Let’s face it, even miniITX PCs can occupy a significant footprint on your table/workspace and that can be a major problem if you’re working in an environment where space is a premium. If you can do without all the fancy stuff like discrete graphics and expansion options, then ultra-compact PCs are best suited for you. These little boxes of awesome can usually be mounted behind displays – saving even more space as it works to keep clutter to a minimum. In review is one such product: meet the Gigabyte BRIX.
Not for Construction
Despite the name, the BRIX does not look remotely close to construction material (“BRIX” = “Bricks” get it?) nor is it as dense. It’s lightweight so you can carry it around in a pinch. The chassis consists of an anthracite aluminium frame and a glass top. The whole unit is black with a small chrome trim where glass meets metal. As you can surmise, the glass top catches smudges very easily. As for the back, the BRIX hosts a VESA compatible mount and comes with bracket supporting for 75 x 75mm and 100 x 100mm systems. As for design issues, the power button is rather small so accessing it would be a problem. The expansion ports, meanwhile, can also be a tab difficult to access since you will need to reach all the way to the back to access the BRIX.
Brave Little Machine
There are multiple variants of the BRIX, and this specific model, the GB-XM12-3227, runs on an ultra-low voltage Intel Core i3 processor. The rest of the components, barring the Wi-Fi card, is on you. For your information, there are two SO-DIMM slots, supporting a two 8GB DDR3-1600 configuration. An mSATA slot is meant for your storage. This review unit comes with a single 4GB stick of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Personally, I think the BRIX would make a good MAME machine/old-school emulation system.
Well Connected
Despite the small size, the BRIX comes with quite a few expansion ports. A full-sized HDMI connector and as well as a Mini DisplayPort is available for expanding your display setup while an RJ45 port lets you connect to a wired network. Unfortunately, there are only two USB 3.0 ports (one in front, one at the back) so you will either have to get a USB hub or wireless peripherals. Of course, if you want more computing power, there are other variants of the BRIX lurking around.
Dimensions: 114 x 107.9 x 29.9mm
Chipset: Intel HM77
Memory: 2 x SO-DIMM DDR3, Max. 2 x 8GB
Processor: Intel Core i3-3227U
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000
Expansion slots: 1 x mSATA, 1 x Half-size mini-PCIE
I/O: 1 x HDMI, 1 x Mini DisplayPort, 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x RJ45, 1 x Kensington Lock
Value: 8/10
Features: 9/10
Performance: 8/10
Design: 9/10
Usability: 9/10
Verdict: Gamers can do with this since it can stay on for long hours of gaming.
Total Score: 8.6/10
The review can be found in the January 2014 issue of PC.com.
