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In depth review of the Cube iWork 12 dual boot Z8300 convertible tablet

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Pros
Running dual operating systems, and switching from one to the other is simple.
Screen offers good viewing angles and vibrant colors.
Premium build material.
Robust keyboard connection.
Decent battery life.
Cons
Extremely slow to charge.
Very little improvement in performance compared to the Bay-trail powered tablets.
Poor cameras.
A lot heavier than the Surface 3.
Cube has attracted lots of attentions with their line of affordable 2-in-1 convertible tablets since early 2014. Now they have two lines of convertible tablets: the premium Core-M powered i-series tablets, including the Cube i7, Cube i7 CM, Cube i7 Stylus and Cube i9, and the more affordable Atom-based iWork series, such as the iWork 10, iWork 10 Ultimate, iWork 11 Stylus, and the all new iWork 12. There are some exceptions, though. The Cube i6, i10 are not premium Windows tablets like the i7 and i9, instead, they are Atom based tablets, designed mainly for basic tasks.
As confusing as Cube’s product naming is, the all new iWork 12 is definitely Atom-based. With a 12.2-inch screen and a kickstand, it bears a striking resemblance to the more premium Skylake Core M powered Cube i9. Running on an Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 CPU and 64GB eMMc drive, the iWork 12 is more of an entry-level convertible than a powerhouse hybrid. The RMB1,599 ($244) price may seem low compared to similar systems such as the ASUS T100HA, but it is still a tad higher than the price of the iWork 10 Ultimate ($152.4), which rocks the same internal setup. Are the $82 extra bucks a worthy investment for more screen real estate and a kickstand, let’s find out.
Cube iWork 12 Main Specs
• OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit & Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Display: 12.2-inch IPS, 10-point multi-touch, IGZO
• Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1200 (16:10)
• CPU: Intel Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 Quad-core Processor
• CPU Frequency: 1.44GHz – 1.84GHZ
• GPU: Intel HD Graphic Gen8
• RAM / Storage: 4GB / 64GB
• Function: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, OTG
• Camera: 5MP back camera, 2MP front camera
• Battery: 9,000mAh
• Extend Port: USB 3.0 port, TF Card Slot, Micro USB, 3.5mm Headphone Jack, Micro HDMI
• Weight & Size: 930g / 302.9*194.9*9.15mm
Packaging and Accessories
The Cube iWork 12 comes with very nice packaging. Inside the box you will find a tablet, a wall charger with a micro USB plug, an OTG adapter, a user manual and a warranty card.
Design and Build
As we mentioned above, the iWork 12 has an identical design to the Cube i9, with a 12.2-inch display dominating its front and a 2-angle kickstand on its rear. The white bezel removes the feeling of cold black technology, and the Magnalium rear side gives the tablet a premium look.
The left side plays host to a slew of ports and slots. You can find a Micro USB port, a Micro HDMI port, a 3.5mm headset jack, a Micro SD card and a full size USB 3.0 port.
The keyboard port can be found on the bottom side of the tablet.
As always, a power/standby key and a volume rocker on the top side.
The built-in kickstand can open to two different angles, satisfying the needs of using the tablet in different occasions.
Overall, this machine seems to belong in a class way above that of its price point, so kudos to Cube for continuing to provide compelling value in terms of construction. As the overall design remains quite similar to that of the i9, the weight and size are also nearly identical. The iWork 12 tips the scales at just 930g, although far from being the slimmest or lightest tablet out there, it is still quite portable by any definition.
Keyboard
The keyboard cover for the Cube iWork 12 is exactly the one designed for the more premium Cube i9, and it matches the design of the Microsoft Surface Type Cover. It is very thin, light, and won’t add much weight to the tablet.
The tablet and the keyboard clip together quickly and easily, without much force or maneuvering. When in place, it’s a solid connection which seems like it could take some punishment without breaking apart.
Like we mentioned in the review of the Cube i9, the keyboard itself is very well designed, with ideal space between different keys, it also offers decent key travel, which gives you tactile feedback when you type. And we really love the ability to set it flat against the desk or at a more keyboard-like angle. We’d always rather use a full-sized laptop keyboard, but in the absence of that this Keyboard Cover is the very next best thing.
The trackpad is reasonably sized, and it has distinct left and right click zones, and supports gesture control as you would expect. Unfortunately, unlike the Surface Type Cover, when you fold the keyboard cover around the back of the iWork 12 and the keys are still active.
Display and sound
The Cube iWork 12 rocks a 12.2-inch IPS display at the resolution of 1920*1200. The display is bright, vibrant, with wide viewing angles.
Even when compared to top offerings such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, the Cube iWork 12 doesn’t pale in comparison in the display department. And you can’t really tell the difference in pixel density from a normal using distance.
With that said, I did notice more reflection when compared to top Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, using it outdoors should be challenging.
The Cube iWork 12 has stereo speakers, placed on the left and right side of the tablet’s chassis. Sound quality is respectable for a budget tablet, but not truly remarkable. It’s not too harsh or tinny, and having stereo sound is great for watching movies. Top volume is decent, but lacks the low-end bulk and power of the best tablet speakers such as the ones on the iPads and Galaxy tablets. The 3.5mm audio jack has no problem driving our high-end headphones to an ear-splitting level, and we could hear a lot of details through the headsets.
Operating systems
You might have already noticed that I used a plurality in the heading, that’s because the iWork 12 ships with two operating systems in one machine: Windows 10 and Android 5.1, and you can switch between those two systems with only one or two taps on the touchscreen.
Unlike the iWork 11 Stylus, which runs the 32-bit version of Windows 10 and can only use 3GB of the 4GB RAM, the iWork 12 is preinstalled with the 64-bit version of Windows 10 Home and can take full advantage of every bit of the 4GB RAM built in the device.
Both the Android 5.1 and the Windows 10 are clean, with almost no third-party applications. While the Windows side takes care of the everyday business tasks, the Android side takes care of your social networking and media consumption. With access to numerous applications in Windows (those in Windows store and traditional desktop apps) and Google Play, the iWork 12 is much more versatile than any your average Android tablets or iPads.
Storage
The iWork 12 comes with a 64GB eMMc drive. Although not as lovely as the SSD used in higher-end tablets such as Cube’s very own i7 and i9, it is expected as an eMMc drive is always a standard choice for Atom-based tablets and netbooks. As the iWork 12 is running on both Android and Windows 10, the two operating systems takes up different partitions of the hard drive and don’t have shared internal storage. The Android side takes up a partition of 16GB, while the more complex and powerful Windows 10 takes up 48GB.
Fortunately, the iWork 12’s storage is expandable by a Micro SD card up to 128GB. The users can save multi-media files in the external storage, which they can visit from both Android and Windows.
Performance
The iWork 12 is powered by the latest Atom Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 processor and 4GB of RAM (DDR3 1066), and the performance is pretty predictable for an Atom-based system.
On the Android side, the iWork 12 was pretty fast and responsive to all our controls. Tasks from scrolling the home screens to running graphic-intense 3D games are all handled smoothly by the tablet. We experienced very few lags or delays while browsing image-heavy webpages, watching YouTube Videos, social networking and gaming.
We also ran some benchmarks on the Cube iWork 12. In the Antutu 6 benchmark, the slate was returned a score of 56615, and in the Geekbench 3 test, it got a score of 2093 (Multi-core). It is clear that the iWork 12’s doesn’t match the latest top Android smartphones in terms of benchmark scores, but I didn’t really feel it was by any means slow, even comparing it to my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
On the Windows side, things were a little different. Lags and stutters were non-existent running applications installed from the Windows store, and you can even use several Microsoft Office applications side by side, but the tablet still struggled with heavier desktop tasks: Unzipping a compressed folder took forever, Photoshop took a long time to open, and heavy duty applications such as Corel Draw and lightroom simply wouldn’t start.
Benchmarks tell the story, too. In most of the benchmarks, the Cube iWork 12 scored way behind the Core M powered Cube i9 and the Z8700 powered Microsoft Surface 3. In fact it barely surpassed the ASUS T100, which contained the older Atom Bay-trail Z3740 processor.
The iWork 12 isn’t cut out to be a powerhouse tablet and can’t really replace your desktop PC or laptop for productivity tasks, it is more of a system designed for media consumption, social networking and light business duties.
Connectivity
A slew of ports and slots, as well as built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi give the tablet lots of connectivity options. Not only can the micro USB port used for charging, it can also be turned into a full USB 2.0 port by the stock OTG adapter to host all kinds of input and storage devices. The full USB 3.0 port can take care of high-speed data transfer between your tablet and a mobile drive, it can also charge your smartphone pretty quickly. The micro HDMI port means you can connect your tablet to a monitor or an HDTV, and Bluetooth 4.0 means you can establish wireless connections with headphones, external speakers, and input devices.
The iWork 12’s Wi-Fi connection is pretty solid, we could still stream online videos while there are a few meters and two walls between the tablet and the router.
Battery life
Unlike many other hybrids such as the ASUS T100A and Dell Venue 11 Pro, the Cube iWork 12’s keyboard doesn’t have its own battery to boost the tablet’s stamina. All charging is done using the microUSB port on the tablet part, meaning you don’t have to worry about losing a specific charge cable.
Cube claims that the Iwork 12’s 9,000mAh Li-Po battery should last for 8 hours, but we normally only got around 7 hours’ screen time doing different things with the tablet. In our standard battery rundown test, where we played a 720P video (MP4) on loop, we got 7 hours and 35 minutes’ battery life from the slate.
While the battery life of the tablet is still decent for a convertible this size, charging it can be extremely annoying. Sometimes the tablet would boot itself when we plugged in the charger, and the charging is also extremely slow. We normally needed around 6 hours to finish a full charge, and sometimes the charging got stuck at 99% for a whole hour….
Cameras
The iWork 12 has two cameras, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing cameras. The front camera is decent enough for video-chatting, but we would not suggest using it for selfie. Useless for most people, the rear camera is just there for the sake of being there, the photos it took were of extremely poor quality, and you don’t really want to use a big and heavy tablet like this to capture your daily moments, while any smartphone could do a much better job.
Summary
So who might we recommend this device to? Definitely not those who want a device to use as a main PC, but someone who already owns a powerful desktop PC and only wants a cheap netbook/tablet for light business tasks and media consumption.
We liked
The best thing about the Cube iWork 12 is its cost-efficiency. For only RMB1,599 ($244, keyboard excluded), you have a versatile, simple convertible with a stunning 12.2-inch IPS screen. The tablet does media-consumption tasks brilliantly, and can handle reasonable productivity tasks as well as most entry-level laptops. And you can easily switch from Windows to Android and the other way around on one device. Also, the build quality of the Cube iWork 12 is superior to the similarly priced ONDA and Teclast tablets.
We disliked
There was plenty to be annoyed about with the Cube iWork 12. This is fundamentally not a powerful laptop, and only a passable tablet – especially when there are alternatives for which you could pay much less money and get the same level of performance.
The excruciatingly slow charging speed and only average battery life mean this slate is going to spend a lot of every single day plugged into walls.
Both the DDR3 RAM and the eMMC are pretty slow on this device, and that’s very noticeable while the tablet’s thrown with traditional Windows desktop tasks.
Final verdict
The Cube iWork 12 is more of a system to replace your iPads or Android tablets than to use as a main personal computer. The ability to run Microsoft Office and other light desktop applications means you will always get more productivity out of this device than from an iPad or an Android tablet. For the right reason this can be a really good purchase, but since the iWork 12 is not the only dual boot tablet out there, you might want to take a look at other options before digging into your pocket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3RWLqTrmBM
Video review here

Nobody interested in this tablet?

Nice Review
Thanks for the nice and detailed review. I'm interested in this tablet. The kickstand is a nice addition and I love the build quality of Cube. My only annoyance is the slow charging, and its making me consider getting the Chuwi H12.

Windows 10 sound?
Thanks for the review, I just received mine. I like the quality of the unit. The screen is pretty glossy, but it's still fine.
The biggest issue I'm having is sound quality in Windows 10 (3.5mm jack). Very muddy, and disappointing considering I want this for media consumption. I'm thinking it's a driver issue, since sound in Android is fine. Sound devices are:
Intel SST Audio Device (WDM)
Nuvoton SST Nau88L24 Codec Device
If anyone has input of how I can better the sound, I'm all ears!
EDIT: Turns out it was more of an issue of my Xiaomi Piston 3 headphones (which seem to be failing), my AKG ones sound good. DFX enhancer did work well however in tuning the speakers.

You should definately use "DFX Audio Enhancer". It makes every device sound like studio quality (even on android), if set up correctly. I've tested several software-based audio enhancer and this is by far the best one.
Cost: Currently 30 bucks, normally 40.
They also offer a demo, but it restricts some of the controller handles, so you can't test the full potential.
krazystuff said:
Thanks for the review, I just received mine. I like the quality of the unit. The screen is pretty glossy, but it's still fine.
The biggest issue I'm having is sound quality in Windows 10 (3.5mm jack). Very muddy, and disappointing considering I want this for media consumption. I'm thinking it's a driver issue, since sound in Android is fine. Sound devices are:
Intel SST Audio Device (WDM)
Nuvoton SST Nau88L24 Codec Device
If anyone has input of how I can better the sound, I'm all ears!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi,
Some site saids that it's support stylus some site saids no.
So somebody who have the tablet could tell me if it's support stylus ?
Regards
Marc

Grainy screen
My experience with this tablet so far.
Windows 10 really good, runs office apps no problem.
Android performance good for media consumption, eg magazines, podcasts etc.
On the down side is the display. On Android the display always seems a little fuzzy, not so sharp. This is much better in Windows quite sharp.
Unfortunately my unit has the "grainy" screen issue. Its like having a really poor quality screen protector on. Its very noticeable on whites and greys. Also the screen is highly reflective which means I have to be careful where I sit while typing.
Its a shame that the display issue impacts and otherwise very good device.

Weird, I don't notice this grainy screen issue. Looks the same as any of the other 3 screens I use. I do agree on reflections however; I am thinking about getting a tempered glass protector for the thing.
After using the thing for a month (exclusively in Windows):
- Wifi: Performance is good, except sometimes after it wakes from sleep I need to disconnect and reconnect to regain the connection. Kind of annoying, hoping a driver update will fix that.
- HDMI out: I use this for Netflix (Windows 10 app) and Kodi for local media, and both work great (only 1080p tested). No problem with getting bitstreamed audio and 23hz or 24hz output (although I need to switch it for Netflix manually, app issue). I did get an angled connector though which I realise is a mistake since now I can't charge and have the micro HDMI dongle connected at the same time.
- Chrome: Chrome is kind of sluggish, but still ok. Edge is vastly superior, but not having extensions yet lead me to live with Chrome for now. Youtube is kind of sluggish to start; I started using an extension to force MP4 instead of VP9, and haven't noticed much of a difference. Still, it is acceptable for general browsing with a few tabs.
- Battery: I'm happy with battery life, but I haven't measured it formally. With light/medium use, it lasts me 3 days. It does take long to charge, but I can live with charging it overnight every couple of days. Waking from sleep works well also.
All in all, I am happy with the unit, and it fills my niche for a portable, tablet/notebook hybrid that I can take travelling, on a plane, and carry around the house.

linux ?
thanks for your review.
we can install linux in i9.
can we install linux in iwork12?
thanks

Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?

Rom/Recovery
Hi
I just received my Cube iWork12 and on turning it on noticed that it had already been turned on by GearBest so I clicked on Factory reset in Windows. it froze during the reset and now won't book. It comes up with the cube logo for about 20 seconds then restarts and does the same again. Android still boots. Does anyone know how I can fix this or where I can get am image of the Rom to restore? thanks

In case anyone is having the same problem a forum user has kindly posted it on google drive here: http://techtablets.com/forum/topic/cube-i12-firmware/

I have had this tablet for a month. No matter what I try I cannot stop play store from closing all the time. Has any one else had this problem? I have reset the tablet. closed and forced stop on play store. checked date and time +++++.
If any one has an answer to the problem I will be grateful.
My thanks in advance.
Brian

ecrivain5 said:
I have had this tablet for a month. No matter what I try I cannot stop play store from closing all the time. Has any one else had this problem? I have reset the tablet. closed and forced stop on play store. checked date and time +++++.
If any one has an answer to the problem I will be grateful.
My thanks in advance.
Brian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Likewise here. I have tried all sorts with different Play Store APKs, based on CPU, Screen Resolution, etc but nothing works, at least not for any length of time.
I have resorted to locating and downloading the APKs of the apps I want to install and doing it that way, bypassing the Play Store altogether.
It is a real PITA. Cube seems to have forgotten this device in terms of firmware updates and support.

Which one i must choose, chuwi hi 12 or iwork 12? I need for my study, i usually use ms. Office, spss, geogebra and other small software. Which one is better? Because i plan to use this stuff for a long time.

youngred09 said:
Thanks for the nice and detailed review. I'm interested in this tablet. The kickstand is a nice addition and I love the build quality of Cube. My only annoyance is the slow charging, and its making me consider getting the Chuwi H12.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to know, so you re take chuwi or cube? How the performance? I still confuse to take cube or chuwi because my money limited.

how can i update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher?
---------- Post added at 12:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------
raviemailid said:
Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can i update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher?
---------- Post added at 12:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 PM ----------
Can you tell me the easiest procedure to update android 5.1 with android 6 or higher on our iWork12 cube?
Thanks!

Does it support any pen ?

I'm delighted with this tablet, very comfortable and performing, the only flaw so far found is that there is no automatic update of the firmware that was compatible with the Android version 5.1, but to use it I need at least the Android version 6.0! Cube site does not upgrade, I contacted the company but told me to ask the retailer ..
I'm waiting for a solution! Has anyone already updated the version of Android?
Thank you
raviemailid said:
Thanks for the lovely review. Very nice it was.
Its been around 6 months now, are you still using this tablet? How is 6 month ownership experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Alldocube X Neo review: media playback king on a budget

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The good:
1. Nice build quality.
2. Vibrant, clear and sharp display.
3. Decent performance.
4. MicroSD card support.
5. 4G and Phone functions.
The bad:
1. Old processor.
2. Big bezels.
3. No fingerprint reader or face unlock.
4. Sub-par battery life.
The Alldocube X released last year enjoyed enormous success on Indiegogo. With its dazzling 10.5-inch 2K Super Amoled display, stereo speakers, and AKM AK4376A powered 3.5mm headphone jack, the X was considered by many to be a perfect choice for media consumption. Unfortunately, it was hold back by a relatively weak processor (Mediatek MT8176 SoC) and poor battery life.
By the end of 2019, Alldocube announced its partnership with Qualcomm, the world’s leading mobile chip maker. Many were hoping that the Chinese brand could release an upgraded version of the X with a Snapdragon processor in it. And here comes the X Neo: An Android tablet with identical design and 10.5-inch Amoled display, but a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, and some other minor changes.
Main Specs
Operating system: Android 9.0 Pie
Screen: 10.5-inch Super Amoled display @2560*1600px
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE
CPU: Octa-Core (4*Cortex [email protected] + 4*Cortex [email protected])
GPU: Adreno 512
RAM: 4GB LPDDR4
ROM: 64GB eMMc 5.1 (supports expansion up to 512GB)
Battery: 3.8V/7700mAh Li-Po battery
Cameras: 5MP front / 8MP main
Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n, 5GHz/2.4GHz dual-band
Mobile networks: 4G (FDD-LTE/TD-LTE), 3G (CDMA/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA), 2G (GSM)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.0
Ports: USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, MicroSD card slot, pogo pin keyboard port.
Buttons: Power/standby key, volume rocker
Size: 245.9*175.4*7.2mm Weight: 491g
Nice, but unimpressive design
Just like last year’s X, the Alldocube X Neo looks neat and elegant. The metallic rear and curved sides give the slate an air of luxury. But for a 2020 tablet, the bezels around the screen are just a little too big. Alldocube made an argument that big bezels give users enough to grip and hold the tablet to avoid accidental touches, which makes sense, but I still think people would prefer modern designs of the Apple iPad Pro and the Huawei MatePad Pro. A front-facing camera and a light sensor can be found above the display, the rest of the front looks clean, and you won’t even find any branding.
The tablet has a frosted aluminum back, which makes it feel much more premium than the price tag would suggest. Apart from Alldocube’s logo, the camera lens is the only distraction. It’s incredibly clean, simple, and stylish.
When holding horizontally, the left and right edge are each home to dual speakers, and there're also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Type-C charging port on the left.
On the bottom side of the slate you can also find a pogo pin port, which can be connected to the official keyboard case.
The tablet supports 4G, as well as storage expansion. The SIM card tray is able to carry 2 nano SIM cards or the combination of 1 nano SIM card and a MicroSD card.
There are two physical buttons on the right edge of the slate: a power/standby key and a volume rocker.
The X Neo measures 245.9mm * 175.4mm * 7.2mm, and weighs 489g. It does not fit in our hands as well as those 8-inchers do, and you can basically forget about one-handed use, but the device didn’t burden our hands too much, either, thanks to the slim and lightweight build. As thin as it is, the X Neo still feels quite robust, even physically twisting the tablet doesn’t reveal excess movement. The overall build quality of this slate is as good as many high-end products in the market.
One thing that does bother me is the absence of a fingerprint reader, which I loved on last year’s X. I even called Alldocube for their reason regarding the removal of this feature. Their marketing person claimed that the majority of users don’t use their tablets for online payments, so a tablet doesn’t need the same level of security as a smartphone or a laptop. I do understand their point: the absence of a fingerprint reader is not a deal breaker for most tablet users, and the brand can save the cost for more essential features such as 4G connectivity, yet I would have preferred a more convenient way to unlock the screen, instead of having to put in some PIN code or draw a certain pattern.
Stunning Screen, average sound
The Alldocube X Neo sports a gorgeous 10.5-inch Super Amoled display made by Samsung. Resolution clocks in at 2,560 by 1,600, for 287 pixels per inch. With deep, inky blacks and rich colors, the display is really a joy to look at. Color accuracy is also excellent, and the screen is bright enough to use in any scenario.
Although the X Neo’s display uses the standard PenTile RGBW matrix, instead of the more celebrated 'PenTile Diamond Pixel' array, sharpness is still good and, while I don’t think color calibration or the screen architecture match Samsung’s latest flagship smartphones, this is still one of the best screens you’ll find in a tablet, and is definitely superior to the LCD panels used on the Huawei MatePad Pro and the Apple iPad Pro.
Not just videos and photos look great. The lightweight nature means it’s also an excellent ebook reader alternative, and great for gaming. I read for many hours using the Amazon Kindle app, and provided I changed the background color from white to a paper-like tone, it didn’t tire my eyes. The light, easy-to-hold body allows for extended play sessions when gaming, too. Asphalt 9 is fun, and it’s visually enhanced thanks to the stunning colors and screen.
The Alldocube X Neo offers side-firing stereo speakers, which can go very loud. Unfortunately, these built-in speakers can sound a little harsh at the highest volume, and lacks the bass and soundstage produced by the Quad AKG tuned speakers found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Still, they are much better than similarly priced Android slates and are definitely good enough for YouTube and Tik Tok. For audiophiles, headphones or external speakers are still very much needed for music and action films.
Although the X Neo has a 3.5mm headphone jack, it is not powered by the AKM 4376A DAC like last year’s Alldocube X was. The tablet works well with average headphones, only when you plug in a power-hungry professional headset with higher impedance will you start to notice some differences. If you don’t even own headphones above $200, this shouldn’t even be anything to think about.
System & UI
The X Neo ships with stock Android 9 Pie, not the latest Android 10, and there’s customization on top. As much as we love the clean feel of stock Android, it is not optimized for a tablet screen, especially a big, 10.5-inch one.
You won’t find anything similar to Samsung tablets’ DeX mode. The stock screen-split function works fine with most applications, but it doesn’t really give you that kind of computing experience the DeX mode offers when there are serious productivity tasks at hand.
Unfortunately, the Android ecosystem is going towards a direction which is less and less tablet-friendly. Many of the customized tablet applications in Play Store were released years ago and haven’t been updated for a long time. As a result, most of the apps we tried on the X Neo were just phone apps blown up to fill the 10.5-inch screen, with the majority of them only supporting vertical mode. The ideal solution would be something like the Phoenix OS, which turns Android OS into a multi-window desktop style user interface, but Alldocube doesn’t seem too keen on shipping their tablets with that operating system.
Decent performance
The Alldocube X Neo is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, which has an octa-core CPU (4 Cores of Cortex-A72 clocked at 2.2GHz and 4 cores of Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.8GHz) and an Adreno 512 GPU. This chipset was actually released way back in 2017 and built on 14nm process, so it is relatively old, and doesn’t match the performance of the Snapdragon 675 or Kirin 810 found in many entry-level Android smartphones. But compared to the 28nm MediaTek 8176 processor in last year’s Alldocube X, it is still a solid upgrade.
The X Neo notched typical “Snapdragon 660” scores in many benchmark tests I threw at it, but it even bettered the Snapdragon 670 powered Samsung Galaxy S5e in some of those tests, which came as a pleasant surprise.
The built-in storage is eMMc 5.1, which is not comparable to UFS storages in top smartphones, but the X did manage to get a result similar to the readings of more expensive midrange tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e in terms of Sequential Read and Write speeds in the Androbench test.
In the real-world use, the Snapdragon 660 processor and 4GB RAM are actually enough to drive the tablet for the tasks it is intended for. The X Neo is smooth and responsive most of the time, I had no issues watching 4K YouTube videos in Chrome, and scrolling through my best friends’ Instagram posts at the same time. With that said, there will be some noticeable hiccups when you open too many image-heavy webpages, or have several big applications running in the background.
Gaming should not be your main reason to buy a Snapdragon 660 powered tablet. With that said, the tablet can run most games installed from Play Store without issues, but in order to have a smooth visual experience, you need to use moderate settings in big titles such as Asphalt 9 and PUBG. If you insist on going for the highest level of animation and 3D effects, you should expect frameskip and serious delays.
Superb connectivity
The X Neo supports dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 and 4G, you can even use it to make phone calls, but you need to hear voices either through headphones or the built-in speakers, since the tablet doesn’t have an earpiece.
With such an amazing display, more users will be tempted to store a lot of media files in their X Neo, thus the 64GB built-in storage might not suffice. Fortunately, this tablet supports storage expansion, you can insert a MicroSD card up to 512GB. Even better, the type-C port can also mount most mobile SSD drives.
Basic cameras
There are two cameras on the X Neo, a front-facing 5MP camera and an 8MP main camera. Those cameras can be useful for video-chatting, and scanning QR code, but you won’t want to “archive your life” with them. Even in perfectly-lit conditions, most photos I took with the main camera were either over-exposed or under-exposed, and there wasn’t much life to them. In low light, the photos were simply horrible. In an era when most entry-level smartphones come with triple or quad camera setups, there is really no place for tablet photography.
Selfie camera shot
Main camera shot
Subpar battery life, decent charging speed
The Alldocube X Neo houses a 7700mAh Li-Po battery, smaller than the X’s 8000mAh. But with a much more efficient processor, the X Neo can give me around 7-8 hours’ screen time on a full charge, while the X could only last around 6 hours.
With display brightness and speaker volume both set at 50%, the X Neo scored 7 hours and 25 minutes in the PCMark 8 Work 2.0 Battery test, which was really not impressive compared to other midrange tablets.
This X Neo supports Qualcomm’s 18W QC3.0 quick charge. With the stock wall charger, you can fully charge the tablet’s 7700mAh battery in around 3 hours, not bad considering how big the battery is. In comparison, the 2020 Apple iPad Pro also supports 18W charging, but Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 and S5e only support 15W charging. The MatePad Pro is the reigning king in terms of charging speed, as it supports Huawei’s very own 40W SuperCharge, but the cheaper MatePad 10.4 doesn’t have that feature, as it also ships with an 18W charger.
Verdict: great for media consumption
The Alldocube X Neo isn’t designed to break any new grounds, but it is an Android tablet which gets a lot of essential things right. It has a sharp and colorful display, which makes it perfect for video streaming, web-browsing and even light gaming. The Snapdragon 660 AIE processor is old, but still offers decent performance for basic everyday tasks. 4G connectivity means the tablet won’t be limited to places with connectable Wi-Fi hotspot.
However, the removal of the fingerprint reader is not really a smart move. Also, the Chinese brand doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to after-sale support, most of their tablets stop receiving firmware upgrades a few months after the release. The X Neo will probably never be upgraded to Android 10, let alone Android R, something you need to bear in mind before making a purchase.
To sum it up, if media playback is your main focus, the X Neo is really an easy recommendation, in fact you won’t find anything that’s visually on par with this slate in the same price range. But if you use your tablet for more mixed purposes, there are a few other offerings you should look at before reaching into your pocket to get the X Neo.

Can it install google play or service?
I buy this tablet, try to install google service,but it's error.
Did someone install it successfully?
Hope twrp can support, and there is a new rom

domon1116 said:
I buy this tablet, try to install google service,but it's error.
Did someone install it successfully?
Hope twrp can support, and there is a new rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ran into the same problems, seems the current ROM isn't compatible with GMS. Alldocube is working on it.

Jupit3r said:
I ran into the same problems, seems the current ROM isn't compatible with GMS. Alldocube is working on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can download the gms rom with google service in this link:https://www.alldocube.com/en/firmware/alldocube-xneot1009-firmware-download/

wangyiling said:
you can download the gms rom with google service in this link:https://www.alldocube.com/en/firmware/alldocube-xneot1009-firmware-download/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, many thanks!

Hi. Any full tutorial to flash?
I just received today. But the rom no google play.
As i see in tutorial. To connect to Qfill in tutorial. The tablet must boot to 9008 mode (press volume up and down button and power) after i press the tablet goes death black screen. I try to power up no response. Any tips?

Jubet said:
Hi. Any full tutorial to flash?
I just received today. But the rom no google play.
As i see in tutorial. To connect to Qfill in tutorial. The tablet must boot to 9008 mode (press volume up and down button and power) after i press the tablet goes death black screen. I try to power up no response. Any tips?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the CPU of this tablet is Qualcomm Snapdragon 660. The operation of firmware flashing in the 9008 mode is exactly the same as the other Snapdragon 660 mobile phones. The operation of QFIL tool is universally, and the problems encountered are the same. You can find many references on the xda forum or youtube
If the tablet just enters 9008 mode, the flashing does not started, long press the power button should be able to reset the machine, and boot.
If the flashing has already started, and it was interrupted, as long as the tablet can enter 9008 mode, continue to use QFIL tool to re-flash the firmware

hi to all,
i would use this nice tablet about smart working.
The needed is exporting, via usb-c to hdmi cable, the display on LG 32UL950-W monitor.
But without luck, until now.
Black screen. Any suggests ?
It seems, reading specs on official site at url , that is supported HDMI output.
I've tried with a usb-c HUB and no luck.
Any tips to follow ? Thanks everyone for your patience.
Nicola.

How to unlock bootloader & root device？

sis3002001 said:
How to unlock？
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
password

sis3002001 said:
How to unlock bootloader & root device？
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. go into the Settings > System > Developer options menu and enable the OEM unlocking
2.use adb command let tablet go into fastbootmode:adb reboot bootloader
3.use fastboot command to unlock:fastboot flashing unlock
4.about root,use magsik app to patch the origin boot.img ,and use fastboot command flash the modified boot.img:fastboot flash boot xxx.img,and at last install magisk app.

wangyiling said:
1. go into the Settings > System > Developer options menu and enable the OEM unlocking
2.use adb command let tablet go into fastbootmode:adb reboot bootloader
3.use fastboot command to unlock:fastboot flashing unlock
4.about root,use magsik app to patch the origin boot.img ,and use fastboot command flash the modified boot.img:fastboot flash boot xxx.img,and at last install magisk app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can we update after unlocking and rooting ?
And someone here tryed to get GCAM working ? Perhaps we can get better pictures.
Perhaps an old Stable Gcam can work ? (Camera2api enabled in Hardware).
I just waiting for shipment of this Device.
greatz....

majo3000 said:
Can we update after unlocking and rooting ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As is the case with most Android devices that can be unlocked, the unlock persists across updates. The unlocking is of the Bootloader, which is a separate partition from System, Data, etc. When you update the System (OS), the bootloader will remain unlocked. The only exception to this would be perhaps if the OS maintainer wanted to ensure the device was always locked, they may update the bootloader with a re-lock mechanism. But this is rare, and certainly not the case with the Alldocube.

Jupit3r said:
The good:
1. Nice build quality.
2. Vibrant, clear and sharp display.
3. Decent performance.
4. MicroSD card support.
5. 4G and Phone functions.
The bad:
1. Old processor.
2. Big bezels.
3. No fingerprint reader or face unlock.
4. Sub-par battery life.
The Alldocube X released last year enjoyed enormous success on Indiegogo. With its dazzling 10.5-inch 2K Super Amoled display, stereo speakers, and AKM AK4376A powered 3.5mm headphone jack, the X was considered by many to be a perfect choice for media consumption. Unfortunately, it was hold back by a relatively weak processor (Mediatek MT8176 SoC) and poor battery life.
By the end of 2019, Alldocube announced its partnership with Qualcomm, the world’s leading mobile chip maker. Many were hoping that the Chinese brand could release an upgraded version of the X with a Snapdragon processor in it. And here comes the X Neo: An Android tablet with identical design and 10.5-inch Amoled display, but a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, and some other minor changes.
Main Specs
Operating system: Android 9.0 Pie
Screen: 10.5-inch Super Amoled display @2560*1600px
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE
CPU: Octa-Core (4*Cortex [email protected] + 4*Cortex [email protected])
GPU: Adreno 512
RAM: 4GB LPDDR4
ROM: 64GB eMMc 5.1 (supports expansion up to 512GB)
Battery: 3.8V/7700mAh Li-Po battery
Cameras: 5MP front / 8MP main
Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n, 5GHz/2.4GHz dual-band
Mobile networks: 4G (FDD-LTE/TD-LTE), 3G (CDMA/TD-SCDMA/WCDMA), 2G (GSM)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.0
Ports: USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, MicroSD card slot, pogo pin keyboard port.
Buttons: Power/standby key, volume rocker
Size: 245.9*175.4*7.2mm Weight: 491g
Nice, but unimpressive design
Just like last year’s X, the Alldocube X Neo looks neat and elegant. The metallic rear and curved sides give the slate an air of luxury. But for a 2020 tablet, the bezels around the screen are just a little too big. Alldocube made an argument that big bezels give users enough to grip and hold the tablet to avoid accidental touches, which makes sense, but I still think people would prefer modern designs of the Apple iPad Pro and the Huawei MatePad Pro. A front-facing camera and a light sensor can be found above the display, the rest of the front looks clean, and you won’t even find any branding.
The tablet has a frosted aluminum back, which makes it feel much more premium than the price tag would suggest. Apart from Alldocube’s logo, the camera lens is the only distraction. It’s incredibly clean, simple, and stylish.
When holding horizontally, the left and right edge are each home to dual speakers, and there're also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Type-C charging port on the left.
On the bottom side of the slate you can also find a pogo pin port, which can be connected to the official keyboard case.
The tablet supports 4G, as well as storage expansion. The SIM card tray is able to carry 2 nano SIM cards or the combination of 1 nano SIM card and a MicroSD card.
There are two physical buttons on the right edge of the slate: a power/standby key and a volume rocker.
The X Neo measures 245.9mm * 175.4mm * 7.2mm, and weighs 489g. It does not fit in our hands as well as those 8-inchers do, and you can basically forget about one-handed use, but the device didn’t burden our hands too much, either, thanks to the slim and lightweight build. As thin as it is, the X Neo still feels quite robust, even physically twisting the tablet doesn’t reveal excess movement. The overall build quality of this slate is as good as many high-end products in the market.
One thing that does bother me is the absence of a fingerprint reader, which I loved on last year’s X. I even called Alldocube for their reason regarding the removal of this feature. Their marketing person claimed that the majority of users don’t use their tablets for online payments, so a tablet doesn’t need the same level of security as a smartphone or a laptop. I do understand their point: the absence of a fingerprint reader is not a deal breaker for most tablet users, and the brand can save the cost for more essential features such as 4G connectivity, yet I would have preferred a more convenient way to unlock the screen, instead of having to put in some PIN code or draw a certain pattern.
Stunning Screen, average sound
The Alldocube X Neo sports a gorgeous 10.5-inch Super Amoled display made by Samsung. Resolution clocks in at 2,560 by 1,600, for 287 pixels per inch. With deep, inky blacks and rich colors, the display is really a joy to look at. Color accuracy is also excellent, and the screen is bright enough to use in any scenario.
Although the X Neo’s display uses the standard PenTile RGBW matrix, instead of the more celebrated 'PenTile Diamond Pixel' array, sharpness is still good and, while I don’t think color calibration or the screen architecture match Samsung’s latest flagship smartphones, this is still one of the best screens you’ll find in a tablet, and is definitely superior to the LCD panels used on the Huawei MatePad Pro and the Apple iPad Pro.
Not just videos and photos look great. The lightweight nature means it’s also an excellent ebook reader alternative, and great for gaming. I read for many hours using the Amazon Kindle app, and provided I changed the background color from white to a paper-like tone, it didn’t tire my eyes. The light, easy-to-hold body allows for extended play sessions when gaming, too. Asphalt 9 is fun, and it’s visually enhanced thanks to the stunning colors and screen.
The Alldocube X Neo offers side-firing stereo speakers, which can go very loud. Unfortunately, these built-in speakers can sound a little harsh at the highest volume, and lacks the bass and soundstage produced by the Quad AKG tuned speakers found on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Still, they are much better than similarly priced Android slates and are definitely good enough for YouTube and Tik Tok. For audiophiles, headphones or external speakers are still very much needed for music and action films.
Although the X Neo has a 3.5mm headphone jack, it is not powered by the AKM 4376A DAC like last year’s Alldocube X was. The tablet works well with average headphones, only when you plug in a power-hungry professional headset with higher impedance will you start to notice some differences. If you don’t even own headphones above $200, this shouldn’t even be anything to think about.
System & UI
The X Neo ships with stock Android 9 Pie, not the latest Android 10, and there’s customization on top. As much as we love the clean feel of stock Android, it is not optimized for a tablet screen, especially a big, 10.5-inch one.
You won’t find anything similar to Samsung tablets’ DeX mode. The stock screen-split function works fine with most applications, but it doesn’t really give you that kind of computing experience the DeX mode offers when there are serious productivity tasks at hand.
Unfortunately, the Android ecosystem is going towards a direction which is less and less tablet-friendly. Many of the customized tablet applications in Play Store were released years ago and haven’t been updated for a long time. As a result, most of the apps we tried on the X Neo were just phone apps blown up to fill the 10.5-inch screen, with the majority of them only supporting vertical mode. The ideal solution would be something like the Phoenix OS, which turns Android OS into a multi-window desktop style user interface, but Alldocube doesn’t seem too keen on shipping their tablets with that operating system.
Decent performance
The Alldocube X Neo is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE processor, which has an octa-core CPU (4 Cores of Cortex-A72 clocked at 2.2GHz and 4 cores of Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.8GHz) and an Adreno 512 GPU. This chipset was actually released way back in 2017 and built on 14nm process, so it is relatively old, and doesn’t match the performance of the Snapdragon 675 or Kirin 810 found in many entry-level Android smartphones. But compared to the 28nm MediaTek 8176 processor in last year’s Alldocube X, it is still a solid upgrade.
The X Neo notched typical “Snapdragon 660” scores in many benchmark tests I threw at it, but it even bettered the Snapdragon 670 powered Samsung Galaxy S5e in some of those tests, which came as a pleasant surprise.
The built-in storage is eMMc 5.1, which is not comparable to UFS storages in top smartphones, but the X did manage to get a result similar to the readings of more expensive midrange tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e in terms of Sequential Read and Write speeds in the Androbench test.
In the real-world use, the Snapdragon 660 processor and 4GB RAM are actually enough to drive the tablet for the tasks it is intended for. The X Neo is smooth and responsive most of the time, I had no issues watching 4K YouTube videos in Chrome, and scrolling through my best friends’ Instagram posts at the same time. With that said, there will be some noticeable hiccups when you open too many image-heavy webpages, or have several big applications running in the background.
Gaming should not be your main reason to buy a Snapdragon 660 powered tablet. With that said, the tablet can run most games installed from Play Store without issues, but in order to have a smooth visual experience, you need to use moderate settings in big titles such as Asphalt 9 and PUBG. If you insist on going for the highest level of animation and 3D effects, you should expect frameskip and serious delays.
Superb connectivity
The X Neo supports dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 and 4G, you can even use it to make phone calls, but you need to hear voices either through headphones or the built-in speakers, since the tablet doesn’t have an earpiece.
With such an amazing display, more users will be tempted to store a lot of media files in their X Neo, thus the 64GB built-in storage might not suffice. Fortunately, this tablet supports storage expansion, you can insert a MicroSD card up to 512GB. Even better, the type-C port can also mount most mobile SSD drives.
Basic cameras
There are two cameras on the X Neo, a front-facing 5MP camera and an 8MP main camera. Those cameras can be useful for video-chatting, and scanning QR code, but you won’t want to “archive your life” with them. Even in perfectly-lit conditions, most photos I took with the main camera were either over-exposed or under-exposed, and there wasn’t much life to them. In low light, the photos were simply horrible. In an era when most entry-level smartphones come with triple or quad camera setups, there is really no place for tablet photography.
Selfie camera shot
Main camera shot
Subpar battery life, decent charging speed
The Alldocube X Neo houses a 7700mAh Li-Po battery, smaller than the X’s 8000mAh. But with a much more efficient processor, the X Neo can give me around 7-8 hours’ screen time on a full charge, while the X could only last around 6 hours.
With display brightness and speaker volume both set at 50%, the X Neo scored 7 hours and 25 minutes in the PCMark 8 Work 2.0 Battery test, which was really not impressive compared to other midrange tablets.
This X Neo supports Qualcomm’s 18W QC3.0 quick charge. With the stock wall charger, you can fully charge the tablet’s 7700mAh battery in around 3 hours, not bad considering how big the battery is. In comparison, the 2020 Apple iPad Pro also supports 18W charging, but Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 and S5e only support 15W charging. The MatePad Pro is the reigning king in terms of charging speed, as it supports Huawei’s very own 40W SuperCharge, but the cheaper MatePad 10.4 doesn’t have that feature, as it also ships with an 18W charger.
Verdict: great for media consumption
The Alldocube X Neo isn’t designed to break any new grounds, but it is an Android tablet which gets a lot of essential things right. It has a sharp and colorful display, which makes it perfect for video streaming, web-browsing and even light gaming. The Snapdragon 660 AIE processor is old, but still offers decent performance for basic everyday tasks. 4G connectivity means the tablet won’t be limited to places with connectable Wi-Fi hotspot.
However, the removal of the fingerprint reader is not really a smart move. Also, the Chinese brand doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to after-sale support, most of their tablets stop receiving firmware upgrades a few months after the release. The X Neo will probably never be upgraded to Android 10, let alone Android R, something you need to bear in mind before making a purchase.
To sum it up, if media playback is your main focus, the X Neo is really an easy recommendation, in fact you won’t find anything that’s visually on par with this slate in the same price range. But if you use your tablet for more mixed purposes, there are a few other offerings you should look at before reaching into your pocket to get the X Neo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the review
I'd be interested in knowing which version of the device you have had the opportunity to test (of particular interest is the 4G Network Support). The reason for this is that when comparing the information provided regarding 4G Network Support for the Alldocube X Neo tablet, there are significant differences between information provided on the manufacturer's Chinese website and, respectively, the Global (English) one.
Referring to the information provided on the following webpages (though the former in Chinese only, but one can still determine which the listed/enumerated frequency bands in question are)
Chinese:
https://www.51cube.com/parm/xneo-parm/
International:
https://www.alldocube.com/en/parm/xneo-parm/
It has been rather challenging trying to find out which versions there actually are available (e.g. Chinese and/or Global) from the sellers that offers the Alldocube X Neo tablet for purchase, nevertheless based on the information presented and available on the manufacturer's Chinese and Global website respectively, one should be allowed to expect there to exist (at least) two different versions with regard to the 4G Network Support.
Concerning these circumstances I'd like to ask were you able to verify which 4G network bands the shipped device actually supported?

More details on working being done to root with Magisk, install TWRP, and install LineageOS can be found at this forum:
https://hardforum.com/threads/alldocube-x-neo.1998171/

protechtedd said:
More details on working being done to root with Magisk, install TWRP, and install LineageOS can be found at this forum:
https://hardforum.com/threads/alldocube-x-neo.1998171/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for linking to my thread

I have GCam working.We have Camera2api Level3 . Okay the Camera is not so good.But with GCam i get better details with less Noise.
Also EIS is working with GCAM.
I used Pixelcam-brazil.
I will test more and upload soon my configs for Gcam.

someone knows how to get HDMI via USB-C working ? i buyed a Adapter but it didnt run.

majo3000 said:
someone knows how to get HDMI via USB-C working ? i buyed a Adapter but it didnt run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have try also but not working.

Is there already a compatible and optimized custom rom that I can install on this device?

Alldocube i7Book review: an affordable laptop powered by Intel i7 CPU

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The good
Decent performance.
Licensed Windows 10 Home.
Comfortable keyboard and high-quality touchpad.
Solid battery life.
The bad
No fingerprint reader.
No backlight for the keyboard.
Slow SATA SSD.
The Ultrabook market is ultra-competitive, as many respected PC brands all see this as a highly lucrative sector. This market section doesn’t really seem like the ideal playground for Alldocube, a Chinese brand mainly known for their affordable Android tablets, to enter. While Alldocube isn’t a total newbie in the PC industry, as they have release many low-cost Windows convertibles and laptops in the past, but all of their PCs were powered by Atom, Celeron, or Core M CPUs, never the high-end i-series SoC.. That’s why the newly released Alldocube i7Book, which comes with an Intel i7-6660U CPU and a $479.99 price tag, could be exciting.
Main Specs of the Alldocube i7Book
OS: Licensed Windows 10 Home
CPU: Intel Core i7-6660 dual-core CPU (2.4GHz-3.4GHz)
Graphics: Iris Graphics 540
RAM: 8GB DDR4 RAM
Screen: 14.1-inch IPS (1920*1080px)
Storage: 256GB M2. SSD (SATA Standard)
Ports: 3 x USB 3.0 Type A, 1 x USB 3.0 Type-C, 1 x 3.5mm audio jack, 1 x HDMI 1.4 port, 1 x 3.5mm DC port.
Connectivity: 802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2
Camera: 2MP front-facing webcam
Weight: 1.35kg
Size: 322*212*16.1mm (W x D x H)
Battery: 11.4V-4500mAh (51.3Wh)
Variants, price and availability
If you are constantly bothered by the many variants of a certain model, good news here: the Alldocube i7Book comes with only one configuration. The model features a 14.1-inch FHD IPS display, an Intel Core i7-6660U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD.
The laptop is priced at $479.99 and you can buy it on Banggood.com.
Retail Package
The retail package of the i7Book doesn’t stray too far from that of other Ultrabooks. Inside the box you get a KBook laptop, a power adaptor, and a user manual.
The provided 57-watt (19V-3A) power adaptor looks extremely old and bulky by 2020 standards. But fortunately, this laptop supports PD fast-charging through its type-C port. That means you can use a much more portable PD charger as its power supply. Many of the mainstream smartphones now come with 50W-65W PD-compatible chargers, which can also be used as the i7Book’s power adaptor. We are currently using the Xiaomi 10’s 65W charger with the i7Book, and it works like a charm.
Design and Build
You probably won’t have too many complaints – or accolades – about the aesthetics of the i7Book. There’s nothing wrong with the look, exactly, at least in our very typical silver color scheme. The Alldocube logo on the lid is the only real adornment, and otherwise, this is a very simply designed laptop.
The chassis of the i7Book is made of aluminum, with sand-blasting process on top. The material used here is not particularly high-quality, and even felt like plastic when we first laid hands on it. In comparison, last year’s KBook looks like a more premium device. However, the chassis of the i7Book still succinctly avoids any sharp edges or flexible structures, as these things should.
Opening it up reveals a spacious keyboard which, unfortunately, isn’t back-lit. It’s a typical island keyboard with black keys and white letters.
The feel of the keys is a little shallow, but they still press with a snappy click and that makes for a precise feel. I managed to reach my top typing speed in just a few hours’ time.
The touchpad is also very good, with plenty of size, a comfortable plastic surface, and buttons that aren’t too loud. It’s also a Microsoft Precision touchpad, meaning it provides excellent support for Windows 10’s multitouch gestures. It’s easily the equal of laptops costing a hundred dollars more.
In terms of input, that’s all you get, though. There’s no touchscreen, which is par for the budget course, and there’s no Windows 10 Hello mechanism for password-less login. That’s a bummer, but again, you must give up something to bring in a laptop at this price point.
The bezels around the 14.1-inch screen are relatively small, especially on the top, left and right. The chin is a little bigger than the one on the Huawei Matebook, with Alldocube’s branding in the middle.
Above the display there’s a 2 mega-pixel webcam. In terms of image quality, the webcam is quite basic, but it is okay for video chatting in most scenarios, just make sure there’s sufficient ambient lighting.
Unfortunately, the i7Book cannot be opened up to 180 degrees like the KBook can, the maximum angle it can open up to is approximately 135°. While this may not be a deal breaker for most consumers, it is still a little disappointing.
For an Ultrabook which focuses on thinness, the Alldocube i7Book still offers a healthy combination of I/O. The left side plays host to a DC charging port, a multi-function USB-C port which support not only PD fast charging, but also DP video output and USB 3.0-standard data transmission, an HDMI 1.4 port, and a USB 3.0 port. On the right you will find a 3.5mm headphone jack, two USB 3.0 ports, and a MicroSD card slot.
The i7Book measures 322*212*16.1mm, and weighs 1.35kg, quite compact for a laptop this size. The build quality is okay, but nothing to write home about. It’s not hard to tell that the i7Book is somewhat below the quality of the HP Elitebook 745G and Huawei Matebook 13, mainly due to the material used for the chassis. Even last year’s Alldocube KBook feels a little more robust and better built, as its case feels sturdier with less flex. However, the i7Book still doesn’t feel cheap, it just lacks the premium feel of a high-end model, which it isn’t.
Average display, but competent sound
The Alldocube i7Book rocks a 14.1-inch IPS display at the resolution of 1920*1080p. Pixel density is 157PPI. This display isn’t particularly sharp, the colors are a little bit muted, as well. It’s easy for us to notice the differences when placing the i7Book next to the Huawei Matebook 13, and Alldocube’s very own KBook, which sports a vibrant 3K display.
The brightness of this panel isn’t good, either. While it is generally good enough for indoor use, but when I brought the laptop to my office desk near an open window, where direct sunlight could shine on the screen, it was a little challenging for me to see the content even at maximum brightness.
The i7Book features stereo BOX speakers. Audio from these built-in speakers is surprisingly good, with plenty of volume without any distortion when turned all the way up. Mids and highs are strong, and there is even a hint of bass. You could easily binge YouTube using these speakers, although music and movies would definitely benefit from a good pair of headphones or external speakers. Again, this is a great result for such an inexpensive machine.
A clean version of Windows 10
The laptop runs on licensed Windows 10 Home out of the box, so it is able to run all applications like any other regular Windows PC. Fortunately, there’s no bloatware of any kind, you can easily install apps from Microsoft Store or other third-party sources.
Performance that matches the hardware
The Alldocube i7Book was powered by an Intel Core i7-6660U processor, which includes a dual-core CPU clocked at 2.4GHz, but can turbo up to 3.4GHz, and an Intel Iris Graphics 540 GPU. When you see the word “Core i7”, you would probably think this is an absolute powerhouse. Well, it might be true a few years ago, as this chipset was released in 2016, but things are different now. This Skylake i7 CPU won’t really compete with its 10th generation peers, in fact it falls short even in comparison with the 8th generation low-voltage Core i5 SoC. Yet it should still offer enough horsepower for normal day-to-day tasks in 2020. When coupled with 8GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB SSD storage, we’re curious to see how the i7Book could perform.
Benchmarks
Looking at the Cinebench R20 CPU benchmark, the i7Book scored 700. Interestingly, that falls behind the HP Elitebook 745G, which features an AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2500U, and only beats the i3-8145U powered Huawei Matebook 13 by a small margin.
In the Fritz Chess benchmark, the i7Book notched 6317, which is a huge improvement from last year’s Alldocube Kbook, but is still lower than the score of the Huawei Matebook 13.
The PCMark 8 Home and Work Accelerated tests are designed to measure the performance of a system by simulating basic everyday computing tasks. The i7Book scored 3123 in Home Accelerated, and 4098 in Work accelerated. While these weren’t impressive numbers, they were still much higher than the scores of the Microsoft Surface Go 2, which is powered by an Intel Core M3-8100Y processor.
Without discrete graphics, it’s not hard to see that this laptop isn’t built for intense 3D gaming. We did run a few tests in the 3DMark, though, to see how the i7Book would perform. As expected, it wasn’t that great. The laptop scored 5033 in Night Raid, 4273 in Sky Diver, and 1181 in Fire Strike. In the more demanding Time Spy test, the Alldocube i7Book was returned a score of 473.
Real Life performance
In the real-world use, we get more than enough power for average computer tasks like Word processing, spreadsheets and email, and it won't get bogged down if you have a dozen tabs open in Chrome with some other applications running in the background.
Streaming video and music are no problem either, since I could play all the 4K videos in my mobile drive and even stream 8K YouTube videos in Chrome smoothly.
Heavier apps such as the Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom also work nicely, and I am not talking about just casual photo and video editing, you can even add quite a few layers and filters without experiencing stutters and delays.
In our PowerDirector test that encodes a 330MB video to H.265, the i7Book took 19 minutes to finish the production, that is significantly slower when compared to the Beelink Kaby G mini PC, which rocks an Intel Core i7-8709 processor and only took 8 minutes to finish the same task.
The 256GB SSD in the i7Book is of SATA3 standard, instead of the more celebrated NVME. That’s easily predictable for such a low-cost laptop. The performance is okay, though, as any SSD is, but if you have to compare it to NVME standard SSD used in high-end laptops, you will be disappointed. In the CrystalDiskMark test, it scored 541 megabytes per second (MB/s) in the read test and 439 MB/s second in the write test.
As mentioned earlier, the i7Book is not designed to be a gaming PC. When we tried to run Fortnite, our experience was quite disappointing. The i7Book managed a paltry 8 frames per second (FPS) at 1080p and High graphics settings, and just 5 FPS at Epic settings. Other graphics-intense games such as Crysis 3, Less demanding titles such as League of Legend, CS:GO did run smoothly on the i7Book, but there could be some frameskip in certain scenarios if you set the graphics to the highest.
When it comes to games installed from Microsoft Store, the story is completely different. The i7Book had no problem running the most graphic-intense games at maximum settings. We tired Asphalt 9:Legend, Modern Combat 5: eSports FPS and World of Wsrships, all of them ran smoothly on this laptop.
Battery Life
Alldocube packed in 51.3 watt-hours of battery into the i7Book. That’s not bad for a 14.1-inch Full HD display, but there is a power-hungry 6th Gen i7 CPU under the hood. And given the fact that Alldocube’s earlier models all disappoint in this department, we were initially quite skeptical. As it turns out, we were pleasantly surprised by the i7Book’s longevity.
In our video test that loops a local 1080P movie until the battery ran out, the Alldocube i7Book lasted for 8 hours and 31 minutes. That’s a decent score that bests most of the other models you can find in the same price range, and easily blow last year’s Kbook out of the water.
Also, in our most demanding Basemark web benchmark, the Alldocube i7Book lasted for three hours and eleven minutes. That’s not a record-breaking score, but it’s solid for the battery capacity and display size. The Huawei Matebook 13, for example, only managed around two and a half hours, while the HP Elitebook 745G only lasted 20 minutes longer than the i7Book did.
The i7Book isn’t the thinnest or lightest 14.1-inch Ultrabook around, that much is clear. But for a typical productivity worker, there’s a very good chance that you’ll be able to get in a full working day without carrying around a power adapter, and that’s quite something.
Connectivity
The Alldocube i7Book offers three USB Type-A ports, a type-C port and a MicroSD card slot. That means you will have no problem mounting multiple external storage devices and a mouse.
This laptop supports 5GHz/2.4GHz dual-band WiFi, but not the latest WiFi 6, which is somewhat disappointing for a laptop released in 2020. Reception is solid, though, as we didn’t experience any issues streaming 4K videos 10 meters and a wall way from the router. There is also Bluetooth 4.2 on board for connecting with wireless input devices, Bluetooth speakers and headphones. It would have been nice to see Bluetooth 5.0 instead of 4.2, but that’s not going to add much the overall experience.
Verdict
The Alldocube i7Book is priced at $479.99, and it’s probably the cheapest Core i7 powered laptop you can buy right now. But you have to fall within its niche to consider it, and that means being someone who’s looking for a well-priced mid-sized laptop with a matte non-touch screen, the power to handle everyday activities and a big enough battery to run for 6-8 hours unplugged. On top of those, the i7Book is also a well-built device with appealing simplistic design and a decent keyboard/trackpad. On the other hand, you’ll have to live with the rather mediocre screen and, no fingerprint reader, but this aside there’s not that much to complain about here.

Link to Banggood: https://m.banggood.com/ALLDOCUBE-i7...mds=search&act_poa=SKUF90986&cur_warehouse=CN

Hello I want to ask if there is any official numbers for screen brightness? If not, can you measure it and let me know?

chevyz07 said:
Hello I want to ask if there is any official numbers for screen brightness? If not, can you measure it and let me know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have the right equipment to measure it.

Beelink U59 review: an excellent budget mini PC

The good:
Beautiful, neat and compact design.
Licensed Windows 11 Pro
Dual-channel memory
Decent performance.
Full of connectivity options.
The bad:
No SD or MicroSD card slot.
The top side easily attracts scratches and figerprints.
Beelink’s mini PCs range from budget Atom-based models all the way up to the AMD Ryzen 7 and Intel Core i7 powerhouses. The all new Beelink U59 is a budget mini PC which comes with the latest Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095 processor, configurable RAM and SSD of up to 16GB/512GB, a neat and attractive new design, and a moderate price tag. It is designed for basic home and office use, and it works as designed.
Main specs of the Beelink U59
Processor: Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095
CPU: 4 cores, 4 threads, 2.0-2.9GHz
GPU Intel UHD Graphics
Process technique: 10nm
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64bit
RAM: 8/16GB DDR4 2400MHz (16GB in my review)
Storage: 256GB/512GB SSD (512GB in my review)
Network: WiFi5 + BT 4.0 / Ethernet Gigabit
Ports: 4x USB 3.0 / 1x USB-C / 2x HDMI 2.0 / 3.5mm audio jack
Accessories: 12V-3A DC adapter/ 2x HDMI Cable (1m & 0.2m) / User Manual
Packaging
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Finally, Beelink has redesigned the packaging of their products, we saw that on the SER, which we just reviewed last month, and now, the retail package of the U59 is also simple but attractive.
Inside the packaging you will find a U59 mini PC, a wall-mount bracket, a 36-watt power adapter, two HDMI cables, a bag of screws, and a user manual.
Design
The U59 is tiny. Measuring only 124*113*42mm, it is not much bigger than an average TV box, and takes up almost no room on your desk. You can even make it disappear by using the included bracket, which mounts the mini PC onto the back of a monitor.
The U59 has a simple, but elegant design. The material used on the top is acrylic plastic, which gives the PC’s top a glossy and reflective look. It may be easy on the eyes when it’s clean, but unfortunately, it is not only a fingerprint magnet, but also easily attracts scratches.
As a budget mini PC, the U59 has a plastic case, but thanks to the beautiful metal-like coating, it doesn’t look too plasticky or cheap.
The front of the mini PC sports a CMOS reset hole, two USB 3.0 ports, a multi-function USB-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack with mic support, as well as a red power button which has a status LED built in.
The rear side of the U59 plays host to two USB 3.0 ports, a full-size Ethernet, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and a DC-in port.
The system is actively cooled, so there are plenty of vents on three sides of its case.
There are four rubber feet on the bottom side to elevate the U59 while it sits on the desk.
Getting access to the internals is quite easy, just remove the four screws on the bottom and you will be able to upgrade the RAM and SSD. There is also a slot for a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive of up to 1TB.
The U59 weighs only 330g, not much heavier than some of the latest smartphones. Moving it around in the house or taking it on a journey shouldn’t be much of an effort. The build quality is solid and definitely above average, as the mini PC feels robust and sturdy in my hands, and looks like it will survive a reasonable amount of office abuse, possibly even occasional falls.
Setting it up
Setting up the U59 is extremely easy. Plug in the power adapter, a mouse and a keyboard, then you are good to go.
During first-time start-up, you will need to go through some of the Microsoft Windows initialization protocols (choosing your region and language, connecting to the network, logging into your Microsoft account, etc), which is easy but does take some time.
Software & apps
The U59 ships with licensed Windows 10 Pro, but since it has the TPM2.0 chip and meets all the requirements of Windows 11, you can get the upgrade right after booting it up for the first time, at least that’s what I did. Average consumers may not know the difference between Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro. But for power users, Windows 11 Pro offers lots of extra features, such as being able to join a domain, Hyper-V for virtualization, and getting updates from Windows Update for Business.

Performance
This mini PC is powered by an Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095 quad core processor (2.0-2.9GHz). This 11th generation Celeron chip is not a powerhouse and won’t match the latest Intel Core and AMD Ryzen processors found in mainstream laptops and desktop PCs in terms of performance, but it is more than capable for basic office tasks, media playback and light gaming. The U59 I received has 16GB LPDDR4 memory under the hood to take care of multi-tasking, that’s a hell lot of RAM for an entry-level PC.
First, I ran Maxon's latest CPU-crunching Cinebench R23 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads. The U59 scored 629 in single core, 1544 in multi-core.
I also ran the Cinebench R20 test in order to compare the U59 to other budget mini PCs I had tested before, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was way ahead of the Beelink GK mini, which runs on a Gemini Lake Celeron J4125 processor, and even edged out the Intel NUC 7, which is powered by an Intel Kaby Lake Core i3-7100U SoC.
In the cross platform Geekbench 5 test, the U59 scored 608 in CPU single core, 2009 in multi-core, and 2125 in OpenCL.
The U59 also did quite well in the Fritz Chess Benchmark, achieving 7975 kilo nodes per second.
PCMark simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks. The U59 scored 2358 in this test, a huge improvement from the score (1791) of the GK mini.
In the more graphics-focused 3DMark, the U59 scored 2495 in Sky Diver, 657 in Fire Strike, and 210 in Time Spy.
The U59 features an m.2 2280 SATA SSD, which obviously lags behind those NVMe drives in high-end models such as the Beelink SER and Lenovo ThinkCentre, but is still faster than the eMMc or HDD in older and more basic models.
In my daily use, the U59 was fairly efficient in all kinds of office workflows, web-browsing, and multi-media. The system didn’t slow down while loading a dozen image-heavy webpages in Microsoft Edge and running a few other apps at the same time.
Working on my presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint was also a smooth experience, there weren’t lags or delays while I was adding some relatively heavy content to the slides.
Editing videos in Power Director should be challenging for budget systems like the U59, but to my surprise, it held its own nicely. When I added filters to multiple clips simultaneously, I could notice that the U59 took more time to finish the task than, say, my Lenovo YOGA Duet or the Beelink SER, but there were never really system halts, or significant delays.
I played quite a number of 4K video clips on the U59, and enjoyed fairly smooth playback. And when it comes to online video playback, the U59 had no problem streaming 4K, 60FPS YouTube Videos in Chrome, but it did struggle with videos above that resolution and frame rate. Since the maximum output of the mini PC is [email protected], there is no point to try that anyway.
The Intel UHD Graphics in this mini PC is not designed for graphics-intense gaming, but the U59 can run older titles in moderate settings. LOL was generally smooth while I set the resolution to 1080P, and graphics to low. The average frame rate of this game is 41fps. I only experienced noticeable frame drops in some intense battle scenes.
You can also play any game installed from Microsoft Store without issues. “Asphalt 9”. “Angry Birds” and “Battle Tanks” (Microsoft Store Variant) are both quite smooth.
More demanding titles such as War Frame and Conqueror’s Blade are simply not suited for mini PCs like the U59, the average frame rates of both games were lower than 15FPS.

Power and stability
For a mini PC that sits on your desk or behind your monitor (where it's nearer to your ears), noise is also something you need take into consideration. Fortunately, the U59 is quiet most of the time. Although it's not a completely silent, fanless design, and you will hear it while it’s running heavy applications, yet the noise is not constantly in your ears, and will be easily drowned out by other sounds in the background.
With an active cooling system inside, the U59 is also amazingly stable, as it passed the 3DMark Sky Diver stress test with flying colors.
Connectivity
The U59 supports 2.4GHz/5GHz dual-band WiFi 5, but not the latest WiFi6. It also has Bluetooth 4.0 on board, thus can connect wirelessly to input devices and audio systems. It would have been nice to see Bluetooth 5.0 instead of 4.0, but that’s not going to add much to your overall experience with the U59.
There are two HDMI 2.0 ports and a multi-function Type-C port, all of them support video output of up to [email protected] You can hook the U59 to as many as three monitors at the same time, this can be extremely useful if you have some complex productivity tasks at hand.
Verdict
Priced at $237.15 for the 8GB & 256GB version, and $296.65 for the 16GB & 512GB version on Amazon, the U59 is an affordable mini PC which checked a lot of the boxes. It has a compact and attractive design, decent internal hardware, plenty of I/Os, and licensed Windows 11 Pro. Besides basic office workflows and media playback, you can even use the U59 for some lightweight creativity tasks and a fair amount of gaming. For those who are looking for a decent but inexpensive mini PC, the U59 is worthy of your consideration.

It's worth noting that retail units don't seem to ship with Crucial memory as shown in reviews online, instead it's some no-name 2666MHz DDR4 with an AZW sticker. The 8GB model ships with one 8GB SODIMM, so it won't be operating in dual channel. I upgraded to 16GB with some Kingston Fury 2666MHz, the system supposedly supports up to 2933MHz memory but that's probably overkill for a device like this.
The fan isn't the quietest in the world, but even when benchmarking it wasn't too obnoxious, esp. if you're planning to use this as an HTPC.

XTCrefugee said:
It's worth noting that retail units don't seem to ship with Crucial memory as shown in reviews online, instead it's some no-name 2666MHz DDR4 with an AZW sticker. The 8GB model ships with one 8GB SODIMM, so it won't be operating in dual channel. I upgraded to 16GB with some Kingston Fury 2666MHz, the system supposedly supports up to 2933MHz memory but that's probably overkill for a device like this.
The fan isn't the quietest in the world, but even when benchmarking it wasn't too obnoxious, esp. if you're planning to use this as an HTPC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input.

XTCrefugee said:
It's worth noting that retail units don't seem to ship with Crucial memory as shown in reviews online, instead it's some no-name 2666MHz DDR4 with an AZW sticker. The 8GB model ships with one 8GB SODIMM, so it won't be operating in dual channel. I upgraded to 16GB with some Kingston Fury 2666MHz, the system supposedly supports up to 2933MHz memory but that's probably overkill for a device like this.
The fan isn't the quietest in the world, but even when benchmarking it wasn't too obnoxious, esp. if you're planning to use this as an HTPC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I consulted the marketing people in Beelink, and they told me that they didn't have 4GB memory sticks in stock, so the 8GB/256GB version of the U59 only has a single 8GB memory stick inside. Anyone planning to buy this PC should be aware of that.

Main specs of the Beelink U59
Processor: Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095
CPU: 4 cores, 4 threads, 2.0-2.9GHz
GPU Intel UHD Graphics
Process technique: 10nm
OS: Windows 11 Pro 64bit
RAM: 8/16GB DDR4 2400MHz (16GB in my review)
Storage: 256GB/512GB SSD (512GB in my review)
Network: WiFi5 + BT 4.0 / Ethernet Gigabit
Ports: 4x USB 3.0 / 1x USB-C / 2x HDMI 2.0 / 3.5mm audio jack
Accessories: 12V-3A DC adapter/ 2x HDMI Cable (1m & 0.2m) / User Manual
The Beelink U59 is powered by the latest Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5095 processor and up to 16GB dual-channel memory. It is by far the best budget mini PC ever made.
Written review here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/beelink-u59-review-an-excellent-budget-mini-pc.4360359/

Very good Review. Thanks!
I bought it.

Excellent review!

nek4d said:
Excellent review!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!

tombraga said:
Very good Review. Thanks!
I bought it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, hope you enjoy it.

I am very happyt with this Mini-Pc, already updated to Windows 11, all works fine and nice.

tombraga said:
I am very happyt with this Mini-Pc, already updated to Windows 11, all works fine and nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great!

This is really the best bang for the buck SFF PC I have ever tested.

Are you able to stream YouTube 4K HDR content without any stuttering or lost frames?

AlvinUT2001 said:
Are you able to stream YouTube 4K HDR content without any stuttering or lost frames?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.

Thanks for the feedback! @Jupit3r

Let me add that few people seems to have problem with faulty fans. Also Ubuntu 22.04 randomly froze for me after 8 to 13 days for no reason (seems to be temperature issue but not sure). And finally Bellink support is the worst think that exists in planet earth. Maybe it's better without it. They only answer for "Windows issues" and not for hardware/BIOS issues.

Kamui_ said:
Let me add that few people seems to have problem with faulty fans. Also Ubuntu 22.04 randomly froze for me after 8 to 13 days for no reason (seems to be temperature issue but not sure). And finally Bellink support is the worst think that exists in planet earth. Maybe it's better without it. They only answer for "Windows issues" and not for hardware/BIOS issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry for the bad experience, have you tested the temperature of the machine? Usually it doesn't freeze for no reason, maybe the machine temperature is too high or one program is taking up too many resources, you can check if there are these problems.

Beelink Official said:
I'm sorry for the bad experience, have you tested the temperature of the machine? Usually it doesn't freeze for no reason, maybe the machine temperature is too high or one program is taking up too many resources, you can check if there are these problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on! Beelink does not reply in their own forums...but you monitor and reply in XDA devs forums with suggestions that don't even have a value? "one program is taking up too many resources" and what does this suppose to mean? If I start a calculator the device will froze? (Yeap, I am sarcastic) Next time come with suggestion about getting diagnostics and logs thaat will actually pinpoint and solve the problem rather than random speculations about resource hungry apps.
Ubuntu 22.04 distro with transmission torrent daemon, jdownloader daemon and 2 python script daemons that's all... The CPU is idle most of the time, although the HDDs (SSD + 2,5 HDD) and RAMs are working a lot. That's my workload.
P.S. every reply in beelink's forum needs to get approved first and in my case, one of my replies got deleted when I tried to help a fellow "patient". Censhorship is not tolerable, by me at least, and that's why I am now in XDA forums to help whoever needs help.
Regarding the "help" if any beelink owner has issues with temperatures in linux one thing that will ease but NOT fix the problem is enabling the Intel p-state. I am posting it here because it got "censored" in beelink forums.
Following the below guides one can enable that feature.
Prevent Your Laptop From Overheating With Thermald And Intel P-State [Updated]
Linux Thermal Daemon ( thermald ) is a tool developed by Intel's Open Source Technology Center which monitors and controls the CPU temperat...
www.webupd8.org
intel_pstate driver not being loaded when added to grub file
I have a Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4700MQ CPU @ 2.40GHz Memory 16305MB (2531MB used) Machine Type Laptop Operating System Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS In my /etc/default/grub file I have the l...
askubuntu.com

Beelink GTR5 mini PC review: the best there is!

AMD's very powerful Ryzen 9-5900HX flagship notebook CPU is making its way to small form factor desktop PCs. The recently released Beelink GTR5 is not the first mini PC to feature this SoC., but it might just be the best one yet!
Beelink GTR5 Main Specs
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Processor: AMD Ryzen9-5900HX
CPU: 8 cores, 16 threads @3.3-4.6GHz, 7nm process
GPU: Radeon RX Vega 8 @2100MHz
RAM: up to 64GB DDR4 RAM (32GB in my review unit)
Storage: up to 2TB m.2 NVMe SSD (500GB in my review unit)
Wireless: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
Ports: USB-A 3.0 *3, USB-A 2.0*2, USB-C*1, HDMI 2.0*1, DP 1.2*1, 3.5mm Audio Jack*1, 2.5Gbps Ethernet * 2, DC-in*1, m2. SATA slot*1, 2.5-inch HDD connector*1
Special features: Fingerprint unlock
Dimensions: 165*119*39mm
Weight: 678g
Retail packaging
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The GTR5 comes with very cool packaging, the dragon on the front side of the box perfectly illustrates the amount of power packed inside.
Besides the GTR5 mini PC, you will also find a relatively bulky 90W power adapter, a user manual, two HDMI cables (0.2m & 1m), a mounting bracket, as well as a bag of screws after unboxing.
Design: simply stunning
Until last year’s SER, I hadn’t really been that impressed with Beelink’s design, but the Chinese brand seems to have finally outdone itself! The GTR5 simply looks stunning, in fact it is one of the best-looking mini PCs in the market right now. The carved finish on the top side gives it an extremely stylish and premium look. With its sturdy metal chassis, it should also be able to take a fair amount of reasonable office abuse you throw at it.
Besides the relatively subtle branding, the top side also sports a fingerprint scanner, which has decent size and makes logging into the operating system a lot easier than any type of passwords. The recognition success rate is also quite high, I haven’t had any failed attempts in my two weeks with this device.
The AMD logo and “Let’s Start” catchphrase on the top side will light up after booting up, giving the device a more interesting look.
The chassis has ventilation holes on 4 sides (top, left, right, rear) for heat dissipation. There are dual cooling fans and dual copper pipes under the hood to make sure that the system never gets overheated.
Beelink products have always been quite generous with I/O, and the GTR5 is no exception. On the front side you will find a USB 3.0 port, a multi-function type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack with mic support. There are also two buttons: a power button which has status LED built in, and a green button for clearing the CMOS.
More I/O are packed on the rear side, including two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, 2 RJ45 2.5GB/s ethernet jacks, 1 HDMI port, 1 DisplayPort and a DC-in port. Some features are missing, namely a storage card slot, but since you have as many as 6 USB ports, mounting a card reader shouldn’t be that much of an effort. As with other systems powered by AMD, there’s no thunderbolt port, either. The multi-function USB-C port does support fast USB 3.2 Gen1 data transmission and [email protected] video output, but it still pales in comparison with a Thunderbolt 3/4.
The expandability does not stop here. After removing the four screws on the underlying base, you can easily lift the bottom panel and get access to the internals. There are two SO-DIMM DDR4 memory slots, two m2. slots (1 NVMe and 1 SATA3), as well as a 1 SATA3 port on GTR5’s very compact motherboard. If dual-channel memory is somewhat a must-have to ensure solid performance, having the option to install as many as 3 hard drives in such a small computer is simply amazing. All internal hardware and components are neatly arranged, the unit in my hands comes with two 16GB-3200MHz Crucial memory sticks and a 500GB Kingston NVme drive, but Beelink offers other configurations for consumers to choose from.
The GTR5 measures 165*119*39mm, and weighs only 678g. It’s so small that it easily fits on any kind of desk, or under a monitor stand if you have one. It can also seamlessly attach to the back of a display with the included bracket, but please bear in mind that mounting the GTR5 on to the back of a monitor could make fingerprint unlock less convenient than it should be.
System & Apps
Most mini PCs and laptops run on the Home Edition of Windows OS, but the Beelink GTR5 ships with licensed Windows 11 Pro, Average consumers will probably see no difference, but for power users, Windows 11 Pro offers some extra features, the most important of which is being able to join a domain, including Azure Active Directory for single sign-on to cloud services (and have group policy applied as part of that).
You also get Hyper-V for virtualization, BitLocker whole disk encryption, enterprise mode Internet Explorer, Remote Desktop, a version of the Windows Store for your own business, Enterprise Data Protection containers (a feature that comes later in the year) and assigned access (which locks a PC to running only one modern application, to use like a kiosk). Pro users can get updates from Windows Update for Business, which includes options for scheduling updates, so they don't reboot PCs at important business times.
Fortunately, the Windows 11 Pro here is a completely clean version, with no pre-installed 3rd party applications or bloatware. I don’t feel like digging into the main features Windows 11 offers. For those who just switch from MAC OS or Linux to Windows, I highly recommend that you watch some tutorial videos on YouTube.

Performance: incredible horsepower
At the very core of the Beelink GTR5 is an AMD Ryzen9-5900HX processor, which ranks only behind the Ryzen9-5980HS and Ryzen9-5980HX in terms of performance in the world of mobile computer SoC., and it is also the fastest chip to ever power a mini PC. My unit comes with 32GB dual-channel DDR4 memory and 512GB NVMe SSD, but you can have as much as 64GB memory and 5TB of internal storage at most.
In the Maxon Cinebench R23 and Cinebench R20 test, the GTR5 simply has no competition in the world of Windows-based mini PCs, and even gives the Apple M1 powered Mac Mini a run for its money. Until models featuring the next-gen processors come out, the GTR5 will probably stay on top of the chart.
Geekbench 5 provides further evidence of the GTR5’s strength, even though the gap here is a little bit smaller between it and the Apple Mac Mini. Still, the CPU single core and multi-core scores are impressive.
PCMark 10 is a holistic performance suite developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark), it simulates different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. We often use this benchmark to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and video conferencing. The GTR5 notched an incredible score of 6345 points in the standard PCMark 10 test, ranking above the ASUS Mini PC PN50 and the i7-1165G7 powered Intel NUC 11 Pro.
Even though there’s no discrete graphics on board, you can still expect a fair amount of performance out of the Radeon Vega 8 GPU, which is clocked at 2.1GHz. In the 3DMark Sky Diver, Fire Strike, and Time Spy tests, the GTR5 scored 15097, 4019, 1615 points respectively.
The NVMe drive inside this computer is not the fastest we’ve seen, but it is a lot faster than cheaper SATA SSDs. The GTR5 scored 2545 in the AS SSD benchmark and got decent numbers in CrystalDiskMark.
There are two memory slots on the SER’s motherboard for dual-channel setup, which guarantees high overall bandwidth and throughput speed. The performance of the GPU also benefits immensely from dual-channel memory, as the GTR5 was returned very decent scores in the AIDA64 memory&cache, and GPU benchmarks.
In the real-world use, the GTR5 is a do-it-all kind of PC. You can open 20 or extra image-heavy webpages in Microsoft Edge and run a few other big apps side by side without seeing the system slow down.
In terms of media playback, the GTR5 has no problem decoding any video formats I played on it, including a few [email protected] and [email protected] clips. Streaming 8K YouTube Videos in Chrome, this mini PC does not skip a bit, either.
This machine could take care of all my creative projects as well. Rendering complex 3D images in photoshop, or editing 4K videos in Power Director, the GTR5 has been consistently fast.
No mini PC this size is designed for intense gaming, yet still people asked me questions about gaming all the time. The Radeon RX Vega 8, with a high 2.1GHz clock speed, is one of the most powerful integrated GPUs. As a result, the GTR5 can run most AAA titles in moderate settings.
Non-resource intensive games were smooth in 1080P and high graphics settings. In “League of Legend”, the average frame rate was 162 FPS. Even after I switched to 4K, the GTR still delivered an average frame rate of 75FPS, which is quite amazing.
More graphics-intense titles such as “Spell Break” and “Genshin Impact” were also smooth in 1080P and medium settings. The former stayed at 60FPS consistently during the 30 minutes’ session, while the latter recorded an average frame rate of 46 FPS.
Some of the most demanding titles were also playable on the GTR5. Conqueror’s Blade was generally smooth with an average frame rate of 32FPS in 1080P and medium settings, even though the frame rate could drop to 28 FPS in intense battle scenes.
As powerful as the AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 might be, there is still a fairly large gap between it and top PCle GPUs. If you want to game in the highest settings possible and still get the upper hand in competition against other players on the internet, you will need a more traditional gaming setup than the GTR5.
The system is also quite stable, thanks to the efficient cooling. In the 3DMark Time Spy stress test, the GTR5 scored 99.99%, which is the best number I have ever seen.

Power Consumption and noise
With such a beefy processor inside, the GTR5 is not technically a low-power system. Still, it should be more energy-conservative than a full-sized desktop PC. In terms of power consumption, we saw some fairly solid figures.
The system stays fairly quiet under light loads, but if you run heavy CPU/ GPU workloads the fans spin up and it certainly gets louder. However, the noise is never too much of an issue, and easily gets drown out by other sound in your surroundings.
Connectivity
The GTR5 supports the latest WiFi 6E technology, also known as WiFi 6 Extended. It allows the PC to use the 6GHz band, which in return brings more bandwidth, faster speeds, and lower latency, opening up resources for future innovations like AR/VR, 8K streaming, and more. In additon, you also have two 2.5Gbps ethernet jacks, which offer all kinds of internet possibilities.
The HDMI, DP and Type-C ports all support video output up to [email protected], so you can connect the GTR5 to as many as 3 displays at the same time. This can be very helpful if you have some complex productivity tasks at hand.
Verdict
The Beelink GTR5 is a powerhouse in a tiny package. It has a beefy processor, packs a slew of I/O, and offers a broad range of features such as fingerprint unlock and superb networking. The tiny case is beautiful and rock-solid, the vast array of designs improves value and versatility.
However, it is not cheap. The 32GB/500GB model retails for $799, while the 64GB/1TB version will cost you even more. In the same price range, you can get a base model of the Apple M1 powered MAC mini, or a complete Intel NUC 11 system with memory, storage, and an OS. The GTR5 is obviously more feature-packed than the other two, but you cannot overlook Apple and Intel’s brand power.
If size doesn’t matter that much to you, a large DIY system of similar performance can save you quite a fortune yet give you more expansion room for later upgrades. But if you want the tiniest computer possible for all the computing you may need, there aren’t many SFF PCs more qualified than the Beelink GTR5 out there.
You can check the screenshots of those benchmarks here:

Hey, nice review, but what about the constant stuttering while doing nothing on the pc ?