windows 11

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Beelink EQi review – Part 2: An Intel Core 3 304 “Wildcat Lake” mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro

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 […]

Posted on by Sponsored Post - No Comments on ACEMAGIC discounts its AMD Ryzen 7 mini PCs by up to 32% for a limited time (Sponsored)

ACEMAGIC discounts its AMD Ryzen 7 mini PCs by up to 32% for a limited time (Sponsored)

ACEMAGIC Retro X3

ACEMAGIC has launched a promotion for two of its AMD Ryzen 7 mini PCs. The Matrix Mini K1 mini PC, powered by a Ryzen 7 7730U paired with 16GB LPDDR4X and a 512GB NVMe SSD, benefits from a 23% discount down to $386, and the company offers an even deeper 32% discount for the ACEMAGIC Retro X3 Ryzen 7 H 255 mini PC, shipping with 16GB LPDDR5 and a 1TB NVME SSD. ACEMAGICIAN Matrix Mini K1 Key features and specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen 7 7730U 8-core/16-thread CPU @ up to 4.5 GHz with AMD Radeon Graphics  @ 2000 MHz; TDP: 15W System Memory – 16GB LPDDR4X Storage – 512GB NVMe SSD Video Output HDMI 2.0, DP 1.4b, USB-C with DisplayPort Alt mode Up to 3x 4K displays supported Audio – 3.5 mm audio jack Networking Ethernet RJ45 port WiFI and Bluetooth USB 4x USB 3.2 Gen1 ports 2x USB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments on Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 mini PC review – Part 1: Specifications, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 mini PC review – Part 1: Specifications, unboxing, teardown, and first boot

Beelink EQi Wildcat Lake Core 3 304 review

We’ve received our first Wildcat Lake hardware for review, as Beelink has sent us an EQi mini PC powered by the Intel Core 3 304 entry-level 5-core processor with a 15 TOPS AI accelerator. The mini PC ships with either 16GB of LPDDR5 (soldered-on) or 24GB/32GB of DDR5 (SO-DIMM) memory and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage. It also features two M.2 Key-M PCIe Gen4 sockets, 10GbE and 2.5GbE RJ45 ports, WiFI 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, three display outputs via HDMI and USB4 ports, and more. We’ll start the review by listing the specifications, checking out the hardware with an unboxing and a teardown, before giving it a quick try with Windows 11 Pro. In the second part of the review, we’ll focus on Windows 11 Pro, with feature testing and benchmarks, before switching to Ubuntu 26.04 to test a recent Linux distribution on a Wildcat Lake mini PC. Beelink EQi […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on $449 CHUWI UniBook 14-inch laptop is powered by an Intel Core 3 304 Wildcat Lake processor

$449 CHUWI UniBook 14-inch laptop is powered by an Intel Core 3 304 Wildcat Lake processor

CHUWI Intel Core 3 304 Widlcat Lake laptop

CHUWI has just opened pre-orders for the $449 UniBook Laptop powered by an Intel Core 3 304 penta-core “Wildcat Lake” SoC, and equipped with 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, a 256GB NVMe SSD, and a 14-inch 1920×1200 IPS display. It looks like the Wildcat Lake era has finally started. Intel officially launched the Core Series 3 Wildcat Lake family in April 2026, after showcasing it at CES 2026 in January, and while we covered a few upcoming industrial/embedded Wildcat Lake platforms, I was also waiting for consumer products that could be bought or at least pre-ordered. As noted in our article about the UP WCL credit card-sized Wildcat Lake SBC, the Intel Core 5 520 Dell XPS 13 laptop was one of the first Core Series 3 laptops on the market. The CHUWI UniBook adds an entry-level option, so let’s have a closer look. CHUWI UniBook laptop specifications: SoC – Intel Core […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments on Orange Pi 6 CIX CD8180 12-core Arm SBC gets 2.5GbE networking, smaller form factor, drops battery support

Orange Pi 6 CIX CD8180 12-core Arm SBC gets 2.5GbE networking, smaller form factor, drops battery support

Orange Pi 6

Orange Pi 6 is a compact single board computer (SBC) powered by CIX P1 (CD8180) 12-core Arm Cortex-A720/A520 SoC coupled with up to 32 GB 128-bit LPDDR5 memory. It shares many of the features of the Orange Pi 6 Plus board introduced last October, but comes in a smaller and lighter form factor (90 x 90mm vs 115 x 100mm), features two 2.5GbE ports instead of two 5GbE jacks, drops support for LiPo batteries, and is offered with lower RAM capacity options (8GB-32GB vs 16GB-64GB). Orange Pi 6 specifications: SoC – Cix P1 (Codename: CD8180) 12-core DynamIQ processor 4x Cortex‑A720 big cores @ up to 2.6 GHz 4x Cortex‑A720 medium cores @ up to 2.4 GHz 4x Cortex‑A520 LITTLE cores @ up to  1.8 GHz Cache – 12MB shared L3 cache GPU – Arm Immortalis G720 MC10 with hardware ray-tracing support, graphics APIs: Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on The Best GEEKOM Mini PCs to Buy During the Prime Day 2026 Sale (Sponsored)

The Best GEEKOM Mini PCs to Buy During the Prime Day 2026 Sale (Sponsored)

GEEKOM Mini PC Prime Day 2026 Sale

GEEKOM has just launched its Prime Day 2026 sale with up to 30% off the entire GEEKOM mini PC lineup, from everyday computing solutions to high-performance mini PCs. We’ve selected three models that are especially worth a look at. GEEKOM A5 Pro The GEEKOM A5 Pro is a mid-range mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 7430U processor paired with 16GB of RAM and a 512 GB NVMe SSD.  It offers four display interfaces through two HDMI 2.0 video outputs and two  USB-C ports with DisplayPort Alt Mode, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking, a full-size SD card reader, and a range of USB 3.2/2.0 ports. We’ve previously reviewed the model with an AMD Ryzen 5 7530U CPU running Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu 25.10 and found out it was especially a good choice for people wanting low-power consumption and minimal fan noise. It’s now sold […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on GEEKOM A7 2026 Edition Review – Part 2: AMD Ryzen 5 7545U Mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro

GEEKOM A7 2026 Edition Review – Part 2: AMD Ryzen 5 7545U Mini PC tested with Windows 11 Pro

GEEKOM A7 2026 Edition Windows 11 Pro review

We have already checked out the GEEKOM A7 2026 Edition mini PC’s hardware with an unboxing and a teardown in the first part of the review, before quickly trying the pre-installed Windows 11 Pro. We’ve now had time to test the AMD Ryzen 5 7545U mini PC more thoroughly in Windows 11, and we’ll report our experience, including feature testing, benchmark results, 4K and 8K YouTube video playback, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E network performance evaluation, and cooling performance, as well as fan noise and power consumption measurements. Software Overview and Feature Testing – GEEKOM A7 2026 Edition The System > About window confirms we have an A7 computer equipped with a 3.2 GHz (base frequency) AMD Ryzen 5 7545U processor with Radeon 740M graphics, 16 GB of RAM, and 466 GB of storage preloaded with Windows 11 Pro 25H2. HWiNFO 64 provides additional details about the AMD Ryzen 5 7545U […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on UP WCL – A credit card-sized Wildcat Lake SBC with up to 24GB LPDDR5, 256GB UFS

UP WCL – A credit card-sized Wildcat Lake SBC with up to 24GB LPDDR5, 256GB UFS

UP WCL Wildcat Lake SBC

AAEON’s UP WCL is an upcoming credit card-sized single board computer (SBC) powered by an Intel Wildcat Lake processor up to the Core 7 350 hexa-core CPU paired with up to 24GB LPDDR5 and 256GB UFS storage. The board also features an HDMI 2.1 video output, a 2.5GbE RJ45 jack, an M.2 Key-E socket for optional WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, three USB 3.2 ports, and a few wafers for I/O expansion. AAEON UP WCL specifications: Wildcat Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Core 3 304 5-core CPU – 1x P-cores @ 1.5/4.3 GHz (Turbo) + 4x LPE-cores @ 1.4/3.3 GHz (Turbo) GPU – 1-core Intel Xe3 Graphics @ 2.3 GHz (9 TOPS) NPU – 15 TOPS Intel Core 5 320 6-core CPU – 2x P-cores @ 1.5/4.6 GHz (Turbo) + 4x LPE-cores @ 1.4/3.4 GHz (Turbo) GPU – 2-core Intel Xe3 Graphics @ 2.5 GHz (20 TOPS) NPU – […]

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