With an integrated power supply, silent operation, rich interfaces, and equipped with 16GB RAM/500GB hard drive, this is the new mini PC host from Zero刻: the Zero刻 EQ14, positioned for light office use, priced at 1099 before the publication of this article, firmly in the “thousand-yuan level” price range. So, aside from being used for light office work, what other experiences can the Zero刻 EQ14 offer? For instance: if you want to play games on the Zero刻 EQ14 during your leisure time, can it meet your needs? Don’t worry, just keep reading, this review will provide the answer.
Additionally, if you opt for the pre-installed system version of the Zero刻 EQ14, the current price is only 699, so calling it a “hundred-yuan level” mini PC host seems reasonable.
Now let’s get to the main topic. In terms of appearance, the Zero刻 EQ14 adopts a bottom air intake cooling design, allowing air to flow in from the bottom to carry away the internal heat of the machine, hence there are no openings on the front, top, or sides, giving the Zero刻 EQ14 a sense of “integrated body” design.
At the same time, the “integrated body” combined with the laser-etched design on the top also enhances the overall “aesthetic value” of the Zero刻 EQ14 to some extent.
Moreover, you don’t have to worry too much about whether the lack of openings will affect the machine’s cooling, as there are quite a few cooling openings at the bottom of the machine.
Additionally, I personally tested the Zero刻 EQ14 with AIDA64 for over an hour under “single FPU burn-in” testing, and the CPU core temperature peaked at just over 60 degrees Celsius.
Furthermore, I also briefly tested the noise level of the cooling fan of the Zero刻 EQ14. The background noise level was around 34dBA.
Then, I powered on the Zero刻 EQ14 without performing any operations, just staying on the main desktop, and I observed that the dBA level was basically unchanged compared to the background noise.
Even under the “single FPU burn-in” full load state, the noise level of the cooling fan of the Zero刻 EQ14 remained around 34dBA, which can be described as “silent operation”.
As for performance, the Zero刻 EQ14 is equipped with an Intel N150 processor. According to the hardware evaluation from鲁大师, we see a score of 319646, with the processor score accounting for more than half. Judging from the above scores, using the Zero刻 EQ14 for light office tasks such as document writing and simple image editing poses no pressure.
Performing simple video editing operations through剪映 is also no problem.
The read/write performance of the hard drive pre-installed in the Zero刻 EQ14 is also impressive.
The video decoding capability of the Zero刻 EQ14 is also quite good, supporting a variety of formats, so it can be used not only for light office needs but also for media playback.
Now, to answer the question posed at the beginning of the article, can the Zero刻 EQ14 play games? The answer is yes, but due to limited performance, playing AAA games can be challenging, while playing some online games and older single-player games poses no significant issue.
For example, in “Dungeon & Fighter”, the frame rate performance during “single-player dungeon runs” is quite impressive.
The Zero刻 EQ14 also comes pre-installed with the Intel Unison application, which allows you to view photos from your phone or tablet on your computer and transfer files, make/receive calls, and more.
I personally find it quite practical.
At the beginning of the article, I also mentioned that the Zero刻 EQ14 has a rich set of interfaces. The front of the machine has three interfaces, as shown in the image: from left to right, there are one USB3.2 (10Gbps), one 3.5mm audio jack, and one USB-C (10Gbps).
On the back of the Zero刻 EQ14, besides the power interface, there are a total of seven interfaces. Again, as shown in the image: from left to right, there are two USB3.2 (10Gbps), one USB2.0, two HDMI 4K60Hz, and two LAN 1000M. The dual Gigabit LAN ports also enhance the overall playability of the machine.
Additionally, since the Zero刻 EQ14 uses an integrated power design, only one power cable is needed for power supply, making the desktop cleaner.
That concludes the review of the Zero刻 EQ14. If you have a limited budget and want to purchase a mini PC host focused on light office work and light gaming entertainment, I personally feel that the Zero刻 EQ14 is indeed worth a try. Moreover, the Zero刻 EQ14 also boasts an “integrated body” design, silent operation, and rich interfaces, which are all plus points, making the overall experience quite good.
As for the imperfections, I personally feel that it would be better if the USB-C interface on the front supported video transmission, but then again, given the price, what more can we nitpick?