(22 / 08 / 2016)
Among all media players that we have presented until now, the Vorke V1 interests the most.
Let’s see why…
Packaging
The packaging is simple, eco type /friendly, and contains all that is required .The player itself, wall charger and an adapter for 2.5 inch drives.
We will continue to moan for a wireless media keyboard / air mouse but to be honest the cost would be even higher and the Vorke V1 is not considered one ofe the cheap ones in the market.
For the test we used the all time classic Logitech K400 keyboard / mouse.
Build quality – Specifications
The V1 is made of plastic, but it is quite robust, and its (relatively) increased size is not something to worrie about and it probably helps dismissing overheating phenomena, which was proved in practice throughout the test period. The fan also assists towards that direction it will not distract you since its noise is kept to minimum..
In terms of specifications, the V1 is the king of windows mini pcs.
Equiped with the brand new and quite efficient Intel Celeron J3160 generation Braswell, 4gb DDR3 Ram (can take up to 8gb), and with msata ssd 64gb disk size that can be extended with an additional 2.5 inch hard drive of your choice.
I/Os are also rich with 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0, Gigabit Lan, HDMI, VGA, Headphone Jack and IR (for compatible remote to be purchased separately).
Wireless it will connect with the fastest WiFi AC alongside with BT 4.0
At software level, it comes with Windows 10 Home pre-installed. Of course with original key.
Tests – Performance
From the moment you turn it on, it boots to windows in less than 30 seconds, a very good performance for a mini pc.
Free space is about 47GB, enough to install your basic programs while you can place an extra 2.5 inch HDD if you want .
For home computer use, increased memory helps to respond quickly to all the basic functions such as Internet browsing with many tabs, Office,while listening to mp3s etc.
The Braswell version of Celeron equipped is a little more swift compared to the Quad Atom Zxxx solutions found in other proposals.
The V1 supports 8gb ram but unfortunately this requires replacing the existing dimm instead of adding a second one since there is only one memory slot.
The HDMI output can go up to 4K @ 30hz, while the VGA up to 1680×1050.
Performance tests showed that peripherals performed great for the category.
The SSD has reads with > 400mb / sec while write performance in also excellent for mini pc ,> 145mb / sec.
The choice of an SSD helped a lot with the overall responce of the system. Everything was launcing very fast and noticeable better than other mini pc solutions with simple storage type.
Via WiFi, the ~ 49Mbits / sec is a good performance, but not among the best out there.
In the field of gaming you cannot of course expect to play Doom 2016 or any other modern 3D game but mobile apps like Asphalt 8 perform quite well.
Multimedia playback is an area where V1 shows it’s power.
All Blu Rays playback excellent through power dvd, and hardware accelerated HEVC H.265 are a nice addition compared to previous generations of Intel cpus where they were not supported.
V1 has no issues with 8 bit H.265 files but 10 bit ones are not supported and cannot be hardware accelerated which leads to sloppy playback. These files however are (for now) unpopular and will not create a hassle tothe majority of users out there.
Windows KODI performed well, although in windows environment we prefer more “clean” solutions like the Media Player Classic HC edition.
As bit stream is concerned, DD / DTS pass-through was the limit . There are no drivers for HD Audio and we don’t expect them very soon (if ever). There are rumors that Hd Audio passes through Linux but we did not have enough time to test with another operating system. In theory it should be compatible with Ubuntu releases.
In casual use , we had no problem listening flac in Foobar and surf the web with Chrome and using> 10 tabs open.
As expected, YouTube performed flawlessly with Full HD playback.
Summary
The Vorke V1, excluding NUC and similar solutions, is probably the most powerful windows mini pc with cost less than $ 200.
It is able to carry out any every day task with ease and is the first of it’s kind carrying a fast SSD drive and providing expandable option with memory and HDD.
It is the best mini pc on the market, someone who wants the best needs to put it in his shortlist.
We would like to thank www.geekbuying.com for sending the player in exchange of an unbiased presentation.
- If this review helped you towards making your decision, we would appreciate if you made your order through the previous affiliate link(s). This way we will be able to review more products in the future.