Systems
Intel's Meteor Lake series of processors was launched in September 2023 with a focus on mobile platforms. Multiple mini-PC vendors have utilized these processors to market offerings in the SFF / UCFF desktop market. ACEMAGIC is an Asian manufacturer with products in multiple categories including micro-PCs, UCFF (ultra-compact form-factor) and SFF (small form-factor) PCs, and notebooks. They were one of the first to market with Meteor Lake-based desktop systems. The ACEMAGIC F2A 125H is the entry-level version of the F2A line, equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H processor. It is a bit larger than the traditional NUCs, slotting it in the SFF category. However, that allows for the processor to be operated at 65W (compared to the 28 - 40W adopted in the...
ASRock DeskMini 110 mini-STX PC Review
Intel introduced the 5x5 mini-STX form factor late last year with the aim of creating a small form-factor PC between that of a NUC and a mini-ITX build. Compared...
85 by Ganesh T S on 6/8/2016ZOTAC MAGNUS EN980 Detailed - A SFF VR-Ready PC with GeForce GTX 980
Several months ago, ZOTAC introduced its ZBOX MAGNUS EN980 PC featuring NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 980 Notebook GPU. It was positioned as one of the world’s smallest VR-Ready systems. This...
18 by Anton Shilov on 5/30/2016GIGABYTE Aero 14: Thin Gaming Laptop with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M and 10-Hour Battery Life
GIGABYTE has introduced its new Aero 14 gaming laptop, which weds a relatively thin form-factor with high-performance components such as an Intel Skylake-H CPU, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX...
33 by Anton Shilov on 5/30/2016Acer Unveils Switch V10 and Switch One 10: 2-in-1s for $199 - $249
Acer has introduced two new affordable 2-in-1 hybrid PCs ahead of Computex trade show. Both systems are based on Intel’s quad-core Atom processors, feature 10” multi-touch IPS displays and...
13 by Anton Shilov on 5/30/2016The 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 5/23/2016Intel Releases BIOS Version 0044 for Skylake NUCs
BIOS updates for motherboards and mini-PCs aren't usually important enough to warrant explicit coverage. However, Intel's latest release for the Skylake NUCs (the Core i3 and Core i5 versions...
30 by Ganesh T S on 5/17/2016Choosing the Right SSD for a Skylake-U System
Our Skylake NUC review had a brief section on the storage subsystem performance. The comments section raised a few questions about the inability of SSDs such as the Samsung...
40 by Ganesh T S on 5/9/2016HP Unveils Premium Chromebook: 3K Display, Intel Core M, 16 GB of RAM and USB-C
HP has announced a new family of Chromebooks, which are powered by Intel’s high-performance processors and feature stylish design, aluminum body, high-resolution display and even Bang & Olufsen...
145 by Anton Shilov on 5/3/2016MSI Cubi 2 Plus vPro Skylake mini-STX PC Review
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...
24 by Ganesh T S on 4/27/2016Compulab fitlet-XA10-LAN Review: A Fanless AMD UCFF PC for Networking Applications
Passively cooled computing systems carry many advantages. Most of these turn out to be very important for industrial and embedded applications. The attention paid by AMD and Intel to...
50 by Ganesh T S on 4/19/2016HP Unveils Spectre: The World’s Thinnest Laptop
HP has announced its new Spectre laptop - the world’s thinnest 13.3” notebook. Despite its miniature size, the Spectre uses Intel’s Core i5/i7 microprocessor, a PCIe-based SSD, a full-size...
75 by Anton Shilov on 4/5/2016Lenovo Upgrades 2-Way ThinkStation Workstations with Intel Xeon E5 v4 CPUs
Lenovo this week upgraded its range of 2-way workstations with Intel’s new Xeon E5 v4 microprocessors as well as recently announced NVIDIA’s Quadro M6000 24 GB graphics card. The...
16 by Anton Shilov on 4/1/2016EVGA Rolls Out SC17: High-End Gaming Laptop Designed for Overclocking
EVGA this week officially introduced its SC17 laptop designed for demanding gamers, which combines rather high performance with UHD display. The system features an Intel Core i7 microprocessor with...
30 by Anton Shilov on 3/31/2016Acer Unveils New Chromebook 14 with Up to 14-Hour Battery Life
Acer this week introduced its new family of Chromebooks that wed performance with portability. The new laptops feature multi-core x86 microprocessors, 14” displays as well as aluminum chassis. Even...
42 by Anton Shilov on 3/30/2016Toshiba Details Its PC Business Reorg: Set to Concentrate on Tecra and Portégé Brands for Business Users
Toshiba this month revealed its finalized PC business strategy for the future. As expected, the company intends to cease selling consumer personal computers outside of Japan and plans to...
23 by Anton Shilov on 3/29/2016MSI Releases Vortex: A Mac Pro-Like SLI PC for Gamers and VR, from $2199
We originally laid eyes on the final design back at CES, but now MSI has begun to sell its Vortex gaming desktops in the US. The 6.5-liter systems resembles...
31 by Anton Shilov on 3/17/2016ASUS Unveils the VivoMini VM65N: a NUC-Like mini-PC with GT 930M
Intel’s NUC and Mini-STX form-factors are designed to build tiny PCs with decent performance with more or less standard components. However, these form-factors have traditionally not supported discrete graphics...
19 by Anton Shilov on 3/17/2016Intel'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 3/16/2016ZOTAC to Offer Small Form-Factor PC with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 980 GPU
Various kinds of small form-factor PCs are on a roll these days. Mini-ITX systems have been offering performance of full-size desktops for several years now and even smaller systems...
17 by Anton Shilov on 3/11/2016The 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