Hey, I think you should test plex hardware transcoding on these little mini PCs. There are tons of plex user looking for a more power efficient ways to run their plex server me being one of them
That's kind cool, I remember, when you had 261 subs and you where making or showing how Pokémon go bots where working, so congrats mate and have a good one bud =)
I literally just bought a LarkBox Pro to play with, and was debating between that one and this one. Not sure if I'll regret not going for the higher RAM or not, but we'll see. Your reviews have been instrumental in my making these kinds of purchases. Thanks for doing the good work!
@Brian Babin It's made for media playback and web browsing, which it does well enough. Just don't expect any sort of high end gaming. Just expect good emulation performance, old games, and non intensive indie games.
@@waterheart95 Exactly. My family has a cabin without access to the internet, and I have a Raspberry Pi 3 running Kodi with some emulation and locally stored media for the family to use. I've been itching to upgrade it, so I picked up a Lenovo m92p that I've been tinkering around with, but I'm not sure if that's the machine that I want to go with or if I should go for something like the Larkbox/NucBox. A huge amount of it is going to come down to noise and reliability. I needs to be able to run reliably and fairly quietly without me getting calls from my family about how it won't work or it's so loud that it overpowers the sound of the video that they're watching. Something like this seems perfect for my use case based on specs, but I've seen comments about the Larkbox being loud, and elsewhere in this thread people complaining about their units dying. Both are pretty big red flags for me.
ETA PRIME should definitively include the noise levels on their reviews. I had purchased one of those mini-PCs and I had to return it because the fan noise was unbearable. I bought instead a less powerful fan-less mini-PC and I’m very pleased with it.
@@z4ub3r3r Do you mind saying which one you picked up that you're happy with? I was looking at the CHUWI Herobox, which is less powerful than the Larkbox but does seem like it's passively cooled, which would be a plus for me.
I would love to see you start evaluating these small PCs as parsec clients. We have 4 gamers in this house and I'm rationalizing gaming PCs and using parsec on TVs. Love the thought of a tiny PC as a HTPC / Parsec client.
Mine didn't even start anymore after the initial Windows set-up ... it happend to MANY other IGG backers, not just me. This is a VERY disappointing kit! And even worse was the support from GMK. Cannot recommend purchasing this. :-(
GREAT review as ALWAYS! I watched your earlier video of the pre-production unit. Since you mentioned reporting your heat and other issues to the maker, I expected they would address the issues before mass production. I ordered the 512GB SSD model on Christmas eve. It is due to arrive tomorrow. I already have several mini PCs and more SBCs than I can count so I really didn't have a "need" for another mini PC. The partial metal build of the case gives it a more premium look than the Lark Box Pro. After watching this, I think I made the right choice. I plan on setting it up mostly for retro game emulation and connecting to my TV. The good thing about ordering something like this via Amazon Prime is if you get a DOA or lemon unit, you can send it back for replacement or refund right away. I'll put it through it's paces as soon as I get it. If it performs like it should I'll keep it. If not I'll return it ASAP. I do have tempered expectations and know what to expect from a mini PC box with these specs. If it can emulate the few PSP games I have, it should do fine with anything less demanding. If you have time I'd like to see PPSSPP running God of War - Chains of Olympus on this mini PC. That isn't a game I own but If it can run that game smoothly, it should run the few PSP games I own flawlessly.
@@kylosalvesen I've been using a Mac since 1999. And while I think the M1 was a great decision for them as a company, for me as a server software developer and cloud infrastructure engineer, is a deal breaker. I'm shopping to buy my first computer since 1997 because I need to learn to use a PC while I make money on my employers's Mac.
I got one through the early backer deal. Have tried it out in light use and so far no problems. Works fine. No weirdness.The fan is on a lot but the noise is low and not bothersome. Will certainly update this if I encounter problems.
@@jrok96 Yea, "m1 arm for pc" is for apple. "We" will never get m1 chips unless we're buying apple.. At least atm. Which is cool, yay m1, but as of right now m1 isn't it for general PC
The M1 CPU is really only this good because it doesnt support anything. Most programs currently run Emulated but since apple is behind it to emulate all that stuff it runs really well. X86 is just bloated.
Greetings! I just want to say that your channel is very instructive and I love it. I hope you can someday do a video comparing each micro pc that you've already posted in RUclips and tell us which one is the best micro pc and how. Thanks!
Just FYI if anyone has major lagging issues with a wireless mouse/keyboard. I just got my nucbox yesterday, and it was almost unusable with a wireless keyboard and mouse. If I hooked up wired ones, it ran much better. Through some research, I found that if you use a USB extension cable, and plug the USB receiver into it, the issue is resolved. It also improved the Cinebench Multi Core score by 200 points (ran several times both with and without the extension). Once I fixed that issue, the system seems to run just fine.
"...but I wouldn't pick one of these things up to play PC games on." *Proceeds to immediately pick one of these things up to play PC games on.* Thank you for all the great work and content. Your channel got me into Raspberry Pi's and mini PC projects!
I always appreciate your detailed reviews. Thank you so much. I'm thinking of getting a mini PC for work. Those specs are more than enough for sure. Can I mention a suggest that you can include in your future reviews? It would help even more🙏
I wonder if this is any more stable than the lark box (pro). Just visit the chuwi forums to see all the posts from people with bricked or dead units. some suggested up to 50% died. I went through 2 of them, both returned due to problems (dead USB port on one and the other bricked through changing the boot order in the bios). The problems mostly lay with the UEFI / bios setup as it has a generic debug bios on it and most of the settings are not for the actual device. If you touch a perfectly normal setting in it there is a good chance the device is permanently bricked and no way to clear the NVRAM and reset it. Curious if GMK actually wrote and added a proper finished bios to this unit or if it is just the same rebadged boards as the lark box.
I hope the Larkbox pro i got my Daughter doesn't brick on me. It's her emulation pc for Gamecube. If it bricks on me I will have to build her a pc, and that expense I cannot afford right now.
@@jeffjankiewicz5100 Don't worry bro, the government is about to send out a MASSIVE check! SIX, count em, SIX hundos!! You could build her a powerful gaming rig and still have plenty left over for bills, food, rent, utilities, car payment, insurance, Xmas recuperation, etc. That McConnell man, he's one of the good ones...! 🐢🤑💸💰🎉🎈
That's sad to hear. I've been using my Larkbox Pro as a steam link and 4k streaming machine over the last month. If it dies that'd be a real pain. I guess I could just use my raspberry pi tho.
@@ETAPRIME Will you then also compare the loudness of the fan/cooling solution between the Larkbox Pro and this GMK NucBox? And also emulation performance (especially Dreamcast, PSP and Gamecube/Wii) would be very interesting. Thanks in Advance!
Had to tear mine apart to try and fix a dead unit. It's similar to the LarkBox, but has a few differences that make it seem a little more solid... good contact with the cooler and a nice bracket to hold down the main connectors of the two boards. I look forward to ETA's teardown of this unit, as it was the LarkBox teardown video that made me feel secure enough to open up my NucBox (sadly the operation did not fix the issue, but it was interesting nonetheless).
@@JohnWayne0815 I bought one through Banggood and paid for express postage to Australia. Two days in to use it cuts out midway through an email - dead, nothing ever again, not a POST not even a light on. I finally worked it out, the SSD must have a short in it because a new one from Amazon fixed it! I'm now trying to get the seller to pay for the replacement SSD. To those who use this thing with Windows 10, the fan noise will drive you up the wall - if it does try switching to Linux for a bit, it's WAY better. Personally, I'd never buy another one or anything from GMK, they have been bastards to get help from.
@@dazagrt Considering getting one but going to replace the heatsink with a passive one. A heatsink for a DDC watercooling pump shares almost exactly the same footprint, and there are several kinds so one could really work!
Thanks for reviewing this, but would you also test 4K video from a Blu-ray rip or something representative of higher bit rate HDR content? The RUclips 4K is usually just low bit rate Rec709 VP9 like the sample you played, not a suitable benchmark for Plex or Kodi 4K HDR.
Before my brother got me started into gaming a little over a year ago, this little cube would've satisfied all my computer needs. Not so now! Dammit bro!
Dude the commercials are relentless, I’m really trying to watch them and support you , but could you also load your videos on odysee? They said you can dual upload to odysee and YT? Thanks for your great content.!
I have been waiting for a nice price/performance mark before investing in one of these little guys so that I could have a dedicated PC for running operating systems other than MacOS mostly for my sons education. But with the power of the recent Raspberry Pi we just got him for Christmas and the great news about how fantastically the arm based macs are handling virtual machines, having a dedicated box to rarely run Windows or to teach Linux is seeming less important. $200 bucks though... gotta be something I can use it for! Lol.
The $20 for 2 extra GB of RAM is definitely worth it depending on your use case. You'll see the real difference the 2GB makes while multi tasking. If for nothing else you have a potential 2GB zram (or ramdisk) block device. You can use it a few ways like letting the board swap and write logs to RAM instead of the SD. For instance create that block device in /tmp and see if it doesn't make a noticeable difference.
I live in Canada and this is going for $899. What!!! I have an HP Elitedesk 800 G3 mini that I picked up used for $325 canadian and it utterly destroys this.
Remember the Pantera Pico PC you reviewed. What a disaster !! The Kickstarter project is 5 months overdue with none of the backers receiving their PicoPC.
Hey ETA, I have an Advantech Uno-2473G. It's a industrial automation computer. I actually got this from work. It was just gonna be thrown away. I was gonna load Linux on it. And run some of your benchmarks. You can get these things all day for around $200 and it's passively cooled. Was just gonna make you aware of other cheapish passive cooled small computers. Might find some other kinds of units out there to add to your content. You can barrow this unit if you feel like it's worth making a video on.
I love your reviews, but you definitively should include the noise levels on them. I had purchased on of those mini-PCs and I had to return it because the fan noise was unbearable. I bought instead a less powerful fan-less mini-PC and I’m very pleased with it.
great video ETA as usual. what would I recommend for running PC games like star wars squadron (recommended requirements) I after small factor unit as possible. cheers Rob
I was about to say this experience is immersive....with youtube resolution being changed on the fly until I noticed it was YOUR youtube screens that you were adjusting lol
@@gongatots4115 I have the Vert builds and an old mini PC from ASUS, it runs the Pinball FX 2 games well, but not the FX 3 versions. I think it makes a good benchmark for this level of systems.
Could you add an old game when you test games.... Maybe one that runs super good to show what era of old games we could play. Just an idea.. cos realistically people aren't going to be using these for current triple A games and i assume this will be great for retro arcade gaming.
Everytime i watch eta prime, i think I'm ready to invest in a micro workstation he's given thumbs up, then a day later he reviews something just as good or better! I'm holding my money waiting for the golden egg of micro workstation/emulation has to offer. 😁😎👍
It's been this way for decades. You either need a PC today or you don't, as there will always be something better and/or cheaper tomorrow. There will never be a "golden egg" in this market. 2020 was not a great year for PC's as demand was high and thus prices did not fall as much. Used PC prices even went up, not down. 2021 may be better for buyers *if* demand slows but the economy remains strong; an uncertain proposition. If you can wait, then do. If not, then make your selection today using objective reviews from sources like ETA Prime. Remember with these mini-PC's that you are paying a premium for their form factor. Though less attractive in 2020, you can usually buy a more powerful used PC for the price of a new mini-PC, so your choice can depend upon your definition of "need". Larger form factors are generally more future-proof as well and thus a better investment, but this is becoming less of a factor as the traditional, expandable PC slowly, but surely, dies.
@@antibrevity The only used PCs I've seen anywhere local (los Angeles) start at $300 and are over three years old already. Not to mention a used old PC takes more space and power consumption, unless buying a used laptop. Either way I feel buying a micro pc is safer and more cost effective in the long run, also considering I have no clue when the used parts of the used pc will stop working and force me to spend even more in repairs.
@@Ender3Me I recently picked up a Lenovo Thinkcentre m92p on Craigslist for $100 to tinker with. It came with Windows 10 pre-installed, and seemed to work fine at that. Mostly I wanted to play around with some emulation and see about getting something like Batocera/Kodi running. I ran into a slew of issues as I was working on it, though a fair amount of that was almost certainly that I've never worked with Linux before. But I did just get it up and running, and it seems to do ok. Ideally I would like an emulation machine that can run Gamecube games flawlessly, but I feel like that might be just beyond the grasp of this machine, though from the Larkbox Pro review it might not be out of the question for that one. The biggest issue for me is noise and reliability. The hope is that this will be used in a remote cabin shared with my family that doesn't have access to the internet, so it needs to play videos/games without dying and without making so much noise that it annoys the family. I've seen some comments about the Larkbox that give me pause though.
I'd love to see you add "Second Life" to these 'beefy mini pc' tests. It's only going to be really viable on windows based units, but it can be QUITE a load for a PC to handle (the same way we used to say Crysis). Admittedly, sim vs sim is going to have drastically different results, but it could be interesting to see how these could handle something so notoriously hard on PC hardware.
The power draw really surprizes me from this celeron, I have these lenovo thinkpads at work with Ryzen 7 Pro 4750u, and the power draw is quite similar, 6w at idle, and max 33w, but the cinebench score is about 8200 multi. Would be cool to get one of these nuc boxes with a '4750e' with a TDP of 5-10w instead of 15w, or just a standard 4750u with custom BIOS that allows for the full 20w burst speed but keeps temps under 80c
my Larkbox just died yesterday, when runing windows in idle mode, just "puf" and everything gone, i dont have any overhyped opinion about repair/refund care from chuwi outside china, so i will probably just discard my 140usd and move out, but this is my second chuwi device, which just died after month, and like 5th or 6th from china overall, so, even these devices are cheap, I DO NOT RECOMEND BUY IT anymore, never ever, just pay more for your local seller, but make sure of FULL repair aviability in your local area, its more important then you think :/
@@Brockton its shame, bcz i really love my larkbox, it was perfect for my needs and cheap too, it is really small, literally palm size, so now when it died, i spend like a week of searching replacement, and i ended with lattepanda delta, its little bigger, with only 4Gb ram and 64Gb erom, but have two ssd nvme slots, and it can have reall passive cooler, so its 100% silent with full load, which is extreme problem with ALL mini mini pc. Second on my mind was hackboard2, but these will be ready on april, and bcz of usa made, shipping and import fee kills it for me completely :(
The specs look pretty decent. Just wanted a nice windows or linux media box with emulators for another room. Wanted up to ps2 and gamecube. anything past that is bonus.
Great review as always, what are your thoughts on using this unit or the larkbox pro to run OBS for video playback into something like an Atem mini, I like idea of bolting one to the back of a monitor to use with a multicamera production rig I'm looking to build around an Atem mini switcher
What about Minecraft and SuperTuxKart test? I would like to see some FPS test for games, that's work on Windows and ARM Linux (Raspberry Pi 4 and others)
BTW, it's not a usb-c at all. It will not accept standard usb-c power supply, and its power supply will fry other usb-c devices, as it's not compliant and simply delivers 12v using a usb-c plug. I honestly don't know how it passed certification....
"Hi this is ETA Prime and this week we're going to look at Cray's new Quantum Supercomputer Development Ball for 2022. Yes this $66 device is the size of a ping pong ball. It has three USB-C ports, built in Wifi, wireless video and bluetooth. I tell you emulation on this thing is fantastic with no issues with emulating the PS5 on the PPPPPSSSSS emulator running at full scaling. Goldeneye for the N64 still has some frame skipping but is almost playable. It can simultaneously run Windows, linux and IOS. Now granted, running Firefox with four tabs open is a challenge and can lead to overheating but the device can be dropped in a glass with ice and a transfer medium of your choice. It tries but alas still can't run Crysis."
It is unfortunate to hear that the LarkBox has similar bios problems to the NucBox... I was thinking of purchasing a LarkBox and trying to put the innards into my bricked NucBox case.
Giant battery brick, portable monitor, this tiny pc, and a bluetooth keyboard from a tablet cover. Only thing missing is dropping it into a case! Could be about the only "laptop" run from the bag it's carried in
The larkbox Pro works fine on a PC LCD, also works fine if I directly connect it to my 4K TV (Hisense 55H9F). However, running it through my receiver (Sony STR-DH590) it will not passthrough. I’ve tried new HDMI HDCP 2.3 cables and others. I’ve set the receivers FMT settings back and forth. Nothing. So it’s an incompatibility with chuwi/sony. I can plug in an old crappy laptop and the passthrough works just fine. So for CHUWI, I will have to return as it’s not going to work as my HTPC.
I would have really loved it if he has done the CSGO test on an online match, considering that the bot matches can drastically load the CPU, and thus hinder the performance
This might be fun to hide inside of a 90’s white PC case with USB optical drives and whatnot, it’d be great for retro PC gaming. If only there were themes for Windows 10, I’d love to make it look like Windows 98
These Mini PCs are great little secondary computers, and was wondering what OBS Recording and Streaming is like on this device. These would save a lot of space and time from having to either build a streaming device or buying a bulky system.
I want one of these using an AMD Athlon 4050/5050e, so much faster for the same power budget, heck, even the 14nm Zen1 based 3050e would still be a toss up
Hey Prime, thanks for the video. Have you used either model for an extended stretch for productivity? Does its performance degrade if you've been using it a while?
When you mentioned Xiaomi @1:15, I googled 'Xiaomi nuc' and the second suggested result is 'Xiaomi nuclear bomb'. Apparently, there was a Xiaomi Japan/international ad that shows imagery related to nuclear attack on Japan.
Interesting market. I could see these being a nice frontend type box for Plex or Kodi in a different room than the media server itself (i.e. in a living room connected to an older non-Smart TV), or as others have mentioned maybe a good emulation machine? Have you tested emulation on this NUCBox yet? I'd bet it'd run well for all but N64, since as we know, N64 is a beast to emulate, almost no matter the hardware.
La pspGo emule n64 y una cpu de 2019 con 8gb de ram no puede? anda que estas tu fino, una bestia dice xD y se emulaba con un pentium 4 de hace 15 años....
I'm surprised they haven't been able to make GPU run at same speed as cpu, that was whole idea of apu's when they started. That would be awesome speeds.
Without this channel I wouldnt have known this even existed.
You should subscribe
Hey, I think you should test plex hardware transcoding on these little mini PCs. There are tons of plex user looking for a more power efficient ways to run their plex server me being one of them
That's kind cool, I remember, when you had 261 subs and you where making or showing how Pokémon go bots where working, so congrats mate and have a good one bud =)
Hey ETA, can we get a "Best of" video outlining your favorite items reviewed this year?
I literally just bought a LarkBox Pro to play with, and was debating between that one and this one. Not sure if I'll regret not going for the higher RAM or not, but we'll see. Your reviews have been instrumental in my making these kinds of purchases. Thanks for doing the good work!
great minipc reviews, could you add noise levels to your graphs? That's the only thing I'm missing before running out to buy one of those :)
@Brian Babin It's made for media playback and web browsing, which it does well enough.
Just don't expect any sort of high end gaming. Just expect good emulation performance, old games, and non intensive indie games.
@@waterheart95 Exactly. My family has a cabin without access to the internet, and I have a Raspberry Pi 3 running Kodi with some emulation and locally stored media for the family to use. I've been itching to upgrade it, so I picked up a Lenovo m92p that I've been tinkering around with, but I'm not sure if that's the machine that I want to go with or if I should go for something like the Larkbox/NucBox. A huge amount of it is going to come down to noise and reliability. I needs to be able to run reliably and fairly quietly without me getting calls from my family about how it won't work or it's so loud that it overpowers the sound of the video that they're watching.
Something like this seems perfect for my use case based on specs, but I've seen comments about the Larkbox being loud, and elsewhere in this thread people complaining about their units dying. Both are pretty big red flags for me.
ETA PRIME should definitively include the noise levels on their reviews. I had purchased one of those mini-PCs and I had to return it because the fan noise was unbearable. I bought instead a less powerful fan-less mini-PC and I’m very pleased with it.
@@z4ub3r3r what’s the new one you bought called?
@@z4ub3r3r Do you mind saying which one you picked up that you're happy with? I was looking at the CHUWI Herobox, which is less powerful than the Larkbox but does seem like it's passively cooled, which would be a plus for me.
I would love to see you start evaluating these small PCs as parsec clients. We have 4 gamers in this house and I'm rationalizing gaming PCs and using parsec on TVs. Love the thought of a tiny PC as a HTPC / Parsec client.
He should test them w/ steam remote play as well. I use that at home and Parsec when I’m on the road for work.
Amazing! These might be good for home arcade cabinet enthusiasts. Thanks for sharing this.
This man's channel is so unique 😍
I may have received a bad one from them - having lots of oddities due to overheating.
Mine didn't even start anymore after the initial Windows set-up ... it happend to MANY other IGG backers, not just me. This is a VERY disappointing kit! And even worse was the support from GMK. Cannot recommend purchasing this. :-(
Not that you should have to but maybe you can stick an 80mm fan under it almost like a cooling pad
I wonder if removing the case would rectify the issue. Seems to have very little in the way if ventilation or even air flow for the fan
Wow... I'm glad this comment thread is here.
Was about to get my foot in this pothole...
@Brian Babin I haven't seen one in stock for a while
GREAT review as ALWAYS!
I watched your earlier video of the pre-production unit. Since you mentioned reporting your heat and other issues to the maker, I expected they would address the issues before mass production. I ordered the 512GB SSD model on Christmas eve. It is due to arrive tomorrow. I already have several mini PCs and more SBCs than I can count so I really didn't have a "need" for another mini PC. The partial metal build of the case gives it a more premium look than the Lark Box Pro. After watching this, I think I made the right choice. I plan on setting it up mostly for retro game emulation and connecting to my TV.
The good thing about ordering something like this via Amazon Prime is if you get a DOA or lemon unit, you can send it back for replacement or refund right away. I'll put it through it's paces as soon as I get it. If it performs like it should I'll keep it. If not I'll return it ASAP.
I do have tempered expectations and know what to expect from a mini PC box with these specs. If it can emulate the few PSP games I have, it should do fine with anything less demanding. If you have time I'd like to see PPSSPP running God of War - Chains of Olympus on this mini PC.
That isn't a game I own but If it can run that game smoothly, it should run the few PSP games I own flawlessly.
I’d love to see you take on a budget video editing rig. You wouldn’t have to build it. Just spec it out and tell us what software you’d use.
If you're ok with using final cut, a M1 mac mini would be a great choice
@@kylosalvesen I've been using a Mac since 1999. And while I think the M1 was a great decision for them as a company, for me as a server software developer and cloud infrastructure engineer, is a deal breaker. I'm shopping to buy my first computer since 1997 because I need to learn to use a PC while I make money on my employers's Mac.
I got one through the early backer deal. Have tried it out in light use and so far no problems. Works fine. No weirdness.The fan is on a lot but the noise is low and not bothersome. Will certainly update this if I encounter problems.
Of course, we want to see the emulation test on this one!!
Definitely would like to see how it handles emulation of ps2 and dreamcast games
Truly appreciate how thorough and consistent your reviews are. New sub. 👍
Once we get M1 level arm chips for pc these little boxes are gonna absolutely kill
Risc-V
@Nick Wort sounds like you watched lons video b4 this one! lol.
@@jrok96 Yea, "m1 arm for pc" is for apple. "We" will never get m1 chips unless we're buying apple.. At least atm. Which is cool, yay m1, but as of right now m1 isn't it for general PC
The M1 CPU is really only this good because it doesnt support anything. Most programs currently run Emulated but since apple is behind it to emulate all that stuff it runs really well. X86 is just bloated.
As always a good informative nice video to watch.
I was hoping to see some retro emulations specs with this.
But maybe that's for another time.
Greetings! I just want to say that your channel is very instructive and I love it. I hope you can someday do a video comparing each micro pc that you've already posted in RUclips and tell us which one is the best micro pc and how. Thanks!
Just FYI if anyone has major lagging issues with a wireless mouse/keyboard. I just got my nucbox yesterday, and it was almost unusable with a wireless keyboard and mouse. If I hooked up wired ones, it ran much better. Through some research, I found that if you use a USB extension cable, and plug the USB receiver into it, the issue is resolved. It also improved the Cinebench Multi Core score by 200 points (ran several times both with and without the extension). Once I fixed that issue, the system seems to run just fine.
emulation though? I wouldn't buy something like this for PC Gaming but it would be sick to paint it like a gamecube and stick it under my TV.
The mental image if this being a little GameCube is adorable.
@@DigitalJedi IKR?
"...but I wouldn't pick one of these things up to play PC games on."
*Proceeds to immediately pick one of these things up to play PC games on.*
Thank you for all the great work and content. Your channel got me into Raspberry Pi's and mini PC projects!
Hey ETA! Are you going to do a “best mini PC for emulation @ 2020” round up? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Cualquiera
I always appreciate your detailed reviews. Thank you so much.
I'm thinking of getting a mini PC for work. Those specs are more than enough for sure. Can I mention a suggest that you can include in your future reviews? It would help even more🙏
I picked one of these up after the first video. I use it for hobby astronomy activities. Very happy with the unit.
I wonder if this is any more stable than the lark box (pro). Just visit the chuwi forums to see all the posts from people with bricked or dead units. some suggested up to 50% died. I went through 2 of them, both returned due to problems (dead USB port on one and the other bricked through changing the boot order in the bios). The problems mostly lay with the UEFI / bios setup as it has a generic debug bios on it and most of the settings are not for the actual device. If you touch a perfectly normal setting in it there is a good chance the device is permanently bricked and no way to clear the NVRAM and reset it. Curious if GMK actually wrote and added a proper finished bios to this unit or if it is just the same rebadged boards as the lark box.
yes, mine larkbox died after 2 months without any reason, it was working perfectly, and now its dead
I hope the Larkbox pro i got my Daughter doesn't brick on me. It's her emulation pc for Gamecube. If it bricks on me I will have to build her a pc, and that expense I cannot afford right now.
@@jeffjankiewicz5100 Don't worry bro, the government is about to send out a MASSIVE check! SIX, count em, SIX hundos!!
You could build her a powerful gaming rig and still have plenty left over for bills, food, rent, utilities, car payment, insurance, Xmas recuperation, etc. That McConnell man, he's one of the good ones...! 🐢🤑💸💰🎉🎈
That's sad to hear. I've been using my Larkbox Pro as a steam link and 4k streaming machine over the last month. If it dies that'd be a real pain. I guess I could just use my raspberry pi tho.
@@Karrigsturn actually i am thinking about returning to rasp4 too now :/ but i need win10 for my stuff
Please start testing Steam remote play and Parsec w/ SFF PCs like this. Many of us want a small box at the TV for gaming on it.
Would have been cool to look inside the unit.
I’ll do a quick tear down video
@@ETAPRIME Will you then also compare the loudness of the fan/cooling solution between the Larkbox Pro and this GMK NucBox? And also emulation performance (especially Dreamcast, PSP and Gamecube/Wii) would be very interesting. Thanks in Advance!
Had to tear mine apart to try and fix a dead unit. It's similar to the LarkBox, but has a few differences that make it seem a little more solid... good contact with the cooler and a nice bracket to hold down the main connectors of the two boards. I look forward to ETA's teardown of this unit, as it was the LarkBox teardown video that made me feel secure enough to open up my NucBox (sadly the operation did not fix the issue, but it was interesting nonetheless).
@@JohnWayne0815 I bought one through Banggood and paid for express postage to Australia. Two days in to use it cuts out midway through an email - dead, nothing ever again, not a POST not even a light on. I finally worked it out, the SSD must have a short in it because a new one from Amazon fixed it! I'm now trying to get the seller to pay for the replacement SSD. To those who use this thing with Windows 10, the fan noise will drive you up the wall - if it does try switching to Linux for a bit, it's WAY better. Personally, I'd never buy another one or anything from GMK, they have been bastards to get help from.
@@dazagrt Considering getting one but going to replace the heatsink with a passive one. A heatsink for a DDC watercooling pump shares almost exactly the same footprint, and there are several kinds so one could really work!
You should do a palm pc roundup to see which is the best price to performance.
I think the real use of these gaming wise is as a Steam Link box, plug it into your TV and game from your steam library on your PC in another room.
Thanks for reviewing this, but would you also test 4K video from a Blu-ray rip or something representative of higher bit rate HDR content? The RUclips 4K is usually just low bit rate Rec709 VP9 like the sample you played, not a suitable benchmark for Plex or Kodi 4K HDR.
Before my brother got me started into gaming a little over a year ago, this little cube would've satisfied all my computer needs. Not so now! Dammit bro!
Dude the commercials are relentless, I’m really trying to watch them and support you , but could you also load your videos on odysee? They said you can dual upload to odysee and YT? Thanks for your great content.!
Love that power usage. Can't wait til these things get really cheap.
These are pretty affordable in the grand scheme of things tho.
I have been waiting for a nice price/performance mark before investing in one of these little guys so that I could have a dedicated PC for running operating systems other than MacOS mostly for my sons education. But with the power of the recent Raspberry Pi we just got him for Christmas and the great news about how fantastically the arm based macs are handling virtual machines, having a dedicated box to rarely run Windows or to teach Linux is seeming less important. $200 bucks though... gotta be something I can use it for! Lol.
The $20 for 2 extra GB of RAM is definitely worth it depending on your use case. You'll see the real difference the 2GB makes while multi tasking. If for nothing else you have a potential 2GB zram (or ramdisk) block device. You can use it a few ways like letting the board swap and write logs to RAM instead of the SD. For instance create that block device in /tmp and see if it doesn't make a noticeable difference.
I fully agree 👍🏾
I live in Canada and this is going for $899. What!!! I have an HP Elitedesk 800 G3 mini that I picked up used for $325 canadian and it utterly destroys this.
You should do some emulation benchmarks.
Excellent vid. Now tear it down!
+1
Remember the Pantera Pico PC you reviewed. What a disaster !! The Kickstarter project is 5 months overdue with none of the backers receiving their PicoPC.
Hey ETA, I have an Advantech Uno-2473G. It's a industrial automation computer. I actually got this from work. It was just gonna be thrown away. I was gonna load Linux on it. And run some of your benchmarks. You can get these things all day for around $200 and it's passively cooled. Was just gonna make you aware of other cheapish passive cooled small computers. Might find some other kinds of units out there to add to your content. You can barrow this unit if you feel like it's worth making a video on.
Great specs for the size. Assuming there's an emulation video coming next those games will most likely perform better than the modern PC games.
I love your reviews, but you definitively should include the noise levels on them. I had purchased on of those mini-PCs and I had to return it because the fan noise was unbearable. I bought instead a less powerful fan-less mini-PC and I’m very pleased with it.
great video ETA as usual. what would I recommend for running PC games like star wars squadron (recommended requirements) I after small factor unit as possible. cheers Rob
I was about to say this experience is immersive....with youtube resolution being changed on the fly until I noticed it was YOUR youtube screens that you were adjusting lol
First calculator was so large it had to be housed in a building. Now a calculator can be placed in a watch.
Going to recommend testing Pinball FX 2 and 3 on these again, they would be awesome for mini pinball emulation tables.
I'm looking for a mini pc for coin ops with pinball fx2 and fx3 for my bartop arcade.
Would love to know how these mini pc's run these.
@@gongatots4115 I have the Vert builds and an old mini PC from ASUS, it runs the Pinball FX 2 games well, but not the FX 3 versions. I think it makes a good benchmark for this level of systems.
@@BB-wh2vu what would be the minimum spec mini pc for emulation upto the 16 bit consoles and pinball fx2/3?
Coinops ETA?
@@gongatots4115 I googled "pinball fx2 minimum specs" to find it
would have been nice to see what the insides looked like. good review.
Get a small moniter mini amp with little speakers an u have a little tiny home theater. Dont forget a mini controller
Could you add an old game when you test games.... Maybe one that runs super good to show what era of old games we could play. Just an idea.. cos realistically people aren't going to be using these for current triple A games and i assume this will be great for retro arcade gaming.
Everytime i watch eta prime, i think I'm ready to invest in a micro workstation he's given thumbs up, then a day later he reviews something just as good or better! I'm holding my money waiting for the golden egg of micro workstation/emulation has to offer. 😁😎👍
At some point you just have to pull the trigger and buy something. There will always be something better/faster/cheaper next week.
@@lonster3000 Got my sights on the Larkbox for my basic needs. Might get something better by next Christmas. Lol 👍
It's been this way for decades. You either need a PC today or you don't, as there will always be something better and/or cheaper tomorrow. There will never be a "golden egg" in this market.
2020 was not a great year for PC's as demand was high and thus prices did not fall as much. Used PC prices even went up, not down. 2021 may be better for buyers *if* demand slows but the economy remains strong; an uncertain proposition. If you can wait, then do. If not, then make your selection today using objective reviews from sources like ETA Prime.
Remember with these mini-PC's that you are paying a premium for their form factor. Though less attractive in 2020, you can usually buy a more powerful used PC for the price of a new mini-PC, so your choice can depend upon your definition of "need". Larger form factors are generally more future-proof as well and thus a better investment, but this is becoming less of a factor as the traditional, expandable PC slowly, but surely, dies.
@@antibrevity The only used PCs I've seen anywhere local (los Angeles) start at $300 and are over three years old already. Not to mention a used old PC takes more space and power consumption, unless buying a used laptop. Either way I feel buying a micro pc is safer and more cost effective in the long run, also considering I have no clue when the used parts of the used pc will stop working and force me to spend even more in repairs.
@@Ender3Me I recently picked up a Lenovo Thinkcentre m92p on Craigslist for $100 to tinker with. It came with Windows 10 pre-installed, and seemed to work fine at that. Mostly I wanted to play around with some emulation and see about getting something like Batocera/Kodi running. I ran into a slew of issues as I was working on it, though a fair amount of that was almost certainly that I've never worked with Linux before.
But I did just get it up and running, and it seems to do ok. Ideally I would like an emulation machine that can run Gamecube games flawlessly, but I feel like that might be just beyond the grasp of this machine, though from the Larkbox Pro review it might not be out of the question for that one. The biggest issue for me is noise and reliability. The hope is that this will be used in a remote cabin shared with my family that doesn't have access to the internet, so it needs to play videos/games without dying and without making so much noise that it annoys the family. I've seen some comments about the Larkbox that give me pause though.
I'd love to see you add "Second Life" to these 'beefy mini pc' tests. It's only going to be really viable on windows based units, but it can be QUITE a load for a PC to handle (the same way we used to say Crysis). Admittedly, sim vs sim is going to have drastically different results, but it could be interesting to see how these could handle something so notoriously hard on PC hardware.
The power draw really surprizes me from this celeron, I have these lenovo thinkpads at work with Ryzen 7 Pro 4750u, and the power draw is quite similar, 6w at idle, and max 33w, but the cinebench score is about 8200 multi. Would be cool to get one of these nuc boxes with a '4750e' with a TDP of 5-10w instead of 15w, or just a standard 4750u with custom BIOS that allows for the full 20w burst speed but keeps temps under 80c
What about retro games emulation tests?
nice video :)
pls make another video showing emulation tests. maybe with Batocera?
Great review! At the beginning of the video you mention a xiaomi box upcoming. Do you have more details about it?
Would be cool to see hyper-threading and an Ethernet port in future models
my Larkbox just died yesterday, when runing windows in idle mode, just "puf" and everything gone, i dont have any overhyped opinion about repair/refund care from chuwi outside china, so i will probably just discard my 140usd and move out, but this is my second chuwi device, which just died after month, and like 5th or 6th from china overall, so, even these devices are cheap, I DO NOT RECOMEND BUY IT anymore, never ever, just pay more for your local seller, but make sure of FULL repair aviability in your local area, its more important then you think :/
Thanks for reporting about this. My interest in this device is now gone.
@@Brockton its shame, bcz i really love my larkbox, it was perfect for my needs and cheap too, it is really small, literally palm size, so now when it died, i spend like a week of searching replacement, and i ended with lattepanda delta, its little bigger, with only 4Gb ram and 64Gb erom, but have two ssd nvme slots, and it can have reall passive cooler, so its 100% silent with full load, which is extreme problem with ALL mini mini pc. Second on my mind was hackboard2, but these will be ready on april, and bcz of usa made, shipping and import fee kills it for me completely :(
The specs look pretty decent.
Just wanted a nice windows or linux media box with emulators for another room.
Wanted up to ps2 and gamecube. anything past that is bonus.
First time watching without ad block... Wow so many ads
Great vid what u think about using this for emulation station ? Will this setup run ps2?
Full production unit 🤩👍✨
Great review as always, what are your thoughts on using this unit or the larkbox pro to run OBS for video playback into something like an Atem mini, I like idea of bolting one to the back of a monitor to use with a multicamera production rig I'm looking to build around an Atem mini switcher
I think these form factor will be good once ARM desktop chips comes from Snapdragon or AMD, an M1 competitor would do wonders.
Love the ETA Prime robot logo.
If there was a way for them to squeeze in an ethernet port, I'd be all over this.
Another fine piece of hardware!
Good vid!
Is there any tiny PC's of this stature that has an ethernt port?
Great video BTW!
What about Minecraft and SuperTuxKart test? I would like to see some FPS test for games, that's work on Windows and ARM Linux (Raspberry Pi 4 and others)
That's one lil' hot box right there. All the hardware with short lifetime that's very prone to overheat in a confined space.
Nos vas a contar tambien que si metes la mano en el agua te mojas la mano?
@@mandarinas364 Not even surprised you don't work with computers... You're a console gamer.
This is what i call the future.
Imagine going to a college with that with your portable display as a laptop
Well yes, but it doesnt featuring built in battery tho soo...
BTW, it's not a usb-c at all. It will not accept standard usb-c power supply, and its power supply will fry other usb-c devices, as it's not compliant and simply delivers 12v using a usb-c plug. I honestly don't know how it passed certification....
"Hi this is ETA Prime and this week we're going to look at Cray's new Quantum Supercomputer Development Ball for 2022. Yes this $66 device is the size of a ping pong ball. It has three USB-C ports, built in Wifi, wireless video and bluetooth. I tell you emulation on this thing is fantastic with no issues with emulating the PS5 on the PPPPPSSSSS emulator running at full scaling. Goldeneye for the N64 still has some frame skipping but is almost playable. It can simultaneously run Windows, linux and IOS. Now granted, running Firefox with four tabs open is a challenge and can lead to overheating but the device can be dropped in a glass with ice and a transfer medium of your choice. It tries but alas still can't run Crysis."
New prime video, ''auto bots, roll out'''
I almost clicked away when you said x86 CPU... ooold! But I double checked and fortunately it really is x64.
It is unfortunate to hear that the LarkBox has similar bios problems to the NucBox... I was thinking of purchasing a LarkBox and trying to put the innards into my bricked NucBox case.
_”What kind of laptop do you have?”_
...It’s complicated
it's really not. you're not funny
Giant battery brick, portable monitor, this tiny pc, and a bluetooth keyboard from a tablet cover. Only thing missing is dropping it into a case! Could be about the only "laptop" run from the bag it's carried in
This would be better if it had a thunderbolt port for an EGPU. That would be something
eGPU with Celeron J4125?
lol
😂
😂
why would anyone games with this lol
Even the uhd 630 would bottleneck the processor
The larkbox Pro works fine on a PC LCD, also works fine if I directly connect it to my 4K TV (Hisense 55H9F). However, running it through my receiver (Sony STR-DH590) it will not passthrough. I’ve tried new HDMI HDCP 2.3 cables and others. I’ve set the receivers FMT settings back and forth. Nothing. So it’s an incompatibility with chuwi/sony.
I can plug in an old crappy laptop and the passthrough works just fine. So for CHUWI, I will have to return as it’s not going to work as my HTPC.
Please do ultra mini hackintosh with this, for educational purposes only
I would have really loved it if he has done the CSGO test on an online match, considering that the bot matches can drastically load the CPU, and thus hinder the performance
This might be fun to hide inside of a 90’s white PC case with USB optical drives and whatnot, it’d be great for retro PC gaming. If only there were themes for Windows 10, I’d love to make it look like Windows 98
Tengo un pentium 2 a 200mhz, por lo que veo te vendria bien para tu presente.
These Mini PCs are great little secondary computers, and was wondering what OBS Recording and Streaming is like on this device. These would save a lot of space and time from having to either build a streaming device or buying a bulky system.
superb review , I want to buy the 500g version , but how good is the ssd performance ? would something like SAMSUNG 970 PRO makes a huge difference i?
No emulation tests? Can we get a small video on that please?
Waiting for next gen of these kind of micro PC's with Xe graphics.
Spoiler Alert
I wish we could get one of these mini PCs with something a step up from a celeron. Even a pentium, or even better a laptop/ultrabook class i3/i5 etc.
Performance is better
But we can't use remote desktop
And in my case keep screen on and off during connected bluetooth
I want one of these using an AMD Athlon 4050/5050e, so much faster for the same power budget, heck, even the 14nm Zen1 based 3050e would still be a toss up
Hey Prime, thanks for the video. Have you used either model for an extended stretch for productivity? Does its performance degrade if you've been using it a while?
The only thing I wish my Larkbox Pro had was a hard drive LED.
This would be great for my smart TV
When you mentioned Xiaomi @1:15, I googled 'Xiaomi nuc' and the second suggested result is 'Xiaomi nuclear bomb'. Apparently, there was a Xiaomi Japan/international ad that shows imagery related to nuclear attack on Japan.
@@InfectedChris where is the ad video
Interesting market. I could see these being a nice frontend type box for Plex or Kodi in a different room than the media server itself (i.e. in a living room connected to an older non-Smart TV), or as others have mentioned maybe a good emulation machine? Have you tested emulation on this NUCBox yet? I'd bet it'd run well for all but N64, since as we know, N64 is a beast to emulate, almost no matter the hardware.
La pspGo emule n64 y una cpu de 2019 con 8gb de ram no puede? anda que estas tu fino, una bestia dice xD y se emulaba con un pentium 4 de hace 15 años....
It's crazy that this runs better than my current laptop...a 10 yr old ideapad that cost me $400 at the time... actually, it's not so crazy.
Interesting little box, I wonder how it would manage DAW especially the Show Page on Studio one 5 pro
The identical port placement and size makes it look like one or both of those are a rebrand of some base nuc thing.
Would you recommend the GMK over the larkbox pro? Also do you know how to make a good screen for raspberry pi run under android?
I'm surprised they haven't been able to make GPU run at same speed as cpu, that was whole idea of apu's when they started. That would be awesome speeds.