Asrock Beebox-S 7200U: Kaby Lake vs. Skylake

[Steve]

Reviewed just four months ago, Asrock's compact yet capable Beebox-S is one of our favorite mini PCs given its price, features, build quality, and dual-core 14nm Skylake-U processor. Although the Core i5-6200U SoC is over a year old, the system is efficient and surprisingly affordable at $165 for the 6100U and $320 for the 6200U.

I've been using the latter as my day to day HTPC since August and it's been doing a fantastic job, so I didn't expect it to be replaced a few months later. Nonetheless, Asrock has sent an updated Beebox-S model sporting Intel's new 7th-generation processor based on the Kaby Lake-U architecture.

Rather than look at the Beebox-S 7200U in detail, we're going to focus on the upgrade to Kaby Lake as this is the only notable change.

Read the complete review.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The most interesting thing about kaby lake, IMO, is that it is clocked 300MHz faster, while pulling less power, and that higher cache speed seems to help in a few benchmarks.

Interesting to watch 14nm mature and evolve. Although it seems, even with zen looming, intel still cant squeeze much IPC out of core then they already have. If zen manages to get close to intel, it is going to be a knock down drag out slug fest between the two.

 

[maxxcool]

!? no mention of 4k@60fps playback testing ?

 

[Adhmuz]

!? no mention of 4k@60fps playback testing ?

"Asrock notes that the new Beebox-S supports 4K (60fps) with 10-bit HDR output. Unfortunately, this isn't a feature I can currently test."

It was noted to support it but he cannot test it.

 

[Slappy McPhee]

Seeing these boxes and reviews gets the hopes up for a sweet Launch Box build and the those hopes are dashed since the clock speeds and price are just not feasible. Nice write though.

 

[EndlessWaves]

!? no mention of 4k@60fps playback testing ?

"Asrock notes that the new Beebox-S supports 4K (60fps) with 10-bit HDR output. Unfortunately, this isn't a feature I can currently test."

It was noted to support it but he cannot test it.

The lack of iGPU tests is more puzzling as that's the other area Kaby Lake seems to have substantial improvements in.

 

[Steve]

!? no mention of 4k@60fps playback testing ?

"Asrock notes that the new Beebox-S supports 4K (60fps) with 10-bit HDR output. Unfortunately, this isn't a feature I can currently test."

It was noted to support it but he cannot test it.

The lack of iGPU tests is more puzzling as that's the other area Kaby Lake seems to have substantial improvements in.

What does 3DMark test?

 

[fktech]

Where do I sign up for the free drawing?