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Meet the Chuwi CoreBox i5: An 800g Mini-PC Featuring a Core i5 and 8GB of LPDDR4 Memory

Chuwi has made some interesting products in the past: The LarkBox, a palm-sized mini-PC, the Aerobox, an Xbox look-alike and a bunch of other “boxes”. However, all of them feature a really low-end processor, ranging from an AMD Excavator CPU to an Intel Celeron N4100. The latest offering, the CoreBox i5 is a step up on the CPU front, packing a dual-core i5 based on the Broadwell architecture. Yes, it’s a 5-year-old mobile CPU but keep in mind that it’s still a 14nm chip not that different from the Skylake core that Intel is still using today.

The specifications are pretty modest but considering that it weighs less than a kilo, you can’t really complain. In addition to a dual-core hyperthreaded Core i5 CPU, you get 8GB of dual-channel LPDDR4 memory and a 256GB M.2 SATA SSD. As for the integrated graphics, you get an Iris 6100 which was considered a big step up for Intel’s iGPUs back in the day. It was one of Intel’s first graphics processors to support DirectX 12.

You won’t be playing any modern games on it but older, less-intensive titles such as Team Fortress 2, Rocket League, Farming Simulator, FIFA 16, etc will even run at 1080p 30 FPS at the lowest settings.

It also has 4K decoding support, so it’s an ideal choice for home-theaters or HTPCs. It’s extremely compact as well with a volume of just 2L and weighing 805g.

You can also upgrade the storage with a 2.5″ HDD or SSD, complementing the 256GB M.2 SATA drive for storing movies, TV shows or bulk media. Lastly, yes, it does have a headphone and microphone jack and can be connected to two displays simultaneously using the two HDMI 2.0 ports on the back. It has a Gigabit Ethernet port for installing a wired internet connection and four USB 3.0 ports for external storage.

In case you were wondering, yes it does have WiFi with a dual-band adapter with support for the 2.4G/5G frequency band, operating on the newer LEEE802.11ac for modern internet connections.

Areej Syed

Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have been writing about computer hardware for over seven years with more than 5000 published articles. Started off during engineering college and haven't stopped since. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Divinity, Torment, Baldur's Gate and so much more... Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
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