This tiny PC is a big deal: Plenty of ports and power for a very low price

PCs are no longer the massive beige boxes that sit on your desk taking up a massive amount of working real estate. Thanks to modernization and miniaturization, PCs can now fit into a tiny box. 

How tiny? 

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Well, a hockey puck is 3 inches in diameter and an inch thick, which is not a lot bigger than the Blackview MP80. 

And the Blackview MP80 is no performance slouch.

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Blackview MP80

Blackview MP80 is a tiny mini-PC powered by the latest 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake N95 processor, which is a good choice for office work, 4K video playback, online education, and graphic design.

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Blackview MP80 tech specs

• 12th Gen Intel Alder Lake N95 processor (4 cores/4 threads, 6MB cache, up to 3.4GHz, 15W TDP)
• 16GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 512GB M.2 SSD
• Supports 4K UHD high-definition output, 4K UHD display resolution of 4096 x 2160@60Hz, and 1200MHz dynamic frequency
• 3x USB 3.0, 3x HDMI, 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports, 1x 3.5mm HP/MIC TRRS, 1x 5.5mm DC connector, 1x power port
• 4-in-1 cooling and noise-cancelling system
• 2.4GHz/5.0GHz dual band Wi-Fi
• 3.25 x 3.25 x 1.5 inches
• Windows 11 Pro
• 2-year warranty 

OK, here’s what this PC is — and isn’t. 

Let’s begin with what it isn’t. It’s not a machine for heavy gaming. It’s not a machine for heavy image editing or video editing. This is not a machine you buy in order to get performance bragging rights.

It IS a tiny PC that’s brimming with ports, a device that you can put into a small space and get to do some really cool things. It can be a media center or a backup server. It can run a projector or printer at an office. Or it can just be a tiny PC for a kitchen, bedroom — or even a garage.

And it’s no slouch. A decent processor, 16GB of RAM, and an M.2 drive give this system some legs. Blackview benchmarked this PC with Cinebench R23 and got a multi-core score of 891, and a single-core score of 2,630, a respectable score that I was able to replicate to within 5% on either side.

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The MP80’s cooling system is also more than up to the job of keeping this system chilled and running at peak performance. I’ve seen some mini-PCs suffer from overheating and throttling, but even under sustained heavy loads, the MP80 hasn’t shown any signs of straining from a high temperature.

Along with being effective, the cooling is also quiet, so you can have this system running and not be continually distracted by annoying fan noises.

For easy mounting, the MP80 comes with a VESA bracket that enables it to be mounted onto a wall or the back of a monitor.

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The Blackview MP80 is a great little PC with a million different uses, and — for $260 — it won’t break the bank. In fact, it blows me away that you can buy something like this — Intel Alder Lake processor, 16 GB of LPDDR5, a 512GB M.2 SSD, and get Windows 11 Pro thrown in — for such a low price.

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