CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC price and review

CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini pc is perfect for home TV, office work, surfing the internet, watching movies or surfing the web. It comes pre-installed with Windows 10 pro 64-bit system; Quad-core intel Celeron J4125 processor, turbo frequency up to 2.7GHz, 4MB Smart Cache; Built-in UHD Graphics 600 graphics card, which has superior performance and the highest frequency can reach 750MHz. Built-in 6GB LDDR4, 128GB eMMC, supports 128GB Micro SD extension, M.2 2242 SSD(up to 1TB, SATA 3.0 SSD(up to 1TB),128GB TF card. But how much is CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini pc price? Can you play 4K video content? Find more in CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC review.

In the box

The packaging of the Larkbox it is in line with those of the other devices produced by Chuwi. There is no mouse or keyboard, which will therefore have to be purchased separately, but it is present a plate that will allow you to fix your computer behind a monitor or behind a TV: it’s not a bad idea.

Then there are the ritual manuals and a 12V and 2A USB-C power supply, which must be used to power the device but which suggests that those of the company have not been very applied in its miniaturization.

Specifications – CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC

• CPU: Intel Celeron J4115
• Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 600
• RAM: 6GB LPDDR4
• Storage: 128GB
• Ports: 2x USB3.0, 1x USB-C, 1x HDMI, audio jack, MicroSD card reader
• Connectivity: Intel Wireless-AC 9461, 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0
• Weight: 127g
• Size: 61 x 61 x 43mm (LxWxH)

CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC price

CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC price varies from $159 – $199 in the market. The best value PC stick on the market, at least on paper, is the Mele PCG02. It costs just over $200 at AliExpress and comes with an Intel Celeron J4105, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage and surprisingly for an item of this size, an antenna, a Gigabit Ethernet port and it is also fanless. 

Compare CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC vs CHUWI HeroBox mini PC

CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC price and review

Design and build

The LarkBox is incredibly small; with a diminutive size of 61x61x43mm (that’s 160cc), it reminded us of a flattened Rubik Cube and is made almost entirely of plastic. It has a power button shiny silver, a blue status light, two USB ports, a Type-C one (that provides power), a headphone jack, a card slot and a HDMI connector that supports 4K resolution.

There’s plenty of gaps on the chassis to allow air circulation but that didn’t prevent Chuwi from fitting what it calls an “ultra-silence cooling fan”. More on that later. 

VESA mount

Chuwi also includes a VESA mount kit in the box, so you can attach the LarkBox to the back of a monitor or TV with a couple of screws. But since the computer is so tiny, it only needs a half-sized VESA mount that comes with two screws instead of four.

Connectivity

The four main ports are packed tightly together on the back side of the cube. The sole USB-C port appears to be for power only as our IOGEAR USB-C passthrough adapter would not work at all. HDMI 2.0 is supported for 4K60 output.

SD Card Reader

The spring-loaded MicroSD reader is faster than we expected at about 85 MB/s. Moving 1 GB of pictures from our UHS-II test card to desktop takes about 15 seconds. A fully inserted MicroSD card sits flush against the edge and can be difficult to eject.

Communication

A non-removable 1×1 Intel 9461 comes standard for Wi-Fi 5 (or 802.11ac) and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity. Theoretical transfer rates are up to 433 Mbps with our own real-world tests averaging around 350 Mbps when connected to our Netgear RAX200 router.

Processor

The LarkBox uses an Intel Celeron J4115, a quad-core processor that’s apparently part of the Gemini Lake refresh and clocked at 1.8GHz (2.4GHz in boost mode). Intel’s Ark doesn’t list this model and we first came across it earlier this year in another mini PC. This CPU comes with 4MB of cache and most importantly, has a TDP of only 10W. 

Memory and storage

We opened it up and found that the components were arranged in three layers; there’s even a spare M2.2242 slot which allows you to add a SSD although you will be hard pressed to see anything above 256GB that fits this.

That chip is paired with 6GB of LPDDR4 in dual channel mode and 128GB eMMC 5.1 memory (S0j59X); not our preferred option but it helps keep the price of the LarkBox low. Video is handled by the UHD Graphics 600 onboard. The Wi-Fi is handled by an Intel Wireless-AC 9461 and offers 802.11ac with Bluetooth 5.0.

CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC performance review

This is how the Chuwi LarkBox performed in our series of benchmark tests:

• Passmark: 1151
• Passmark CPU: 2640
• CPU-Z: 193 (single-thread); 708.5 (multi-thread)
• Cinebench CPU: 585
• CrystalDiskMark: 333 MBps (read); 109 MBps (write)
• Novabench: 769
• Atto: 325 MBps (read, 256mb); 108 MBps (write, 256mb)
• Sisoft Sandra (KPT): 0.49
• Windows Experience Index: 4.5

While the compute performance of the Chuwi LarkBox was in line with expectations, we were disappointed by the storage subsystem; eMMC is simply not good enough nowadays. Fortunately, you should be able to add a second SSD and clone your existing system there. The device comes with a VESA plate that allows it to be mounted at the back of a monitor.

The Celeron J4115 is the fastest Celeron we tested to date and excels in multi-core benchmarks. It does represent a healthy improvement on the usual N4100 models that we have encountered all too often (about 30%) which is surprising given that they are built using the same 14nm manufacturing process, have the same number of cores, the same amount of cache and number of threads.

We found the LarkBox to be slightly loud because of the heatsink fan; in theory, the LarkBox could go fanless but that would mean carefully placing the processor in a way that helps with optimal dissipation of heat.

CHUWI LarkBox 4K mini PC customer review

Fantastic upgrade to my last Mini PC. Very happy

Size Name: CoreBox

After a recent purchase of a 3D printer I’ve found that my current Chuwi micro PC, whilst very good, doesn’t have the grunt that I need for my CAD software very quickly. I’ve no interest in any heavy gaming but I do like to play the odd thing like my drone simulator.

My daughters are also now using the PC more and more for learning and I want something to keep up with them and last them for a few years.

I decided to look for another mini PC and whilst browsing through I spotted this Chuwi Corebox. Having had no problems whatever with my previous Chuwi G Box Pro I had a closer look at the specs alongside other similarly priced mini PC’s and I decided to get this one as it looked the best bang for my buck (well pound) based on the hardware and preinstalled windows 10.

With an Intel Core i5-5257U processor and 8GB of DDR RAM this sounded more than enough for my needs.

Getting the PC out of the box I was instantly impressed. The black and silver finish looks very nice and I like the pieces that extend out of the sides look very cool, almost futuristic although I guess their true intent is to maintain a clearance gap for the vents on the side.

Inside the box you get the PC (obviously)
A UK power connecter
A power supply
A SATA connecter, should you wish to install an additional hard drive.
Screws to attach the hard drive
Manuals and paperwork.

Before I connected the PC up, I decided I wanted to look inside and see what was going on in there and to see the location for the additional hard drive.

Firstly I took the top off by undoing the 4 screws and found that underneath was… nothing, just the internal case….. so don’t bother with that. better still read the instructions as they explain which panel to take off.

So I turned the PC over and undid the 4 screws but I wasn’t able to get the over off as it was stuck from one side to the middle. I wasn’t sure if I was missing some clips or more screws so it was at this point I opened the manual and established it was only the 4 screws I’d already removed.

I later found out that there is a strip of sticky foam between the lid and the inner case, around the cooling fan. I dont know if this is to reduce vibration or seal it more for better airflow but what I do know is not knowing it was there made it tricky.

I was able to get the cover off after sliding a plastic card under the lids edge to break the seal. I I was then able to lift the lid away from the sticky pad and get inside.

Once the cover is off you can see the hard drive bracket / holder attached to the cover and this will take a 2.5″ hard drive or an SSD in an adapter tray. The 4 screws provided will then hold it in place and the provided cable can be used to connect the hard drive to the mother board.

The amazon listing details the PC as having a 256GB SSD (Solid State Drive) which means that it’s much faster than a traditional HDD (Hard Disk Drive) which has moving components inside. What it doesn’t mention is that its an M2 SSD which, if you look at my pictures, is more of a stick than a traditional looking drive. This M2 connection makes it even faster. A very nice touch and I’m surprised it’s not detailed.

For the time being 256GB storage is more than enough for me so I put it back together and, connected the power supply, a USB keyboard, mouse and my 2 monitors using the 2 HDMI ports (a nice upgrade from my previous 1 x HDMI and 1 x VGA).

I powered the PC on and went through the usual Windows 10 setup process and when I was doneI found both of my monitors displaying their full resolution of 1920 x 1200 which isn’t a surpise with the Intel Iris 6100 graphics as this was previously found in Macbook Pro’s. Not too shabby!

The windows install is clean with no preinstalled bloatware that needed uninstalling so after a couple of minutes of messing around I decided to see how quickly I could get my PC from being off to on and usable. I have included a video but effectively 17 seconds after pressing the power button I was looking at my desktop and ready to work / play.

All of the ports and connections are on the back of the PC which keeps the front looking sleek as the only thing on the front is a power button.

The connections on the back are as follows
2 HDMI out
2 x USB-2
2 x USB-3 (faster than USB-2)
RJ45 Ethernet
Speaker out
Mic in
Power connector

I’m extremely happy with this PC and CHUWI have pulled it out of the bag again. It’s is a nice mix of compactness, form and functionality making a superb setup for my needs.

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By Amazon Reviewer

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