Asus vivomini vm65n review

Asus VivoMini VM65N technical specifications

Asus VivoMini VM65N: Unboxing and Design

Asus makes us a top of the range presentation with a compact and very minimalist box. It has a small handle on top for transportation. On the back it indicates the specific model, in our case it is the one that mounts the i3-6100U processor and 500 GB of hard drive.

Once we open it we find a very complete bundle:

Asus MiniVIVO VM65N with 4K support. Adapter and power cable with for Spanish connection. Screws for installation on VESA support 100 x 100. VESA support. Instruction manual and quick guide.

The equipment has very compact dimensions of 190 x 190 x 56.2 mm and a weight of over 1.2 kg. In the upper area we have little to highlight as it is completely smooth and its design makes you fall in love at first sight. On the front we have a Windows sticker and the “Asus VivoMini” model is screen printed.

As can be seen in all the photographs, this mini computer is perfectly cooled from the bottom, thanks to a grid structure that releases all the heat outside.

The equipment has four premium rubber feet and two holes for the installation of the VESA 100 x 100 bracket that comes standard.

Once we are in the back area we can see the power button, a 4 in 1 SD / SDHC / SDXC / MMC card reader, power supply plug, access blocker to the VivoMini, 4 USB 3.0 connections, 2 USB connections 3.1 Type A, Displayport, HDMI, 10/100/1000 network card and 7.1 sound.

It has an Intel i3 6100U processor based on Intel's Skylake architecture, it is a 64-bit dual-core processor with base frequencies of 2.3 GHz in a manufacturing process of 14 nm, 3MB of cache and a consumption (TDP) of 15 W, standard incorporates 8GB of RAM divided into two 4GB DDR4-SODIMM slots each at 2133 Mhz.

Along with the integrated Intel HD Graphics 520 graphics card, we have in mind the 1GB Nvidia Geforce 930M that will allow us some games at HD and Full HD resolution. I mean, we have a small but bully team.

Inside we find a SATA connection for a 3.5 ″ hard drive. Specifically we have a 500 GB and 7200 RPM hard drive. Among its connectivity it presents an 802.11 AC wireless network card and a Bluetooth V4.0 connection.

Finally, we would like to highlight that it incorporates SonicMaster sound technology. This technology offers a much more faithful sound and by incorporating two good speakers of 2W each, it is not necessary for a small environment to incorporate external speakers. A detail to take into account.

Performance, consumption and temperature tests

All the tests carried out are with the 8GB of serial RAM at 2133 MHz and with the Toshiba mechanical hard drive of 500 GB and 7200 RPM. Obviously if we change the hard drive for an SSD the consumption will be somewhat better, avoiding noise and especially more heating in the system.

The first test was with Cinebench R15, it gave us a result of 217 cb (very close to the Pentium G3258 20 Anniversary).

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If we compare it with the table below, it is not the best result in CPU. But considering its scarce 15W of TDP, it seems to us a very worthy result.

One of the weakest points is on the hard drive, since the incorporation of an SSD would give it a lot of life. Results are as expected for a 7200 RPM mechanical disc.

We recommend reading the guide to the best SSDs on the market.

Finally we leave you the tables of consumption and temperatures of the equipment.

Final words and conclusion

The Asus VivoMini VM65N is one of the best compact barebone on the market. It incorporates an Intel Skylake i3-6100U processor , 8GB of RAM and 500GB of hard disk. Altogether it makes a very stable system with great potential for almost any purpose.

In our tests it has been quiet, cool and very loose with the operating system. We missed that the version incorporated a small M.2 SSD to load the system faster and heavier applications, but it is an easy update and you will not even 5 minutes to do it (with a clear SATA SSD).

It is not yet in online stores but it is expected to arrive soon.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ EXCELLENT DESIGN.	- COULD BRING A M.2 CONNECTIVITY
+ REFRIGERATION.	- IN THE SPACE OF THE MECHANICAL HARD DISK, TWO 2.5 ″ DISCS WOULD FIT.
+ EASY ACCESS TO CHANGE HDD AND MEMORY FOR FUTURE EXPANSIONS.
+ USB 3.1 CONNECTIONS AND ANTI-OPENING LOCK OF THE EQUIPMENT.
+ DEDICATED GRAPHIC POWER (NVIDIA 930M) AND CPU IN A SMALL SPACE.