GIGABYTE BRIX GB-BXi7-4770R 2 x 204Pin Intel Iris Pro graphics 5200 Mini-PC Barebone

Pros: This super small computer is just what your looking for Light weight sub compact ultra portable plays COD Ghost with medium settings no lag or flicker Runs Photoshop CS6 with no lag Runs "Sony Vegas" Movie maker super smooth no Latency Runs Qubase & ACID Music composing software with ZERO LATENCY My Specs: Crucial 480 gig msata ssd Crucial 16 gig DDR3 Windows 8.1 64 bit with Classic shell Boots in 7 sec

Cons: I can find none

Overall Review: As far as the Fan being loud............ Yes, the fans RPM's spin up during intensive Graphics applications but only for a seconded & it's no louder then my PC !!!! But during normal use, it's quite as a mouse......... What would you expect? This is not a android or a internet browsing tool This is a Full Blown i7 Computer in a box the size of 5 packs of cigarettes (laying side by side on edge) Capable of running Graphic intensive software such as Photoshop and Movie Making software !! If you need a quite toy then by an Android.... If you want a Powerful tool to run your programs buy this..... Regards, Rick

Pros: well packaged , quick assembly and in less than 15 minutes you are up on 8.1 Pro wireless or wired your choice. I7-4770R Brix worked well killing my two i5 NUCs. It gave me similar scores to my mini itx Silverstone I7-4770K without an installed graphics card. If you are going for a NUC or Brix buy this top end model rather than an I5 one. it is definitely worth the extra bucks both Video 5200 and the faster CPU about the same as an i7-4770k..

Cons: probably my fault but there was a hum in the sound although the sound worked fine. But when no sound on the video I was watching I could not tolerate the hum. I substituted a usb sound device to plug into. this worked perfectly. I need to check this out in more detail. my one NUC that has a sound receptacle has no hum. if Gigabyte's fault which I doubt this is not a deal breaker.

Overall Review: I have a business use. My personal business computer an FX-8350 gets a passmark score of 3800 mildly OCed. This one no vid card , no OC gets 3500 but a fraction of the size. If size matters buy it. My Silverstone mini-itx i7-4770K not as small as this one by a long shot gets 3300. The I7-4770R appears to be about the same as an i7-4770K.

Pros: Very fast with 16 GB of 1866 MHz RAM and a Samsung 840 EVO mSATA solid state drive, running Ubuntu Linux. Supports two monitors. Small. Easy to install the DRAM and SSD. Ubuntu 13.10 installs and runs great (except for the Wifi).

Cons: Fan becomes audible at the slightest load. Just surfing the web, it's quiet enough though. However, fan is always running. No SD card reader. No eSATA connector. There's no Linux support for the Wifi card (in progress). Bluetooth works under Ubunto 13.10 though, as does video, audio, and wired LAN. BIOS is UEFI, but still a simple character-based screen (not a GUI). When in BIOS, CPU gets very hot very fast (fan runs full speed). Some BIOS options I can't figure out--the help text is useless, and there's no documentation.

Overall Review: System uses 21 watts at idle under Ubuntu Linux. Suspend uses 4 watts. Hibernate uses 0 watts if you turn on "ERP" in the BIOS. I haven't tested the 3D gaming performance (not what I use the machine for). It would be easy for Gigabyte to put in an eSATA port and connect it to their proprietary SATA header on the motherboard. TIP: BIOS won't recognize an optical drive on the front USB ports, only on the back ones. I used this RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148729 And this SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147316

Pros: tiny, fast, vesa 100 mountable, intel GPU

Cons: no wireless driver in xubuntu 13.10. a bit pricey.

Overall Review: man. Got ssd, 16gb ram, mounted this thing to the back of my monitor. Installed xubuntu 13.10 (in about 5 minutes) -> awesomeness. Comparing to my old self-build case -> BRIX rocks. I don't know what people are talking about when it comes to a fan noise -> maybe I'm deaf but I can hardly even hear it. My old self-build box was about 10 times more audible. Also -> hdmi audio worked for me just fine on Xubuntu 13.10. Wireless doesn't work in xubuntu 13.10 , so I guess it will be eventually -> so I don't relly care.

Pros: Small Form Factor Fast Computing Speed Ease of configuration Build options Quality

Cons: Fan is a little noisy when running at peak. Fan not large enough to keep system cool under heavy loads. Heat buildup can corrupt data on MSata drives. USB 3 ports drop/disconnect external USB 2 drives when using some USB keyboards and mice(USB powered hub needed for keyboard and mouse.)

Overall Review: System runs great after I repackaged the MB in a new box with a better fan. Runs so quiet now I sometimes wonder if it is still running or powered on. I will have to do this with my other 5 BRIX units too.

Pros: Easy to configure, powerful cpu, and performance.

Cons: Heatsink fan noisy, bad audio ALC269 chip that nobody uses, could use a quieter fan. More USB ports.

Overall Review: Was easy to build a Hackintosh OSX Yosemite running on this, the only problem is the Audio is unsupported and requires some extra hacking to work and the HDMI audio is also difficult under OSX. Aside from these issues I have a much faster and higher performance Mac Mini clone. It is as fast as the fastest Core i7 iMac.

Pros: Very, very fast. Easy to setup, works with high resolution monitors like my Dell 3007WFP out of the box. Very compatible with Ubuntu 14.04, zero special configuration needed for any hardware. It's like a mac mini on steroids.

Cons: Fairly loud when the cpu usage is maxed out during a compile or other cpu intensive operation. The included print instructions are very vague and unhelpful.

Overall Review: I'm glad I purchased this, it's a very competent little workstation.

Pros: This little machine packs a lot of graphics and processing power. I did not want to buy a behemoth gaming PC so I decided to buy the i7 Brix Pro and I'm not disappointed. I purchased the fastest memory and SSD drive to maximize performance. I can play FarCry 3 in High graphics settings and still get no lower than 24 frames per second (1080). Crysis gets about 20-25 fps in High to Medium graphics. settings. I am very please with this little beauty.

Cons: Fan can get loud when playing games or doing processor intensive tasks.