Twin Lake ZBOX announced

Can we still trust ZOTAC? Honestly we're not sure anymore. Meet the ZBOX CI338 nano, ZOTAC's Intel N150-powered mini PC. This new iteration is identical to previous generations but now supports two M.2 SSDs. "The ZBOX CI338 nano features a power-efficient Intel N-Series processor to give you a silent experience in a compact PC. A robust, passive cooled design with no moving components brings high reliability and extended durability. The signature honeycomb vents throughout the chassis enhances exhaust flow, backed by a large aluminum heatsink that maximizes heat transfer from the CPU to keep the system operating with continued performance". The CI338 nano will be available as a barebone unit, or as a complete Windows 11 PC.

Colors are the smiles of nature

We just stumbled upon this limited edition of the Compulab fitlet2 in a striking shade of red. It's truly lovely. We believe fanless PCs would gain wider appeal if they were offered in more vibrant colors. A touch of personality could go a long way in making them more mainstream.

Source: Harlander 

ZOTAC being ZOTAC

ZOTAC has a history of announcing exciting new mini PCs only to cancel or delay them beyond measure. The latest example is the Meteor Lake-powered fanless ZBOX, announced back in March 2024, which is still nowhere to be found. We appreciate ZOTAC's commitment to fanless mini PCs and overall quality and reliability (their mini PCs come with a 5-year warranty in many territories) but things need to change, fast. 

PC components are beautiful

While details are limited, this PC build from China demonstrates a focus on natural convection, and this is what you want. Key components include the king Noctua NH-P1 CPU cooler, a trusty Seasonic fanless PSU, a Palit fanless KamlX graphics card, and what looks like a local test bench.

Source: nga.cn 

Twin Lake barebones are available

The next generation Atom is now official. Twin Lake is the successor to the popular Alder Lake-N range of Intel CPUs, and despite a fresh new name these low-power processors only offer minor clock speed improvements. This multi-LAN N150 barebone is available for $232.90 while the more powerful N355 version retails for $389.90. We'll probably have to wait another year or two for Skymont-based truly next-gen chips.

ARCTIC Senza review from Spain

"Sin duda, las dos extensiones de bloque de disipación son muy efectivas, incluso sin ventilador para una CPU que es de escritorio, ojo, no hablamos de versiones de portátil como en otros Mini PC, y además, el TDP no está limitado, haciendo efectivo su PPT de 88W. Esto nos lleva a evaluar la elección de hardware, la cual es bastante potente incluso para uso en tareas avanzadas como diseño o productividad, con un procesador de 8 núcleos, 32 GB de RAM y SSD Gen3x4 de 1 TB. Sería muy interesante ver un upgrade futuro con Ryzen 8600G o 8700G con RAM DDR5 y SSD Gen4."

Source: Profesional Review

Get the Arctic Senza here 

ARCTIC Senza review from Poland

"Pierwotnie zakładałem, że ARCTIC Senza zastąpi mi starego i cichego laptopa, którego używam do pracy stricte biurowej i nauki. W tym zastosowaniu wypadł spodziewanie, a więc fenomenalnie, jak na komputer o takiej specyfikacji, bo nawet mimo pasywnej formy chłodzenia, może pochwalić się wysoką wydajnością, a tym samym zapewnia płynność z górnej półki, jak zresztą mogliśmy się spodziewać po połączeniu 32-GB zestawu pamięci z procesorem Ryzen 7 5700G i dyskiem SSD na PCIe 3.0. Umówmy się jednak, że w biurowej pracy nie jest to żaden wyczyn. W tym scenariuszu możemy więc przede wszystkim docenić zarówno bezgłośny charakter, jak i fakt, że taki komputer pełni w pewnym sensie rolę grzejniczka. Pożera też niewiele prądu, bo ledwie 40-50 watów (pomijając peryferia i ekrany), a do tego obsługuje dwa monitory jednocześnie poprzez port HDMI 2.0 oraz DisplayPort 1.4."

Source: CHIP.pl

Get the Arctic Senza here 

ARCTIC Senza review from Germany

"Arctic bietet im BIOS drei Power-Profile: Auto, 65 Watt, 45 Watt und 35 Watt. Standardmäßig läuft der Ryzen 7 5700G mit einer TDP von 65 Watt und erreicht bis zu 4,6 GHz. Trotz der passiven Kühlstruktur bleiben die Temperaturen niedrig: Unter Volllast erreicht die CPU maximal 70 Grad Celsius bei einer Raumtemperatur von 21 Grad. Dabei arbeitet das System sehr effizient. Im Idle zieht das System durchschnittlich unter 20 Watt aus der Steckdose, bei der YouTube-Wiedergabe im Edge-Browser sind es rund 25 Watt. Selbst unter Volllast bleibt der Verbrauch mit maximal 83 Watt an der Steckdose moderat."

Source: Allround-PC

Get the Arctic Senza here 

ARCTIC Senza review: The under desk fanless PC

"With an ungodly amount of hours in the game, my first instinct is to run Rainbow Six Siege. After all, Ubisoft’s shooter is a good indication of what you’ll roughly see in most esports-focused titles since it’s a little less optimised than the likes of CS2 and League of Legends. To my surprise, a passively-cooled Ryzen 7 5700G handles it well, not even dropping below 60fps when graphics demand double its 1GB of memory on the high preset. There’s certainly some scalability here for older games.

Despite its destiny to live a life hidden from the world, Arctic treats Senza’s passive cooler like the showstopper it is, boasting quality from end to end. Its gorgeous metal chassis puts the plastic casing on other SFFs to shame, all while doing a superb job keeping the CPU cool. We’ve seen plenty of passive PCs come and go over the years, but none led by a processor nearly as capable as AMD Zen 3."

Source: Club386

Get the Arctic Senza here 

MINIX Z300-0dB review

"The Z300 is a versatile Mini PC suitable for home use, office environments, and commercial applications. It delivers solid performance and operates quietly. While the MINIX Z300-0dB can handle gaming, it’s not designed as a gaming Mini PC, so keep that in mind. However, for typical tasks like document work, internet browsing, and audio-video entertainment, the Z300-0dB performs well. It is also worth adding that the Mini PC has a 2.5GbE LAN port and dual band WiFi 6. Although it heats up significantly during intensive tasks and gaming (we recommend avoiding direct contact with the aluminum heatsink), it runs smoothly without throttling."

Source: AndroidTVBox

Get the MINIX Z300-0db here