Usually, I wouldn’t care what my mini PC seems to be like. Why would I? It’s simply the field I stick subsequent to my monitor for on-the-go computing wants. It doesn’t want all of the flashing lights and LEDs of an final gaming rig, it simply must perform. Not less than, that’s how I initially felt about your common NUC. Then I unboxed Ayaneo’s Mini PC AM01 for the primary time, and I couldn’t assist however marvel why I believed different producers may get away with the identical previous, usual for therefore lengthy.
You possibly can already inform simply by the images that the AM01 seems to be like an previous Macintosh. No, there’s no in-built display screen (I think about modders are already champing on the bit to stay one in), however together with the same old slate of USB and HDMI ports that you simply’d discover on any previous NUC, the field additionally comes stacked with an array of stickers meant to additional personalize the little, faux-Macintosh sitting in your desk. The tiny rainbow emblem is magnetized and you may swap it out for different icons that come within the field.
Ayaneo’s AM01 is a looker, however it might nonetheless stroll the stroll when it comes to its base specs (as long as you go for a PC packing 16GB or extra reminiscence and a higher-end CPU). It’s mild and transportable sufficient so that you can slip into your backpack or baggage, as long as there’s a monitor, keyboard, and mouse setup ready for you when you get to wherever you’re going. It’s not the smallest, nor the biggest mannequin available on the market. It’s not packing the very best specs, neither is it the most costly. However in my thoughts, it’s the cutest model of the NUC design I’ve seen but.
I haven’t put the Mini PC by way of its full paces, however with the Indiegogo for the AM01 winding down, I wished to share a couple of of my ideas having taken the gadget on the street for the vacations. I hooked it as much as a random monitor, keyboard, and mouse I discovered in my father’s workplace and located myself proper at residence, although you shouldn’t count on the seamless efficiency of a devoted work laptop computer or the video energy of a full gaming PC—or perhaps a handheld console.
Ayaneo Mini PC AM01 Design and Specs
The Retro Design is the Mini PC’s Greatest Boon
I don’t often smile at a chunk of tech sitting on my desk, however for some odd cause, I can’t assist myself wanting on the tan, plastic brick that’s the Ayaneo Mini PC AM01. I’ve to ask: why? The gadget resembles the previous 1984 Macintosh, although once you take a look at each side-by-side they’re not fairly the identical silhouette. It has a faux, black plastic display screen and a magnetically hooked up rainbow icon paying homage to early Apple {hardware}. I used to be born a decade after Steve Jobs and his firm first put the Macintosh 128K available on the market. And but, each time I take a look at it, I can’t assist however suppose “rattling, that’s a cute, little PC.” I hold calling it my “Little Mac,” and I’m not about to cease any time quickly.
The 5-by-5-inch brick is a bit more than 2 inches tall, which means it wanted a good bit of devoted room in my baggage. It additionally weighs just a bit over 1 pound, so it’s not that huge of a haul in case you ignore the way you’ll want to hold round your energy cable or another peripherals or chords. It’s nearly commonplace for this type of design, and so far as I may inform the construct high quality is fairly spot on. I additionally recognize how many of the ports are all positioned on one aspect of the case. There’s an HDMI 2.0 enter, a DisplayPort 1.4, three USB-A 3.2 Gen2, and one USB-A 2.0. There’s your common ethernet port and energy connector along with a USB-C (used for information switch solely) and a 3.5mm headphone jack positioned on the different finish. If you need your Mini PC to appear like an precise Macintosh standing vertically, you’ll miss out in your wired headphone connectivity.
The underside of the gadget is the fan consumption, and the recent air blows out the proper vents. The fan can go fairly laborious, particularly in case you resolve to dive into your Steam library or run another intensive software program. I don’t have a lot downside with the buzzing of the fan, however the sound may very well be distracting for some if in case you have it sitting instantly in entrance of your monitor. If you wish to change up the fan, you’ll need to dive instantly into the BIOS and mess with the fan controls. It will have been good in case you may have managed a couple of different {hardware} settings by way of AYASpace as a substitute. I by no means felt the gadget rising too scorching to deal with even after operating a number of benchmark checks in succession.
There’s part of me that wished the faux disc drive on the entrance of the AM01 accepted SD playing cards as a nod to the previous days of bodily media, however we will solely want for a lot out of a five-inch PC. An M2-powered Mac Mini, as an example, is about 2 inches wider and longer, although it’s a good bit extra squat. Ayaneo’s model additionally weighs greater than a pound lower than Apple’s high-powered mini PC. You’ll find different NUCs which can be barely smaller than Ayaneos, however none have the identical pizazz as this “Little Mac.”
Ayaneo Mini PC AM01 Efficiency
Energy Sufficient for Your Base Duties, With Upgradable Choices
If you first boot up the AM01, it takes you to Ayaneo’s AYASpace interface. That is not more than a method of shortly accessing video games and a naked few gadget controls. You don’t want it at startup, and after the preliminary replace, it’s pretty simple to show off so that you’re simply left with a PC operating Home windows 11 Dwelling, at the very least for many who decide for the standard somewhat than a naked system. The default Home windows wallpaper is paying homage to Apple’s unique desktop, and I preferred it sufficient that I didn’t even hassle to alter it.
It’s additionally necessary to notice what you get for the totally different specs. I acquired an AM01 filled with an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U, 1 TB SSD, and 32 GB of RAM, which helps WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The much less highly effective model operating a 3200U solely goes as much as WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2. Both means, the Mini PC ought to assist screens at 60Hz at 4K decision.
In case you’ve had any expertise with AMD’s cell CPUs, you then’ll have a reasonably good impression of what sort of efficiency you’ll get from the AM01. The Ayaneo Mini PC comes with both an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U or a Ryzen 7 5700U, with RAM choices between 8, 16 GB, and 32 GB on the costlier version.
Placing it by way of a couple of benchmarks, it’s clear the Mini PC is kind of succesful for its measurement and worth, however it’s nothing particular both. The 5700U is an 8-core, 16-thread processor with a max 4.3Ghz frequency. It helps the Vega 8 built-in graphics, which all collectively is nice sufficient to your common pc duties. It scored reasonably nicely on Cinebench for graphics rendering, however you’re not going to do any actual heavy-duty video rendering on the AM01.
So far as gaming goes, the AM01 is greater than sufficient for emulation or some extra mainstream gaming. It’ll deal with indie titles like Hades with no points, however 3D video games will nonetheless battle to run at greater resolutions and refresh charges. I needed to work laborious to get Halo: Infinite operating at 30 FPS with a 27-inch 60 Hz monitor, however there have been nonetheless dips, particularly in bigger arenas. Cyberpunk: 2077 wouldn’t break previous 20 FPS on low or mobile-optimized “Steam Deck” settings. You’ll battle to play some standard multiplayer video games like The Finals on the bottom settings and even some video games like Fortnite at their highest.
My evaluation model was priced at about $461 MSRP (although it’s at present sitting at a decreased worth on Indiegogo). At that worth, it’s very akin to different current-gen Intel NUCs operating a Core i5-1135G7 (although you would possibly get barely higher efficiency out of the Core i5 than Ryzen 7). In case you have been solely in search of a gaming gadget, you can nab one of many non-OLED Steam Decks for that very same worth. The AM01 would possibly present higher benchmark scores than the Deck, however low-power, mobile-focused CPUs may have a more durable time sustaining framerates on bigger screens at greater resolutions than they’d on small 8-inch screens of your usual handheld console or perhaps a smartphone. At slightly below $700 you can go for an Asus ROG Ally operating an AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive that handily beats the 5700U on virtually all benchmarks.
Alongside together with your Mini PC, you additionally get a couple of odds and ends which may make upgrading the internals a good bit simpler down the street. They embody a bracket for increasing right into a 2.5-inch laborious drive. Plus, there’s all the time an possibility of upgrading reminiscence as much as 64 GB (that is restricted to 32 GB on the cheaper Ryzen 3 3200 model). With a couple of upgrades, you would possibly be capable to eke out a couple of extra frames on some more moderen graphically intensive titles. However ultimately, you’re not shopping for Ayaneo’s Mini PC to play Cyberpunk at excessive settings.
A NUC doesn’t want a lot to face out as long as it meets energy and efficiency expectations. It might be why Intel appears to be on the way out of the NUC enterprise altogether. The AM01 depends closely on the aesthetics of the retro design philosophy with out making any actual improvements to the Mini PC, however it’s unattainable to say it’s not a fun-looking gadget that’s an excellent possibility in case you’re all too uninterested in each different black brick NUC on the market.
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