ECS Liva Z5 Plus Mini PC Review

Rating: 8.0.

In a world of bigger numbers, bigger performance, bigger builds and bigger pricing…can a $500 ultra small form-factor PC find its place? The Liva Z5 Plus from ECS IPC contains an Intel Core i5-1335U, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB M.2 SSD….and it’ll nearly fit in the palm of your hand. But does this small build mean small performance?

Timestamps:

00:00 Start
00:28 The Mini PC – pricing
01:15 i5 system specifications
01:41 A look inside / SSD speeds
02:51 connectivity / motherboard / power
04:01 Who is this for?
04:24 The physical size / weight
05:38 Testing setup / OS
06:18 How does it perform in the real world?
07:48 Temperatures / System Noise
08:09 Is casual gaming possible?
10:05 Mat’s closing thoughts

Specifications:

• PLATFORM
  • Intel®Raptor Lake-U U300 SoC
  • Intel®Raptor Lake-U Core™ i3-1315U SoC
  • Intel®Raptor Lake-U Core™ i5-1335U SoC
  • Intel®Raptor Lake-U Core™ i5-1345U SoC (vPRO supported)
  • Intel®Raptor Lake-U Core™ i7-1355U SoC
  • Intel®Raptor Lake-U Core™ i7-1365U SoC (vPRO supported)
  • Intel® Comet Lake-U Core™ i7-10510U SoC
• MEMORY
  • Support 2 x SO-DIMM DDR4 3200MHz, up to 64GB
• STORAGE DEVICES
  • 1 x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4/NVME SSD
• AUDIO
  • 1 x Combo Jack
• NETWORKING
  • 2 x 2.5 Gbps LAN (LAN 1: i226 LM & i226V vPRO co-layout)
• USB
  • 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 (Front I/O)
  • 1 x USB 4 Gen 2×2 Type C (Front I/O)
  • 1 x USB 2.0 (Internal Header 2×5)
• VIDEO OUTPUT / INPUT
  • 2 x HDMI 2.0b HDCP 2.3 (HDMI 1: CEC supported (Power on/off only)
  • 1 x DP1.4 HBR3
  • 1 x Type C (alt DP)
• WIRELESS
  • 1 x M.2 2230 WLAN 802.11ax
• POWER
  • 19V/4.74A, 90W
• VESA MOUNT
  • Supports 75mm / 100mm
• DIMENSIONS (MM)
  • 148 x 120 x 38.35 (mm)
• OS SUPPORT
  • Windows® 10 IOT
  • Windows® 11 Home & Pro
  • Linux
• ACCESSORY
  • ADAPTER / SCREW / VESA MOUNT / QUICK GUIDE

The ECS Liva Z5 Plus will be available in the UK from May 2024. It is set to retail in the US for $500. You can learn more on the ECS website HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

Pros:

• Very small size.
• Good for day to day computer work.
• Nice and quiet.

Cons:

• No rear USB ports.
• Understandably limited CPU/GPU performance.

KitGuru says: The Liva Z5 Plus delivers reasonable performance when carrying out day to day computing tasks. 

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