HTPC

Intel's Tiger Lake-based NUCs have been shipping for well over a year now. Supply chain challenges have been impacting availability of different models in different regions, but that has not prevented Intel's partners from delivering complementary products. Akasa, a well-known manufacturer of thermal solutions for computing systems targeting varied markets, has been maintaining a lineup of passively-cooled cases for Intel's NUCs since 2013. We had reviewed the Akasa Turing chassis for the Bean Canyon NUC a couple of years back, and had come away pleasantly surprised. Today's review presents results from our comprehensive evaluation of the Tiger Canyon NUC (NUC11TNKi5). It also describes the process for installing the kit's board (NUC11TNBi5) in the Akasa Newton TN chassis before analyzing its thermal performance characteristics. Read...

A Budget Home Theater & PC Setup: 4K, HDR, UHD Blu-ray, and More

The days of bulky home-theater PCs (HTPCs) with built-in tuners, optical disc drives, and integrated media storage capabilities are long gone. In 2017, advancements in the media / home...

191 by Ganesh T S on 12/26/2017

HEVC and the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (FCU) came with a host of welcome changes. One of the aspects that didn't get much coverage in the tech press was the...

38 by Ganesh T S on 11/30/2017

MSI Launches Fanless Cubi 3 SFF PCs with Kaby Lake-U

MSI has introduced a new family of its ultra-compact form-factor Cubi PCs, based on Kaby Lake-U processors. The Cubi 3 Silent and Cubi 3 Silent S use an entirely...

16 by Anton Shilov on 10/23/2017

CyberLink Launches PowerDVD 17 with UHD Blu-ray and VR HMD Support

CyberLink has been regularly updating their multimedia playback software / PC DVD & Blu-ray players. While ArcSoft dropped out of the software Blu-ray player market a few years back...

29 by Ganesh T S on 4/11/2017

ASRock Beebox-S 7200U Kaby Lake UCFF PC Review

The Kaby Lake-U (KBL-U) series with 15W TDP CPUs was introduced along with the 4.5W Kaby Lake-Y ones in Q3 2016. The first set of products with Kaby Lake-U...

33 by Ganesh T S on 2/7/2017

Intel Officially Launches Baby Canyon NUCs with Kaby Lake: Thunderbolt Makes a Re-entry

The Baby Canyon NUCs were leaked in July 2016, and Intel officially launched the units at CES 2017. The first-generation NUCs based on Ivy Bridge had a SKU with...

70 by Ganesh T S on 1/17/2017

MSI Cubi 2 Kaby Lake UCFF PC Review

The Kaby Lake-U (KBL-U) series with 15W TDP CPUs was introduced along with the 4.5W Kaby Lake-Y ones in Q3 2016. The first set of products with Kaby Lake-U...

32 by Ganesh T S on 12/30/2016

Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN1080 SFF PC Review: A Premium Gaming Powerhouse

Gaming systems and small form-factor (SFF) PCs have emerged as bright spots in the desktop PC market that has been subject to severe challenges recently. Many vendors have tried...

38 by Ganesh T S on 12/19/2016

Zotac ZBOX CI523 nano Fanless Skylake-U mini-PC Review

Passively cooled computing systems are popular amongst consumers worried about noise from fans and their associated maintenance requirements (particularly, for industrial use-cases). Traditionally, fanless high-performance PCs have come with...

35 by Ganesh T S on 10/5/2016

Logitech Multi-Device K780 Keyboard and M720 Triathlon Mouse Review

Logitech introduced an innovative multi-device Bluetooth keyboard, the Multi-Device K480, back in 2014. The K480 could be configured for use with up to three different devices, and definitely stood...

30 by Ganesh T S on 9/14/2016

Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 SFF PC Review - An Innovative VR-Ready Gaming Powerhouse

The PC market has been subject to challenges over the last several years. However, gaming systems and small form-factor (SFF) PCs have weathered the storm particularly well. Many vendors...

30 by Ganesh T S on 8/25/2016

ASRock Beebox-S 6200U Review - An Alternative to the Skylake NUC

The Skylake-U platform for mini-PCs has turned out to be an interesting one. Numerous challenges were faced by the first one in the market - the Intel Skylake NUC...

31 by Ganesh T S on 8/10/2016

The Fractal Design Node 202 Case Review: Mini-ITX Gaming For the Living Room

PCs may be versatile and powerful multimedia and gaming machines, yet their insertion into elegant living rooms can be problematic, as large systems and tower cases are a major...

64 by E. Fylladitakis on 6/6/2016

The Corsair Lapdog Review: Gaming with a Mouse and Keyboard in the Living Room

Corsair clearly wants a piece of the living room gaming market, as their upcoming Bulldog barebones is a system designed with that specific purpose in mind. To that end...

38 by E. Fylladitakis on 5/25/2016

The Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK mini-PC Review

The desktop computing market has been subject to severe challenges over the last few years. The ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) PC market that emerged with the introduction of the Intel...

133 by Ganesh T S on 5/23/2016

Intel's Skull Canyon NUC is Official: $650, Shipping In May

Back in January, Intel had provided us with information about the Skull Canyon NUC based on a Skylake H-Series CPU(with Iris Pro Graphics). Today, at GDC 2016, Intel made...

103 by Ganesh T S on 3/16/2016

The Intel NUC6i5SYK Skylake UCFF PC Review

The evolution of computing platforms has left the traditional desktop PC market in a precarious state. However, the miniaturization trend has provided some bright spots. Compact PCs have been...

95 by Ganesh T S on 3/11/2016

Hisense at CES: Affordable and Feature-Packed 4K TVs for HTPCs

We usually don't cover televisions in detail here at AnandTech. However, the current flux in the market when it comes to 4K displays for HTPCs made CES 2016 an...

18 by Ganesh T S on 1/11/2016

Netflix, Windows 10 and Metered Network Connections

Readers of our mini-PC reviews would have noticed that our routine involves detailed power consumption tests. Ensuring a level playing field for all the units involves turning off automatic...

35 by Ganesh T S on 10/8/2015

ECS LIVA Core Review: A Fanless Core M mini-PC

The desktop PC market has been subject to many challenges over the last few years. However, the miniaturization trend (including the introduction of the ultra-compact form factor - UCFF...

35 by Ganesh T S on 10/7/2015

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