MINIX NEO Z83-4 Pro, Intel Cherry Trail Fanless Mini PC Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) [Intel X5-Z8350/4GB/32GB/Dual-Band Wi-Fi/Gigabit Ethernet/Dual Output/4K] (4G+32G with Windows Remote)

When my dual-monitor laptop docking station failed, I went looking for a cheap dumb-terminal alternative. Enter the MiniX Neo Z83-4 Pro. 4K video, dual-monitor capable, solid-state drive, built-in WiFi, and Windows 10 Pro license, all for under $200? Too good to be true? Yes. :-( PROS: 1. Cheap. 2. Small. 3. Quiet. 4. Can run Linux (requires some hacking to get everything working, notably WiFi). 5. Dual-monitor capable. CONS: Everything else. The 4K claims that I read are total lies. I tried using the Z83-4 to remote desktop to other computers. Unfortunately, it couldnt handle my dual monitors, which are large (2560x1600 and 1200x1600) but combined are still smaller than 4K. It was so choppy that it was unusable. My previous 10-year-old laptop handled this fine. Next, I tried converting it to an HTPC for my 1080p TV, which is just a fraction of the Z83-4s supposed 4K capability. Using Emby, my 1080p content was choppy, and even some of my 720p was choppy. (I dont have 4K content.) The problem is its WiFi adapter, which apparently offloads functions to the CPU and bogs it down. Switching to a wired LAN connection and VLC produced much better results, but even that skipped on some videos. This supposedly 4K-capable device cannot deliver even 1080p. So next I tried installing Linux. This is when I discovered the only USB 3.0 port on the device doesnt work with most of my USB 3.0 thumbdrives. I had plug them into the slow USB 2.0 ports or use a powered USB 3.0 hub to get the Z83-4 to see my USB sticks. These are just thumbdrives, not high-power spindled hard disks. Maybe a bad port? Linux is officially unsupported and requires some hacking to get WiFi/Bluetooth and audio working. However, solutions are available in the MiniX community forums with threads dedicated to installing Linux. Eventually, I got Ubuntu 18.04 and later Kali Linux 2018.1 installed and fully functional. I was hoping the Linux performance would be better, but alas, Linux on the Z83-4 is as lackluster as Windows. So now Im back to Windows 10. Ill probably shove this in the back of some clients server closet to be a tiny admin PC with a low-res monitor so it can serve some purpose other than a paperweight. TL;DR $200 underpowered paperweight incapable of handing even 1080p video, and certainly not 4K.

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I bought this PC to run as a kitchen touchscreen computer, serving as a kind of calendar, photo frame, and recipe browser. It does the job, but has been more trouble than I wanted to deal with. Pros: - booted up fine - detected touchscreen and auto-installed drivers - auto-power-on setting works great for my purpose - doesnt come with junk and bloatware Cons: - not enough space to run the full Windows feature upgrade. Had to download and re-install Windows and all the drivers from a flash drive. Was a bit tricky to find the drivers on their website and get them installed correctly. - I wanted to switch to using a microSD card as the boot device, but the drivers are flaky and the microSD wont stay mounted. Company claims it is not their problem in the support forums. - Im using a USB drive as external storage. About once a week the USB drive "disappears" (is unmounted) and I have to unplug and replug it. Seems to be a driver problem, because a reboot also recovers it. - Connecting to Wi-Fi using 5.8 GHz, the drivers frequently crash (they are specifically identified in the Windows Event Log) and a reboot is required before Wi-Fi works again. I had to create a 2.4GHz ssid and connect to that. At least that connection is stable. Summary: if you are willing to do quite a bit of manual tinkering, and live with the limitations, the PC does the job. If I have to replace it, I will be looking at other vendors first.

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We need a basic desktop for the house. Nothing amazing just for the kids to do school work on, check emails, or stream a video. We normally buy a generic Dell or HP. The fans always seem to crap out on those after a few years so I thought we would try a fanless pc and got this one. It worked as advertised at first and I knew the updating would be an issue from other peoples reviews. I had hoped that maybe they fixed that issue but it is still there. We got the update eventually to work. The problem now is that it wont stay on. It will randomly turn off and wont turn back on for days/weeks. Then it will work for a while and then its off for days/weeks again. If it wasnt a tiny fanless I would open it up and try and fix it but I doubt Ill figure this one out. I liked it up until it stopped being dependable. Buyer beware.

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Bought this unit earlier in the year. The built in wifi adapter quit working maybe 2 months in. Gave up fighting with it and bought a usb wifi adapter. That worked for a couple more months and now even that is seeing weird disconnects specific to this mini pc (same adapter works fine in other machines, everything else in the house works fine). So I can only assume its a bad board or something funky with the USB port. I have to reset the adapter and disconnect
econnect everything to get it to work again and that gets reaaaaaallll old. This is not a powerful machine. It is adequate for streaming 1080p (my purpose) as long as everything is in tippy top shape. The second you hit something like a connectivity issue its game over. It cannot run Air Console games on its best day and thats a pretty low bar. Decent value for what it costs since it comes with windows 10 pro. And when it works, it works fine. But after all the time I have spent fiddling with it to keep it running I regret the purchase entirely. I either got a bad unit or theyre just mediocre overall.

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I really wanted to like this. The unit is small and appears well made. It instantly responded to the wireless mouse and keyboard I attached and then began loading windows. I went through the usual windows setup and then it began upgrading and upgrading. It got stuck several times during the Windows upgrade process and I patiently rebooted it and waited some more. After several hours the upgrade process failed with a message indicating that the unit needed more hard drive space. I performed a disc cleanup and removed unneeded system files and it then loaded the next windows upgrade and failed again. Its become clear that that the 32GB hard drive is just too small to allow the recent large Windows updates. .

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So I purchased this box after checking a number of other options, but settled on this as it had a bit more power/RAM/Storage than some other boxes. I also liked that it was fanless, so it would be dead silent. I *was* happy using it with my older 1080 TV, while I saved up for a new 4k TV. However, after hooking it up to my new 4k TV I couldnt figure out why everything looked so bad After some digging, I found out it ONLY does 30fps at 4k! Now, I have to put everything BACK to 1080. That wasnt why I bought this, and while it technically is 4k, no one is going to use this for 4K unless its for a Powerpoint presentation. This seems very misleading, and I wouldnt have purchased this if I had known that fact.

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