A growing number of mini PC makers are starting to ship entry-level systems with cheap, low-power Intel N150 Twin Lake processors rather than the Intel N100 Alder Lake-N chips that have been popular for the past two years. On paper the new processor is basically what you get if you take an Intel N100 and increase the maximum CPU and GPU speeds by 200 MHz and 250 MHz, respectively. But in terms of real-world performance? So far it looks like there may not be much… at least based on some of the first benchmarks we’ve seen.
But it looks like Intel may have a true next-gen chip for inexpensive, energy-efficient computers on the way. While Alder Lake-N and Twin Lake chips are 6 to 15 watt processors with between 4 and 8 Efficiency cores, the upcoming Intel Wildcat Lake processor is expected to be a mobile chip with 2 Performance cores and 6 Low Power Efficiency cores. Rumor has it that this will eventually replace Alder Lake-N, although it could be an entry-level Core or Core Ultra chip instead.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
Intel Wildcat Lake could be a next-gen chip for cheap, low-power PCs [Tom’s Hardware]
Intel WildCat Lake processor details leaked, pointing to an upcoming budget processor for low-power devices, possibly set to replace Alder Lake-N with a new 6-core chip combining 2 P-cores and 4 LPE-cores.
Not What You Think – Beelink EQ14 Review [Robtech / YouTube]
One of the first reviews of a mini PC with an Intel N150 processor shows a slight improvement in single-core CPU performance, but no noteworthy increase in multi-core or GPU performance. Keep in mind that there are dozens (maybe hundreds) of mini PCs with N100 chips though, and so far only a few models with N150 processors. So it’s possible that we could see better performance on some models in the future as more models hit the streets. But it seems safe to say that you shouldn’t expect any MAJOR improvements from what is, at most, a minor spec bump.
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Wireless mouse receiver is a mini dock with HDMI output and USB Type-C [Tom’s Hardware]
This wireless mouse comes with a wireless transmitter that plugs into a USB-C port. Nothing strange there. But the transmitter is ALSO a tiny dock with an HDMI port and another USB-C port so you don’t lose one when using the dongle.
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Valve will be Lenovo’s ‘special guest’ at just-announced gaming handheld event [The Verge]
Following several recent leaks suggesting that new handheld gaming PCs are on the way, including at least one that could run Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS rather than Windows, Lenovo and Valve has pretty much confirmed that they’re working together on something.
The companies have been emailing tech journalists about a January 7th event that will be a “cocktail reception hosted by Lenovo Legion and AMD gaming leaders, with special guests Valve and other gaming industry giants,” where the company will be showing off “our latest Lenovo Legion Go innovations advanced by AMD.”
Interestingly, Microsoft Xbox division will also be represented at the event. While some Lenovo handhelds are still expected to run Windows, I’m guessing this is more about support for streaming games to Lenovo handhelds rather than the operating system itself.
Raspberry Pi-Like SBC Featuring Rockchip RK3576D, Dual Gigabit Ethernet, and PCIe Support [LinuxGizmos]
Toybrick TB-RK3576D is a single-board PC with a Rockchip RK3576 quad-core processor, a 6 TOPS NPU, up to 8GB RAM, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and an M.2 PCIe 2.0 slot.
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