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MINIX NEO Z83-4U Review – Ubuntu 18.04, Kodi 18, and Xibo Digital Signage

MINIX NEO Z83-4U is a Cherry Trail mini PC pre-loaded with Ubuntu 18.04. I received a sample a little while ago, and in the first part of NEO Z83-4U review I checked out the specifications and hardware that appears to be exactly the same a MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro mini PC, except for the eMMC flash capacity that has increased from 32GB to 64GB. Since the mini PC comes with an older Atom X5-Z8350 processor, and is designed for commercial applications, I’ve decided to make a slightly different review. We already now how the system is supposed to perform thanks to benchmarks with NEO Z83-4 mini PC running Windows 10 Pro, so I’ll just check the main features are working as expected in Ubuntu 18.04, test audio & video support in Kodi 18.1, and try out Xibo Linux open source digital signage CMS and player on the mini PC. MINIX […]

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GPD MicroPC is a Windows 10 / Ubuntu MATE Portable Mini PC for Sysadmins (Crowdfunding)

I shortly discussed GPD MicroPC, a portable computer specifically designed for for network engineers and sysadmins in a post about the company’s Pocket 2 Amber Black mini laptop, but I did not go into details at the time since it was not available. GPD has now launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for the portable Gemini Lake mini PC, where you can pick one of the 2,000 units that are available for $299 including worldwide shipping. GPD MicroPC specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N4100 quad core Gemini Lake processor with Intel UHD Graphics 600 System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – Replaceable 128GB M.2 2242 SATA SSD, micro SDXC card slot Display – 6″ display with 1280×720, Gorilla Glass 4, 178° viewing angle Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 30 Hz Audio – Built-in microphone, headphone jack, digital audio via HDMI Networking Gigabit Ethernet 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi […]

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Khadas VIM4 SBC
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TAIHE Gemini is a 15.6″ Full HD or 4K Portable Display (Crowdfunding)

Portable displays have been available for a while, but they used to be fairly heavy, as for example, Gechic On-Lap Monitor 2501M 15.6″ portable monitor weighted 1.3 kg with cover. However in recent times, we’ve seen several such products – LAPSCREEN and DUO Add-on Display – launched with lighter designs, and the advance as USB type-C and power delivery make those even more attractive since a single cable can be used to transfer video, and power both the display and the host device. TAIHE Gemini is yet another option, but at 15.6″ is larger than the two aforementioned products, it is equipped with its own battery and kickstand, and comes in two variants with either 1920×1080 Full HD or 3840×2160 (4K UHD) resolution. TAIHE Gemini FHD & UHD portable displays specifications: Display Gemini FHD – 15.6″ 10-point touchscreen IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution, 15ms response time, 180° kickstand Gemini UHD […]

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Intel NUC Kit NUC7PJYH Review – An Intel Gemini Lake Pentium Silver J5005 Barebone Mini PC

When Intel released their latest NUC Gemini Lake mini PCs they prioritized cost over performance. As a result the processor they chose for the ‘Intel NUC 7 Essential’ mini PC is somewhat underwhelming. Fortunately they released another model in the series, the rather misleadingly named ‘Intel NUC Kit NUC7PJYH’ which is is actually a ‘barebones’ mini PC just needing a stick or two of RAM and an SSD for storage. It contains an Intel Pentium Silver Processor J5005 SOC which is a quad core processor bursting up to 2.80 GHz together with a slightly more powerful Intel UHD Graphics 605 processor that is capable of 4K support at 60Hz. Visually it is no different to the Celeron NUC reviewed earlier in that it is physically small consisting of an approximately 4.5″ square case about 2″ tall with a distinctive front panel that includes the power button and a couple of […]

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Intel Gemini Lake NUC7CJY/NUC7PJY Kits and Mini PC Specifications Released

Based on Intel NUC 2018/2019 roadmap published, we expected the first Intel Gemini Lake NUC mini PC to launch right at the end of 2017, but there’s been some delays. Since then we’ve learned Gemini Lake mini PC from third parties should launch around the end of March / beginning of April, and the official Intel GLK NUCs might launch around that time frame, or maybe a little earlier, because today, I’ve been informed the specifications for NUC7CJY/NUC7PJY kits and mini PC had been released on Intel website. Both variants have basically the same specifications expect NUC7CJY comes with a Celeron processor, and NUC7PJY with a Pentium Silver processor: SoC Intel NUC Kit NUC7CJYH / Intel NUC Mini PC NUC7CJYS –  Dual core Intel Celeron J4005 processor @ 2.0 GHz / 2.70 GHz (Turbo) with 4MB cache, Intel HD Graphics 600; up to 10 TDP Intel NUC NUC7PJYH –  Quad […]

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SolidRun MACCHIATOBin Mini-ITX Networking Board is Now Available for $349 and Up

SolidRun MACCHIATOBin is a mini-ITX board powered by Marvell ARMADA 8040 quad core Cortex A72 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz and designed for networking and storage applications thanks to 10 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, and 1 Gbps Ethernet interfaces, as well as three SATA port. The company is now taking order for the board (FCC waiver required) with price starting at $349 with 4GB RAM. MACCHIATOBin board specifications: SoC – ARMADA 8040 (88F8040) quad core Cortex A72 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with accelerators (packet processor, security engine, DMA engines, XOR engines for RAID 5/6) System Memory – 1x DDR4 DIMM with optional ECC and single/dual chip select support; up to 16GB RAM Storage – 3x SATA 3.0 port, micro SD slot, SPI flash, eMMC flash Connectivity – 2x 10Gbps Ethernet via copper or SFP, 2.5Gbps via SFP,  1x Gigabit Ethernet via copper Expansion – 1x PCIe-x4 3.0 slot, Marvell […]

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Kangaroo Notebook is a Modular Laptop with a Replaceable PC Module/Card

Infocus has been making Kangaroo mini PCs with separate docks, and now the company is introducing its Kangaroo Notebook which can be upgraded with a new CPU card, but sadly it’s completely incompatible with the Kangaroo Mobile Desktop models, and instead they designed Kangaroo Mini PC card that can be inserted in the left side of the laptop. Kangaroo Notebook + Mini module specifications: Kangaroo Mini SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8350 quad core Cherry Trail processor with Intel HD graphics System memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash + mini SD card reader Connectivity – 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 Dimensions – 9.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 cm Weight – 51 grams Kangaroo Notebook Display – 11.6″ touchscreen display with 1366×768 resolution QWERTY Keyboard & Synaptic Clickpad Storage – SD card reader Camera – 1MP webcam Audio – 3.5mm audio jack, microphone, and speakers USB – 1x USB […]

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Intel Gemini Lake Celeron & Pentium Processors Will Replace Apollo Lake Processors in 2018

While Laptops and mini PCs powered by Intel Apollo Lake low lower Celeron and Pentium processors are slowly starting to show up, and should go into full swing in 2017, Intel is also working on their successors, which according to a leaked roadmap for 2017-2018 will be Gemini Lake processors. Gemini Lake will also have a 4 to 6 Watts TDP, and come in a BGA package, but there’s nothing much else we know, except the first processors should become available in Q4 2017 or Q1 2018. Other families include mid-range Cannon Lake family with 5.2 to 15 W TDP with some Core M and Core ix processors, and the higher-end Coffee Lake family succeeding Kaby Lake and Skylake processors. Another slide shows Gemini Lake processors will target the same products as Braswell and Apollo Lake processors with 2-in-1 laptops, ultra-thin notebooks, and mainstream notebooks. I’m pretty sure we’ll also […]

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