The Xulu XR1 Professional with a typical USB flash drive for scale.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Nano PCs are an important piece of the expertise puzzle. You might need a desk with very restricted house. Or perhaps you wish to create a kiosk the place you must tuck the pc away from sight. You would possibly even wish to have a “group” PC in your house (or perhaps your Airbnb), the place visitors can get on-line and do what they should do.
Additionally: The very best 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 Professional. This gadget will not be solely the smallest of the tiny PCs I’ve tried, nevertheless it’s additionally essentially the most highly effective.
The gadget itself measures a scant 3.5 x 3.5 inches and is simply 2.5 inches tall, making it the smallest AMD Ryzen 7-powered PC ever constructed. Sure, it is tiny. But it surely additionally gives six USB ports, one USB Kind C port, two HDMI ports, and a headphone jack.
The specs
In fact, you are in all probability questioning what the complete 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.Massive-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 could be to instantly set up Linux, however I opted to see how properly the machine would energy a useful resource hog like Home windows 11.
There are many ports on the again aspect (with extra on the entrance).
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
I used to be pleasantly shocked. I anticipated the Xulu XR1 Professional to battle beneath the load of Home windows 11, nevertheless it seems the machine has loads of energy to just do that. Despite the fact that 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 objective 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 gadget, and booted into Ubuntu Budgie. The consequence was that the Xulu XR1 Professional carried out virtually in addition to my common desktop PC, a System76 Thelio. My main 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 outstanding job working a reside model of Linux.
This tiny machine is right for work, leisure, college, and even some gaming. The very best factor about these tiny kind issue PCs is that they are often put in wherever. And though the XR1 Professional does have a large-volume fan, I by no means heard it working. I may 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 very best computer systems: Evaluating laptops, PCs, and extra
So far as worth is anxious, 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, nevertheless it’s additionally at a worth level that makes it much more interesting. Having an AMD Ryzen 7 desktop machine at that worth is a cut price…regardless of the scale.
Though I do not anticipate tiny kind issue PCs will ever supplant the usual desktop or laptop computer market, these small gadgets definitely serve a variety of functions and achieve this very properly.