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MINIX >
Minix NEO-G4-108A ARM Cortext A9 Dual Core Quad Core Mali 400 Graphics 1 x HDMI Dongle Pocket PC
 
Works well
- Pros: Works as advertised - not quite as responsive as my Nexus 7, but the cost is certainly less - I have it hooked up to a 27" monitor, with a wireless mouse and keyboard
- Cons: Not as easy to upgrade the Android version as the Nexus 7.
- Other Thoughts: All in all I like it very much. It does what I want it to do just fine
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Reviewed By:heydavewhite,5/21/2013 9:12:44 AM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is Somewhat High and has owned this product 1 month to 1 year.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
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Barebone Systems >
JETWAY >
JetWay HBJC371F35W-T40E-B AMD G-T40E APU (1.0GHz, dual core) AMD A50M (Hudson M1) AMD Radeon HD6250 Barebone
Almost great
- Pros: No fans or moving parts
4 working front-mount serial ports
Great support in Ubuntu Linux
Adequate speed/performance
Good networking capabilities (dual gigE)
Simple to assemble with 2.5" SSD - Cons: Thermal design/build quality
- Other Thoughts: Assembled and had it working with Ubuntu 12.04.02 LTS very quickly.
HOWEVER after an hour or so I noted the system was unstable (random reboots) and after eliminating other causes, I found that CPU/GPU temps had climbed to >105C.
I took everything apart and found a small gap between the CPU thermal pad and the case protrusion (mesa) which acts as a heatsink. Clearly the tolerances or design were incorrect, as these parts should have been touching to transfer the heat. Even a low-power CPU like this needs contact for thermal transfer!
I removed the motherboard, applied thermal compound to fill the gap, reinstalled and CPU temp went down to 71C. The board has been stable ever since.
I've recently added an external fan to blow air over the case just to be safe, and CPU temps now hover in the low 60s.
Obviously Jetway needs to address this issue - either the case machining is incorrect on my unit, or else it's a problem with all of them. If I order another one, I'll check and see if the same issue exists.
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Reviewed By:N/A,5/20/2013 3:01:14 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is High and has owned this product 1 month to 1 year.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
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Categories >
Barebone Systems >
Shuttle Computer >
Shuttle XH61V Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 / Pentium / CeleronIntel Core i7 / i5 / i3 / Pentium (LGA1155) Intel Socket H2(LGA1155) Intel H61 none 1 x HDMI Barebone
So far it is a waste of time and money
- Pros: small. Makes an oversized paperweight
- Cons: Can't get it to work! I have built tons of computers before. Stupid thing doesn't even post. Support is non -existant. I called Taiwan but they don't speak english. I tried differerent ram and SSD and nothing. The external power supply is very finicky. I had to really jam the cord into it in order to get enough juice.
- Other Thoughts: This was my first shuttle experience and it's going to cost me a lot of money. It's already costing me lots of time as i was going to use this as a small server in a business. The shipping costs have already cost me enough.
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Reviewed By:Ben,5/16/2013 7:40:02 AM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is High and has owned this product 1 day to 1 week.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
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Categories >
Barebone Systems >
MINIX >
Minix NEO-G4-108A ARM Cortext A9 Dual Core Quad Core Mali 400 Graphics 1 x HDMI Dongle Pocket PC
Not ready for Prime Time
- Pros: This is a very neat little bar. The device is quite agile with only minimal lag in performing functions.
- Cons: Most have noted that the remote is weak and ineffective, I agree.
The big problem, however, is its inability to stream content fast enough to allow for decent playback. The unit this was meant to replace, a WD TV Live, has no trouble streaming content from a D-Link DNS-321 NAS through a Arris TG862 provided from my cable company.
Speedcheck on an iPad 2 shows download at 19 Mps and the G4 downloads at barely 2 Mps.
- Other Thoughts: I bought this to learn a bit about the AndroidOS, and while it seems pretty good, the lack of streaming performance leaves me with a novelty brick.
I should have checked the blogs before I bought as there seems to be hints of the problem out there.
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Reviewed By:BigLar,5/11/2013 2:41:49 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is Somewhat High and has owned this product 1 week to 1 month.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
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Categories >
Barebone Systems >
MINIX >
Minix NEO-G4-108A ARM Cortext A9 Dual Core Quad Core Mali 400 Graphics 1 x HDMI Dongle Pocket PC
Works well with XBMC
- Pros: Works well with XBMC.
Built in Wifi works well.
Small footprint, doesn't take up much space. - Cons: Streaming anything above 720p is not watchable.
The included remote is useless, use a wireless mouse instead.
- Other Thoughts: Got this to install XBMC.
As long as you stay with 720p streams and under, it's good. I would expect future firmware to possibly correct this issue.
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Reviewed By:mazinga,5/10/2013 2:20:39 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is Somewhat High and has owned this product 1 week to 1 month.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
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Categories >
Barebone Systems >
MINIX >
Minix NEO-G4-108A ARM Cortext A9 Dual Core Quad Core Mali 400 Graphics 1 x HDMI Dongle Pocket PC
This works great!
- Pros: Very easy setup especially if you are familiar with the Android OS. One of the best purchases I made in a long time.
- Cons: the remote control it comes with is practically useless. I connected a wireless mouse and it worked great without any additional setup.
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Reviewed By:N/A,5/8/2013 7:42:48 AM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is Somewhat High and has owned this product 1 day to 1 week.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
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Categories >
Barebone Systems >
MINIX >
Minix NEO-X5-116A ARM Cortext A9 Dual Core Quad Core Mali 400 Graphics 1 x HDMI Nano Size Media Hub
Not quite ready for primetime
- Pros: Small
Low power
Versatile video output - Cons: Difficult to flash - USB cable doesn't stay connected
Android support for set-top boxes is minimal
Built-in media player interfaces are confusing for the non-technical minded (my daughter and wife)
Video playback from a NAS via SMB was dissapointing at 1080p
- Other Thoughts: I received this unit in the mail and the box wasn't shrink-wrapped, it was held shut with a rubber-band. The cables inside had obviously already been used, and I did not buy a refurbished/discounted item
Never-the-less, it still booted right up when plugged in. I was able to sync it to a google account and access the play store to try out a number of different options for video playback. My intent was to use this device to stream movies from a NAS that held a large number of varying formats of movies (480p, 720p, 1080p) as a replacement for having our Blu-Ray and DVD disks on-hand where our 2-year old could potentially damage.
The built-in media server requires you to connect via DLNA, which was no problem, but navigating to select a movie is clumsy and cumbersome, and while I was able to do it, it was not an easy process to explain to my 11-year old daughter or wife. I tried XBMC and the support for android, and this specific hardware procesor, is very early in development, and 1080p playback stuttered significantly (720p playback also stuttered). I could not use an alternate media player option, because the media players that worked well (i.e., MxPlayer) do not support playback over a SMB share.
I tried Plex Media, and while that played better, there was still skipping every few minutes which would skip over a few seconds of the movie. The interface, also, for Plex for Android is obviously designed for a touch-screen tablet/phone (as most of these pieces of software are) which makes it very clunky to use as a set-top box on a non-touch screen T.V.
I returned this system and decided on an alternate STB using a dual-core Intel Atom processor, nVidia graphics card, and running Windows XP. It has exceeded my needs and works much better, although it heats up more, and is a bit larger than the Minix is.
Hopefully the android developer community begins to develop software that is designed for use on a T.V. and this device can be useful. As it is now, it just isn't ready for primetime usage as a STB network-based movie player.
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Reviewed By:N/A,5/7/2013 10:59:30 AM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is High and has owned this product 1 week to 1 month.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Categories >
Barebone Systems >
Shuttle Computer >
Shuttle SZ77R5 Intel Core i7 / i5 / i3 (LGA1155) Intel Socket H2(LGA1155) Intel Z77 Integrated in CPU 1 x HDMI Barebone
Great Product and Support
- Pros: Very fast with Intel I5 CPU, quiet SMART fan with linear speed increases, no big noisy steps.
- Cons: Mother Board had a flaw that randomly shutdown WIN 7. An fast RMA MB fixed the problem. Support was excellent.
Check your BIOS displayed voltages first thing. If VIDEO CORE = 0.12 volts vs 1.x volts, the MB is hosed.
- Other Thoughts: Really nice product, extremely quiet and fast. I see TURBO action from 1.5GHz up to 3.8 Ghz dynamically to preserve power and heat - really cool for sure. I am running an SDR radio with Fast Fourier Transforms so speed is paramount.
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Reviewed By:Fudd,5/1/2013 1:52:58 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is High and has owned this product 1 month to 1 year.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
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Categories >
Barebone Systems >
MINIX >
Minix NEO-G4-108A ARM Cortext A9 Dual Core Quad Core Mali 400 Graphics 1 x HDMI Dongle Pocket PC
"Great value" review update
- Pros: This is an update to the "Great value" review I posted a little over a month ago. Posting this update in the hopes that my experience will benefit others.
I've continued to be generally pleased by the Neo G4, with the exception of ... (see Cons) - Cons: ... the increasingly-frequent instances of temporarily dropping the connection to my media server, which caused excessive pauses and timeouts. I spent a few weeks trying to debug the issue, using different video apps, sourcing from a different physical server, going over different network protocols, and checking against different Android devices.
Ultimately, I narrowed the issue down to the Neo G4's wireless drivers and/or chipset, which is in line with other complaints I've heard about the device.
But ... (see Other Thoughts)
- Other Thoughts: Based on some cryptic notes I found on the interweb, I was able to overcome these wireless issues with some ROUTER settings. I own a Belkin dual-band router, with one radio broadcasting 802.11 b/g/n at 2.4 GHz, and the other broadcasting a/n at 5.0 GHz.
I disabled my router's 5.0 GHz radio, and the Neo G4's connection hasn't dropped since.
Fortunately I'm not relying on high-speed wireless for anything else, but this seems like a real issue, and there isn't any evidence of Minix pursuing a fix. I doubt I'll buy another Neo G4, as I initially speculated -- although I may consider a Neo X5, since this comes with an Ethernet jack on-board.
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Reviewed By:N/A,4/30/2013 4:01:39 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is High and has owned this product 1 month to 1 year.
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Categories >
Barebone Systems >
Foxconn >
Foxconn R40-i4000 Intel Atom D2500 (1.86GHz, dual core) Intel NM10 Intel GMA 3600 1 x HDMI Barebone
Saving Energy - My #1 Concern.
- Pros: Installed Windows Server 2008R2 and Windows 8 Enterprise no problem. 4 Gigs Ram, 2 HDs each with different OS. BIOS stock B35F1P01. No need to update what works. Windows 8 post amazingly fast in few seconds using spindle HDS. Not using SSD for stability.
Front Led strip looks amazing for a cheap computer.
Quite as mouse. Cool Temps also. Trust worthy to keep on in your home. - Cons: Delay with keyboard.. goes to sleep to save $$. It takes 5 seconds to wake so hit F7 several times to post. No room for 2X hard Drives... you must make room for the second. What PITA to install 2X harddrives. Added the Second HardDrive in the DVD bay. Using USB DVDrom no problem as needed.
- Other Thoughts: The only reason to purchase "any ATOM computer" is to save energy first, then performance second. I own an 80 core Supercomputer with 3 hungry power supplies eating $$$. I toggle this off/on as needed running stock Algos. Was going to pay $500+ for New Atom Machine but No chance in hell for VTX that's good. Forget Hyper V, or Oracle Virtual Box running on this or any Atom but what do you expect? Looks like XBox360 same exact Size.
After all how many people utilize their CPU(s) to 80%? This runs at 0-50% constantly which is ok in my book.
30 Watts Idle = $78/year Ownership at 30 cents K/wh which is only $6.48 per month to run a webserver 24 hours a day. Good Enough for me.
Cancel GoDaddy WebHosting and do it yourself! Really Surprised how fast web pages come up w/o cache server. I'll install that too on this.
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Reviewed By:MikeInNYC,4/28/2013 1:05:17 PM
This reviewer reports that his/her technical understanding of this type of product is High and has owned this product 1 day to 1 week.
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