ICT Reviews Recommended for VeryPC Nano Silent

[VeryPC_Tom_B]

Hi everyone.

 

VeryPC recently acheived an ICT Reviews Recommended status for our new Nano Silent mini PC from the PC Pro sister publication. They said lots of nice things about our tiny fanless Intel® Core™ i3/i5 VESA mountable PC like:

• This isn't just a silent, miniature marvel, but one of the most robust and efficient schools PCs we've seen, so is highly recommended.
  
• When VeryPC calls its desktop PC the Nano Silent, it really isn't joking.
  
• ...you wouldn’t even notice it was on if it weren't for the bright, blue LED on the front of the unit...
  

Since ICT Reviews is a print only publication sent out to UK education Network Managers and has no digital version or online presence, we thought we'd share the article here so anyone who has not had a chance to read it can do so.

 

 

A versatile, silent and extremely compact PC that still has enough power for most classroom applications

 

When VeryPC calls its desktop PC the Nano Silent, it really isn't joking. Based on Intel's NUC technology, it's a tiny system with a desktop footprint of 150mm by 170mm, and just 47mm high. It's not significantly larger than the average hardback book, though you'll need a little space for the compact power supply. And as for the silent bit? Well, with passive cooling through the fins on the aluminium case, you wouldn’t even notice it was on if it weren't for the bright, blue LED on the front of the unit.

 

That aluminium casing also makes it a solid, compact PC, with very little that even the clumsiest student has a chance of breaking or interfering with. Of course, at this size, the bigger worry might be theft, but there's a Kensington lock point to make that awkward. Plus, if you don't want to leave the Nano Silent sitting on the desk, you can easily attach it to the back of a monitor through a standard VESA mount.

 

Internally, it's very neatly put together, although the size of the case means there's little room for any expansion. You can replace the 120GB SSD or add another 8GB of RAM to the 8GB already fitted, but that's about it.

 

You also can't expect a huge range of ports and sockets, but the Nano Silent has all the basics covered, with two USB 3 ports and a headphone output at the front, and two more USB 3 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, mini-HDMI and mini-DisplayPort outputs at the rear. There's no built-in Wi-Fi, but VeryPC wins brownie points for including a mini-HDMI-to-HDMI cable in the box; a good move given that many schools won't have one handy.

 

The one area where the Nano Silent compromises is performance. It's not slow, by any means. The Core i5-4250U dual-core processor can turbo-boost from 1.3GHz up to 2.6GHz, and with the RAM and the SSD it feels extremely nippy in everyday tasks. The Haswell processor's Intel HD 5000 graphics GPU can also cope with more demanding 3D applications. However, the system struggles when it comes to really demanding, processor-intensive media manipulation tasks, and that's reflected in a slightly disappointing PC Pro benchmark score of 0.69. Still, if you're not looking for a media-editing powerhouse, the Nano Silent has you more than covered.

 

Throw in Windows 8.1 Professional and a five-year on-site warranty, and the Nano Silent is also great value for money. The price might put it over the budget of some schools, but Core i3 versions are available if you want to trim a little off the cost. This isn't just a silent, miniature marvel, but one of the most robust and efficient schools PCs we've seen, so is highly recommended.

• Here's the VeryPC website page for Nano Silent http://vpc.link/silent
  
• RRP pricing for Nano Silent on our online shop (remember education and EduGeek members in edu IT get a great discount): http://vpc.link/buysilent
  
• I've also posted the article on the VeryPC news page: http://vpc.link/recommended
  

Nano Silent has an anodised aluminium chassis which means we can laser etch your branding onto it, or make custom metal badges if you prefer.

 

Thanks for reading folks!

 

Tom

[StevieM]

Yaaay! Congrats guys and gals.

[featured_spectre]

I have a couple of questions.

 

How does it dissipate heat without the fans? I know you can have heatsinks etc, but surely they'd get hot as well.

[Norphy]

This is just an semi-educated guess but it looks to me that the entire box is designed to be a radiator. They must use low power mobile chips and some kind of heatpipe system to distribute the heat.

[VeryPC]

▲ @nephilim Heatsink to conduct heat away from CPU coupled with chassis fins to radiate away excess heat. Naturally the chassis temperature will increase slightly, but good heat management coupled with an ultra energy efficient CPU means silent fanless computing at very comfortable operating temperatures. See this helpful diagram! ▼

 

 

Al

 

EDIT - Yes @Norphy yes! You are a stone cold educated guessing genius my friend.

Edited June 24, 2014 by VeryPC

[Norphy]

Does that mean that there is a recommended way to mount the chassis? It looks like it would work better on its base than on its side or mounted to a monitor. Do you need to make sure there is good airflow around where it is, do you have recommendations about the space required around it? Edited June 24, 2014 by Norphy

[hallb15]

I've mounted ours to the wall - it hasn't suffered any heat problems yet...

I've had to stick some blutack over the blue power LED though as it is so bright it lights up the wall!

Oh and it has Wifi. You can add it, its an extra in the VeryPC shop.

PM me if you want to ask any questions about it.

Edited June 24, 2014 by hallb15

[VeryPC]

Does that mean that there is a recommended way to mount the chassis? It looks like it would work better on its base than on its side or mounted to a monitor. Do you need to make sure there is good airflow around where it is, do you have recommendations about the space required around it?

As long as there are a few centimetres of space around the three sides with the fins so the excess heat (which is minimal - the CPU has a TDP of only 15 watts) can flow away you'll be fine. Stood on desk, mounted to monitor or wall or whatever will all be okay.

 

Al