage television. We’ve already gone through the specifications last time around, but the smart projector is based on a quad-core Rockchip processor coupled with up to 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, while the 720p projector delivers up to 70 ANSI lumens. The company has now sent me a sample for review, so in this first part of the review, I’ll show what’s in the package, and what it looks like after boot, before going through more thorough testing in the second part of the review. Rikomagic R6 Unboxing The package reads “R6 MINI Projector” and “Smart Home Theater”. I received a pink model, but the company also offer other colors. The projector’s lens is protected by a black cover. The projector feels quite heavy and indeed it weights […]

October 16, 2019October 17, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Khadas VIM3L (Amlogic S905D3) Benchmarks, Settings & System Info

Khadas VIM3L is the first Amlogic S905D3 SBC on the market and is sold as a lower-cost alternative to the company’s VIM3 board with a focus on the HTPC / media player market. Shenzhen Wesion was kind enough to send me a sample for review, and I’ll start by checking out benchmarks and system information in Android 9.0 Pie operating system. I also plan to perform a more detailed review with Android 9.0 and CoreELEC with a focus on media playback. I received the bare board only, and the first thing I did was to install it the heatsink I received for VIM3 and in turn, install it in the acrylic case. The company told me the heatsink is not really necessary “for normal purpose using like watch TV”, but it should be installed for performance tests and heavy workloads. I’d still recommend purchasing the heatsink to make sure it […]

October 9, 2019December 24, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

MINIX NEO J50C-4 (2019) Mini PC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Pro

Last week, I received the latest MINIX NEO J50C-4 (64GB) mini PC that hardware-wise is very much like last year, never released, MINIX NEO J50C-4 mini PC, except it comes with a 64GB eMMC flash instead of just 32GB. I’m now spent time testing the updated version, with a focus on the potential performance benefit of the new storage device, as well as features I was unable to test last year, such as USB-C DisplayPort output, or WiFi AC, and check out if some of the issues I encountered last year are now solved. System Info We’ve got basically the same info as last year with J50C-4 mini PC powered by an Intel Pentium Silver J5005 CPU coupled with 4.00 GB memory and running an activated (i.e. properly licensed) version of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. We’ve now got more space to play with thanks to a 57GB Windows partition, which […]

October 8, 2019October 9, 2019 by Karl Johnson - 29 Comments

Ugoos AM6 Review – An Android 9.0 TV Box with Plenty of Options

Karl here….With another review. Today we look at the AM6 from Ugoos. Ugoos has been around for quite some time. I recently did a review of the Beelink GT-King with the same S922X processor and I will do some comparisons with that. I have to say with everything except the UI, I like this box much better (You can read my rant in the Beelink article about Android on the TV). The AM6 is built well. It is solid with a metal enclosure and just feels good when you pick it up. I know weight doesn’t really matter but it feels substantial. Like I stated I don’t really like UI but Ugoos ticks quite a few boxes that appeal to my nerdiness. I will go more into that later. Below are the specs per Ugoos Website. I highlighted the interesting ones. Hardware Specs: Operation System – Android 9.0 Language – […]

October 3, 2019December 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

MINIX NEO J50C-4 (64GB) Mini PC Review – Part 1: Unboxing & Teardown

MINIX demonstrated their latest fanless NEO G41V-4 mini PC at IFA 2019 together with a MINIX NEO J50C-4 mini PC that I thought was last year’s model since I reviewed it last September with Windows 10 Pro and the company’s MINIX NEO W2 air mouse for computers. So when I received another MINIX NEO J50C-4 sample for review I was confused but noticed the eMMC flash capacity was increased from 32GB to 64GB. So I asked, and it’s a relaunch due to the shortage of Intel Gemini Lake processors: The increased storage capacity, from 32GB to 64GB eMMC, is the only difference from the sample you received last year. While we announced NEO J50C-4 last year, due to the Intel CPU shortage we never actually officially released. The Intel CPU shortage meant we only sold a couple of hundred units that we managed to produce before the CPU stock ran […]