Pros: Economical, totally quite (no fan), energy and thermal efficient. Very responsive and peppy running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Cons: Tricky install, there are lots of ways to install Ubuntu and most of them will fail but a quick call to ECS support got me the instructions to get Ubuntu installed properly on the internal eMMC disk.

Overall Review: I don’t know why ECS does not post the Ubuntu install info on their website, it is very easy with the right direction. Basically use Rufus (http://rufus.akeo.ie/) to create your Ubuntu install USB from an Ubuntu 14.04.02 iso from the Ubuntu site. When creating the key in Rufus make sure you check “GPT partition scheme for UEFI computer” for the partition scheme. Liva X and Ubuntu are a killer combo because it keeps the setup very quick, efficient and economical. I am using this as a client for my media server and I had no problem connecting it to my file shares on my media server, I will be testing all kinds of ways to stream and play content with this thing. If these go on a good sale again I will pick up a bunch more. I may pick up one with Windows 8.1 pre-installed to be a dedicated VPN Remote Desktop client for work.

Pros: Small, quiet, great for HTPC. Cost - in line with other mini PCs, but includes RAM and the storage. So - a win-win.

Cons: Not small enough - yes, I expected it to be smaller, but it is about the same size, as all these Gigabits and Intel NUCs. No optical digital audio output. It is great to have VGA for these who don't have HDMI for some reasons (a port died, for example). But if you chose VGA , your only choice for audio is analog out. No DTS/DD for you.

Overall Review: Was not able to install 32 bit version of Windows 10 to the eMMC storage, the CD refused to boot. 64 bit version got installed right way. Overall - great unit, but quite slow - I guess CPU/GPU limitations. Installed CCCP codec pack, enabled hardware decoding for Intel's GPUs in settings, but even with GPU decoding the unit runs at about 70% CPU load while playing 1080p video clips. Around 40% CPU load for 720p clips, Hardware Unassisted 1080p - 100% of CPU load.

Pros: Small, simple, low power, HDMI.

Cons: Would prefer a less expensive model without eMMC so one could just drop in an mSATA.

Overall Review: Got one to test. For most clients we run all core applications via RDP for ease of maintenance and performance. Rather than thin clients, which are more money. So we prefer to install Window 7 so we can join to the domain and have basic functionality such as web browsing and then RDP for delivery of a controlled remote desktop (VDI). As mini systems go, this runs Windows 7 great for basic apps and as a RDP/VDI client.

Pros: 1. worked out of the box using a USB stick Using this as my Digital picture frame I install a puppy linux version and added the console program feh. open a terminal window and type the commands and it can search down through all my folders in my Pictures directory. bought a cheep AOC LED 22' monitor for a little over $100 and this box for $100 including shipping. Ran Kodi on it and it worked but just barely. you could play a local movie, you could stream. But you had to do one thing at a time and dont ask it to do anything else while a movie was running. but what do you expect from an atom processor? 2. really small form factor. Its small fits in your hand 3. has HDMI and VGA if you still need VGA this has it for you but it still has the HDMI

Cons: 1. Price When I first saw this it was $85 now its up $160? I think you would be better served going with the $200 Gigabyte Brix with the projector lot more computing power. When these were $85 to say $110 I would say great deal, now that they are around $160 I think you would be better served going with something else 2. eMMC card I tried but couldnt get it to boot off the eMMC card. Look in these reviews and I think someone got it to work, and gives you what to try, but after spending some time with it, and it didnt work, I didnt feel like spending more time on it. Sound like from what I read you need windows 10 or a newer Ubuntu to make it work off the built in eMMC card. Its formatted in eFat? and only really recent OS can read it or know what it is, but dont take my word for it Im going from memory on what I read on the internet!

Overall Review: For what I used it for it worked great it's small comes with a VESA mount and does what I want it to do. if you rather spend $160 for an atom processor computer than $200 for an i-3 it wont do you wrong just know what to expect from it. I gave it 4 stars based on the price I paid for it and knock the star off because of the eMMC diffculty.

Pros: Works as intended. Runs great with Linux (I've tried Lubuntu 14.04, Xubuntu 15.10 and Ubuntu 15.10).

Cons: Does not state that the OS must be 64 bit, in spite of only having 2 GB of RAM, I learned this through other comments here on Newegg after some trial-and-error.

Overall Review: I had a very difficult time getting this to run as a Steam In-Home Streaming Client, but that was because Valve packages libraries that override the system libraries, but do not always work as intended. Following the advice online from several sources, I found that I needed to install 32 bit packages of libva1, libva-X11-1, and libva-glx1 (sudo apt-get install libva1:i386 libva-X11-1:i386 libva-glx1:i386), then install Steam, and then delete every libva* from the .steam directory in my home directory. This would have been easier had I been able to install a 32 bit OS. After this, I could activate hardware decoding for the Steam streaming, and it seems to work great now. This box works well as a Kodi/XBMC client, too, so long as UPnP is enabled on a host PC somewhere, but I'm sure it'd do fine with local HD video files, but I have not yet tested it. There's some screen tearing, but that's another Linux and Intel issue, not a LIVA X issue, which can be fixed by adding Tear-Free to x11.conf.d (Google can tell one how).

Pros: Compact...take it anywhere. Capable everyday family PC. Better than Smart TV browsers (ugh). Definitely not for anything but the lightest gaming use. It's perfect for the purpose I bought it...slap it on the back of the TV and who cares if the kids hose it...it was only a couple of hundred bucks....and now I don't need to use my TV's not-so-Smart features.

Cons: Not really a con for my usage, BUT....the mSATA expansion slot is SATA II 3Gbps, not SATA III 6Gbps. So don't bother splurging on the fastest mSATA SSd out there. Even a low end one will saturate the connection and have a speed cap about half what it would be on SATA III.

Overall Review: I'll bet this would make for a very snappy Linux system, though I haven't tried a distro on it yet.

Pros: I love this thing. It mounts on the back of a tv, and I use a wireless keyboard/mouse combo and it runs lubuntu just fine. I was afraid it might be underpowered and that perhaps 2 gigs of ram might not be enough, but it works fairly well. I added Kingston 120GB Mini-SATA (mSATA) MLC SMS200S3/120G to each of the three I bought. Worked great. Installed the os on the 32 gb included and used the new 120gb for storage. Had the wireless keyboards already, so around $150 total invested in each. Not bad for a pretty nice little computer that you can mount on your tv or on the back of your monitor.

Cons: The ONLY thing I find at fault with this model, is that the wireless network will just DIE when you use the hdmi cable connected to the TV. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes for it to die, but die it does. I would say maybe I just had a bad wireless chip, but I bought 3 of these, and it happens on all 3. The power/block cord seems a bit flimsy, but it works. For the wireless being buggy and failing to work after 10 minutes using the hdmi I deducted 1 star. If that was fixed, it'd be perfect. I think the issue is probably with the hdmi connected, the unit heats up a bit more than when it isn't, and this causes the wireless to flake out and die. (could possibly be a linux driver issue... but seems unlikely as it seems to run fine with just vesa connection).

Overall Review: Yes, but would definately want them to know about the wireless issue.

Pros: VGA and HDMI video. Love the VESA mount. Was able to install and boot Linux Mint 17.3 from USB drive.

Cons: I have been installing OSs onto HDs since the early 1980s and this was one of the most difficult. I was unable to get this unit to boot from internal eMMC drive. Not a mention of installing Linux on LIVA website.

Overall Review: This BIOS setup allowed me to install Linux Mint 17.3 to an external USB drive: Operation System Select: Windows 7 or other Boot Mode Select: UEFI Boot Option #1: USB Flash only by using the USB 3.0 port. I would like to see a review with more hints on how to install and boot from eMMC drive. I hope I can install and boot from eSATA drive...when it arrives. Two weeks and awaiting delivery from http://www.newegg.com/Goldendisk