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Ainol Windows 8.1 Quad Core Mini PC (2GB/32GB, 7000mAh Battery) ~ $126 AU Shipped @ Geekbuying

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GETDTZGS
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Tonight Geekbuying has a deal going for a lot people's favourite brand. The Ainol Mini PC for only $91 US (~$126 AU) shipped using the coupon GETDTZGS

For those unaware, this is a fully fledged mini PC running the full and activated version of Windows 8.1 that is also upgradable to Windows 10. All you need to do is a hookup a mouse, keyboard and screen. This mini PC also includes an inbuilt 7000mAh battery that allows it to work for more than 10 hours and can even be used as a power bank to charge your phone or tablet. Unlike a lot of other mini PCs, the Ainol has an effective fanless cooling system that allows it to stay cool and prevents the CPU from throttling while under heavy load.

Key Specs:

  • Windows 8.1 with Bing (Upgradable to Windows 10)
  • Intel Z3735F Quad Core, up to 1.83GHz CPU
  • 2GB RAM, 32GB eMMC Storage (Supports MicroSD up to 128GB, other USB Storage)
  • 7000mAh in-built Battery
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
  • Mini HDMI Port
  • 2x USB 2.0, 1x MicroSD Slot, 1x 3.5mm Earphone Jack
  • 115 x 146 x 14mm, 335g, Aluminium Alloy

Package includes: 1x Mini PC, 1x HDMI Cable, 1x Power Adapter (With AU Adapter), 1x User Manual

Please don't forget to check out our Coupon Zone and Promotions for more awesome deals!

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closed Comments

  • +4

    Effective fanless cooling system as in like thermal paste?

    • +48

      as in the stuff that comes from Ainol

        • +7

          Once they realised how it sounded in English they had to change it to Ainovo for the US market, but it was too late…

        • +1

          @Clear: is that Lenovo's chinese brother?

        • @lead_org: Lenovo is Chinese, so it could be…

        • +2

          Hmmmm ….. 7 negs. Seems I spoke too soon.

        • +9

          @jackspratt: hmmm, you must be sad about that eh?

        • +2

          @Clear:

          I guess they couldn't give an arse about the rest about the rest of the markets

          … I'll let myself out.

        • +1

          @jackspratt: way too soon because it's at 38 now.

        • @Forfiet: Highly amused, actually.

        • @jackspratt: that's the spirit :P

    • +4

      Thermal pads in combination with the aluminum body.

      Darkscythe would probably be able to tell you more about it. He did a good a review on his site

      • +4

        Yep, cooling is something the Ainol really nailed. They've effectively used the whole metal body as a heat sink. I hammered it with stress testing apps and it was still way under the chip's threshold. It's a great unit - particularly at that price.

        • The Z3735F SoC is very low power, and does not need thermal bonding to the metal body.
          I have a similar device: the RF shield acts as heat sink, and there is very little direct contact between the metal case and the insides.

        • +1

          @manic:

          I have the pipo x7.. When you put a thermal pad between it and the bottom of the case, WOW. Soooo much heat can come out of a z3735F. And even after doing that, and the bottom of the device could literally burn you (but only just), it will still very mildly throttle (only seemed to happen in games).

          So even though these are low power, they can and do produce a shitton of heat if you let them. Sure you can conduct it to something on the inside of the case, but the heat will build up if it cant escape fast enough.

        • @musicinbed69: Good thing that issue was fixed in the X7 Pro, X8 and X9. The Ainol is probably the best one for cooling without a fan.

        • Hi darkscythe,

          I have ordered this already, cuz mini pc's rool, but I am worried about where the heat actually goes.
          these photos didn't really help much https://imgur.com/a/GoexL

          Can you better explain how they're cooling the device? The heat isn't going into the lithium ion batteries I hope….. But it looks like they put the motherboard ontop of the battery!??. That metal adhesive on the top couldn't possibly be providing much of anything in the cooling as it isn't touching the top of the case.

          Are there hidden thermal pads built into the top shell, padding to the top of the motherboard, to draw the heat to the top of the case? I sure hope so. Otherwise, that kind of heat with those batteries, IDK, it worries me. Does it have a way of escaping without going through the batteries?
          Do chinese manufacturers take those kind of safety things into consideration?

        • @Clear:

          Could you give me some information on where the heat goes with the ainol? https://imgur.com/a/GoexL

          I'm a bit confused as to what (if anything) blocks heat from going into the lithium-ion batteries, and where the thermal pads are actually located because I can't see any on teardown photos. Thx

        • @musicinbed69: Could actually be mistaken about the thermal pads, but the heat is cooled through the aluminum case.

        • @musicinbed69: Have a look at this article. Says it's using a "Sticky-back heat-spreader" and is visible in the pictures you linked. Makes sense.

        • @Clear:

          hmm okay, It seems like the heatspeader at one end is heightened with a sponge to make close contact with the top of the case. That's rather nifty. I hope it works well.

  • +3

    Seems like a bit of a weird product. Has a battery but needs a powered monitor + peripheral cords anyway?

    • +3

      Makes it more portable. I guess you could call it a smart power bank.

    • +4

      I imagine the purpose is that you can take it with you on holidays and plug it into the television in your hotel, or take it into meeting rooms at work and plug it into the projector/tv, etc.

    • +3

      I've found the inbuilt battery handy as a UPS. When the power cuts out, it'll keep running for ages. Saved my bacon a few times.

      • +4

        ^ Someone who gets it :)

    • -1

      has it occurred to you that it makes a great little headless file or media server, just throw on a USB HDD/SSD
      Also potentially VERY handy to be able to put it to sleep and take it from place to place, ie plug it in at uni, then take it home and keep working

  • +4

    might aswell get something like a chuwi vi8 for around the same price, same specs except you get a tablet to boot

    • what if you dont want a tablet, you want a media PC that conveniently and discretely mounts to the back of your monitor, or you want a computer you can pocket and take to a uni lab for instance?

  • Looks like a great Plex media server.

    • +1

      no Ethernet connection so probably not the best media server after all

      • 480mbit usb-ethernet adapter - should work fine.

        • Only has USB 2.0 so there's your bottleneck

        • @dynamike:
          which would be why i said 480Mbit - the speed of USB 2.0

  • How do they compare to those asus compute sticks for around $170?

    • Pretty much the same. All of these budget mini PCs have essentially identical specs.

    • In addition to what Darkscythe said, this one is obviously in box form and includes an inbuilt battery.

      • Yep, sorry. Got distracted mid-thought with that one!

      • -2

        So it's Ainol in box form?

  • +6

    I bought one of these in the last deal posted here. Great little machines. For those interested, they stream video, including 1080p quite well without dropping frames (using plex media centre). Furthermore, they even seem to handle Steam home streaming, as I often use mine to play some of my games off my gaming PC in the lounge room. Runs cool, barely gets warm to the touch, and is fairly speedy.

    Only weird thing was the language settings were really inconsistent, with Chinese enabled in some areas, and English in others. This was easily fixed by setting correct region and language. Haven't updated it to Windows 10 yet, should be interesting if this is possible, and the performance benefits/impacts.

    • +2

      How do you go spacewise?

      My windows folder (windows 8) is over 40GB by itself.

    • Interesting to hear about the steam streaming - does it do 1080p ok (over wireless I assume)?
      I'm keen for a little steam box.

    • +2

      I had a heap of trouble with the language after updating to Windows 10 - it just would not go back to (mostly) English the same way that 8.1 did. I rolled back to 8.1 with no major trouble though. Fantastic little machine, with enough fiddling I got it to run an ad-hoc wireless network on boot so I could VNC to it with my old android phone - x86 mini-PC on the go.

  • +5

    Updates to Win 10 fine. Better for it. My 2cents. Agree. Great little device. Just dont expect too much given the specs. Also, do not buy from gearbust.

    • I also tried to get one from gearbest, 6 weeks later and it still has not been shipped, so will try again from this place.

  • +4

    1 x Power adapter (A right AC Adapter will be sent as your shipping country)

    Dammit! They sent me a left one.

    • They sent me the wrong one :(

  • this is similar to a nuc PC - a very small barebone computer to play back and stream 1080P content.

    if I am to plug this tiny PC in and leave it on all day, I wanna know how much power it consume?

    • a desktop PC uses about 200-300w,
    • the nuc uses around 50w
    • +1

      Those sound like maximum power, not average or idle.
      NUC is less than 10W and Z3735F device less than 5W.

    • Power consumption stats in my review that @Clear linked above

  • +1

    Can this handle popcorn time?

    • Overkill for torrenting and media playback. Get an ARM android device for less than half the price.

    • A chromecast will do popcorn just fine

      • +12

        A Pentium-4 will do real popcorn.

    • last I checked with my other pc of same cpu, it could only handle if played back in an external player (like vlc).

      Stuttering if using the built-in player. But yes popcorn time works perfectly if u open videos in vlc.

  • +7

    i came here for the jokes…

    • +3

      I almost had a coupon created with your username and something along the lines of…

      • lol I'll be waiting

        • Hey Gimli, did you see their logo? ;-P

        • Wait until you see them tonight… they're not as good as Gimliainol though :(

  • would this be able to handle a 4k file for playback?

  • OP Do you have any of the Z3735D version left?

    • +1

      Nope. Ainol changed over half way through production and the remaining units were sold out around April.

      • Anyone please help confirm if you know this plays MKV or mp4 with 5.1 surround sound using VLC media player Or when you are watching streams from Netflix?

  • i dont get it - just get a cheap chinese win 8 tablet?

    • I think this offers slightly more than Windows 8 tablets, for starters it has 2 USB ports and a mini HDMI port.
      It seems to be better with cooling than what I've heard with some of the Chinese tablets, i.e. http://techtablets.com/chuwi-hi8/review/. If you don't need the touchscreen, this doesn't seem that bad in my opinion.

    • It's a PC running Windows 8.1, but much smaller.

  • +9

    I used to be scared of Ainol.
    But I think I might finally come to enjoy it.

    • just ease into it - if you try to force it the experience is just painful. it's a small ainol so good for beginners.

  • Does anybody have any idea how well this does XboxOne game streaming ?

  • +1

    I have one of these and they are a great unit, only downside is the wifi reciever. It need to be close to the wifi modem and no walls between. I had mine next to the TV and laptop and it got 20% of the download speed of them even know they were all the same distance from the modem, in the next room. Extended the modem to the same room and now they all get the same. Being the mini pc got what the TV and laptop had and they stayed the same.
    Other than that great with a wireless remote.

  • Rep, do you have express shipping?

    • Yes. In the shopping cart select Australia in the drop down menu and click on "Estimate Shipping Costs". That will give you a list of shipping methods and an estimation of their price.

  • +1

    Op the coupon code is wrong should be? Ainolarse?

    • +4

      If TA had asked me, I would have got that or tightainol created.

      • +4

        Tightainol only works once but. After the the coupon looseainol must be used.

        • +2

          imagine what would happen to that ainol once it got ozbargained…

  • could this be set up to run Netflix and Hulu etc?

    And any ideas how you could incorporate a remote to run this?

    • According to reviews and previous deals, it runs Netflix HD fine. Hulu and others would run too.

      As for a remote, Logitech Harmony maybe? I've never used one myself, but it does support Windows 8 & 10.

    • I too am interested in the best way to organize this. I assume the windows 8 app for netflix. Maybe a USB remote?

      • +2

        Buy a Logitech K400r, keyboard & wireless mouse; connected via USB.

    • If you want Netflix, go with a Nexus Player. Netflix Windows app is designed for mouse use, not remote.

    • +3

      Hi GLO,
      I use this remote on mine and it works well.
      For netflix i just use thier website not an app and tunnelbear to get US content.

      • yeah tunnelbear is great and free!!!

        • Thanks, having a look now.

          I am using GetFlix for US Netflix and Hulu but my EchoTV seems to have died.

  • +4

    I bought this a few months ago from geek buying. Just as FYI guys, I found the in-built wifi chip to be absolutely rubbish. It only worked within 1m of my router, and struggled entirely from about 4m away. I had to buy a separate wifi adapter dongle. I was pretty disappointed.

    • Does it streams 5.1 surround sound from Netflix streaming or play local 5.1 surround sound files?

      • I play sound on my soundbar, which does a good job. I'm not sure if it outputs 'true' 5.1.

        • Thanks, you probably cant tell unless you are connected to an Amplifier where a DTS signal etc will show on the AMP.
          Would appreciate if anyone can advice if they have theirs connected to an AMP either on Ainol or Pipo units, as they have similar chipsets just different housing and size. Thanks in advance. Cheers!

    • +2

      It only worked within 1m of my router

      That means your antenna is not working - e.g. the tiny connector is not in place, or lead damaged. Could be bad assembly.

      • +1

        That makes sense. Either way, it was a pretty shitty experience/faulty device.

      • +3

        I had the poor wifi problem also. Resolved it by going into Device Manager > Network Adapters > Realtek RTL8723BS… > Advanced tab. Antenna diversity was set to Disabled. Changed it to Enabled and all was well with the internal wifi.

        • +1

          Awesome! Thanks for the suggestion mate. Can't wait to go home and test this…!

        • +1

          @DaiShan:

          Would love to know if this trick works. I am considering getting a unit.

          Cheers.

  • If this had an ethernet port it would be the perfect HTPC box for streaming Plex/Kodi as well as Steam…

    I suppose a USB wired LAN port would do the trick.

    Not bad.

    • +1

      What is everyone Steam streaming that isn't ruined by the added latency?

      • +1

        I played many hours of Tomb Raider (2013), Witcher 2 and Spider-Man 3….

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