Since reviews of mini computers have been appearing fairly often, I decided to write a slightly expanded review of one of these devices. I decided to expand it by looking at a possible use for this mini computer. Since I often work with video surveillance systems, that’s the direction I’ll take this review in. But first things first; let’s not break with tradition.
I sometimes like to experiment with different bits of hardware—taking them apart one day, putting them together the next. Today, I’ll be doing both.
I’ll start with the packaging, unboxing, and other not particularly interesting stuff.
Unlike the Beelink mini computer, which has a similar form factor, this one comes in a plain-looking box made of thick cardboard. There are no pictures or other text on it, just the manufacturer's name on top.
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, even thinner, even lighter
There’s a sticker on the bottom listing the device’s specifications. Everything is as understated as can be, but very neat.
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, even thinner, even lighter
Inside the package, the mini computer sits in a plastic-and-foam tray. There’s no protective film or anything like that. But since the case is metal, it’s unlikely anything will happen to it, especially as the box is quite sturdy. Though you could probably damage it if you really tried…
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, even thinner, even lighter
The rest of the contents are tucked under the plastic tray.
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They also included two adapters for our wall outlets. I don’t know whether they sent me these specifically or include them with every unit, but it’s a nice touch. More on that later.
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Specifications: Processor — Intel Baytrail T Z3735F Graphics — Intel HD Graphics (7th generation) RAM — 2 GB Flash storage — 64 GB (claimed) Micro SD card slot, up to 128 GB WiFi — IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0 Battery — 2 x 1500 mAh, 3.7 V Ports — HDMI, 2xUSB, 1x micro USB, 3.5 mm audio Dimensions — 147 x 81 x 9 mm (measured) Weight — 142 g
And here’s everything that comes in the box. It includes: Mini computer microHDMI-to-HDMI cable MicroUSB-to-USB cable Power supply Instructions Adapter for connecting to a European wall outlet (I don’t know whether they include two adapters, so I’ve listed just one)
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The instructions use a universal language—the language of pictures—with a little English text added. I don’t think today’s generation needs instructions, but everything seems clear and simple to me.
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As I mentioned above, two cables are included. The MicroUSB-to-USB cable connects the mini computer to the power supply, while the microHDMI-to-HDMI cable connects it to a TV or monitor. I should mention right away that the mini computer works perfectly well without being connected to a TV, provided you use remote access, of course :) Unfortunately, the manufacturer made the same mistake as Beelink: using a microHDMI connector for connecting to a TV, even though there is actually room for a full-size version of the connector.
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, thinner and lighter
The power supply is pretty standard for devices of this type. It's a small box, a little bigger than a matchbox (in thickness), with a plug that has flat pins :( The power supply is rated at 5 V, 2 A, with a full input voltage range (100–240 V). It does get warm during use, but nothing excessive; it doesn't overheat. With the large adapter attached, it looks about twice as big, since the adapter itself is roughly the same size as the power supply.
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And here's the star of the review. The case is aluminum, with black plastic inserts on the sides that serve not only an aesthetic purpose but also have some practical function. The color is metallic with a slight silvery sheen (I'm starting to sound like a gourmet, but I won't be reviewing tea :)
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, thinner and lighter
The top also has the name, plus text indicating the installed OS, WiFi, and 64 GB of flash memory.
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, thinner and lighter
As I mentioned above, this little box is very small. I thought the Beelink was small, but this one is even smaller despite having the same functionality inside. I'll tell you more about what's inside below.
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, thinner and lighter
Size comparison with Beelink. The difference in thickness and length is obvious. I won't compare it with the Pipo; I think everyone can see that the difference there would be much bigger anyway :)
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, thinner and lighter
There's a small hole on the right side. At first I thought it was a microphone hole (you never know what the manufacturer might come up with), but it turned out to be the usual hole for the power indicator LED. The LED is white, shines as a narrow beam, isn't distracting during use, and is barely noticeable. There's also a small power button on the right side. I think it would be more convenient on the back, but that's a matter of taste.
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, thinner and lighter
All the connectors are on the rear panel, though calling it a panel is a bit of a stretch. So, from left to right, here's what's on the back. 3.5 mm audio jack. MicroSD card slot. The manufacturer claims support for cards up to 128 GB; I could only test up to 32 GB, as I don't have a larger card. MicroHDMI output for connecting to a monitor or TV. A hole for the battery charging indicator (the LED is quite far inside). MicroUSB OTG port. Two standard USB ports. There's an LED inside the case between them that indicates whether these ports are powered. But there's no hole for it, so it just glows somewhere deep inside.
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I was surprised to see the Intel logo on startup instead of the mini computer manufacturer's logo, which had become familiar by then. I actually found it more appealing, so to speak — more neutral.
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Windows wasn't even activated. On the one hand, that's good, but as it turned out, on the other hand, it wasn't. By the way, the date was initially set to 2013 or 2014, and Windows flat-out refused to activate. Setting the correct date fixed the problem.
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Some screenshots will be in English, even though I initially selected Russian on first boot. I hadn't connected to Wi-Fi, so I couldn't download the update right away; I had to do it manually later in the language settings.
The mini computer arrived almost fully charged, which suggests low power consumption when switched off.
And then things got interesting—or not so interesting, depending on how you look at it. If you look closely at the specs, the packaging, and the mini computer itself, you'll notice that they all say it has 64 GB of flash storage. Reality turned out to be harsher: it actually has only 32 GB installed. To be fair, 21.5 GB is available, which is a record so far for a 32 GB drive.
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At first I didn't believe it and thought the drive might be split into two partitions (a slim chance, but still) and one hadn't been initialized. But Disk Management showed that my hopes were in vain: the mini computer really does have only 32 GB of flash storage.
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CPU-Z showed the same information as on the previous computers with this processor. I didn't expect anything newer, but I'll post the screenshot anyway.
Since overheating is a serious issue with devices like these—manufacturers often cut corners on cooling—checking this is essential for me, and quite critical. Devices in this form factor are generally less prone to overheating, but they have another delicate issue: the battery inside. I'll say right away that testing took a long time, and there will be a lot of screenshots. I did try to cut down on them, though, and kept only the ones I considered essential. Temperatures were measured using SpeedFan, with no additional correction (there's information online that the program reads 10 degrees higher than the actual temperature).
The design (more on that later) means it runs cooler when the device is upside down. The difference is only a few degrees, but it was definitely there. The first screenshot shows it in the correct orientation, the second with the lettering (the text on the case) facing down.
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The second test ran longer, but the temperature was lower. Performance fluctuates in this test because of background tasks, not because the device is heating up, so there's no need to pay attention to it. On average, performance is about the same as that of other similar devices.
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3DMark usually reports a slightly higher temperature because the load is on both the processor itself and its graphics core. The maximum temperature was 77 degrees, compared with 73 in the WinRAR test.
Next, I decided to test it using AIDA's built-in system stability test. To get it hotter, I tried to run the tests while charging; power consumption is a little higher in that mode.
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After running this test for about half an hour, I realized it wasn't putting enough load on the processor, so I also started the WinRAR performance test, which raised the temperature a little.
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After an hour of heating, the temperature reached about 80 degrees (though according to what I've read online, it actually comes to 70, not 80), and didn't rise any further.
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That didn't seem like enough, so I covered the mini computer with a box. I really wanted to trigger throttling.
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After another 40 minutes, the temperature finally rose to 87 degrees. One pair of cores reached 87, while the other pair was at 81.
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After that, thermal protection gradually started lowering the processor frequency, and performance dropped accordingly (you can see this in the WinRAR window). The temperature gradually fell to 80–82 degrees.
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After that, the automatic control started raising the frequency again. The highest temperature recorded was 89 degrees, and I stopped the experiment there. By the way, there’s another temperature sensor in the readings as well. I assume it’s the battery temperature sensor. In my opinion, this mini PC shouldn’t be used under these conditions: after almost two hours of testing, its temperature reached 65 degrees. Only after these tests did I understand what the plastic inserts on the case were for. The case got so hot that I could only hold it by those inserts—but by then, this had become more of an out-of-spec test anyway :)
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Having finished torturing it, I moved on to more standard performance tests.
Since the results for WinRAR and 3DMark are already shown above in the heat testing section, I won’t include them here and will move on to the remaining tests.
Testing the built-in storage’s performance is probably the only parameter that varies noticeably from one computer to another, and it’s also responsible for how responsive the system is. 1. Vensmile W10 2. PIPO X7S 3. PIPO X7 4. Pocket PC P1.
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CineBench. This time I decided to start collecting OpenGL test results for comparison as well.
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7-ZIP
Super-PI. While writing this review, I noticed that I got a very low score in this test. But since the other tests came out virtually identical to those for the other devices, I’m more inclined to put it down to the processor being under extra load during the test. If anyone’s interested, I can run it again, but I don’t see much point.
AIDA64 cache and memory test.
That’s enough of the boring stuff; let’s move on to the more interesting part.
As soon as I unpacked this mini PC, I wanted to open it up and see what was inside, just out of curiosity. But to avoid affecting the test results (especially the temperature tests), I left that until the end.
The device is very easy to take apart: just insert a knife into the gap between the two halves of the case and carefully pry it open. The main thing is to make sure the clips you’ve already released don’t snap back into place. There’s just one thing to note: there are two gaps in the case because a plastic insert runs along the seam. You need to separate it as shown in the photo (all photos in my reviews are clickable).
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Everything inside is assembled very neatly, although there are still things to criticize here—for example, the way the button and LED are mounted. Their flexible section is attached to the plastic part of the case with double-sided tape.
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Before taking it apart any further, I recommend disconnecting the battery and the WiFi antenna connector. We do want to put it back together in working order afterward :)
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Next, I peeled the black film off the board (it tears very easily, so be careful) and removed the four mounting screws (in the photo, they’re lying near their original positions).
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Before removing the board, I decided to take off the shielding cover first. I was surprised to find black film here too, though it’s not clear what it’s for. Before taking the board out, disconnect the white ribbon cable and peel the power button and LED off the case. This is very easy to do.
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The board with the USB ports and the batteries are all that remain inside.
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Inside are two 1500 mAh batteries, size 404558, for a total capacity of 3000 mAh. The mini computer can be used as a basic power bank, for example, to charge a smartphone.
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On the left was a board with two USB ports. A closer look revealed a USB hub chip on the board, which means that when both ports are in use, the speed will be shared between them. The chip actually says USB 2.0 HUB—couldn’t be clearer :)))
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A couple of photos showing the board from both sides.
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One corner of the board is marked with the MB version, its development date, and so on. Also, if you look below, you can see an unpopulated spot for connecting a WiFi antenna, with a footprint for a WiFi module to its left. Why it’s designed this way remains a complete mystery to me, since this device already has a WiFi module and antenna. I’ve seen modules with two antennas, but this is the first device I’ve seen with footprints for two modules.
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A quick look at the main components. Most of them are standard, though there are some differences, such as the USB hub in this device.
This photo shows: 1. SR1UB — Intel Atom Z3735F 2. K4B4G646Q-HYKO — 2 GB of RAM 3. KLMBG4GEAC-B001 — 32 GB eMMC memory; the exact same chip is used in the PIPO X7 4. AXP288 — a multichannel PWM power controller, used in all the mini PCs I've taken apart.
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1. AP6330 — wireless module, also used in the Pocket PC P1 (and it really gave me a headache) 2. ALC5640 — audio codec 3. 25Q64FWTIM — BIOS firmware 4. BA2D3H — a chip I haven't seen before. It's under the same shield as the PWM power controller, but what it does is also unclear. Someone in the comments pointed out that it's an AO4435 30V P-Channel MOSFET, so now it makes sense why it's next to the PWM controller :)
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Some additional photos. 1. A rather unusual audio output connector. I'm very skeptical of unusual connectors, since finding a replacement can be difficult if one breaks. 2. A slot for a microSD card, with no latch. 3–4. The microHDMI and microUSB connectors. It feels like everything in this device starts with “micro” :)
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There's a small chip near the microHDMI connector in a rather unusual glass package. I couldn't figure out what it does; perhaps it's for protection. I couldn't make out its markings while inspecting the device, but I happened to get a photo where they're visible. Maybe it'll be useful to someone.
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Like many devices that have passed through my hands, this one also got a few modifications.
The device has an internal Wi-Fi antenna made of flexible foil material. It's located under one of the decorative plastic side panels.
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I wasn't very happy with the Wi-Fi reception at first, so I decided to make a small upgrade. It was easy enough to do. The problem is that the part of the antenna connected to the cable's center conductor sits almost under the battery, which partially shields it. I decided to flip it around, and took a couple of photos along the way.
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After the modification.
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I can't say it made a huge difference to the results, but there was definitely an effect. 1. Results before the modification, about 12 m from the router with a couple of concrete walls in the way (no line of sight). 2. Results after the modification. 3. The speed sometimes went even higher in this spot, but rarely.
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Internet access speed test in the same spot. In my opinion, the result isn't very good, but I'll come back to that later. Let's put it this way: it got better, but not as good as it could have been. The internal antenna is clearly not very effective. Ideally, it should be replaced with a proper external antenna. Fortunately, it connects via a connector rather than being soldered in, so replacing it isn't too difficult. But I admit this may be a one-off case and I may just have been unlucky.
Unfortunately, though, my adventures didn't end there. During testing, I noticed another problem. And I wasn't the only one: I'd already come across a mention of a similar issue on the 4PDA forum. I'll explain in order, since this is a rather unusual glitch. It all started when I decided to see how this mini computer worked with an external hard drive. Since the device runs on battery power, I decided to test it while running on battery. Everything worked great (well, almost; that was a Windows 8.1 quirk) until the battery ran out. The battery ran out, so I plugged in the power supply and turned it on. I immediately noticed the LED next to the USB ports blinking. I thought the device was deeply discharged and couldn't start, so I charged it some more. Charging didn't help. When I plugged in the hard drive, the LED started blinking, and the drive tried to spin up. My second thought was that I'd fried the step-up converter from 3.7 to 5 V, but the same glitch occurred when I plugged in a flash drive, which draws very little power. During testing, I found that the USB receiver for the wireless keyboard continued to work perfectly in those ports. What's more, if I plugged in the receiver first, I could then connect any flash drive and it would work normally. In other words, the flash drive only worked properly with the receiver plugged in. When I connected the hard drive, the problem came back; the system refused to work with it. But despite all this, the hard drive worked perfectly when connected to the microUSB port through an adapter. That was something, at least: it meant the power converter was working fine :) After browsing the internet, I saw that I wasn't the only one with this problem, so I decided to try to solve it.
Above, I mentioned the LED next to the ports that indicates whether the full-size USB ports are powered. It blinked, sometimes erratically and sometimes at very regular intervals, which meant something was controlling it. It clearly wasn't a bad connection, or it would have blinked erratically all the time. I found a transistor on the USB port board that supplies power to those ports, and it was working perfectly. The power reaching it was also stable; the glitch was in the signal controlling the transistor. I had no desire to dig into the main board, since this looked more like a software problem than a hardware one. After checking that the transistor's supply voltage was completely cut off when the device was switched off (I was worried the step-up converter might simply stop working and leave the battery voltage there without boosting it), I decided to just short it out. And that's it—the problem was gone :) I don't know what this transistor is for. It may just be a leftover from some reference design, either for the main board or the USB hub board, but I have a feeling it's clearly unnecessary :).
Solder a jumper here (for anyone who's already run into this problem). This is the top-right corner of the USB port board.
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And since I had the case open anyway, I decided to improve the cooling while I was at it. I was a little surprised that the device doesn't overheat badly, especially since the top and bottom of the case aren't flat but slightly convex. Still, just to be safe, I applied a little thermal paste where the processor and power PWM controller are installed. Testing later showed that it didn't make much difference—perhaps temperatures dropped by 2–3 degrees—but it certainly won't hurt, so I'd recommend doing it just for peace of mind :)
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At the beginning of the review, I mentioned one possible use for this mini computer. I decided to use it as a small video server, or a video recorder—whichever you prefer. But to me, it's too small compared with video servers and too versatile compared with video recorders. So it's more of a video recorder with extra features. For example, you can set it up to automatically back up your main computer, act as a print server, download torrents, and so on. There are plenty of possible uses.
The idea of using it as a video recorder didn't come to me by chance. There were several reasons: 1. Its dimensions were a perfect match for an external hard drive. 2. I'd already built something like this, but using a mini-ITX board, even with a hard drive of the same size and a WiFi connection. 3. I wanted to make a sort of “black box.” 4. I really wanted to try it out on a real-world task.
So, here we go. First, a photo for point 1. The mini computer is very close in size to the hard drive. If only the cable were shorter, it would look more balanced.
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While I was at it, I checked how fast it worked with an external hard drive—and promptly hit another snag. This time, the hardware manufacturer wasn't to blame. I was very pleased with the speed, but the snag was really frustrating. The problem was that the OS spins down the hard drive after about a minute of inactivity. I tried everything: dug through all the settings and forums, checked Microsoft's website (there's a question there about exactly the same problem), poked around in the registry. Same result :( The hard drive goes to sleep after a minute of inactivity. If it's formatted as exFAT, it can even go to sleep while files are being copied. As far as I can tell, this happens rarely, and I was one of the small number of “lucky” users. Just in case, here are links to Microsoft's site describing this problem with their Windows 8.1. One, two.
In my case, this wasn't a problem because the video surveillance system uses the hard drive constantly, but it could be an issue for someone else. Anyway, that's a question for BG.
Another snag was that I couldn't get the system to work properly. Browsing the internet worked fine, and even streaming movies over the network was no problem. But when I used it as a video recorder, the built-in WiFi turned out to be unreliable. The picture would freeze for up to several seconds. I had to dig a USB WiFi adapter out of a drawer. It's pretty old—it spent several years at my place providing internet access—but it still works.
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It's huge, but it still fit :) With the adapter, all the problems vanished as if by magic. The freezes disappeared completely, even though the signal strength stayed almost the same. The response time (from movement in front of the camera to seeing it remotely on the client) was about 0.2–0.4 seconds, which I think is an excellent result.
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Overall, the complete setup I used for the test looked like this (the cables didn’t fit in the frame). The network was set up as follows. The cameras were connected to a D-Link router, which was acting as a switch. That router was connected to the main Wi-Fi router. The mini PC was connected to the main router over Wi-Fi and received the video streams from the cameras. My work computer received the video stream from the mini PC over Wi-Fi as well, via the main router (the computer itself was connected to it by cable).
By the way, there’s a small power supply in the bottom right of the photo. Not everyone knows that Hikvision cameras used to come with power supplies—and pretty good ones, too.
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After that, I installed Hikvision’s own software. I used the old, tried-and-tested version 4200, which I mentioned in my review of the cameras of the same name. Out of curiosity, I checked the CPU load with the software running in different modes. When simply recording and streaming to the client computer, CPU load was very low, even though one camera was recording at 2 MP and the other at 3.2 MP (both cameras could record at 3.2 MP, but I chose this particular configuration).
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When I enabled the display of one of the cameras on the server, CPU load rose to 60%. It didn’t matter whether the setting was 2 or 3.2 MP.
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With both cameras running at once, CPU load climbed to 100%. The processor couldn’t handle displaying them both. The culprit was software decoding. I’d had a similar problem with a computer that only had Intel integrated graphics. Updating the drivers fixed it, but this one already has the latest drivers.
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini PC, even smaller, even thinner, even lighter
To show how this mini PC can be used as a video server, I made a short video. I’m not really a fan of making videos for reviews, but in this case it’ll show a lot more than I could describe in words. Since the video has no narration, here’s a brief summary and the sequence of what I do. 1. Connecting to the remote mini PC using Radmin. 2. Launching the server component of the video surveillance software. 3. Showing different video display options. 4. Launching Opera and taking a quick look around a well-known website. Scrolling freezes briefly in a few places, but that’s a quirk of Radmin; this doesn’t happen in real use when connected directly to a monitor. 5. Closing Radmin and launching the client software on my main computer. 6. Showing different display modes and the ability to zoom in on the video in real time. 7. Showing how to save a clip from each camera in turn to my computer’s hard drive. 8. Since the software also saves a photo of the first frame along with the video, I show that too.
A short clip of the saved video. Full, uncompressed versions are available on Yandex Disk. 1.- Just a short video clip. 2.- A video where I try different camera settings and image resolutions.
In my opinion, the experiment was a success. I could say everything was great, if I hadn't had to use a USB Wi-Fi adapter. So there's still some work to do and room for improvement. What do you need a video recorder like this for? It's simple. In the setup where I used it (it's been working that way for a couple of years now), the recorder had to be installed in an apartment that had already had a major renovation, with no space set aside for a recorder—but there was access to the router. So I had to connect the cameras directly to the router, then send the video over Wi-Fi to a remote recorder. That also solved a second problem: the owner wanted the recorder to be hard to find, so we hid it. The solution reviewed here turned out even smaller, with lower power consumption and a built-in battery.
Since I've mentioned the built-in battery and its role in all this, I decided to see how long this computer could run with a hard drive connected (recording to it continuously) and a Wi-Fi adapter (the internal one was connected too). After fully charging the battery, I restarted the computer and unplugged it from the wall during startup, leaving it to run on battery power. Then I more or less forgot about it for an hour or so and went off to do my own thing. When I got back, I connected to it using Radmin and started monitoring the battery.
After 1 hour and 53 minutes, the charge had dropped to 7 percent.
After that, the battery indicator seemed to get “stuck” at 7 percent and stayed there for about 17 minutes. I've seen this before: near the end of a discharge, the last 1–2% can take an awfully long time to run down.
The mini computer ran on battery power for a total of 2 hours and 10 minutes, then displayed a low battery warning and shut down. If the battery capacity really is 3000 mAh, that would work out to about 11 Wh. Since the computer ran for a little over two hours, its power consumption comes to about 5 W, including the hard drive and adapter. The adapter and hard drive draw about 3 W combined, leaving 2 W for the computer itself. I'd say that's an excellent result.
Vensmile W10 - TV box/mini computer, even smaller, even thinner, even lighter
Summary and conclusions: Pros Compact size. Built-in battery Can charge external devices from the USB port (provided the computer is turned on). Doesn't get too hot Neat appearance, both of the device itself and its packaging.
Cons 32 GB of storage instead of 64 (I'll write about this separately) Wi-Fi connectivity leaves a lot to be desired :( Full-size USB ports may cause problems (see the review for a fix)
Conclusions: I could call this a great device if it weren't for the major fly in the ointment: connectivity problems. In normal use, the issue isn't too noticeable and only shows up when you move away from the router, but heavy traffic can cause the connection to freeze. I tried switching the internal adapter between different connection modes and enabling the enhancement feature (the adapter has a ton of settings), but unfortunately, nothing helped. Repositioning the antenna helped a little. Maybe I just got unlucky; I can't say for sure. One option for improving things is to install an external antenna. There was also an issue with power being cut off to two USB ports. It can be fixed decisively, but you'll need a skill: soldering, minimum skill level 60. Since this problem is hardly ever mentioned, I suspect it's more of a “quirk” of this particular unit.
I was very pleased that it doesn't get too hot. I only managed to overheat it by covering it with a box while the processor was at 100% load. But I wouldn't recommend trying this, since there's a battery inside. I also recommend using the device upside down; that way, the battery and processor run cooler. In the normal orientation, the battery sits above the processor.
A separate note about the smaller storage capacity. As soon as I received the device and noticed the problem, I immediately hit the roof notified the store manager, describing the issue in detail and attaching photos of the packaging and device, as well as screenshots. I was told the information would be passed on to the manufacturer. A couple of days later, I followed up to see how things were going. The matter had moved forward: it turned out the manufacturer really had let them down (although the store doesn't deny its own responsibility), and a store employee was now checking the units in stock. The next day, I was told that all the units had been checked and that some of them did indeed have this problem. The faulty units will be sent back to the manufacturer with some serious complaints claims. The remaining units have the advertised storage capacity. I was also told that they had already contacted all customers who bought this mini PC and were working with them to resolve the issue. In light of the above, be aware that these units may have been shipped to other stores as well. I also wouldn't rule out their turning up on AliExpress, so I recommend checking carefully before buying.
As far as I understand, these computers are discounted: 64 GB version with coupon GBVS64: 109.89 32 GB version with coupon GBVS32: 92.89
So, that's the story. If you have any questions, ask away; I'll be happy to answer. I hope you found the review interesting.
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