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Today we are checking out an impressive little PC that is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand yet has the power to run all your desktop applications with ease. Known as the Gigabyte Brix it is powered by a mobile Core i5 processor with your choice of DDR3 memory and mSATA SSD...
When Intel released their first 22nm processors based on the 3rd Generation Core architecture, codenamed Ivy Bridge, they saw an opportunity to create something new. With almost a 20% reduction in the TDP (Thermal Design Power) rating, Intel were able to go ahead and create what is called NUC (Next Unit of Computing).
Essentially NUC is an ultra-small form factor platform that has been developed by Intel for SFF (Small Form Factory) enthusiasts. The initial release was based on the mobile Ivy Bridge Core i3 processors and featured a tiny motherboard measuring just 4x4” (101.5x101.5mm), considerably smaller than even the MiniITX form factor. Unfortunately with pricing starting around the $400 mark for a complete build based on the Core i3 model, Intel’s new NUC seemed grossly overpriced. Today a barebone version of the Core i3 model still costs almost $300 and you still need to buy RAM, SSD, WiFi card and an OS. Intel attempted to address the pricing issue with an awfully slow Celeron 847 (1.1GHz) processor, but even then that model still costs around $180 in barebone form. To this date the Intel NUC is a very cool idea that has been let down by a poor choice in hardware and outrageously high prices. Popular motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte decided to have a shot at producing their own NUC systems, which they now call BRIX. There are currently four models available which support the Celeron 1037U (1.8GHz), Core i3-3227U (1.9GHz), Core i5-3337U (1.8GHz / 2.7GHz) and Core i7-3537U (2GHz / 3.1GHz) processors. Already Gigabyte BRIX NUCs appear much more powerful than what Intel is offering, while they also support more USB 3.0 ports and WiFi out of the box. However like Intel’s NUC, the BRIX are barebone systems meaning you need to bring your own SSD, RAM and OS. For review today we have the XM11-3337 model which is based on the Core i5-3337U processor. At a cost of $420 it might be more powerful than many of the Intel versions getting around, but it’s also more expensive.
Ideally users will want to install at least a 128GB SSD and mSATA versions currently start at $120. Users are probably also going to want at least 8GB of memory and prices start at around $60 for some decent 1600MHz SO-DIMM modules. Finally the operating system and we would go with Windows 8, which currently costs $150 for the Professional version. So with a total build cost of $750, is the BRIX worth it? It is probably worth keeping in mind that for a little less than $600 it is possible to purchase a complete Core i5-3337U laptop from companies such as Dell and Asus. |
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