Samsung Galaxy Book S Snapdragon 8cx Laptop to Launch soon for $1,000

Snapdragon 8cx laptop

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx was announced as the first Snapdragon processor specifically designed for connected mobile PCs (aka laptops with cellular connectivity) last December. Earlier this year we got confirmation 8cx would support 5G connectivity as an option, and in May, we got news Lenovo Limitless 5G laptop was coming and got some benchmarks showing Snapdragon 8cx with performance similar to an Intel Core i5 Kaby Lake-R processor (15 Watt TDP) while offering much longer battery life. It’s Samsung turn to announce their Snapdragon 8cx laptop with Samsung Galaxy Book S that will be available this fall for $999 and up. Samsung Galaxy Book S specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Compute Platform with eight 64-bit Armv8 cores in two clusters: Kryo 495 Gold cores (Cortex-A76 class) @ 2.84 GHz + Kryo 495  cores (Cortex-A55 class) @ 1.8GHz ; 7nm process; 7W TDP System Memory – 8GB RAM (LPDDR4X) Storage – […]

Beelink L55 Review – An Intel Core i3-5005U Mini PC Tested with Windows 10 & Ubuntu 18.04

Beelink L55 Review

With the shortage of Gemini Lake processors, some manufacturers have taken to releasing new mini PCs using older CPUs. The Beelink L55 is one such example and uses Intel’s Broadwell I3-5005U CPU which is a dual-core 4-thread 2.00 GHz processor with Intel’s HD Graphics 5500. The L55 is a ‘NUC’ style mini PC and physically consists of a 128 x 126 x 46 mm (5.04 x 4.96 x 1.81 inches) box case with a front panel that includes the power button, a headphone jack and a couple of 3.0 USB ports and then on the rear, two more 3.0 USBs, two 2.1 USBs, HDMI (1.4), DP and two gigabit Ethernet ports. Note that there is no SD or micro SD card slot. The full specifications include: The L55 comes with either a 256GB or 512GB (as tested in this review) M.2 SSD with pre-installed Windows 10 Home version 1809 together […]

Chatreey AC1-Z Low Power Fanless Mini PC Goes for $153 and Up

The Chatreey AC1-Z mini PC is running either the Intel Celeron Apollo Lake J3455 and the Intel Celeron Gemini Lake J4105 and boasts a full complement of features and SoC peripherals. It closely resembles the series of mini computers similar to the Zotac Nano mini PC. The Chatreey AC1-Z is a silent, fanless mini-PC that offers 4GB RAM, 4K resolution across two display inputs, and housing either the Apollo Lake or the Gemini Lake processors.  The Gemini Lake version has a choice of up to 64GB eMMC storage and offers a drive bay for an optional 2.5 SSD or SATA HDD. I/O 2x USB 3.0 Type A, 2x USB 2.0 Type A 1x LAN 1x Micro SD 1x Audio 3.5 mm 2x HDMI Features Power Button Kensington Lock Power Connector (12V 2.5A) Dual-band WIFI /WLAN 802.11ac+BT The AC1–Z system is inspired by other mini-PC models and carries a lot of […]

XIDU PhilPad 2-in-1 Hybrid 2K Laptop Review

XIDU PhilPad Review

I had never heard about XIDU laptops and tablets, and it’s apparently the brand name of “Shenzhen Baohuazhong Co Limited” that was founded in 2014 and specializes in the design, development, manufacturing, distributions, and support for computer systems. I came to know about the company as they approached me to review one of their laptops, namely XIDU PhilPad XT133A model with an Intel Celeron N3350 dual-core Apollo Lake processor coupled with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, and equipped with a 13.3″ touchscreen display with 2K (2560×1440) resolution. XIDU PhilPad Specifications SoC – Intel Celeron N3350 dual core Apollo Lake processor @ 1.10 GHz / 2.40 GHz (Turbo) with 12EU Intel HD graphics 500 GPU; 6W TDP System Memory – 6GB DDR3 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot Display – 13.3″ touchscreen IPS display with 2560 x 1440 resolution Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in microphone and speaker Camera […]

$30 FireAnt Development Board Features Efinix Trion T8 FPGA (Crowdfunding)

FireAnt Trion T8 FPGA Board

When I think FPGA, company names such as Xilinx, Altera (now Intel), or even Microsemi come to my mind. But there are also other companies such as Anlogic or Lattice Semi that offer FPGA chips. Today I’ve come across another FPGA silicon vendor, namely Efinix, with their Trion T8 FPGA found in XIPS Technology’s tiny FireAnt development board targeting makers and hardware designers. FireAnt specifications: FPGA – Efinix Trion T8 (T8F81C2) with 7384x LE counts, 8x embedded multipliers, 1x low-power oscillator, 1x PLL, 122.88 kbit internal RAM; Package – BGA-81 (5×5 mm) Storage – 8 Mbit serial NOR Flash Expansion – 2x 20-pin headers (soldered or unpopulated) with up to 35 GPIOs Debugging & Programming Micro USB 2.0 port via FTDI FT232HQ USB to serial chip JTAG signals in bottom layer Misc – Onboard 33.333 MHz crystal oscillator for PLL; 6x LEDs including 4 user configurable; 3x buttons (Reset, BTN1, […]

GPD P2 Max 8.9″ Ultrabook Launched on Indiegogo for $530 and Up

GPD P2 Max

The previously unveiled GPD Pocket 2 Max has now launched on Indiegogo under the name GPD P2 Max. The mini laptop, which the company refers to as an Ultrabook, is powered by an Intel Core m3-8100Y Amber Lake processor coupled with up to 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage and features an 8.9″ high-resolution touchscreen display. Beside the Amber Lake processor, the company is also offering a lower cost model with an Intel Celeron 3965Y Kaby Lake-Y processor going for $530 in Indiegogo, against the $705 asked for the Intel Core m3-8100Y Ultrabook. GPD P2 Max Ultrabook specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Celeron 3965Y dual-core Kaby Lake processor @ 1.50 GHz with Intel HD graphics 615; 6W TDP Intel Core m3-8100Y dual-core/quad-thread Amber Lake processor @ 1.1 / 3.4 (Turbo) GHz with 24EU Intel UHD Graphics 615; 5W TDP, but configured with TDP-up @ 8W System Memory & […]

CHUWI Minibook Amber Lake mini Laptop to sell for $499 and Up (Crowdfunding)

CHUWI Minibook

We’ve already covered several Intel Amber Lake mini laptops with the likes of One Netbook One Mix 3 Yoga or GPD Pocket 2 Max both powered by Intel Core m3-8100Y and equipped with respectively 8.4″ and 8.9″ displays with 2560×1600 resolution. Those are ultra-compact yet powerful machines, which come at a relatively high cost, with for instance the Mix 3 Yoga going for about $760. But there’s another model coming up with CHUWI minibook with similar specifications and an 8″ display that will be offered for as low as $499. The trick is that only 300 pieces part of the “Super Early Birds Perk” will be available at that price when the product launches on Indiegogo on June 19. The retail price should be around $669 since the discount is said to be around 25%. There will also be a cheaper Intel Celeron N4100 Gemini Lake model, but price has […]

Lenovo Project Limitless 5G Laptop and Snapdragon 8cx Benchmarks

Snapdragon 8cx PCMark 10 Application benchmark

Last December, Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon 8cx processor for laptops, or as the company calls them “always-on always connected mobile PCs”. Only 4G LTE was mentioned at the time, but a few months later it was confirmed that the processor would find its way into 5G always-connected mobile PCs. Qualcomm made two main announcements at Computex 2019 about their new Arm processor for laptops. First, they announced a partnership with Lenovo for Project Limitless, the first 5G PC powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform, and the company released some benchmarks to demonstrate the high performance and long battery life of their solution. Lenovo Project Limitless 5G Laptop The press release did not reveal that much information, but we do know Project Limitless features Qualcomm Snapdragon 8C 5G compute platform with Snapdragon X55 5G modem enabling download speed of up to 2.5 Gbps, and it will be the first […]