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...

Intel NUC11TNBi5 and Akasa Newton TN Fanless Case Review: Silencing the Tiger

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...

18 by Ganesh T S on 7/22/2022

Intel Atlas Canyon (NUC11ATKPE) and GEEKOM MiniAir 11 UCFF PCs Review: Desktop Jasper Lake Impresses

Intel's low-power Tremont microarchitecture has powered a range of products - from the short-lived Lakefield, to Elkhart Lake in the embedded space, and finally, Jasper Lake in the client...

23 by Ganesh T S on 7/14/2022

Jasper Lake Fanless Showdown: ECS LIVA Z3 and ZOTAC ZBOX CI331 nano UCFF PCs Review

Intel's Jasper Lake series of products based on the Tremont microarchitecture was launched in early 2021. Since then, we have seen a steady stream of notebooks and motherboards /...

52 by Ganesh T S on 7/8/2022

Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Ultra Melds Desktop Alder Lake and NVIDIA Professional Graphics

Over the last decade or so, advancements in CPU and GPU architectures have combined extremely well with the relentless march of Moore's Law on the silicon front. Together, these...

11 by Ganesh T S on 6/21/2022

Supermicro SYS-E100-12T-H Review: Fanless Tiger Lake for Embedded Applications

Compact passively-cooled systems find application in a wide variety of market segments including industrial automation, IoT gateways, digital signage, etc. These are meant to be deployed for 24x7 operation...

18 by Ganesh T S on 6/8/2022

Cincoze DS-1300 Industrial PC Review: Xeon-Powered Do-it-All

Industrial PCs are meant for 24x7 deployment in a wide range of environments. This brings in a host of requirements such as wide operating temperature range, ruggedness, regulatory requirements...

5 by Ganesh T S on 3/18/2022

ASRock Industrial's NUC1200 BOX Series Brings Alder Lake to UCFF Systems

Intel recently updated their low-power processors lineup with the Alder Lake U and P Series 12th Gen Core mobile SKUs. With support for a range of TDPs up to...

22 by Ganesh T S on 3/3/2022

SPEC Adds Linux Edition of SPECviewperf 2020 v3.0 Benchmark

The SPEC Graphics Performance Characterization (SPECgpc) group updated the Windows version of the workstation GPU benchmark suite - SPECviewperf 2020 - twice last year. The intent of the benchmark...

14 by Ganesh T S on 3/3/2022

The Intel NUC12 Extreme Dragon Canyon Preview: Desktop Alder Lake Impresses in SFF Avatar

Intel kick-started a form-factor revolution in the early 2010s with the introduction of the ultra-compact NUCs. The systems were meant to be an alternative to the tower desktops used...

38 by Ganesh T S on 2/24/2022

ASRock Unveils DeskMeet SFF PC Platform with Intel B660 / AMD X300 Chipsets

ASRock has been at the forefront of the small form-factor (SFF) PC revolution right from the Sandy Bridge days. Starting with the Core HT series in the early 2010s...

17 by Ganesh T S on 1/18/2022

Intel Teases NUC12 Extreme Dragon Canyon: Socketed Alder Lake and 10GbE in Q1 2022

Intel provided a teaser of their upcoming NUC12 Extreme product at CES 2022. Complete specifications have been promised closer to launch, but the components layout in their virtual presentation...

19 by Ganesh T S on 1/7/2022

CES 2022: ZOTAC Unveils ZBOX MAGNUS EN173080C mini-PC with Tiger Lake and Ampere

ZOTAC, one of the major players in the SFF PC market, has two different mini-PC families equipped with discrete GPUs. The larger (~5L) one is equipped with desktop-class GPUs...

5 by Ganesh T S on 1/5/2022

CES 2022: Corsair Launches One i300 Gaming PC with Intel Core i9-12900K and DDR5

During CES 2022, Corsair has unveiled its latest compact gaming PC, the Corsair One i300. Equipped with the latest components available, it includes an Intel Core i9-12900K processor, Corsair...

1 by Gavin Bonshor on 1/5/2022

ASUS PN50 mini-PC Review: A Zen 2 Business NUC

Ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) machines have been one of the major drivers in the resurgence of the PC market. The trend was kickstarted by Intel's NUCs in the early 2010s...

32 by Ganesh T S on 10/1/2021

The OnLogic Helix HX500 Review: A Rugged Fanless 35W mini-PC

The emergence of edge computing as a paradigm has expanded the market for industrial PCs over the last few years. Traditionally an 'industrial PC' was built with a focus...

32 by Ganesh T S on 9/17/2021

ASRock Industrial NUC BOX-1165G7 Mini-PC Review: An Ultra-Compact Tiger Lake Desktop

Intel introduced the Willow Cove micro-architecture with their Tiger Lake processors in the latter part of 2020. These were designed to span a wide range of performance levels and...

33 by Ganesh T S on 8/26/2021

Zotac ZBOX MAGNUS ONE SFF Gaming PC Review: Desktop Comet Lake Charges Up with Ampere

Zotac has been a pioneer in bringing compact small form-factor (SFF) machines to the market right since the ION days. A few years back, they also got into the...

19 by Ganesh T S on 8/13/2021

MinisForum Unveils Cezanne EliteMini HX90 and Tiger Lake EliteMini TL50 mini-PCs

MinisForum, a Shenzhen based manufacturer of compact computing platforms, has been steadily bringing both AMD and Intel-based systems into the market. While the mix has mostly involved platforms that...

42 by Ganesh T S on 8/4/2021

Intel Beast Canyon NUC Review: Desktop Tiger Lake Debuts in SFF Gaming Powerhouse

Intel kick-started a form-factor revolution in the early 2010s with the introduction of the ultra-compact NUCs. The systems were meant to be an alternative to the tower desktops used...

84 by Ganesh T S on 7/29/2021

Computex 2021: ASRock Announces Mars 5000U Series Mini PC

During Computex 2021, ASRock unveiled the latest series in its Mars mini-PC range, the Mars 5000U. ASRock claims it's the thinnest AMD mini PC globally and comes equipped with...

21 by Gavin Bonshor on 6/4/2021

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