CHUWI RZBOX Internal Hardware Overview
Once those screws are removed, we get two SODIMM slots and two M.2 slots.
If this looks at all familiar, perhaps it should. There are a lot of similarities between this layout and the Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q Tiny Gen2 in terms of placement. We can see even down to the right SODIMM being slightly higher in the chassis and the M.2 slots being offset sitting around the middle of the SODIMM 2 slot.
The SODIMMs are Netac 8GB units for 16GB total.
The SSD is a 512GB PCIe Gen3 SSD also from Netac. This is not the fastest SSD as we will discuss later. Still, these slots support NVMe or SATA SSDs and there are two. Lenovo only puts one on the M75q Tiny, but has two here in other models.
Something we noticed immediately with the unit was how much less serviceable it was than the TinyMiniMicro nodes. While TMM PCs take one screw and then the system is usually open to service, this was eight. Once inside, while Lenovo has been using plastic tab hold-downs for M.2 SSDs for years, CHUWI is still using screws. Also, we have several 1L PCs with the ability to house two M.2 and one 2.5″ SSD, yet this system at twice the volume does not have a 2.5″ bay.
One other small note, we found that this unit was actually using an Intel AX210 not an AX200 WiFi NIC so it is a WiFi 6E capable device instead of just being WiFi 6 like the specs say. That was a nice surprise.
From a hardware perspective, if you have never used the big OEM 1L PCs, this would not seem out of place. If you have used big OEM 1L PCs, then the CHUWI hardware probably feels like a step back in time yet with some nice features like dual M.2 slots and dual 1GbE NICs.
CHUWI RZBOX BIOS
The BIOS of the CHUWI RZBOX is fairly straightforward. Here we get American Megatrends BIOS:
Although the overall BIOS felt a bit rougher than on some consumer platforms, we will note that you can activate a TPM here. As a result, we were able to install both Windows 10 and Windows 11, including an upgrade to Windows 11.
The BIOS was functional, so that was at least a positive sign. Still, CHUWI has said they are not updating the BIOS which is worrying.
Next, we are going to get to the performance.
Do these guys do DASH? I have to admit that my impression of Realtek’s DASH implementation(on some AMD-based thinkpads; T14 gen1s) was…rough…; but given that Realtek is both the typical vendor for minimum-viable-NIC and what seems to be the de-facto standard for DASH on AMD client platforms it seems worth knowing if this device is Realtek-as-in-it-was-cheapest or whether they sprang for the DASH supported SKU.
Great to see some reviews of those mini pcs. Especially with the TMM devices as reference. Would love to see some of the minisforum pcs looked at.
I see them as a different segment. Though there are some that might brige the gap a little. Like the asrock 4×4, gigbayte and asus units.
The asrock units would be especially interesting for you to look at as they are still aimed at business use cases . Also asrock’s track record of the recent past seems to usually offer the most recent cpu-series.
I’d like to second fuzzyfuzzyfungus’s question about DASH.
@Patrick
Honest question, regarding Chuwi showing “sold out”, do you prefer
1) they tell you “sold out” when they aren’t able to fulfill orders, or
2) your recent experience with HP, where they accept your cash, give you an estimated shipping date that they aren’t able to meet, then keep pushing the date?
Pretty sure DASH requires Ryzen Pro, so I doubt it has it.
I’ve tried DASH and it seems a lot less mature than AMT does.
I don’t see a connector on the back for mounting external antennas, so presumably the antennas are internal? Which begs the question: can this do 6GHz? If not, then the Wi-Fi 6E support on the card seems moot…maybe they’re building a 2.4/5GHz machine (per the specs) and simply managed to get a good deal on the AX210?
All of this and no HDMI specs? 4k60 support is the most important spec for mini PCs like this as they’re likely to be used in HTPC setups. I don’t care about 95% of the specs listed in this review, the most important one is left out.
@Philippe, 4K@60Hz is visible in the Amazon listing. I went to Chuwi’s site to look it up for you, and even there clicking on MiniPC -> RZBox takes you to the Amazon listing.
Aren’t like all AMD Ryzen and Intel Core systems from 2020 and newer 4K@60Hz?
@Elijah Smith, you would be surprised how many new laptops and SFF PCs have older HDMI 1.4 and lack DP via USB-C. I guess enough customers are clueless that manufacturers figure they can save a few bucks since what the customer doesn’t know won’t hurt them. Try finding an affordable AMD system with USB-C video out and HDMI 2.0 or better. It’s basically $699+ from HP and Asus. Lenovo and others are a serious mixed bag.