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A handful of Chinese PC makers have been selling mini-laptops with 8 inch displays and Intel Alder Lake-N processors for a few years. Now we're starting to see new models with Intel Twin Lake chips.
One of the first to arrive is the X-Plus Piccolo 2-in-1 mini-laptop with an Intel N150 processor, which sells for $385, but I expect we'll see nearly identical models from other brands soon.
For the most part, this little computer is the same as the ones that have been available for a while: it has an 8 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel IPS LCD touchscreen display, a 360-degree hinge that lets you use the computer in laptop or tablet modes, and an aluminum body.
Under the hood there's 12GB of LPDDR5 onboard memory (which is not user upgradable), and a 512GB M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD (which is).
The only real change is that the Intel N150 Twin Lake processor supports a maximum CPU frequencies of 3.6 GHz and features Intel Graphics with support for frequencies up to 1 GHz. Those top speeds are 200 MHz and 250 MHz higher than for the Intel N100 Alder Lake-N processor that was available in earlier models.
In terms of real-world performance, I don't expect there to be much difference. If you already have a mini-laptop with an Intel N100 processor, there's probably no good reason to upgrade to this newer model. But Intel's Twin Lake chips could be a little faster in some situations, so given the choice between buying a laptop with an Intel N100 or N150 chip, I'd probably choose the latter if that's the only difference.
Other features include a 25.9 Wh battery and 12V/3A power adapter, stereo speakers, and a set of ports that includes:
The little laptop has a QWERTY keyboard that's just (barely) big enough for thumb typing, with a fingerprint sensor integrated into the power button and an optical touch sensor above the space bar (because there's not enough room for a touchpad).
It has an Intel 3165 wireless card with support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, and the Piccolo 2-in-1 measures 200.6 x 130.6 x 17.9mm (7.9″ x 5.14″ x 0.7″) and weighs 658 grams (1.45 pounds).
via ETA Prime
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