PiPo’s X series is their experimental Mini PC hybrid lineup, the X9 was somewhat of a hit for them, proving to be a popular hybrid mini PC meaning you could operate it without the need of a keyboard or mouse due to its touch screen. So now X9 successor is out what did PiPo improve? Well, it’s now fan cooled, one thing the X7 and X9 ran into after a full day or working hard was thermal throttling. Pipo now claims that issue is solved with the addition of not only a larger heatsink but a small fan to constantly cool the PC.
The screen now as been upgraded from a 16:9 aspect ratio screen to a 3:2 screen, in fact the same panel used in the Microsoft Surface 3 with a resolution of 1920 x 1280. And lastly, a 10,000 mAh battery was added for portability and UPS battery backup. Previous models didn’t have batteries in them. The below is a video review, but there are pros and cons, my rating as well as a verdict below.
Verdict:
Overall I find the X10 to be a disappointing upgrade over my PiPo X9, sure temps are good now never reaching over 78 degrees C, but now we have an annoying fan. If you’re using it next to you, you’ll hear its constant buzz. Having a battery is handy in case you want to move the X10 about, but it’s not really portable enough and PiPo could have gone with a smaller battery to lower the cost of the unit I feel.
The screen is a nice new addition, but it’s almost ruined by only 205 lux at maximum brightness and a huge non-laminated gap of around 3mm is one of the largest I’ve seen.
Other issues like no microphone or mic inputs on the device means you have to use webcams with microphones or plug in an external USB mic, with plenty of USB ports that’s not an issue. But still would be nice to have one built into the unit or at least 3.5mm headphone with mic support. RAM is only clocked to 1066Mhz DDR3, however the X5 Z8300 as seen in other devices does support 1600Mhz. Whatever you do, don’t change the bios settings to 1600Mhz, it will brick the device. The RAM chips are only 1066Mhz it seems!
The fan also starts up with a grinding buzz and vibrating sound, lucky it settles after a while. The USB ports when in use cause interference on the average sounding left and right speakers. My unit also shipped with only Windows 10, no dual OS like the X9. But Pipo recently released the files to convert it to Android and Windows 10. They are now starting to ship dual OS versions too.
So if you’re looking for a hybrid mini pc like this, I recommend the X9. I found it to be much better. See my Pipo X9 review here.
