ASUS Announces VivoMini VC65-C1 SFF PC with Ultra HD Blu-Ray & Core i7-8700T
by Anton Shilov on January 25, 2019 4:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Desktop
- Intel
- Asus
- Blu-Ray
- VivoMini
- Ultra HD Blu-ray
- Coffee Lake
ASUS has quietly introduced a new lineup of ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) PCs, with an interesting balance between media playback and display capabilities. The VivoMini VC65-C1 systems are based around Intel’s 8th Gen Core processors, with high-end models also sporting Ultra HD Blu-Ray drives for local media playback.
Coming in an iron grey aluminum chassis and measuring 197.5×196.3×49.3/61.9 mm, the ASUS VivoMini VC65-C1 is significantly bigger than Intel’s typical NUCs. But it also offers more features and expandability – and not to mention an integrated power adapter. The VivoMini VC65-C1 is based on the Intel B360 chipset and supports a variety of socketed Coffee Lake processors with TDPs up to 35 W. The high-end SKUs are outfitted with Intel's six-core Core i7-8700T or Core i5-8400T, whereas lower-end SKUs use Intel's quad-core Core i3-8400T or dual-core Celeron G4900T/Pentium Gold G5400T (see exact specs in the table below).
The VivoMini VC65-C1 has two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots supporting from 4 GB to 32 GB of memory. The system also has an M.2 slot supporting PCIe or SATA SSDs, as well as two or four 2.5-inch bays for SATA SSDs and HDDs. Select versions of the VC65-C1 come with a Blu-ray, DVD-RW or Ultra HD Blu-ray optical drives (the latter are available in Japan).
The I/O capabilities of the ASUS VivoMini VC65-C1 are rather vast. The UCFF PC has a 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0 module, a GbE jack, one USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 port, five USB 3.1 Gen 1 & Gen 2 Type-A ports, three display outputs (DisplayPort, D-Sub, HDMI), an SD card reader, 3.5-mm audio connectors, and even a COM port (presumably for the embedded systems and/or digital signage markets).
| The ASUS VivoMini VC65-C1 UCFF PCs | |||||
| Model | VC65-C1G7010ZN | VC65-C1G5011ZN | VC65-C1G3066ZN | Cheap SKUs | |
| CPU | Core i7-8700T | Core i5-8400T | Core i3-8100T | Pentium Gold G5400T Celeron G4900T |
|
| Chipset | Intel B360 | ||||
| GPU | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | ||||
| DRAM | Capacity | 16 GB | 8 GB | 8 GB | ? |
| General | Two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots 4 - 32 GB of DDR4-2400 in dual-channel mode |
||||
| Storage | M.2 | 128 GB | 128 GB | - | ? |
| M.2-2280 (PCIe x4 or SATA) with Intel Optane support | |||||
| DFF | 500 GB HDD | 500 GB HDD | 1 TB HDD | ? | |
| 2 × 2.5-inch/9.5-mm SATA 6 Gbps with ODD up to 4 × 2.5-inch/9.5-mm SATA 6 Gbps without ODD |
|||||
| ODD | UHD Blu-ray | DVD-RW | UHD Blu-ray | ? | |
| SD | SDXC card reader | ||||
| Wireless | Optional 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5 module | ||||
| Ethernet | 1 × GbE port | ||||
| USB | Front | 1 × USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A 1 × USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A |
|||
| Back | 1 × USB Gen 2 Type-A 1 × USB Gen 2 Type-C 2 × USB Gen 1 Type-A |
||||
| Display Outputs | 1 × DisplayPort 1.2 1 × D-Sub 1 × HDMI 2.0 |
||||
| Audio | 2 × 3.5mm audio jacks | ||||
| Other I/O | 1 × COM port | ||||
| PSU | Internal 90 W PSU | ||||
| Warranty | Typical, varies by country | ||||
| Dimensions | Width: 196.3 mm Depth: 197.5 mm Height: 49.3 ~ 61.9 mm (w/o ODD ~ w/ ODD) |
||||
| MSRP | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
The VivoMini VC65-C1 from ASUS is a rather unique PC that can be used equally well both in the living room and in the office. On the one hand, systems with a Blu-ray/Ultra HD Blu-ray drives can be used as HTPCs to playback 2K or 4K movies in premium quality. On the other hand, multiple display outputs allow usage of two 4K monitors as well as compatibility with legacy LCDs with a D-Sub input.
ASUS plans to start sales of various VC65-C1 systems shortly. Prices remain to be seen.
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Source: ASUS, ASUS Japan (via PC Watch)
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bill.rookard - Monday, January 28, 2019 - link
Well, this isn't just a HTPC, it's a tiny computer, which could be used in an office by mounting it on the back of a monitor, or somewhere on the desktop taking up minimal space. Some office type programs do require more CPU grunt, so having a powerful CPU is not a bad idea.For a HTPC, you could use a good Atom based quad core (I have a NUC J3455 based one) and it will play back media and run just fine. Ideally though, a good full blown low power quad core (ie: 8000 series i3 or 7000 series i5) would be the best balance between power and power usage.
MattMe - Monday, January 28, 2019 - link
I use an 8th gen i5 NUC as my HTPC currently. It's nice to have a slightly more powerful CPU so we can run things like (very) basic Steam games, and just generally have a decent PC experience on the TV.So for me, I'd be much more interested in the options with the 'high-end' CPU.
As others have mentioned though, I'm not sure how easy it us to use the disc drive given complex DRM requirements.