Gadgetory

so we've already arrived at the point where entire pcs can be fit into devices not much larger than USB thumb drives and connected to TVs and monitors via the HDMI interface something that people didn't even dream of 20 years ago granted they are relatively weak and lack expandability options but they're as portable as USB thumb drives I show case one in a video right here they're clearly not for everyone but a niche market of the frequent traveler type just plug one into any TV or monitor and voila you've got yourself a computer but what about those looking for a very compact standalone computer with plenty of USB options HDMI out wired and wireless LAN something like this it's not very powerful at all but nonetheless it is a computer it contains only 32 gigabytes of built-in storage a Windows 10 operating system that frequently crashes and locks up and falls into the same price category as this remember this one folks but alas let's give the byte plus from Azul the benefit of the doubt is it worth a 180 US dollars you tell me let's start off with the design now right away the device feels premium it feels heavy it feels compact and just well built in general honestly I can't knock it here it's comprised of a textured metallic roof and aluminum side plating even the bottom of the PC feels premium and sturdy it feels kind of strange calling us a PC but that's honestly what it is it sits firmly upright thanks to its rubberized feet weighs in at almost exactly two pounds and a small enough to fit in the tightest of spaces directly under a TV for example I find the bite plusses front power button to be very tasteful so very minimalistic changes color based on the status of the PC an excellent tactile feedback the left side of the device is bare while the right side welcomes a single micro SD card slot this is very important because as we'll discuss shortly both variants of the bite plus only shipped with 32 gigabytes of built-in storage now the rear i/o was honestly a pleasant surprise you'll find both VGA and HDMI ports good for a dual monitor setup although you might not want to try this you'll see why later two USB 3.0 is a single USB 2.0 and internet portal Wi-Fi antenna whose adapter supports both 2.4 and 5 gigahertz bands a single headphone jack and a power input right away I suggest plugging in some sort of wireless mouse keyboard combo into the USB 2.0 port allowing for both 3.0 ports to be used for things like external drives as well so far so good I was expecting nothing less from you in terms of both build quality and accessibility good job there but let's move on to performance what should you expect from a computer this size obviously compromises had to be made right well depending on the model you purchased you're looking at anywhere from 2 to 4 gigabytes of ddr3 L 32 gigabytes of internal storage as mentioned earlier in an Intel cherry trail Z 8300 quad-core processor running in a mere 1.4 gigahertz which will temporarily burst up to 1.8 gigahertz under heavy load it's a very efficient ship consuming only a few watts of power under load similar to laptop chips hence the compact charger that ships with it and as such boasts no fan of any kind meaning this is a silent PC it still gets hot according to i-264 around 60 degrees Celsius when fully stressed but it's not like you'd hear anything and the aluminum chassis does an excellent job passively cooling the system the Z 8300 only scores even 100 CB and Cinebench definitely subpar but an improvement over the Intel bay trail lineup nonetheless Geekbench was a similar story marginally higher single core performance yielding an overall more powerful system by all accounts but again not by much and if you intend to use your PC where you wouldn't ordinarily have a TV or monitor at your disposal a cheap until atom laptop will be better suited for you in terms of overall responsiveness this is where the byte plus begins to fall a bit short the entire system just feels bogged down and just slow overall even boot times drift toward disk drive territory and opening single programs or even the Start menu for that matter involves a degree of latency what I believe to be the fault of both the processor and lack of available RAM this model I have here is the 2 gigabyte variant I don't know why as well sent me the 2gig variant but so be it directly in line with my Intel Atom laptop nonetheless and this one here is available for around 170 US dollars oh and something else I feel I should mention here especially for a lot of you who are interested in purchasing this for something like lightweight gaming don't try it not not even lightweight gaming is suited for this device as all made it very clear to me in our emails back and forth that this device was not intended for gaming and I see why minecraft hovered around 30 FPS on low settings and only 12 chunks rendered and literally became unplayable once I started recording with fraps something I did not experience with the IdeaPad 100 s strange because the Intel Atom processor supported in that laptop is actually a fair bit weaker than this one is this goes without saying even though this is a true quad core CPU multitasking options are limited thanks to weak individual core performance we saw that in the Geekbench scores so to wrap this one up what I purchased this myself for any reason whatsoever like even if I put myself in someone's shoes like I've traveled every week and you know I need something on the go what I buy this no I would not and here's why I cannot think of for the life of me a scenario in which I would rather have this than that and this goes back to what I said earlier in regards to TV and monitor availability if you purchased something like this because it's a lightweight and portable then why would you not purchase a laptop don't they both fit the same description it's like having a screen included at no additional cost from this point of view I challenged you in the comments below to list scenarios in which having something like this would be more beneficial than just having a laptop that is in the same price category and the same performance category for that matter honestly I cannot think of a single one sure it gets the job done at an affordable price but I'm gonna need some kind of display in order to use it whereas a laptop has everything you could possibly need and is arguably just as if not more portable so Azul I understand the whole race to build the most compact PC thing I get it people are constantly on the move and looking for things that are more and more convenient to carry around with them it's why I TX PCs are catching the interests of more and more consumers the Azul PC stick is a great product because it's something you can throw into your pocket or nonno cup holder but this this form factor destroys any competitive advantage it has over a similarly priced laptop that wouldn't be far off in the performance Department either does that make sense if I want ultra ultra Portability and discreteness I would just purchase the Azul PC stick it's linked by the way in this video's description I think it's a great product I reviewed it earlier I actually use it it's plugged into the back of my TV in the living room it even has a wired LAN support if your Wi-Fi isn't pulling through but if you're just looking for ease of use and convenience a laptop in my opinion is the way to go this is the awkward middleman and given the specs doesn't compel me to purchase it over something like this which conveniently comes with a screen camera a full sized keyboard you get the point maybe Azul should be considering laptops for this particular price bracket nonetheless if you're still interested in the byte Plus here you can find its link as well in this video's description if you liked this video and/or appreciate my rather brutal honesty when it comes to products like this be sure to give this one a thumbs up thumbs down if you do feel the complete opposite or if you hate everything about life be sure to click Subscribe if how to write stay tuned for more content like this I also a few interesting computer related builds headed your way well no one's a build and once an upgrade rather so Walter White I'll be upgrading to version 2.0 that's all I want to say about that follow me on Twitter for more info and then I'm also going to be building a relatively cheap PC out of 100% used parts I think I'm gonna stick with eBay and just build something for around 300 bucks called a console killer piece um let you guys Duke it out in the comments this is science studio thanks for learning with this