The latest small-form-factor desktop computer from Chinese PC maker Chuwi is a 7.4″ x 7″ x 2.4″ computer powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 4900H octa-core processor. First announced in September, the Chuwi RZBOX mini PC is now available for pre-order for $499 and up.
For that price, you get a barebones computer with AMD’s 8-core, 16-thread processor with support for speeds up to 4.4 GHz. But keep in mind that it’s a promotional “early bird” price for folks who pre-order. Chuwi says the retail price for barebones models will be $569 eventually.
You can also opt for a version that ships with 16GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and a 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD. That model sells for $649 during the pre-order promotion and has a retail price of $749.
The Chuwi RZBOX has an all-metal chassis, a fan for active cooling, and an interesting mix of modern and legacy ports including:
- 2 x Gigabit Ethernet
- 1 x HDMI 2.0
- 1 x DisplayPort
- 1 x VGA
- 2 x USB 3.0 Type-A
- 3 x USB 2.0 Type-A
- 1 x USB 2.0 Type-C
- 1 x 3.5mm headphone output
- 1 x 3.5mm microphone input
Under the hood, the system has two slots for up to 32GB of total DDR4-3200 memory and two M.2 2280 slots for PCIe NVMe solid-state drives.
While barebones models of the RZBOX will ship without any operating system, customers who pre-order the 16GB/512GB model will have Windows 10 Home version 1909 pre-installed, and Chuwi notes that the computer qualifies for a free upgrade to Windows 11. It also supports Ubuntu and other GNU/Linux distributions if you’d rather go in that direction.