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December 18, 2017January 7, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

MINIX NEO N42C-4 Triple Display Capable Mini PC Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

MINIX NEO N42C-4 mini PC was first unveiled last September at IFA 2017, as the first Apollo Lake mini PC from the company. The device has some interesting features like the possibility to upgrade the RAM thanks to two SO-DIMM slots, and storage via an M.2 SSD slot, and support for up to three display via HDMI 1.4, mini DisplayPort 1.2, and USB type C connector. Just like MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro model, the device is pre-loaded with an activated version of Windows 10 Pro, and includes a VESA mount. The company has now officially launched the device, with sales starting at the end of December for US$299.90 / 299.90 Euros on sites like Amazon [Update: NEO N42C-4 is now up for pre-order on GearBest]. MINIX has sent me a unit for review, so as usual, I’ll start by checking out of hardware, before testing Windows 10 Pro, system performance […]

December 13, 2017December 13, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments

NanoPi NEO Core and NEO Core2 Allwinner H3/H5 Systems-on-Module Launched for $7.99 and Up

FriendlyELEC has launched many cool NanoPi development boards such as NanoPi NEO2, NanoPi A64, or more recently NanoPi Duo based on Allwinner H- or A- series ARM processors, as well as some models based on Samsung/Nexcell or Amlogic SoC. The company has now launched two other NanoPi products that are a bit different since they are systems-on-module – or could even be considered minimal development boards – with namely NanoPi NEO Core powered by Allwinner H3 quad core 32-bit processor, and NanoPi NEO Core2 based on Allwinner H5 quad core 64-but processor. NanoPi NEO Core Specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core ARM Cortex-A7 processor up to 1.2GHz with Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 256MB or 512MB DDR3 RAM Storage – NC/8GB/16GB/32GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot USB – 1x micro USB OTG port also used for power input Expansion – 2x 2.54mm pitch 24-pin headers, 1x 2.54mm pitch 20-pin […]

November 15, 2017November 15, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

QNAP QBoat Sunny IoT Mini Server Board Officially Announced with Annapurna Labs AL-314 ARM Processor

We first had a glance at QNAP QBoat Sunny at CES 2017. At the time, QNAP IoT development board was powered by an Intel AnyWAN GRX750 dual core Atom based processor with 2GB RAM, 4GB flash, three Gigabit Ethernet ports, some mSATA slot and so on. The company has now officially announced the board, but with a twist, as the Intel processor has been replaced by Annapurna Labs (now part of Amazon) AL-314 quad core ARM Cortex-15 processor instead, and left most of the other features pretty much unchanged. QBoard Sunny board specifications: Processor – Annapurna Labs AL-314 quad core ARM Cortex-15 processor up to 1.7 GHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 512MB NAND flash, 2x M.2 2260/2280 SATA slots for SSDs (Key M) Network connectivity – 3x Gigabit Ethernet USB – 2x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports Audio – 3.5mm audio out jack, 3.5mm audio in jack Expansion […]

October 30, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

NanoPi Duo Quick Start Guide – Ubuntu, Breadboard, Mini Shield & mSATA SSD

As far as I know NanoPi Duo is the only quad core ARM Linux development board that can fit on a breadboard. We’ve already seen it’s much smaller than Raspberry Pi Zero, and the company offer a mini shield exposing USB ports, Ethernet, a few I/Os, and an mSATA slot in in NanoPi Duo Starter Kit Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Assembly. I’ve finally played with it this week-end, and will report what I had to do to blink a LED when connected to breadboard, and my experience using the mini shield with an mSATA SSD, WiFi connectivity, and cooling under load. Flashing Ubuntu 16.04.2 firmware image to NanoPi Duo As with many other Allwinner development boards, you should first check if Armbian is available for the board. NanoPi Duo is not supported, but it’s said to work with Orange Pi Zero image minus support for WiFi. Since the […]

October 29, 2017October 30, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

Intel Optane 900P Series SSD Launched for Desktop PCs

Intel and Micron first unveiled 3D Xpoint technology (pronounced “crosspoint”) in 2015 with the promise of 1000x faster storage and 1000x better endurance than NAND flash used in SSDs. Performance was later reduced to about 7x better IOPS in a prototype, and Intel started to sell the technology under the Optane brand with the 375GB SSD DC P4800X for the enterprise market. Since then Intel entered the consumer market with 16GB and 32GB Optane M.2 cards which are meant to be used as disk cache in compatible systems thanks to their high random I/O performance, and now the company has announced the first consumer grade 3D Xpoint SSDs for desktops and work stations with Optane 900P Series available in HHHL (CEM3.0) and U.2 15mm form factors, and with random I/O performance up to four times faster than competitive NAND-based SSDs. Optane SSD 900P Series specifications: Capacity – 280 to 480 […]

October 22, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

CHUWI LapBook 14.1 Laptop Manufacturing Changes – Hardware at Launch vs Several Months Later

Products may evolve over time due to parts becoming phased out (EOL), so company often issues PCN (product change notices) to the company for example to replace eMMC flash that’s not manufactured anymore by a new one. They won’t change any advertised features, so the product specifications should remain the same. Reviewers normally get product from one of the first batch of production, and if you purchase the product a few months later, after carefully reading reviews, you may end up with a device slightly different. But in some cases, the company makes major changes, while still delivering the same advertised hardware specifications. That’s apparently the case for CHUWI LapBook 14.1 laptop. The photo below shows how it looked internally for the sample I reviewed. If you zoom on the photo, you’ll find an M.2 slot on the bottom of the right PCB, potentially allowing you to add an SSD […]

October 9, 2017October 9, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$290 DERE A3 Air Intel Celeron J3455 Apollo Lake Notebook Comes with 64GB SSD, 512GB HDD

We’ve already seen several laptops and notebooks powered by Intel Apollo Lake processors such as CHUWI LapBook 14.1, Voyo VBook A1, or Acer Spin 1. However, most of the time those models only come with 32 or 64GB eMMC flash for the operating system, which – for my needs at least – is clearly not enough, as I need extra space for data. Some allow for M.2 or mSATA card expansions but that’s usually expensive, and I’d prefer the combination of an eMMC flash (or ideally a similarly sized SSD) for optional performance, together with the capacity and cheaper price of an hard drive. DERA A3 Air notebook appears to provide just that as it includes a 64GB SSD and a 500GB HDD. The device also comes with a 14.1″ display, and is powered by an Intel Celeron J3455 quad core Apollo Lake processor. DERA A3 Air notebook specifications: SoC […]

September 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Intel Compute Card and Dock Hands On, Windows 10 and Ubuntu Benchmarks

We’ve recently seen Intel introduced Dock DK132EPJ for their Compute Cards, and released some pricing info. Ian Morrison (Linuxium) got sent a full kit by Intel with the dock and Compute Card CD1M3128MK powered by a dual core / quad Core m3-7Y30 processor with 4GB RAM, 128GB PCIe SSD, and Intel Wireless-AC 8265 module. You can get the full details in Ian’s post, but I’ll provide a summary of the key points here. While the compute card and dock are thinner than most product, the computer card is quite wider than TV sticks, and the dock larger than an Intel NUC. It also comes with a fan, and cooling works well with maximum CPU temperature under being 70°C. The Compute Cards do not come with any operating system, but you get to the BIOS easily, and install Windows or Linux distributions. Ian’s started with Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation, and ran […]