MINIX NEO N42C-4

I have been on the lookout for a small PC-like device with an Intel Pentium processor and Windows 64-bit edition pre-installed because at work I only have a 32-bit machine. I wanted something portable but powerful enough to multi-task to take around with me. At a very modest 14 x 13 x 3 cm it is perfect for my needs. I plug the box into any available displays thanks to the fact that it has HDMI, USB-C and mini-Display Ports and this makes the PC very versatile. The package includes an HDMI cable, 12-Volt power adapter, VESA mount (with screws) and instructions. Input ports include power and 3 x USB 3.0 which are far quicker at data transfer than USB2.0. There is also the faster Gigabit Ethernet port for hard wiring to a router or extender. Output includes the three video ports I have mentioned and an audio/optical S/PDIF for high quality sound output. Wireless connection includes dual band Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth 4.1. When you first turn it on you are taken through the Windows configuration and update wizard and this will take a while as per normal Windows procedures. I recommend that you have the box hard-wired to the internet for this process as it should be more stable and will speed up any update procedures. You can always connect it to your Wi-Fi afterwards like any PC or laptop/tablet device (as I did later when I tethered it to my phone). I think the initial process took about three hours. Once the installation and update is completed you are ready to go with a clean install of windows 10. After the initial setup process it boots quickly thanks to the solid state storage as opposed to a mechanical hard drive. It has 32 GB which, allowing for the Operating System after it does a 3GB update, there was 5.6GB spare. I then installed MS Office which didn’t take up as much of the remainder as I expected due to the fact that MS Office is already installed with Windows in an attempt to get you to buy it. Once I installed my Office, it left 5 GB but then said it could remove the old version which then gave 10.7GB spare. After Office I installed couple of high-end powerful photo editing Apps and was left with 7.3 GB which is plenty for general use. I suggest that you only use the inbuilt storage for Apps and store all your data files on an external hard drive or similar storage device. I would recommend a USB 3.0 storage device to take advantage of the ports which will speed up the data transfer process. 32GB will be initially enough for my needs however I will eventually take the opportunity to expand the internal storage thanks to an M.2 slot that can support up to 512GB. You can pick up a branded 240GB card for this slot for less that £70. Inbuilt memory (RAM) is 4GB which is adequate but can also be expanded thanks to a pair of SODIMM slots which can support up to 8GB of DDR3L each. Two branded 4GB cards (8GB in total) will set you back about £62 whilst two branded 8GB cards (16GB total) will cost about £127. The Intel N4200 CPU, complete with integrated Intel HD Graphics 505 GPU, is a solid performer but not a high-end CPU/GPU. This is no surprise for a portable and economical mini-PC. For a unit like this, it is more than up to the job and handles main-stream Apps admirably without any noticeable loss in performance when carrying out modest multi-tasking. I ran Adobe Lightroom and MS Word together and it handled it with a breeze. I assume that it would struggle with high-end GPU intensive games but it is not designed for that function. The CGU/GPU can be found in several pretty decent branded machines costing well over £600. It is always good to see a product supported by a professional website and MINIX definitely has this. It is well laid out, informative and has an up-to-date forum for discussions and support should you need it. It includes a phone number and two email addresses, one for general enquiries and one for technical support. Of interest on the forum currently is the limitation of USB-C. A USB-C port does not support audio output but does support video, Ethernet, data and power (which is why many tablets use an adapter with power through to add ports etc.) This makes it ideal for office type presentations with no sound. Both HDMI and DisplayPort provide outstanding quality signals. The main difference is that a single DisplayPort can support up to four monitors at 1920x1200 or two at 2560x1600 and each one receives independent audio and video signals. In terms of fan noise I could not hear anything over the background noise so for me it is exceptionally quiet. Overall I am more than happy with this little device and will be using it on a regular basis from now on. I can definitely recommend it for those looking for a portable computing solution.