Unboxing & Review: ASUS VivoPC VM62N-G085R

HTPC is a great choice for those who wants a PC for their living room that can act as both media player and couch PC but building one can be quite a hassle if you're not familiar with the components you need and not to mention the cost to build one. 

Many brand emerges with its own version of affordable mini PC to fulfill the needs and the ASUS VivoPC VM62N-G085R that we're reviewing today is among those mini PC that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg.

(The ASUS VivoPC VM62N retails at RM 2,019)

Specifications

For more product information, kindly visit : https://www.asus.com/Mini-PCs/VivoPC_VM62N/

This mysterious sleek black box here contains the ASUS VivoPC VM62N-G085R that we'll be reviewing today. No extra details of the product is shown on the box though.

What's inside the box :

• ASUS VivoPC VM62N-G085R
• Power cord
• DC adapter 

The front of the VivoPC VM62N-G085R is perfectly clean, no visible I/O ports can be found here. 

We turned the VivoPC VM62N-G085R around, you'll find the power on / off button, built-in memory card reader, locking mechanism for the top cover, DC power adapter port and the exhaust vent on the left. As for the right side, you'll find an impressive amount of I/O ports i.e: 4 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI port, 1 Ethernet port, 2 x USB 2.0 port, Audio jacks, SPDIF.

At the bottom you'll find 4 rubber feet that provide sufficient grip to keep the VivoPC VM62N-G085R in place.

Taking apart the VivoPC VM62N-G085R, the black box lying on top of the VivoPC VM62N-G085R in the picture above is the first thing you'll in to remove after removing the top cover.

Turns out to be an enclosure for your storage devices. 

Here's how things looks like inside the enclosure, you can install up to 2 unit of 2.5" drive in the enclosure if you need that extra storage.

Under the enclosure, you'll find the memory slot for memory upgrade if the included 4GB worth of memory is not enough for your current usage.

We take a further step in taking apart the chassis. 

What's cooling both the GPU and CPU is almost as the same type of heatsink that we normally found on notebooks. 



The wireless mSATA module that powers the wireless connectivity of the VivoPC VM62N-G085R.

The built in speaker of the VivoPC VM62N-G085R for audio output in case if you didn't plan to have any external sound system / speakers attached to it.

User Experience 

Graphically demanding games like Crysis 3, Far Cry 4, Battlefield 4 etc might be a no go for the VivoPC VM62N-G085R, but games for your living room enjoyment such as the Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution that we've tested runs great without any issue.

Other than games, the VivoPC VM62N-G085R makes a good living room computer and you can enjoy watching youtube on the couch instead of sitting in front of your PC all the time.

If you  just want to get off the internet and enjoy your movies, the the VivoPC VM62N is your personal home theater PC (HTPC) as well.

Load Temperature

We started our test with room temperature of 30º C and performed tasks as listed below:

• Normal browsing
• Playing HD video
• Gaming

Load temperature of all tasks performed seems pretty reasonable and the highest temperature that we get is during gaming session which the temperature is able to maintain below 70ºC.

Verdict
While the ASUS VivoPC VM62N-G085R doesn't packs as much power as a high-end HTPC, it still works great as a home entertainment PC for your living room, Be it movies, web browsing or lightweight gaming. The compact design is a plus for those who favors compact PC because even though you'd be able to build a custom HTPC that performs on par at lower cost, but achieving the same form factor as the VivoPC VM62N-G085R is extremely difficult.

Pros

• Good looking, sleek and compact design
• Built-in wireless connectivity
• Lots of USB ports available
• Upgradability for memory and hard drive
• Decent cooling performance

Cons

• Limited choice of color

Unboxing & Review: Giada i200-b8000 Ultra Small Form Factor Barebone System

While it's not something that is popular among the PC master race community, Giada is actually a well established brand in embedded systems and IPC major in the industry that is widely known for their industrial grade small footprint PC for various purposes, i.e: Digital Signage, Education, Medical System, Hotel and Restaurant, etc. 

A unit of Giada i200-b8000 Ultra Small Form Factor Barebone System arrived at Tech Critter's lab right after our visit to Giada's booth during Computex 2015 at Taipei, Taiwan, million thanks to Giada in provision of the review unit - Let's see what can we expect from the Giada i200-b8000!

(The Giada i200-b800 retails at $435.00, approximately RM1208)

Specifications

Giada i200-B8000 Standard Features

• Dimensions: 5.12" x 5.06" x 1.02"
• Intel Core i5-4250U Processor (3MB Cache, up to 2.60GHz)
• Intel HD Graphics 5000 with DisplayPort and HDMI Display Outputs
• Gigabit LAN, Wireless LAN and Bluetooth Networks
• (4) USB 3.0 and (1) COM Ports
• External AC-DC Power Adapter with American Power Cord

Packaging

The Giada i200-b8000 ships in a simple eco-friendly packaging.

A series of description on the prominent features of the Giada i200-b8000 can be found at the left of the box.

Technical specifications of the i200-b8000 can be found on the right of the box.

Accessories

The content of the box:-

• Giada i200-b8000 Ultra Small Form Factor Barebone System
• Power cord and adapter
• Wi-Fi antenna
• Mounting screws
• Drivers CD

Just notice how small the i200-b8000 is? Almost as the size of the envelope of thedrivers CD! 

The Giada i200-b8000

The front panel consists 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x Infrared jack, power on/off switch and 3 LED indicator. 

At the back of the i200-b8000, you'll find a pair of Wi-Fi antenna connector, the DC port for power adapter, DisplayPort port, HDMI port, Ethernet port, 2 x USB 3.0 port, headphone/microphone jack and a dip switch labelled with 'JAHC' - Giada self-developed embedded JEHE Active Hardware Control technology that helps to solve function failures that occur in cases such as a power outage or those caused by software setting dependencies.

While home user nowadays doesn't uses devices with RS-232 any longer, but these devices which appears to be long forgotten is still a crucial part of many industries that has lasted for decades. It's not something to be surprised when a RS-232 serial port is found at the left of the i200-b8000 - it's made for that very purpose.

If you're setting up a digital signage network and lengthy Ethernet cable isn't something you plan to go for, the Giada i200-b8000 comes available with Wi-Fi connectivity to reduce the need to maintain large amount of lengthy cables.

What's Inside?

We took apart the Giada i200-b8000 for the sake of curiosity and this is how the system looks like. Other than the CPU, upgradeable components will be the  and mSATA Wi-Fi module (optional), memory (RAM) and mSATA SSD.

 The Giada i200-b8000 ships with a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM and replacing the existing memory (RAM) is the only way if you need more than 4GB of memory.

As the Giada i200-b8000 wasn't meant to be used as a workstation, the pre-installed SSD comes with a very limited capacity of 32GB. Just like the memory, replacing the current unit is necessary if you're planning to upgrade to higher capacity mSATA SSD.

Video Playback

We've played few HD high quality videos on the Giada i200-b8000 and the result is pretty good as from what we could tell. The videos that we've played during the test runs smoothly with no significant stutters or tearing. 

Operating Temperature

We've stressed the CPU for maximum heat using Prime95 with option 'In-place large FFTs' and much to our surprise, the maximum temperature we can hit with the CPU is only 52°C. This gives the Giada i200-b8000 an upper hand compared to bulky PC that is meant to run for long hours as it's pretty much impossible for the Giada i200-b8000 to overheat.

Final thoughts

While the Giada i200-b8000 doesn't comes with a jet pack that allows it to compete against a workstation PC, it's low power consumption, low heat output and moderate overall performance makes it an ideal choice not only as what Giada has made it to be (Digital Signage especially), but also as a good alternative for HTPC which will definitely cost just as much to build.

Pros

• Reasonable price for its form factor and specifications
• Very small footprint
• Supports DisplayPort and HDMI video output
• Able to perform self-maintenance (thanks to JEHE Active Hardware Control technology)
• Low power consumption
• Very low heat output

cons

• Support only 1 memory module
• Limited capacity on pre-installed SSD
• Not able to handle heavy tasks

Zotac unveils its up coming GTX 980 Ti lineup, mini PC at Computex 2015

Renown NVIDIA graphics cards partners has been waiting for the right moment to show off their line up of the GTX 980 Ti during Computex 2015 and Zotac is among those who is well prepared for this moment. 

We paid a quick visit to Zotac's booth at Nangang Exhibition Hall during Computex 2015 and it's not hard for us to spot something that shines brighter than New York Times Square. Enters the Zotac GTX 980 Ti AMP! Omega Edition and GTX 980 Ti AMP! Edition. The reference GTX 980 Ti has a base clock of 1000MHz and boost clock of 1075MHz, the GTX 980 Ti AMP! Edition is said to be factory overclocked to base clock of 1051MHz and boost clock of 1140MHz while the GTX 980 Ti AMP! Omega Edition is still yet to be confirmed - we have high hopes on this!  

Up next is the Zotac GTX 980 Ti ArcticStorm which features similar cooling solution like the ASUS ROG Poseidon that comes with a pre-built waterblock for watercooling solutions.  

Superstar of the day, the Zotac GTX 980 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition that has been factory overclocked to the highest among all - base clock of 1253MHz and capable to run with boost clock of 1335MHz! 

And they have a lovely model to show us their trump card!

Other than just graphics cards, Zotac has its own mini PC lineup known as the ZBOX. In the picture above, we have the ZBOX E-series compact PC powered by Intel i5 4210U CPU and NVIDIA GTX 860M GPU that will suffice for a decent gaming experience.  

The ultra portable ZBOX P-series that can be carry around easily, even in your pocket.

A glimpse of what's inside the ZBOX.

Giada unveils mini PC powered with Intel "Skylake" based CPU

We stumbled across Giada's booth on the 2nd day of Computex 2015 and what's displayed here somewhat caught our attention. Giada is an embedded systems and IPC major in the industry that is widely known for their industrial grade small footprint PC. Million thanks to Marketing Manager, Jim Luo for the detailed explanation of the products on display.

The Giada P280 is one of the mini PC made for digital signage that utilizes the OPS standardization by Intel to simplify device installation, usage, maintenance, and upgrades.

Some of Giada's low power consumption barebone system.  

The Giada F310 with silent cooling solution, thanks to its metal made chassis that not only enhances its sturdiness but also act as a medium to dissipate heat from the system without the need of a cooling fan.  

The Steam Box from Giada, the D2308U that is equipped with Intel 4th Generation i7 4500U CPU, Nvdia GeForce GTX750 GPU for that decent performance that we could expect from a compact gaming machine. 

Who would have guessed this little machine packs this much of punch? A total of 6 DisplayPort output and 4K video support.

Well, what do you know! Just when we thought things can't get any smaller. We've seen video wall with a bulky machine attached to the back of the screen while we're at the airport and these mini PC will be a suitable replacement for those!  

If you're just getting started with your business and is looking for a server where affordability and small footprint is to be taken into account, look no further as the GT200 micro server here fits the description - it cost less than $500, packs a considerable amount of processing power and supports 2 x 2.5" or 2 x 3.5" drives.

Giada's workstation motherboards in various form factor for different needs. 

The i80 mini PC is among Giada's latest products on display, it features a Intel's 6th-Generation "Skylake" based processor, a beefy 4 x USB 3.0 ports, 802.11 ac WLAN, gigabit Ethernet, mini-DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0, support for 1 x mSATA SSD.