MinisForum has been making some interesting moves in the last few months with their computing platforms, ranging from the DMAF5 based on the Ryzen 3000H-series SoCs to the Ice Lake-based DeskMini X35G. In early August, they reached out to us to pitch their first mini-PC sporting a discrete GPU – the EliteMini H31G. Intrigued by their claims of being able to cram a 65W CPU and a 75W GPU in a chassis measuring approximately 15cm x 15cm x 6cm, we accepted their offer of a review unit to put through our standard mini-PC benchmarking process. The sample arrived last week, but we have a few thoughts to share.

The EliteMini H31G is a compact mini-PC smaller than other dGPU-equipped mini-PCs we have reviewed before like the ASRock DeskMini Z370 GTX 1060 and the Ghost Canyon NUC. A look at the unit reminded me of the GIGABYTE BRIX Gaming BXi5G-760 we had reviewed back in 2014. Our review sample came with a Core i5-9500F 65W CPU pre-installed, along with a GTX 1050 Ti MXM card with a TDP of 75W. As the naming of the kit indicates, the board uses a H310 PCH.

The system uses a unique integrated dual-fan cooling system – the first time we have seen this type of design in a mini-PC. The dual-fan configuration in the BRIX Gaming kit was just two fans crammed into one end of the case, while the cooling kit in the H31G appears to be much better thought out. Obviously, these are early days and I am not passing any judgement on the effectiveness without putting it through our thermal stress test. The BRIX Gaming kit was cooling a 47W CPU and a 100W GPU, while the H31G is handling a 65W CPU and a 75W GPU. There was a reason for GIGABYTE to redesign their Gaming BRIX units from scratch for the newer iterations – so I am really looking forward to seeing how the H31G handles thermal stress from both the CPU and GPU simultaneously. Readers interested in a full breakdown of the cooling system should view the official launch video of the EliteMini H31G.

Our review sample shipped with a single 8GB DDR4 SODIMM, and a 256GB Kingston M.2 2280 NVMe drive. The system’s performance is bound to be better with both SODIMM slots occupied, but we are proceeding with the review of the supplied configuration as-is (it happens to be one of the pre-built configurations available for purchase). The gallery below shows some of the internals of the system, and a size comparison against other mini-PCs with dGPUs.

Gallery: MinisForum EliteMini H31G

Based on our experience with setting up the system and our first round of benchmarking, we found some minor annoyances and a few interesting aspects:

• All the USB ports are in a corner of the system rear panel. Usually, mini-PC manufacturers spread out the USB ports – some in the front panel and some in the back.
• The microSD (TF card) slot, and the line in / mic in / headphones out port on the side panel are enabled by a ‘daughterboard’ inside the system. The daughterboard also includes a M.2 2242 SATA slot. Given the support for a 2.5″ SATA drive, we would have gladly given up the M.2 2242 SATA slot for a couple of additional USB 3.0 ports in the daughterboard.
• Another curious feature is the support for two sets of audio outputs – one in the front panel without the LINE IN (headphone jack), and another with the TF daughterboard. Having never seen two sets of built-in analog audio ports in any mini-PC before, I would like to hear from readers if there are any specific scenarios or use-cases that MinisForum might be targeting here.

The barebones version (without a CPU, but with the MXM GTX 1050 Ti module) is priced at $399. Our review configuration (Core i5-9500F, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) is priced at $629. The main challenge for MinisForum is that the system design, though unique, carries technology that is almost 3 years old at this point – a Kaby Lake or Coffee Lake desktop CPU, along with a Pascal GPU. Fortunately, the system is priced accordingly. The ASRock Deskmini Z370 GTX 1060 was launched at $800 – the MinisForum EliteMini H31G is being marketed for half of that. It would have been preferable for MinisForum to use a more modern CPU and GPU for this project. That said, having an effective working system based on older components might just give them the impetus to use the design with newer CPUs and GPUs.

Source: AnandTech – MinisForum Unveils EliteMini H31G: 65W CPU & 75W GPU in a Compact Mini-PC

The fall rush of laptop announcements is upon us, thanks to Intel announcing their latest 11th generation Core processor, codenamed Tiger Lake, and packaged as part of the Intel Evo program. Today Lenovo is announcing the new ThinkPad X1 Nano, featuring Intel’s Evo platform, as well as a few tweaks to the traditional ThinkPad design.

Powering the new ThinkPad X1 Nano will be Intel’s newest 10 nm design, Tiger Lake, with up to a Core i7 processor. That also means it will feature the full 96 Execution Unit Intel Iris Xe graphics, and up to 16 GB of LPDDR4x memory. The X1 Nano will offer up to 1 TB of PCIe storage, and the 48 Wh battery is rated up to 17.3 hours.

Lenovo has finally made the jump back to 16:10 displays, with the X1 Nano featuring a 13-inch panel with a somewhat odd, but effective, 2160×1350 display. This “2K” display is a nice step up over a more traditional 1920×1200, coming in at 195 pixels-per-inch. It may seem like a small jump over the 170 pixels-per-inch of the 1920×1200, but will allow 200% scaling to work perfectly. It also won’t impact the battery life as dramatically as a “4K” panel would, so it seems like a nice balance. As seems to be the norm with Lenovo displays of late, this 100% sRGB panel features Dolby Vision, and can be had with or without touch.

The new laptop is also light. The ThinkPad X1 Nano weighs in at just 2.12 lbs. The device measures in at 11.5 x 8.15 x 0.55 inches, so it is not the thinnest, nor the lightest, but it is close.

There is plenty of connectivity as well, with Lenovo outfitting the X1 Nano with two Thunderbolt 4 ports. Not only does Thunderbolt 4 offer more performance, security, and features compared to Thunderbolt 3, it also provides full access to data, power, and video guaranteed in every port, unlike USB which has a long list of optional features.

Lenovo is implementing Intel’s Wi-Fi 6 solution, which is of course part of the Intel Evo platform, but they are enhancing that with LTE 5G CAT20 for those that need network on the go.

As a proper ThinkPad, the X1 Nano also takes security seriously, with a dTPM 2.0 chip, IR camera and Match on Chip fingerprint reader for Windows Hello logins, and a ThinkShutter camera cover.

The new X1 Nano will be available in Q4 2020, starting at $1399.

Source: Lenovo

Gallery: Lenovo Announces The ThinkPad X1 Nano: Intel Evo And 2K Display

Source: AnandTech – Lenovo Announces The ThinkPad X1 Nano: Intel Evo And 2K Display