ECS Liva X Mini PC Quick Review

ECS finally created a second-generation LIVA mini PC and have demoed it during the latest CeBit exhibition. The LIVA Project is ECS’ effort to miniaturizing a fully functional desktop PC, all within a 135 x 83 x 40mm rectangular chassis.

The result is an impressive feat at cramming everything into a small box. We’ve had the first-gen Liva since June last year and it had some minor design flaws like lack of USB ports and absence of an HDMI port. The Liva X addressed all that and added a few more features.

Here’s a comparative chart between the the LIVA and the LIVA X.

LIVA X	LIVA
Intel Celeron N2808 2.25 GHz dual-core	Intel Bay Trail-M 1.6GHz dual-core processor
Intel HD Graphics	Intel HD Graphics
4GB DDR3L RAM	2GB DDR3 RAM
64GB eMMC	32GB eMMC
Realtek RTL8111G Gigabit LAN	Realtek RTL8111G Gigabit LAN
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n	WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0	Bluetooth 4.0
1 x USB 3.0 Port 2 x USB 2.0 Ports	1 x USB 3.0 Port 1 x USB 2.0 Ports
1 x HDMI Port	1 x HDMI Port
1 x VGA Port	1 x VGA Port

The LIVA X is also housed in a metallic chassis which is slightly larger than the original one due to the additional space needed by the extra ports. With the additional USB ports, it’s now easier to plug an external mouse and keyboard yet still have spare for another USB device.

The new LIVA X is also more powerful than its predecessor. With the original LIVA, we thought the 2GB RAM limit is a bit low considering the Windows environment that we were working with. Granted that the configuration is actually similar to the 8-inch Windows tablet like the Dell Venue Pro 8 or the Lenovo Miix 2 8, the performance we get from that setup is a bit on the low side especially the amount of memory (which is just 2GB).

The LIVA X is perhaps a proper mini-PC with better connectivity, performance and additional ports.

ECS LIVA X specs:
Intel Celeron N2808
Intel HD Graphics
4GB DDR3 @ 1333 MHz
Toshiba THGBMBG9D1KBAIL eMMC 064GE2
(64 GB; eMMC v5.0-compatible)
Ralink RT3290
(1×1 802.11n – 150 Mbps)

The other reason why we think the LIVA X is much better is that ECS has added more ports at the back to support external devices via HDMI, USB 3.0, etc.

The unit does not have any OS pre-installed so you need to install one on first boot. We used a bootable USB flash drive to install Windows 8.1 on the LIVA X. It was pretty straightforward.

With its rather unique form factor and small footprint, there are a number of advantages that the LIVA X offers.

First is the power consumption especially with the Celeron N2808 which is maxes at just 4.5W. Even at high load, it will only consume power no higher than 15W and idle power is just as low as 4W. This means you can keep the LIVA X running 24/7 without worrying that it will eat up a lot of electricity. This is a good option to use it as an HTPC.

Second is the portability. With its ultra-small size, the LIVA X can be brought along anywhere and you can convert any HDMI or VGA display into a fully functioning Windows PC.

Third is the price. With the first-generation LIVA Mini-PC arriving locally for Php8,888, we’re pretty sure the LIVA X will be priced the same or just a little over that range (listed online for $210).