Asrock DeskMini 110 Review: Flexible, functional and dead easy to work with

[Steve]

Back in April, we got our first look at a small form factor PC from MSI, based on the new Intel mini-STX standard. Called the Cubi 2 Plus, this sleek little barebone system sported Intel’s low power Skylake desktop processors along with a high-speed M.2 NVMe SSD.

Although the Cubi 2 Plus was quite good, it wasn’t perfect. For instance, it lacked a USB 3.0 port on the front panel was confusing, the NVMe SSD performance was subpar, and the blower style cooler couldn’t be upgraded, limiting users to processors rated at just 35W TDP.

Can Asrock, then, do better with their new mini-STX form factor PC, the DeskMini 110? It's looking good for them right off the bat with support for pretty much any Skylake desktop processor, thanks to support for the standard Intel box fan, full M.2 throughput thanks to Asrock linking this slot directly to the CPU, and a Type-A USB 3.0 port at the front.

The Asrock DeskMini certainly has an industrial look about it, and it looks a bit drab sitting next to the Cubi 2 Plus. What it lacks in aesthetics, however, it makes up for in ease of installation and flexibility, thanks to those very same design choices.

Read the complete review.

 

[fktech]

Not sure what I would do with one.

Expensive for a media server vice RASPBERRY PI. Needs monitor, keyboard, mouse so not portable. Smartphone, laptop, desktop, tablet, etc., have their purpose - looking for thoughts on where this might fit?

Inexpensive barebones but price soars with the addition of capability/capacity.

 

[Izabella]

Where to buy them?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It's too bad this thing is tied to intel's non iris GPUs. iris or iris pro would be very interesting in this build, if you could buy them.

 

[Uncle Al]

We have a group that travels all across the country and, due to the nature of their work, just have a secure system. This one is absolutely perfect. Admittedly, a laptop is less cumbersome, but this one is just cool ..... so I'm going to get one for the cool factor, not just the convenience! LOL

 

[fps4ever]

It's too bad this thing is tied to intel's non iris GPUs. iris or iris pro would be very interesting in this build, if you could buy them.

Agreed, without those its just another small form factor with more cpu power one cannot use.

 

[Geforcepat]

I thought it was a power supply at first.

 

[Blacksun]

I think Building Block mini-STX form factor PC will replace most of the tower PC in the future.

 

[madboyv1]

D'awww it's so widdle... That being said I definitely appreciate the simple design and completely accessible layout, and the number of potential options crammed into this little thing. Adding the top USB ports and the wifi card/antennae would not be hard to do yourself, and has three storage options compared to two. I wonder if it could run a bus powered USB 3 monitor on that AC adapter...

 

[Camikazi]

I thought it was a power supply at first.

Glad I am not alone on that.

 

[Blacksun]

It is a good replacement for 7L SFF PC used for enterprise, small company, education and industrial usage.

 

[Blacksun]

Is it good to support to support Xeon E3-1245 v5 for entry workstation? Is Intel P530 good for CAD/CAM?

 

[lukart]

Where to buy them?

Been trying to find one myself!

 

[xLegendary]

It is a good replacement for 7L SFF PC used for enterprise, small company, education and industrial usage.

I would even say it would be a great replacement for my box I have in my office back home

 

[jauffins]

Can't find this for sale yet, but it's a hell of a deal for $130. $480-500 for a full system with a powerful quad core CPU, 8GB of RAM and 500GB SSD along with a copy of Windows is a steal, and this has much more CPU power (albeit much less GPU power) than the Alienware Alpha (4590T 2.9Ghz Core i5 quad core, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD, 860m) I use as my every day office PC, at around the same size.

 

[Blacksun]

Can't find this for sale yet, but it's a hell of a deal for $130. $480-500 for a full system with a powerful quad core CPU, 8GB of RAM and 500GB SSD along with a copy of Windows is a steal, and this has much more CPU power (albeit much less GPU power) than the Alienware Alpha (4590T 2.9Ghz Core i5 quad core, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD, 860m) I use as my every day office PC, at around the same size.

It is available on New Egg now.

 

[jauffins]

It is available on New Egg now.

Ooooooooh, I see that! Fantastic.

I've loved SFF since the VIA EPIA's in the early 2000's, and I am overjoyed that we now have this new form factor.