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Today we are looking at the latest Edge VS8 Mini PC from Sapphire, the follow up to the Edge HD3 which we reviewed earlier this year. The new Edge VS8 is based around an AMD Quad Core A8 1.6ghz APU with onboard HD7600G graphics. Our review sample ships with a large 500GB hard drive and 4GB of DDR3 memory. Is this an ideal solution to as a diminutive ‘general use' PC when paired up with a High Definition Television set?
When I reviewed the Edge HD3 in February I was pleasantly surprised with the usefulness of the DVD sized system, even though the AMD E450 APU was a little underpowered.
The new Edge VS8 features AMD's latest A8 4555M APU, a more powerful design with enhanced graphics capabilities. The HD7600G graphics core is actually a slightly down clocked version of the GPU in the more expensive AMD A10 series.
Sapphire will be offering a ‘bare bones' unit which means you can add a Solid State Drive, with support for memory configurations up to 16GB.
The only thing you need to watch out for, is that Sapphire don't ship the Edge VS Mini with any operating system installed – so you need to budget that into the overall cost.
fantastic read Zardon, I like this unit, very impressed with the size.
I agree though, 60GB SSD is about same price now as 500GB Mechancial. why not offer one at least?
bare bones for me . ill be ordering this as I want to fit one behind my tv downstairs, but 120gb SSD I think for my unit.
any pricing information on bare bones yet?
This could be a nice device but for a few problems.
1.) I doesn’t look that nice and even though you might be hiding it behind a TV it still should look nicer in case we do want to show it off because of it’s size
2.) Give us the option of a 7200RPM mechanical drive with a small price difference or or pay a bit more and get an SSD even something like a 60GB would be better than the HDD in there at the moment
3.) The option for a windows OS if required so basic users can have it running as soon as they get it open plus us enthusiast’s/Experienced people would get the option without OS so we could put whatever OS we want on it
4.)Have a bundle with external dvd drive again for basic users.
Hi Andrew, thanks for your views. That’s pretty much what we think too.
Its a nice idea, but its a half assed approach from Sapphire.
The version you reviewed would be ideal for joe bloggs, but there is no OS and no means to get it installed without buying an external drive. This is just not something a user going into PC world will ever be able to handle. They want to take it home, hit the power button and bam, all sorted.
Enthusiast users won’t want a system with a 5,400 rpm 2.5 inch drive, thats 2008 technology and was poor even then.
Barebones is the only way forward, but having to get memory, SSD and an OS is expensive.
They should have been more honest in the marketing and released it at 450-500 with everything ready and installed (good quality SSD and 8GB of DDR3 memory – come on its £30 online now!).
Its a good review and honest in the conclusion, although the score is too high. I like the system, but id have scored this a point lower.
5,400 rpm hard drive? The lack of OS and optical drive means this is firmly positioned at the enthusiast audience, NOT mainstream. Why insult us with a 5,400 rpm drive – every enthusiast reading this will be horrified? I wouldn’t even use that for backing up files now.
its very poorly configured.
Although I like the small unit, id be interested in barebones, depending on the price.
Any idea on barebones price? id like this as a home server system, but im not paying for a 5,400rpm drive.
They dont need to charge more for SSD, a 60GB SSD is the same price as that 500GB slow ass unit they installed.
I would have expected more from Sapphire, its a poor decision. I didnt even accept a 5,400 rpm drive in my old laptop, it grinds the whole system to a halt.
I couldn’t restrain myself ang ordered one in this configuration yesterday morning since it was readily available here in Italy (tracking even says it should be delivered today!), even though I also had reservations about the hard drive, which were founded it seems. 😉 But it also seems that otherwise the box should suit my needs very well, as it draws little power and should be very silent during general usage(i don’t game btw). I will install Arch Linux on it, which should boot relatively fast compared to Win7 even on this slow hard drive (I don’t expect to boot it more than once a day anyway) and replace the HDD sooner or later with an SSD anyway. I wonder how much the barebone version will cost, though, and how much more I will have paid for in the end for being unable to wait a little longer. I paid 350€ delivered for this version, btw.
Sorry, for a test you have to look at points that are not specified. So is it HDMI 1.4(a) or the old 1.3 not capable of 3D. Is it 7.1 Sound or just 6. is it possible to change the drive or is it soldered…
@signorRossi. Can you look at your device for my asked points above please?