Usually, I wouldn’t care what my mini PC appears to be like 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 operate. A minimum of, 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 assumed different producers may get away with the identical previous, standard for therefore lengthy.
You possibly can already inform simply by the photographs that the AM01 appears to be like 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 just’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 may nonetheless stroll the stroll by way of 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 moveable sufficient so that you can slip into your backpack or baggage, as long as you recognize 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 in the marketplace. It’s not packing the very best specs, neither is it the costliest. 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 its full paces, however with the Indiegogo for the AM01 winding down, I needed to share just a few of my ideas having taken the system 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 anticipate 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 Largest Boon
I don’t often smile at a chunk of tech sitting on my desk, however for some odd purpose, I can’t assist myself wanting on the tan, plastic brick that’s the Ayaneo Mini PC AM01. I’ve to ask: why? The system resembles the previous 1984 Macintosh, although while 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 harking back to early Apple {hardware}. I used to be born a decade after Steve Jobs and his firm first put the Macintosh 128K in the marketplace. And but, each time I take a look at it, I can’t assist however assume “rattling, that’s a cute, little PC.” I preserve 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, that 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 massive of a haul in the event you ignore the way you’ll want to hold round your energy cable or another peripherals or chords. It’s nearly customary 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 facet 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 seem like an precise Macintosh standing vertically, you’ll miss out in your wired headphone connectivity.
The underside of the system is the fan consumption, and the recent air blows out the fitting vents. The fan can go fairly arduous, particularly in the event you determine to dive into your Steam library or run another intensive software program. I don’t have a lot drawback with the buzzing of the fan, however the sound might be distracting for some when you’ve got it sitting instantly in entrance of your monitor. If you wish to change up the fan, you’ll should dive instantly into the BIOS and mess with the fan controls. It might have been good in the event you may have managed just a few different {hardware} settings by AYASpace as a substitute. I by no means felt the system rising too sizzling to deal with even after operating a number of benchmark exams 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 are able to solely want for a lot out of a five-inch PC. An M2-powered Mac Mini, for 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 could 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
Once you first boot up the AM01, it takes you to Ayaneo’s AYASpace interface. That is not more than a way of shortly accessing video games and a naked few system controls. You don’t want it at startup, and after the preliminary replace, it’s pretty straightforward to show off so that you’re simply left with a PC operating Home windows 11 Residence, a minimum of for many who decide for the standard relatively than a naked system. The default Home windows wallpaper is harking back to Apple’s unique desktop, and I preferred it sufficient that I didn’t even trouble to vary it.
It’s additionally essential to notice what you get for the completely different specs. I obtained 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 method, the Mini PC ought to assist displays at 60Hz at 4K decision.
When you’ve had any expertise with AMD’s cell CPUs, then you definately’ll have a fairly 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 dearer version.
Placing it by just a few benchmarks, it’s clear the Mini PC is kind of succesful for its dimension and worth, nevertheless 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 sweet sufficient on your common laptop duties. It scored reasonably properly 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 sort out indie titles like Hades with no points, however 3D video games will nonetheless wrestle to run at larger resolutions and refresh charges. I needed to work arduous 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 wrestle to play some common multiplayer video games like The Finals on the bottom settings and even some video games like Fortnite at their highest.
My evaluate model was priced at about $461 MSRP (although it’s presently sitting at a diminished worth on Indiegogo). At that worth, it’s very corresponding to different current-gen Intel NUCs operating a Core i5-1135G7 (although you may get barely higher efficiency out of the Core i5 than Ryzen 7). When you have been solely searching for a gaming system, you might nab one of many non-OLED Steam Decks for that very same worth. The AM01 may present higher benchmark scores than the Deck, however low-power, mobile-focused CPUs can have a more durable time sustaining framerates on bigger displays at larger resolutions than they might on small 8-inch screens of your usual handheld console or perhaps a smartphone. At slightly below $700 you might go for an Asus ROG Ally operating an AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive that handily beats the 5700U on virtually all benchmarks.
Alongside along with your Mini PC, you additionally get just a few odds and ends that may make upgrading the internals a good bit simpler down the street. They embrace a bracket for increasing right into a 2.5-inch arduous drive. Plus, there’s at all times an possibility of upgrading reminiscence as much as 64 GB (that is restricted to 32 GB on the cheaper Ryzen 3 3200 model). With just a few upgrades, you may be capable of eke out just a few extra frames on some newer graphically intensive titles. However in the long run, 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, nevertheless it’s unattainable to say it’s not a fun-looking system that’s possibility in the event you’re all too uninterested in each different black brick NUC on the market.
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