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August 13, 2026August 14, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

AAEON PICO-ADN2 – A low-profile Alder Lake-N Pico-ITX SBC for space-constrained applications

AAEON PICO-ADN2 is a low-profile Alder Lake-N Pico-ITX SBC powered by an Intel N97 or Core i3-N305 SoC and designed for space-constrained transportation, digital signage, industrial automation, and smart kiosk applications. Its features are very similar to the PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX SBC introduced in 2023, with up to 16 GB LPDDR5, HDMI, LVDS, and eDP display interfaces, dual Gigabit Ethernet, an M.2 E-Key socket for wireless, multiple USB interfaces, RS232/RS485 interfaces, and more. The main difference is that most standard (and thick) ports have been replaced by low-profile connectors, except somehow the HDMI connector. AAEON PICO-ADN2 specifications Alder Lake-N SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N97 quad-core processor up to 3.6 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 12W Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core processor up to 3.8 GHz with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD Graphics; TDP: 15W Other Intel Atom x7000E Series, Processor N-series, and Intel Core i3 […]

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 […]

June 23, 2026June 23, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

TerraMaster F4-425 Pro 4+3 Hybrid NAS gets Intel Core 3 N350 or Core i3-N305 octa-core CPU

TerraMaster F4-425 Pro Intel Core i3-N305 Core 3 N350

TerraMaster F4-425 Pro 4+3 Hybrid NAS is an update of the F4-425 Plus Intel N150 NAS with a more powerful Intel Core 3 N350 “Twin Lake” octa-core processor or Core i3-N305 octa-core “Alder Lake-N” processor. Apart from the new processors, the new Pro model basically offers the same features with four SATA bays and three M.2 NVMe SSD sockets for storage (hence the 4+3 hybrid moniker), and dual 5GbE networking. It’s equipped with 8GB or 16GB DDR5 memory, and also adds four USB 3.2 ports for peripheral expansion, and an HDMI port for terminal access. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Core i3-N305 octa-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32U Intel HD graphics @ 1,250 MHz; TDP: 15W Intel Core 3 N350 octa-core Twin Lake processor @ up to 3.9 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32U Intel HD graphics […]

May 20, 2026May 20, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

ODROID-H5 – A $250 Intel Core i3-N300 SBC with 10GbE networking, four M.2 PCIe slots

Hardkernel ODROID-H5 is an affordable Intel Core i3-N300 octa-core Alder Lake-N SBC providing a 10GbE RJ45 networking jack, and four M.2 PCIe slots for storage, wired/wireless networking, or AI accelerator expansion. It relies on the same SoC as in the earlier ODROID-H4 Ultra SBC, but trades a single PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 slot and four SATA ports for four M.2 slots, and upgrades from dual 2.5GbE to single 10GbE. It still features four USB ports, but only one USB 3.0 port, and three USB 2.0 ports. ODROID-H5 specifications: SoC- Intel Core i3-N300 CPU – Octa-core “Alder Lake-N” processor @ up to 3.8 GHz (Turbo single-core) or 2.3 GHz (Turbo multi-core) with 6MB cache GPU – 32EU Intel UHD Graphics @ 1.25 GHz TDP: 7W System Memory – Up to 64GB DDR5 4800 MHz SO-DIMM memory Storage Up to 4x 2280 NVMe SSDs via M.2 slots (See Expansion section) eMMC flash […]

April 24, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Axiomtek PICO570 – An Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake Pico-ITX SBC with DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM memory, HDMI 2.1 up to 4Kp120

Axiomtek PICO570 Pico ITX SBC with Intel Core Ultra Processors

Axiomtek has recently introduced the PICO570, a high-performance Pico-ITX SBC built around Intel Core Ultra (Series 1) Meteor Lake-U processors. Measuring just 100 x 72 mm, this ultra-compact board with its 11 TOPS NPU is designed for edge AI applications. The PICO570 board is very similar to the AAEON PICO-MTU4 Pico-ITX SBC, but it features a physical 262-pin DDR5 SO-DIMM slot that allows users to upgrade or replace the RAM instead of solder-on LPDDR5 memory, and features an HDMI 2.1 supporting up to 4K resolution at 120Hz. The SBC also features an RS-232/422/485 serial interface, two USB 3.0 ports, and a dedicated SMBus connector for system management. With an operating temperature range of -20°C to +60°C, a watchdog timer, hardware monitoring, and a 12V DC input, it can be used for AI inference nodes, automation controllers, medical systems, and intelligent infrastructure. Axiomtek PICO570 specifications: Meteor Lake-U SoC (one of the other) […]

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 10, 2026March 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Intel Arrow Lake-S ATX motherboard supports up to 256GB CU-DIMM DDR5 RAM, features W880 chipset

Jetway ATX-ARS1-W880 is an ATX motherboard taking socketed Intel Arrow Lake-S SoCs with up to 24 cores, 36 TOPS of AI performance, and featuring four CU-DIMM (Clocked Unbuffered DIMM) sockets for up to 256GB DDR5 ECC memory, and a W880 chipset. Targeting Smart Factory applications, the industrial-grade motherboard also features four SATA III ports and two M.2 M-Key PCIe Gen5/4 sockets for storage, seven PCIe slots, three 2.5GbE ports, M.2 E-Key and B-Key sockets for WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular (4G/5G) connectivity, sixteen USB interfaces (Type-A and headers), and a few serial interfaces. The ATX-ARS1-W880 also supports up to four independent displays through DP, HDMI, and VGA ports, and features a combo audio block with Line-in, Line-out, and MIC-out jacks. Jetway ATX-ARS1-W880 specifications: SoC – Intel LGA1851 socket for Intel Core Ultra 200S “Arrow Lake-S” processor up to 125W TDP Chipset – Intel W880 “workstation” chipset System Memory – 4x DDR5 […]

February 26, 2026February 26, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Raspberry Pi CM5 mini-ITX-compatible carrier board features up to nine Ethernet ports for NVR, Smart Home, and Edge AI applications

EXAVIZ Cruiser is a mini-ITX-compatible carrier board for the Raspberry Pi CM5 featuring up to nine Ethernet ports (one 2.5GbE port, and up to eight GbE PoE+ ports) designed for Network Video Recorders (NVRs), Smart Home gateways, and edge AI applications. The board also features two 4K-capable HDMI 2.0 video outputs, two SATA ports, an M.2 PCIe Gen2/3 x1 socket for an NVMe SSD, an AI accelerator, or a SATA expansion module, three USB 3.0 ports, and four USB 2.0 interfaces. It also supports 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4 LE, and Zigbee connectivity through an ESP32-C6 module, and you can also add eight extra 10/100Mbps PoE+ RJ45 interfaces through an additional expansion board for up to sixteen PoE-capable Ethernet ports in total. EXAVIZ Cruiser specifications: Supported SoM – Raspberry Pi CM5 and CM5 Lite. note: Raspberry Pi CM4 and Banana Pi CM4 are explitly not supported Storage M.2 Key-M […]