Best Minipc Forum

I see there is a new GK3 model, the GK3 plus. It has the new Intel N95 processor. The processor is so new that PassMark didn't have any benchmarking results until very recently. When I looked a couple of weeks ago there was still nothing.

Though I'm not a fan of the N95's lack of dual channel support for the RAM, it's still a pretty nice entry into the low power, low cost CPU line, and most of its specs are an improvement over the N5105 in the GK3 Pro.

Intel's comparison of the two CPUs is here.

The PassMark benchmark comparison is here.

The GK3 Plus on Amazon... www.amazon.com/dp/B0BS369VMF

One of our forum users suggests we try i3-1230P as the new target CPU.
As that CPU does have dual-channel ram and actual PCIe storage.
But our product manager said people don't know the P series CPU and won't buy it.
What do you think?

I would definitely like to see a PC based upon that CPU. The argument that nobody knows that CPU doesn't hold much weight for me because every processor is pretty much unknown when it is brand new. For example, the N95 is in the same situation. Up until just the last couple of weeks, that CPU was very much an unknown.

admin wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:49 pm One of our forum users suggests we try i3-1230P as the new target CPU.
As that CPU does have dual-channel ram and actual PCIe storage.
But our product manager said people don't know the P series CPU and won't buy it.
What do you think?

I can't find anything on the i3-1230p. Do you mean the i3-1220p? If so, that's a great CPU, and a significant jump up from the N95.

I can definitely see people being interested in a mini pc with the i3-1220p. While the N95 based model(s) is great for every day tasks, including office work, the i3-1220p based model could be for those who need more power and want to do things that would be slower or may not work well on the lower cost N95 based model(s).

I think an i3-1220p based model would be a great option. Plus, it could compete with brands that are selling mini PCs with more powerful CPUs.

That forum user would be me.

Yea, made a serious typo when communicating with Admin.

i3-1220P and i3-1210U are both the "lowest" end for their target TDP line. The P is 28W and U is 15W, both features 2 P cores with Hyper Threading, where the 1220P has 8 E-cores, which is PLENTY for a powerful office PC and virtualization host.

The i3-1210U on the other hand, can be a direct step-up from N95/N100 segment. Since it has two P cores and dual channel RAM, plus PCIe storage. With dual 2.5Gbe NIC, like the N95/N100, this would kill the soft router market if priced right.

So the vertical product stack could look like this:
Basic Budget: N5095/N5105
Budget: N95/N100
Entry: i3-1210U
Medium: i3-1220P
High: i5-1240P
Premium: 12th Gen i7 45W Parts?

But like I have mentioned to Admin, anything priced above $599 would be a direct competitor to M2 Mac Mini. Although M2 Mac Minis at $599 only has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, but for a normal user that isn't looking for anything more powerful, it is very hard to beat, especially when Intel's GPU isn't as good as AMDs so we can't really sell the graphical performance aspect.

I will invite our product managers to participate in the discussion, and it will be significant.