

The memory is socketed, thankfully, and the 8TB single stick can be augmented with another of up to this capacity to bring the RAM up to 16GB. The review machine came with a 256GB M.2 2280 drive, and this could be replaced with up to a 4TB in this form factor. Removing the underside takes a few seconds, and once inside, the NVMe drive can be swapped, and the memory expanded. What we liked about this, and many NUC designs, is that it can be upgraded easily. The WiFi onboard can still work well, but those wanting a more reliable connection might be better served using the Ethernet LAN port and a cable.
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But that’s an incorrect assumption since the N5095 doesn’t have integrated AX class WiFi, and the chosen wireless module only offers WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2. The speeds on this port are still faster than SATA, but not the fantastic performance you might expect from a desktop M.2 NVMe slot with four PCIe 3.0 lanes.Īnother issue is that GEEKOM named this the MiniAir, inferring that it's best placed to be wirelessly networked. How precisely these lanes are divided up isn’t obvious, but based on the performance of the NVMe drive in this system, only two lanes are allocated to the M.2 slot. When complimenting this design with the number and specification of its USB ports, we didn’t factor in that the N5095 only has eight PCIe Gen 3 lanes. Not wanting to spoil anything, but proof of these assertions turns up in our benchmarks.Īnother choice made here that is more understandable but is one of the difficult choices that using such low-powered silicon forces designers to make. To be clear, neither the N5015 nor the N5095 are anything special, but the designers might have made a mistake going for the N5095, as it’s undoubtedly the less impressive of these two.

Where AMD and Nvidia fabricate their chips at 5nm and even 4nm, Intel made these at 10nm, limiting their power efficiency and performance compared to these counterparts. Conversely, the UHD Graphics in the N5095 only has 16 units and a lower burst clock on the GPU. With less performance but more voltage, this makes no sense to anyone but Intel.īoth these chips have four cores, 8 PCIe lanes, no hyperthreading, and can address 16GB of RAM.īut the N5015 has integrated AX class wireless networking and a GPU with 24 execution units. It takes 15W, not 10W, of power and has an identical 2GHz base clock and 2.9GHz burst clock to the N5105. In comparison to the remarkably similar N5105, the N5095 is a disappointment. Instead of using this chip, many NUC designers have chosen the mobile N5105, which has lower wattage draw but higher clock speeds, and others have gone with Elkhart Lake mobile chips. Its exact designation appears to be determined by the power consumption, and the N5095 does have the scope to be used in a laptop with active cooling or, as it is in the MiniAir 11, with a passive cooler. Although depending on what documentation you read, it is also a mobile part, confusingly. In theory, the N5095 silicon in this machine is the only Jasper Lake (Tremont-based) Desktop Celeron that Intel has made. Ports: 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1xUSB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x Mini DisplayPort, 1x universal audio jack, 1x SD card reader (USB2.0)Ĭonnectivity: Dual-Band WiFi, 1x Gigabit LAN adapter, Bluetooth v4.2Īccessories: Wall-Mounted bracket, Adapter12V/3A, HDMI and DisplayPort cables Here is the GEEKOM MiniAir 11 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:ĬPU: Intel Celeron Processor N5095 (4 Cores, 4 Threads, 4M Cache, up to 2.90 GHz) These include three more USB ports, an HDMI 1.4 out, Mini DP out and a single gigabit LAN port.

On the left is the full-size SD card reader and on the right is a security slot, leaving all the other ports on the back.

To that objective, the front face has two USB ports, one each of Type-A and Type-C, along with the power button and the 3.5mm audio jack. Those on the MiniAir 11 all point to a light office role rather than an embedded function. The number and placement of ports are often a good indication of what the designers thought the machine would be used for. Both sides have sections of perforated metal for air to enter and along the back is a larger slotted outlet. And, unless abused, this equipment should give a few years of good service.Īs this isn’t an actively cooled design, airflow was high on the agenda of its designers. While the outside is mostly moulded plastic, the weight of this unit makes it feel more substantial than others we’ve evaluated. Given the narrow definitions that Intel created for NUC computers, they all tend to follow a predictable pattern, and the MiniAir 11 is no exception.
