{"id":19761,"date":"2016-03-15T09:28:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T01:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geekbuying.com\/geekgiz\/?p=19761"},"modified":"2024-05-29T17:38:05","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T09:38:05","slug":"k3-wintel-windows-10-keyboard-pc-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geekbuying.com\/geekgiz\/2016\/03\/k3-wintel-windows-10-keyboard-pc-review\/","title":{"rendered":"K3 Wintel Windows 10 Keyboard PC Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

GeekBuying sent me K3 Wintel keyboard computer<\/a> since I was interesting in testing a device in this form factor, and at the time I listed the specifications, and took a few pictures of the device and its internals. I\u2019ve now completed the review, and found it to perform very well for a Bay Trail computer.<\/p>\n

K3 Wintel Key Computer Setup & System Info<\/strong><\/p>\n

But the initial part of the review did not start so well, as I was asked for a license key for the device as went through the initial setup right after selecting my languages and regional settings.<\/p>\n

\"K3_Keyboard_PC_Installation\"<\/a>GeekBuying clearly states the mini computer comes with a \u201cLicensed Windows 10\u201d, and I could not find any on the device or the user\u2019s guide, which appears to be a near-exact copy of a Windows 10 Lenovo tablet PC user\u2019s guide\u2026 So I contacted GeekBuying, and after a few days, they replied, not with a product key, but by asking me to click on the Accessibility icon on the bottom left corner to setup the network\u2026<\/p>\n

I did that, but obviously there was no network options, only options for magnifier, on-screen keyboard, high contrast, etc\u2026 But then I discovered a \u201cDo it later\u201d text appears on top of the accessibility icon, so I clicked that, went through the remaining of setup options, and I could finally use Windows 10.<\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a><\/p>\n

The only odd thing was that the desktop background was not the default one, but instead a sports car\u2026 However, the \u201cSystem\u201d window in the control panels confirms Windows 10 is activated. Other parameters are fine with Intel Atom Z3735F processor @ 1.33 GHz with 2.0 GB RAM running the 32-bit version of Windows 10 Home<\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a><\/p>\n

The whole setup process was a little unusual, so I\u2019m not 100% sure if the copy of Windows 10 is legit.<\/p>\n

Windows 10 resolution was set to 1080p50, and the keyboard PC boots very fast, as I can get to the login screen in less than 15 seconds. One annoyance was that the system would go to sleep mode automatically after a host while, even as I was downloading files in Firefox, or extracting files from a zip file. So I went to Power Options and found out the default Plan was to sleep after 10 minutes of \u201cinactivity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a><\/p>\n

I changed that to \u201cNever\u201d and it fixed the issue.<\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a><\/p>\n

The Device Manager shows Bluetooth is supported, WiFi is done Realtek RTL8723BS module, and Ethernet via a Davicom DM9621A USB to Ethernet adapter.<\/p>\n

\"K3_Wintel_HWiNFO32\"<\/a><\/p>\n

HWiNFO32 shows basically the same information as other Intel Bay Trail Z3735F mini PC, except the BIOS\/UEFI binary is specific to the hardware with version k702_windows.<\/p>\n

K3 Wintel Keyboard PC Benchmarks<\/strong><\/p>\n

As with other Windows based device, I\u2019ve run PCMark 8 benchmark starting with the conventional \/ baseline version, and K3 Wintel got 1,021 points compared to 1,052 points for MeLE PCG03<\/a> (Windows 10) and 1,116 points with MeLE PCG01 (Windows 8.1)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"K3_Wintel_PCMark8_Home_Conventional\"<\/a>You can read the detailed results<\/a> on 3DMark website.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also run the Accelerated version of PCMark 8.0 benchmark, and the device achieved only 1,017 points, while in theory it should have been faster. I did not run the benchmark on other Z3735F devices, so it could be that OpenCL is not supported by Bay Trail GPU (TBC). Other low power devices with more recent processors achieved slightly better results, including 1,492 points in MINI NGC-1<\/a> powered by Intel Celeron N3150 (Braswell), and 1,428 points in Voyo V3<\/a> based on Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor (Cherry Trail).<\/p>\n

\"K3_Wintel_PCMark8_Home_Accelerated\"<\/a>You can get the PCMark8 Accelerated results for K3 Wintel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The last benchmark was 3DMark, and Fire Strike 1.1 crashed the Windows drivers like on some other Bay Trail devices<\/a>, but the other three benchmarks went through.<\/p>\n

\"K3_Wintel_3DMark\"<\/a>So K3 keyboard computer achieved respectively<\/a> 410, 1,164, and 13,711 points in Sky Diver 1.0, Cloud gate 1.1, and Ice Storm 1.2, while MeLE PCG01 stick based on the same hardware achieved 439, 1,156 and 14,069 points, so basically the same results.<\/p>\n

The 32GB internal eMMC flash is quite fast for a low cost device, and even faster than the results I got with MeLE PCG03<\/a>, especially with regards to write speed (130.2 MB\/s vs 75 MB\/s).<\/p>\n

\"K3_Wintel_Keyboard_Computer_CrystalDiskMark_eMMC_flash\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

K3 WINTEL USABILITY TESTING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Benchmarks were rather satisfying with results as expected, and in the case of internal storage even exceeding my expectations. I\u2019ve also run a few typical tasks with the keyboard:<\/p>\n