Friday, February 7, 2025

This tiny PC punches way above its weight, and it’s cheaper than you think

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The front and side view of the Xulu XR1 Pro.

The Xulu XR1 Professional with a typical USB flash drive for scale.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

Nano PCs are an important piece of the know-how puzzle. You may need a desk with very restricted area. Or possibly you wish to create a kiosk the place you have to tuck the pc away from sight. You may even wish to have a “group” PC in your house (or possibly your Airbnb), the place company can get on-line and do what they should do. 

Additionally: The most effective all-in-one computer systems: Mac, HP, and extra in contrast

Irrespective of the necessity, these tiny PCs are right here to serve. I’ve used many small kind issue PCs and most of what I’ve used pales compared to the Xulu XR1 Pro. This machine is just not solely the smallest of the tiny PCs I’ve tried, but it surely’s additionally probably the most highly effective.

The machine itself measures a scant 3.5 x 3.5 inches and is just 2.5 inches tall, making it the smallest AMD Ryzen 7-powered PC ever constructed. Sure, it is tiny. But it surely additionally presents six USB ports, one USB Kind C port, two HDMI ports, and a headphone jack.

The specs

After all, you are in all probability questioning what the total specs are. Here is the record:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8 cores/16 threads.
  • GPU: Radeon 8.
  • Communicate/mic jack combo with built-in twin mics.
  • RAM: As much as 64 GB (mine has 16 GB), which is upgradeable.
  • Storage: As much as 2 TB M.2 SSD (mine has 512 GB), which can be upgradeable.
  • Giant-volume turbine fan.
  • OLED standing show.
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6e, gigabit ethernet, and Bluetooth 5.2.
  • HDMI cable and energy cable are included. 

My Xulu XR1 shipped with Home windows 7, however the {hardware} additionally helps Linux, so you possibly can set up any distribution you need. My regular inclination can be to right away set up Linux, however I opted to see how properly the machine would energy a useful resource hog like Home windows 11.

The back side of the Xulu XR1 Pro.

There are many ports on the again facet (with extra on the entrance).

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

I used to be pleasantly stunned. I anticipated the Xulu XR1 Professional to wrestle beneath the load of Home windows 11, but it surely seems the machine has loads of energy to do exactly that. Although I am not a fan of the Home windows OS, I used to be impressed at how properly the OS carried out on such a small unit. I am used to how properly Linux runs on small kind issue PCs, however my Home windows expertise with these machines tends to veer towards the disappointing.

Additionally: This sub-$400 mini PC is highly effective sufficient to attach 3 displays

So, think about how properly the XR1 would carry out with Ubuntu or Linux Mint. My aim was to check that principle, so I inserted a USB drive with Ubuntu Budgie, entered the boot menu, chosen the USB drive as the first boot machine, and booted into Ubuntu Budgie. The consequence was that the Xulu XR1 Professional carried out nearly in addition to my common desktop PC, a System76 Thelio. My major desktop did have the benefit of 32 GB of RAM, so it wasn’t precisely an apples-to-apples comparability. Even so, the XR1 Professional did a exceptional job working a reside model of Linux.

This tiny machine is good for work, leisure, faculty, and even some gaming. The most effective factor about these tiny kind issue PCs is that they are often put in anyplace. And though the XR1 Professional does have a large-volume fan, I by no means heard it working. I might really feel it spinning and shifting air, however the sound was so minimal I needed to get very shut to listen to the fan.

Additionally: The most effective computer systems: Evaluating laptops, PCs, and extra

So far as worth is worried, the Xulu XR1 Professional will begin at round $299 and max out at round $399. So not solely does this tiny machine punch above its weight, but it surely’s additionally at a worth level that makes it much more interesting. Having an AMD Ryzen 7 desktop machine at that worth is a discount…regardless of the scale.

Though I do not count on tiny kind issue PCs will ever supplant the usual desktop or laptop computer market, these small units actually serve plenty of functions and achieve this very properly. 



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