Those on the chase for an affordable book-sized HTPC will accept likely come across the impressive Asrock Beebox. Released around this time concluding year, nosotros reviewed the dual-core Celeron N3000 model which goes for most $125; bring retentivity and storage to the table and you have a complete HTPC solution and respectable PC for less than $200 (non including software). In other words, the Beebox is a very cost effective solution albeit a tad underpowered.

Although dual-aqueduct memory support did permit for 4K playback when using HEVC hardware, decoding it was even so a bit on the slow side on the Celeron SoC. Since so we've looked at other ultra-compact desktops.

Solutions such as the ECS Liva X were too boring to be used for daily calculating, while the Intel NUC6i7KYK is grossly overpowered for full general usage. Typically that would exist non-event but in the instance of the Skull Coulee NUC, it comes at a huge expense, exceeding $grand for a full organization build.

Run into the new Asrock Beebox-S, a rare middle-of-the-road mini PC. The 'S' stands for Skylake, so we're already very intrigued to acquire which specific processor has been embedded within this new Beebox.

As information technology turns out, there are two options to choose from. In that location is a Core i3 model and a punchier Cadre i5 version that we received for testing. Powered by a Core i5-6200U, although this is but a dual-core processor we expect it to provide quite a step upwards over the previous Beebox N3000.

There are, of course, other upgrades also. Back up for DDR4 retention rather than DDR3L, and the old mSATA port has been replaced with a loftier-speed PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot. Peripheral connectivity has besides been profoundly improved. USB 3.ane Blazon-C is now on offer and 4K is supported at 60Hz thanks to the inclusion of HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.iv.

The price for the Core i5 Beebox is $320 for the barebone system - effectually 50% cheaper than the Intel Skull Coulee though the NUC is definitely the faster option. In terms of value, the Beebox-S has a few things on its side autonomously. It can be paired with a 2.five" SSD which ways in that location are considerably more options available and most of them significantly more cost effective.

Well-Constructed Heaven Hive

The Beebox-S comes in white, black, argent and gilded. The final time we reviewed a Beebox, nosotros were sent the gold model. While it didn't look equally bad as we were thought it would, information technology still wasn't quite to our taste. This time around, Asrock has served upwardly the black model and it looks, well, better. The white and silver models are as well quite nice.

In the correct color (i.eastward. black), the Beebox-S is a sleek looking PC with nice curves and indentations that break upward what would otherwise be a boring design. On the front there is a Type-A USB 3.0 port, along with a USB three.i 'Type C' port. The inclusion of USB 3.ane will exist important for modern peripheral devices as information technology effectively doubles the available bandwidth from 5 Gbit/s to x Gbit/due south.

Along with the third generation USB ports, there is an sound-out jack that likewise accepts mic-in. Finally, there is a small infrared receiver used to communicate with the supplied remote.

On height of the Beebox-S is a small circular power button which is gently backlit using a blueish LED. The top of the unit of measurement measures 116 ten 112mm, and it stands 40mm tall.

Effectually the back we take a 12V 3A DC power input, two HDMI outputs (one is a 2.1 port while the other is the older one.4 standard), DisplayPort output, two USB 3.0 ports, a single Gigabit LAN port and a Kensington lock. This provides the Beebox-S with a considerable corporeality of connectivity for such a tiny estimator.

Underneath the Beebox-S there are four small safe anxiety, and plenty of ventilation. There are also four screws that tin be removed to proceeds admission to the insides of the device.

The Beebox-S will be available with either the Core i5-600U processor or the Core i3-6100U processor. Equally we understand it, neither come up pre-configured, and are therefore barebone-only systems which require the user to provide their own memory, storage and operating system.

Included in the box is a 65w/12v ability adapter, remote command, VESA subclass besides as the typical user guides, manual and installation CD. The inclusion of a CD seems a bit odd, given that the Beebox doesn't have an optical bulldoze -- in fact, the surface area of the PC is smaller than a CD. While we could attach a USB optical drive to employ the provided CD, we'll opt, instead, to simply download the drivers.