Posted on by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 4 Comments on Beelink T45 Review with Windows and Linux, and Tweaking BIOS Power Limits

Beelink T45 Review with Windows and Linux, and Tweaking BIOS Power Limits

beelink t45 temperature

[Update December 23, 2019: We’ve been informed by Beelink that the T45 has been updated to the 6W Celeron N4200 processor instead, and the system is now cooled with a fan. The model reviewed in this post is the fanless version with a 10W Intel J4250 processor, which was never sold] Beelink have further extended their ‘Gemini’ range of mini PCs by adding the T45. This is a passively cooled mini PC that is effectively a companion to the J45 as it again uses the slightly older Apollo Lake Intel Pentium J4205 CPU which is a quad-core 4-thread 1.50 GHz processor boosting to 2.60 GHz with Intel’s HD Graphics 505. Although the T45 is a ‘NUC’ style mini PC physically consisting of a 119 x 119 x 17.7 mm (4.69 x 4.69 x 0.70 inches) all-metal (and surprisingly quite heavy) rectangular case, it is just under half the thickness of the J45 and is very similar in size to the …

Continue reading… “Beelink T45 Review with Windows and Linux, and Tweaking BIOS Power Limits”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on MINIX NEO G41V-4 Mini PC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Pro

MINIX NEO G41V-4 Mini PC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Pro

MINIX NEO G41V-4 HDMI + VGA

MINIX NEO G41V-4 is the latest mini PC from the Hong Kong-based company, and this time they’ve gone fanless with a new design that should allow proper cooling with a large heatsink, plenty of ventilation holes on the top, as well as a dust-resistant meshing to present dust from entering inside the enclosure. I’ve now had time to review the fanless mini PC, and I’ll report my experience with Windows 10 Pro. Switching to Windows 10 Boot from SSD I had installed the optional 240GB SSD in the first part of the review. It offers an easy way to get more storage and performance, and you don’t need to reinstall Windows 10 Pro since it’s already installed in the SSD. You just need to change some settings in the BIOS as explained in the user manual. To be on the safe side, you may want to follow the instructions to the letter, but for convenience, I followed a slightly different …

Continue reading… “MINIX NEO G41V-4 Mini PC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Pro”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Rikomagic R6 Mini Projector Review – Part 2: Android 7.1

Rikomagic R6 Mini Projector Review – Part 2: Android 7.1

Rikomagic R6 Android Projector Review

We’ve already quickly checked out Rikomagic R6 mini projector in the first part of the review with an unboxing and first boot,  but now I’ve had more time to play with the device, so I’ll report about my experience. Android Launcher and Default Apps Here’s the launcher pre-installed in the projector. Media Center The Media Center app allows you to display images, play audio files as well as videos. It will show thumbnails of images present in the current folder… and as soon as you select one image in the folder it will start a slideshow with classic music playing the background. You’ll be able to see what it looks like in the video at the end of this review. Happy Cast It’s an app in Chinese, that apparently allows you to cast from other Chinese apps, but I have not used it. WiFi Display WiFi Display will be one of the most useful app, as it allows you to …

Continue reading… “Rikomagic R6 Mini Projector Review – Part 2: Android 7.1”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments on Khadas VIM3L (Amlogic S905D3) Benchmarks, Settings & System Info

Khadas VIM3L (Amlogic S905D3) Benchmarks, Settings & System Info

Khadas VIM3L Heatsink

Khadas VIM3L is the first Amlogic S905D3 SBC on the market and is sold as a lower-cost alternative to the company’s VIM3 board with a focus on the HTPC / media player market. Shenzhen Wesion was kind enough to send me a sample for review, and I’ll start by checking out benchmarks and system information in Android 9.0 Pie operating system. I also plan to perform a more detailed review with Android 9.0 and CoreELEC with a focus on media playback. I received the bare board only, and the first thing I did was to install it the heatsink I received for VIM3 and in turn, install it in the acrylic case. The company told me the heatsink is not really necessary “for normal purpose using like watch TV”, but it should be installed for performance tests and heavy workloads. I’d still recommend purchasing the heatsink to make sure it works well during the summer months as well. Upgrading Android …

Continue reading… “Khadas VIM3L (Amlogic S905D3) Benchmarks, Settings & System Info”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on MINIX NEO J50C-4 (2019) Mini PC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Pro

MINIX NEO J50C-4 (2019) Mini PC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Pro

MINIX NEO J50C-4 (2019) Review

Last week, I received the latest MINIX NEO J50C-4 (64GB) mini PC that hardware-wise is very much like last year, never released, MINIX NEO J50C-4 mini PC, except it comes with a 64GB eMMC flash instead of just 32GB. I’m now spent time testing the updated version, with a focus on the potential performance benefit of the new storage device, as well as features I was unable to test last year, such as USB-C DisplayPort output, or WiFi AC, and check out if some of the issues I encountered last year are now solved. System Info We’ve got basically the same info as last year with J50C-4 mini PC powered by an Intel Pentium Silkver J5005 CPU coupled with 4.00 GB memory and running an activated (i.e. properly licensed) version of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. We’ve now got more space to play with thanks to a 57GB Windows partition, which should make the computer easier to use than with just …

Continue reading… “MINIX NEO J50C-4 (2019) Mini PC Review – Part 2: Windows 10 Pro”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

Posted on by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 23 Comments on Beelink J45 Mini PC Review – Windows 10 Works as Expected, but Linux is Unstable

Beelink J45 Mini PC Review – Windows 10 Works as Expected, but Linux is Unstable

Beelink J45 Windows 10 OK, Linux Fails

[Update December 14, 2019: We’ve now found out that Ubuntu 18.04 can work fine on Beelink J45, but the Realtek Ethernet driver needs to be manually installed] Beelink has added a new mini PC to their ‘Gemini’ range (X45 and X55) namely the Beelink J45 (aka Beelink Gemini J45). What is rather unusual about the naming of this mini PC is that it uses the slightly older Intel Apollo Lake Pentium J4205 CPU which is a quad-core 4-thread 1.50 GHz processor boosting to 2.60 GHz with Intel’s HD Graphics 505. The J45 is another ‘NUC’ style mini PC and physically consists of a 115 x 102 x 43 mm (4.53 x 4.02 x 1.69 inches) box case with a front panel that includes the power button, a headphone jack and a couple of USB 3.0 ports and then on the rear, two more USB 3.0 ports, two HDMI (1.4)ports up to 4K @ 30 Hz, and a gigabit Ethernet port. …

Continue reading… “Beelink J45 Mini PC Review – Windows 10 Works as Expected, but Linux is Unstable”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

Posted on by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 3 Comments on CHUWI GBOX Pro Review – Intel Atom x7-E3950 mini PC Tested with Windows 10 & Ubuntu 18.04

CHUWI GBOX Pro Review – Intel Atom x7-E3950 mini PC Tested with Windows 10 & Ubuntu 18.04

CHUWI Gbox Pro Review

CHUWI has released a new mini PC called the GBox Pro. This is a passively cooled mini PC that uses the slightly older Apollo Lake Intel Atom x7-E3950 CPU which is a quad core 4-thread 1.60 GHz processor boosting to 2.00 GHz with Intel’s HD Graphics 505. The GBox Pro is somewhat physically larger than typical recent mini PCs and consists of a 189 x 139 x 39 mm (7.44 x 5.47 x 1.54 inches) rectangular case with a front panel that includes the power button, micro SD slot, a couple of USB 3.0 ports and a Type-C USB port and then on the rear, a headphone jack, two USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI (2.0) port and a VGA interface. The full specifications include: The GBox Pro comes with 64GB of eMMC with pre-installed Windows 10 Home (version 1809 OS build 17763.316) together with 4GB of soldered LPDDR4 RAM. The GBox Pro also supports the addition …

Continue reading… “CHUWI GBOX Pro Review – Intel Atom x7-E3950 mini PC Tested with Windows 10 & Ubuntu 18.04”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 54 Comments on Amlogic S912 vs Amlogic A311D/S922X-B Benchmarks Comparison

Amlogic S912 vs Amlogic A311D/S922X-B Benchmarks Comparison

S922X-B vs S912

A few days ago we compared Amlogic A311D to Rockchip RK3399 since both the top of the line processors from Amlogic and Rockchip that are currently available. Rockchip RK3588 will even be faster, but we need to wait until Q1 2020 at least before it becomes available, and delays are not unheard of, so I’d expect it may take about one year before I can get my hands on a sample. Another comparison is against Amlogic S912, the previous high-end processor from the company. Amlogic A311D and S922X-B are newer and will be faster but it’s interesting to find out just how much. Note the Amlogic S922X found in ODROID-N2 is clocked at a lower speed compare to A311D/S922X-B, so performance will be somewhat lower. Since I recently benchmarked Khadas VIM3 with Amlogic A311D processor, I decided to dust off my old Khadas VIM2 Amlogic S912 development board, fit it a large heatsink, install the latest Android 7.1 firmware for …

Continue reading… “Amlogic S912 vs Amlogic A311D/S922X-B Benchmarks Comparison”

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or become a Patron on Patreon