Khadas Mind Premium Review: Raptor Lake-P in a Modular Portable Workstation

by Ganesh T S on September 14, 2023 8:00 AM EST

• Posted in
• Systems
• Intel
• Mini-PC
• Raptor Lake-P
• Khadas

Khadas is simply a well-known vendor successful nan ARM-based single-board machine (SBC) circles pinch boards based connected Rockchip and Amlogic SoCs. Recently, nan company made its first foray into nan mini form-factor x86 PC abstraction pinch a alternatively unsocial merchandise family - nan Khadas Mind. Unlike regular mini-PCs, nan Mind is really an ecosystem of products created pinch nan purpose of bringing a portable modular workstation to nan market. Instead of relying connected Thunderbolt to execute this vision, nan institution has created a proprietary Mind Link connector and interface pinch an intent to nutrient a much close-knit group of products.

The main processing portion successful nan ecosystem is nan Khadas Mind, which comes pinch either an Intel Core i7-1360P (Mind Premium) aliases an Intel Core i5-1340P (Mind Standard). Equipped pinch nan Mind Link Connector, it tin interface to a assortment of peripherals specified arsenic nan Mind Dock and Mind Graphics. While nan erstwhile provides further I/Os, nan second is simply a full-featured eGPU enclosure pinch a assortment of ports. The main portion besides includes a mini artillery that allows nan portion to beryllium seamlessly 'hot-plugged' into different peripherals, akin to a notebook.

Khadas sent crossed nan Mind Premium on pinch nan Mind Dock to supply america pinch an preamble to nan Mind ecosystem. This reappraisal explores nan capacity and merchandise acquisition delivered by Raptor Lake-P successful an different package.

Introduction and Product Impressions

Advancements successful processor architecture and semiconductor manufacturing person resulted successful successful replacement of bulky building desktops pinch miniaturized computing systems complete nan past decade. In parallel, notebooks person besides go thinner, lighter, and very powerful. On nan erstwhile front, galore vendors are enjoying occurrence pinch ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) machines pioneered by Intel pinch nan NUC merchandise line. A fewer years back, Intel besides started to present Compute Elements and moreover notebook platforms nether nan NUC tag successful bid to diversify beyond nan original UCFF vision.

These compact machines person their limitations successful position of level powerfulness dissipation. Addition of discrete GPUs is usually not imaginable pinch nan UCFF form-factor, resulting successful galore use-cases still requiring bulky desktops. eGPU enclosures connected via Thunderbolt / USB4 person started to reside this aspect. Notebook platforms person traditionally been constricted successful position of supported surface sizes. For galore business use-cases successful particular, nan keyboard and built-in surface dishonesty unused, arsenic nan notebook is either docked to a bigger show aliases kept successful storage. Some users adopt a thin-client exemplary for their notebook, but aggregate devices and nan compulsory request for web connectivity whitethorn consequence successful symptom points associated pinch record syncing. Khadas has created nan Mind merchandise family arsenic a solution to these problems.

The ecosystem consists of nan main computing portion and a big of peripherals that interface utilizing a proprietary Mind Link connector. The halfway computing portion is akin to that of an ultrabook's main committee - compact, and constricted successful position of I/O. However, nan leeway complete nan unit's thickness (compared to a regular ultrabook) has enabled Khadas to equip nan committee pinch a vapor chamber-based cooling system. While nan LPDDR5 RAM is soldered, nan strategy comes pinch 2 M.2 2230 Gen4 x4 NVMe slots. Khadas doesn't waste barebones versions, but markets 2 different SKUs that travel pre-installed pinch Windows 11 Home:

• Mind Premium: Core i7-1360P / 32GB of LPDDR5-5200 RAM / 1TB Gen4 x4 NVMe SSD
• Mind Standard: Core i5-1340P / 16GB of LPDDR5-5200 RAM / 512GB Gen4 x4 NVMe SSD

Khadas has plans for a ample number of peripherals:

• Mind Dock: I/O description pinch further web ports, video outputs, audio subsystem, and USB ports.
• Mind Graphics: eGPU enclosure pinch nan NVIDIA RTX 4060Ti and further I/O ports.for nan gaming market.
• Mind Studio: Large touchscreen show pinch further GPU for imaginative professionals.
• Mind xPlay: 2-in-1 tablet / notebook conversion kit (portable show pinch keyboard)
• Mind Talk: Conference room conversion kit

Currently, nan institution already has nan Mind Dock fresh to vessel (it came successful arsenic portion of our reappraisal package on pinch nan Mind Premium), and nan Mind Graphics is expected to vessel successful June 2024. The different peripherals are still successful nan readying stages.

The Mind Premium package comes pinch nan main portion and USB-PD compliant Type-C adapter (up to 65W) and a braided Type-C cablegram on pinch it. A warranty paper and a speedy commencement guideline are besides included.

The assemblage beneath presents nan outer business creation of nan main portion arsenic good arsenic nan Mind Dock.

The main portion is simply a compact rectangular slab measuring 146mm x 105mm x 20mm, pinch a weight of 450g. The rounded edges and metallic enclosure lend it a coagulated look and feel. Unfortunately, nan halfway portion is alternatively anemic successful position of I/O. There are 3 show outputs - a HDMI port, and 2 Type-C ports. Either of nan Type-C ports tin beryllium utilized to link nan powerfulness adapter, but they besides support information transportation arsenic elaborate below. There are 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports. The absence of USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 is simply a awesome letdown, though.

The Mind Dock provides wired networking support, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a SDXC UHS-II paper slot and aggregate USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports. Two HDMI 2.0 ports are besides included. The Mind Dock besides has a fingerprint scholar and a measurement power knob. Speakers are besides built into nan dock.

Khadas provided a full-blown teardown image of nan Mind Standard on pinch their property package.

The main portion is equipped pinch a Western Digital SN740 NVMe SSD, while nan Samsung LPDDR5-5200 RAM chips are soldered. A 5.55Wh artillery is besides included - akin to a notebook platform. However, nan artillery is not meant to beryllium utilized for regular cognition successful nan absence of powerfulness input. Rather, it is meant to assistance successful hot-plugging and allowing nan strategy to spell to slumber without having to unopen down successful nan absence of outer power. Khadas promises up to 25 hours of standby successful specified scenarios.

The afloat specifications of nan reappraisal sample (as tested) are summarized successful nan array below. We measure 2 configurations - 1 pinch conscionable nan Mind Premium, and different pinch nan Mind Dock.

In nan adjacent section, we return a look astatine nan strategy setup and travel it up pinch a elaborate level analysis.