Android 13 virtualization lets Pixel 6 run Windows 11, Linux distributions

Android 13 virtualization Pixel 6 Linux

The first Android 13 developer preview may have felt a bit underwhelming, but there’s a hidden gem with full virtualization possible on hardware such as the Google Pixel 6 smartphone. What that means is that it is now possible to run virtually any operating system including Windows 11, Linux distributions such as Ubuntu or Arch Linux Arm on the Google Tensor-powered phone, and do so at near-native speed. Android & web developer “kdrag0n” tested several Linux distributions compiled for Aarch64 on the Pixel 6 with Ubuntu 21.10, Arch Linux Arm, Void Linux, and Alpine Linux using “the KVM hypervisor on Pixel 6 + Android 13 DP1”. He/she further explains: As far as I can tell, we can pretty much get full EL2 on production devices now. Protected KVM is optional and can be enabled on a per-VM basis, but for non-protected VMs, it looks like full KVM functionality is available. […]

Fitlet3 is a compact, fanless Elkhart Lake mini PC for IoT and industrial applications

Fitlet3 mini PC

Fitlet3 fanless mini PC based on a choice of three Atom or Celeron Elkhart Lake processors is an upgrade to the Compulab Fitlet2 mini PC introduced in 2017 with Apollo Lake processors. Designed to be used as a fanless industrial mini PC or an IoT gateway, Fitlet3 comes with up to 32GB RAM, supports SATA and NVMe storage, offers two 4K video outputs, up to four Gigabit Ethernet ports, optional WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and/or 4G/5G cellular connectivity, as well as a wide range 7V to 42V power input. Fitlet3 specifications: Elkhart Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Atom x6425E quad-core processor @ 2.0 GHz / 3.0 GHz (Boost frequency); TDP: 12 W Intel Celeron J6412 quad-core processor @ 2.0 GHz/ 2.6 GHz;  TDP: 10 W Intel Atom x6211E dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz / 3.0 GHz ; TDP: 6 W System Memory – Up to 32 GB DDR4 […]

CHUWI LarkBox X mini PC is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 3700U mobile processor

Chuwi Larkbox X

CHUWI LarkBox X is an affordable mini PC based on a 15W AMD Ryzen 7 3700U mobile processor coupled with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB NVMe SSD, dual Gigabit Ethernet, 4K video output, and more. Contrary to the earlier Celeron-based LarkBox and LarkBox Pro palm-sized mini PCs, the LarkBox X comes with a larger form factor providing additional ports and possibly better cooling for the more performant AMD processor. LarkBox X specifications: SoC – AMD Ryzen 7 3700U quad-core/eight-thread processor @ 2.30GHz / 4.0GHz (Turbo) with Radeon RX Vega 10 Graphics; 15W TDP System Memory – 8GB DDR4, dual channels via 2x 260-pin DDR4 SO-DIMMs (upgradeable up to 32GB RAM) Storage – 256GB NVMe M.2 2280 SSD (PCIe 3.0) upgradable up to 2TB Video Output 1x HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60 1x DisplayPort up to 4Kp60 1x USB Type -C up to 4Kp30 with DisplayPort Alt. mode Three independent displays […]

Beelink GTi11 modding – PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 slot, tweaking power limits, and eGPU

Beelink gti11 egpu

Previously I reviewed Beelink’s new GTi11 Intel Tiger Lake mini PC running Windows 11 and Ubuntu 20.04, so in this final part of the review, I’ll cover in more detail some of the features only briefly highlighted before. Specifically, I’m going to look at the PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 slot, dabble in ‘overclocking’ and explore eGPU options. Hardware Recap The GTi11 is a 168 x 120 x 39mm (6.61 x 4.72 x 1.54 inches) actively cooled mini PC and the review model has an i5-1135G7 Intel Tiger Lake quad-core 8-thread 2.50 GHz Core processor boosting to 4.20 GHz with Intel’s Xe Graphics. The review model also included a 500GB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe Gen 3.0 SSD drive with Windows 10 Pro installed, two sticks of 8GB DDR4 3200 MHz memory, a soldered WiFi 6 (or 802.11ax) Intel AX201 chip, and dual 2.5Gb Ethernet ports. Interestingly there are another two key […]

Intel launches NUC 11 Essential mini PC, Kits, and SBC with Jasper Lake SoC

Intel NUC 11 Essential

Details about the Intel NUC 11 Essential “Atlas Canyon” mini PCs with Jasper Lake processor were leaked in May 2021, but Intel has now made it official with the “launch” of five NUC 11 Essential SKUs with one Windows 11 mini PC with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, three kits (bare mini PC), and one bare board all listed on Ark Intel. I put “launch” between quotes because it’s only “launched” as stated on Ark Intel, but it does not look like it’s available for sale just yet, but now at least we get confirmation about the specs from the leak that was fairly accurate, except Intel did not launch 10W Jasper Lake J-Series processors, and both 6W and 10W Jasper Lake processors are part of the N-Series. Intel NUC 11 Essential specifications: SoC/memory/storage NUC11ATKC2 Mini PC SoC – Intel Celeron N4505 dual-core processor clocked at 2.0 GHz / 2.9 […]

Palm-sized Celeron N5105 mini PC ships with 8GB DDR4, two HDMI ports

Palm-sized Jasper Lake mini PC

In the last couple of years, we’ve seen several palm-sized 2.4-inch mini PCs based on Gemini Lake processors with the likes of CHUWI LarkBox, GMK NucBox, or LIVA Q2. ZX01 mini PC is a slightly larger 2.8-inch mini PC based on a more recent and powerful Celeron N5105 Jasper Lake processor with 8GB of DDD4 RAM, and a 128GB to 1TB M.2 SSD. The tiny computer also offers two 4K capable HDMI outputs, a Gigabit Ethernet port, three USB 3.0 ports, and an audio jack. ZX01 mini PC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics 605; 10W TDP System Memory – 8GB LPDDR4x or DDR4 (TBC) Storage 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB M.2 2242 SSD MicroSD card slot Video Output – 2x HDMI ports Audio – 3.5 audio jack, digital audio via HDMI Networking Gigabit Ethernet via Intel […]

OS and Memory Impact on Mini PC Gaming Performance

OS GPU memory

This article looks at what the effect of running a different operating system or having more memory has on similarly spec’d Intel and AMD mini PCs when gaming. Note: This article has been updated and corrected as a result of reader feedback and additional testing. It was inspired by having built and tested a pseudo ‘Steamdeck’ running Manjaro on an AMD-based mini PC with 16GB of memory, which made me wonder what the performance would be like using Windows 11. Initial results were surprising because Windows appeared much slower. As I’d previously heard of performance improvements when using 64GB of memory I swapped out the currently installed 16GB memory and immediately saw improved results. As I’d never observed such a dramatic performance increase on Intel mini PCs just through increasing the memory I decided to explore further by testing gaming performance on similar Intel and AMD mini PCs when using […]

Beelink GTi11 Review – Part 1: Tiger Lake mini PC with Windows 11

Beelink GTI11 review

Beelink’s GTi11 is the latest offering in their ‘GT’ series of slightly larger mini PCs that are notable for expandable storage configurations together with multiple ports and characterized by including a fingerprint scanner. Featuring Intel’s 11th generation Tiger Lake processors, Beelink kindly sent an i5 version for review which I will undertake in three parts. In this first part, I’ve looked at Windows performance and the second part will cover Ubuntu with the third part looking at various configuration mods. Beelink GTi11 Hardware Overview The GTi11 physically consists of a 168 x 120 x 39mm (6.61 x 4.72 x 1.54 inches) rectangular metal case. As an actively cooled mini PC, it uses Intel’s ‘10 nm SuperFin’ Tiger Lake processors and the review model included an i5-1135G7 which is a quad-core 8-thread 2.50 GHz Core processor boosting to 4.20 GHz with Intel’s Xe Graphics. The front panel has an illuminated power […]

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