ECS LIVA Mini PC Kit Review

ECS has lately been ignoring the Z97 and the X99 Enthusiast motherboards market for the newer and smaller side of computing. It is their belief that there future depends on diversity in a market that is slowly waning. According to certain interviews of top representatives of ECS, the “Big Motherboards” days are slowly passing away. While I am not inclined to believe this statement, they are going into the pool head first with the newest BAT-Mini Platform of motherboards that are about to be released by many other companies and ECS is the first to do it.

There are times when a company breaks with convention and breaks the mold to boldly go and explore new territory. ECS has done just that with the world’s first BAT-Mini form factor computer that is strong enough to run Windows 8.1 and also do modern office work, watch movies and or run dual monitors all running very efficiently on less than 20 Watts of power. Well you won’t be able to play the latest version of that mad visually graphic video game, but you can work on a real shoestring budget from home and do much more than you think you could with this little work horse that can hide behind an 8 x 10 picture frame? It’s called the ECS LIVA MINI PC KIT and it’s kind of revolutionary in the evolution of computing.

I know you are saying I have already seen these little computers before, but this one is a little different. It doesn’t use an Intel Atom line of mini Microprocessor platform. The New ECS LIVA MINI PC Kit runs a fully dressed Intel BayTrail-M SoC (Intel Celeron Processor N2807), which has a full 1MB cache with turbo mode of up to 2.16 GHz. The little Intel Celeron is a dual thread, dual core 64 bit 4.3 watt TDP laptop processor with normal operation wattage of 2.5 Watts and will max out at 4.3 Watts. ECS LIVA MINI PC KIT also uses SKHyniex 2GB DDR3L 1333MHz speed memory soldered on-board RAM. The all black PC board uses either a 32GB or 64GB of eMMC memory which is like the main hard drive and also can use M.2 form factor combo wireless card that supports 802.11b/g/n wireless and Bluetooth 4.0 and also has a Gigabit LAN connection to boot.

MSRP
$179.99 US Dollars, but I have seen it on sale for as low as $125.00 so Shop around for the best deal.

LIVA PC Kit Feature shot 1

Basically for around 150.00 dollars you get a fully functional Computer with a built in 32 or 64 GB. eMMC memory soldered on-board. All you have to add is a 3.0 large external hard drive for Data storage and you have the ability to use two monitors at the same time with this little black box.

Packaging
Liva mini pc kit front box

The ECS LIVA MINI PC KIT comes in a thin corrugated box that is very colorful and extremely informative showing just how simple this kit is to put together.

LIVA PC Kit Box side 5

The left sides of the box show just the LIVA Logo on one side in a nice orange and black theme.

Liva Mini PC Box Specs 2

While on the right side, the ECS LIVA MINI PC KIT has a good specification list that tells what this computer kit is composed of.

LIVA PC Kit Box side 3

Finally the back has the required regulatory symbols that have to be passed to sell this device on the market. This information even advertises that ECS uses soybean ink for environmental concerns for the printing on the box.

Box Opened compartments

Inside is compartmentalized and packaged very nicely depending on the needs of each piece of the kit with sensitive parts getting more attention than the ABS plastic box that is just covered with a thin plastic bag.

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