Yay - https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-mini/
2 things - I need one, and it uses Coffee Lake - which hints what would be the next L1x-v5 iteration based upon.
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Minor correction here, the CPU in the Mini is:
Intel Core i7-8565U (Whiskey Lake):
Cheers
nicole
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Ops thanks for correction, skimming through I thought it’s the same as on my laptop
model name : Intel® Core™ i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz
… which is actually kaby lake. such a mess %)
Are you doing something creative with the HDMI output because the Intel spec says “HDMI 1.4” and hence you wouldn’t get 60Hz at 4K UHD res on HDMI i.e. you wouldn’t get HDMI 2.0? External conversion chip?
Pity it has a fan. In that form factor I’m only buying fanless so that the fan can’t be used for exfiltration across the air gap. Nah, just kidding about the exfiltration. Just prefer fanless e.g. HTPC.
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I’m pretty confident i7 needs a fan. All my old low profile HTPCs (atom, via) had a fan, even though their tdp was ridiculously low. Under load (eg kernel build) even they were getting quite hot.
But you can set curves to quite optimistic shape so that fan kicks only when it really really needed
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i7 is a fairly large range but, for example, Zotac CI662 has an i7-10510U (4 core) and is fanless (going off their specs, I don’t own one). Likewise Compulab does fanless i7 devices.
(Adding: The negative about the Zotac, and the positive about the Librem Mini, is the M.2 NVMe support i.e. not in the Zotac but is in the Librem Mini.)
Yeah, maybe. If I were doing kernel builds, maybe I would want a fan.
When in Turbo mode, it can get a frequency of 4.60 GHz, then you really need a fan.
I think the big difference between say, i7-7500U (current Librem laptops) and this, i7-8565U, is that the former is 2 cores whereas the latter is 4 cores. I think that is a more significant difference in terms of heat dissipation as compared with the difference in peak clock frequency (3.5 GHz v. 4.6 GHz).
The other thing to watch out for is I believe that when Intel quotes TDP it is for the base frequency and there is large difference in base frequency in the other direction (2.7 GHz v. 1.8 GHz). I think that reflects what you can get away with when you have 2 cores v. 4 cores.
It depends what “i7 needs a fan” means. Is it talking about all existing Intel CPUs in the i7 range? Is it actually talking specifically and only about the i7-8565U?
Anyway, I know that some forum participants have been requesting a laptop with more grunt (want 4 cores, and dual channel memory capability) and if this device is indicative of the config in the v5 laptops then that should make some people happy!
hmm … maybe … but if it only spikes for a brief period then the fan-speed-settings could be configured to allow a certain amount of time to pass BEFORE ramping up the rpm.
i don’t know what kind of fan this L-mini has but if it’s PWM controlled and is quality-made then it should be possible to set that (in the PUREBOOT settings) to wait at least a few seconds BEFORE you hear any kind of noise.
this way if you spike to turbo 4.60GHz for 1-2 seconds then even if you set the fan to WAIT the heat doesn’t build up that much and noise is tolerable. if for instance you would have a longer period of FULL-LOAD then it would make sense to start the “lawn-mover” and dissipate that heat.
i’m more concerned if the CPU heat-sink can take a few seconds of high load without spiking the CPU temperature unreasonably high (i.e more than 75 degree celsius). what if the ambient temp is 30 degree in the summer or more ?
how has it been tested so far ? what conditions ? can Purism offer us any official or estimated decibel levels @ idle AND full-load ?
it seems it can’t be charged through the USB-C port so no power delivery over-usb-C …
from the intel-ark link the spec indicated between 15w-25w TDP (or can it draw more under full load?). my guess is yes. what is the PSU charger spec ?
could we get some inside photos ? maybe partially blurred out ones if there is anything TOO secret in there that we’re not supposed to see ?
By charged you mean powered? I would assume that for this use case, you expect to power with a desktop AC/DC adapter that connects to the DC-IN connector.
Good question as to what the spec of the AC/DC adapter is i.e. maximum power available (drawn).
My guess is yes. I claimed above that when Intel quotes TDP that is for the base frequency. The unit as a whole draws more than just the CPU however e.g. NVMe SSD, SATA SSD, USB ports, networking, RAM.
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ya ! and i bet that this being a 4c-8t CPU actually benefits from an NVME drive …
while the 4c-4t usually can get by with just SATA 3 ssd …
about the RAM memory modules … on the spec page they are listed as 2100 mhz and 2400 mhz does this mean that a 3000mhz will not work ? i assume that the modules themselves are the small variety (laptop form-factor not desktop grade yes ?)
If you mean the Purism spec page, well, yes, but it also says that on the Intel spec page for that CPU. So let’s assume that that is correct. 
Honestly I don’t know whether anything faster than 2400 MHz will work but I wouldn’t expect to get any benefit from it.
SO-DIMMs. Yes, smaller, as typically used in laptops. The difference in “grade” is minor (comparing a DIMM in a desktop with a SO-DIMM in a laptop, all other things being equal). The main difference is physical size (and price).
I beg to differ. Any current computer will benefit from an NVMe SSD as compared with a SATA 3 SSD - provided that it uses the disk, but therefore not depending on number of cores or number of threads.
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indeed but if they were DIMM not SO-DIMM i could get away with some of my desktop spares laying around …
dang ! i forgot that intel doesn’t work like AMD in terms of RAM speed 
It is not really creative but you already guessed it, the Mini uses an extra chip to handle the HDMI 2.0 this way.
Cheers
nicole
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there was that thing called HDCP with HDMI 2.0 used through-out the “authentication” process during playback of 4k HDR blu-ray films that prevented people with “illegitimate” copies to watch them unless they could somehow either buy a full “commercial” AV experience + the original blu-ray movies disc + a CPU + GPU combo that supported that “feature” + using a HDMI 2.0 cable + a HDMI 2.0 enabled monitor/tv + an active internet connection
in short - people who did not meet those requirements could not play that 4k HDR material even if they had one or only a few of those requirements. without them ALL it would not work
now this “APU” has the 620 iGPU from intel + the intel ME disabled CPU from Purism but i think what i wrote above requires AT LEAST a uhd 630 iGPU from intel (with intel ME left intact ? can somebody else confirm if this is the case ?)
source
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Does anyone have a BluRay drive (whether FHD or 4K UHD) on their computer? Do you?
(The trend these days is not to have an optical drive at all, which saves a non-trivial amount of space.)
Does your scenario of wanting to play commercial BluRay discs work on any Purism laptops?
I do. And it doesn’t take much space. But I don’t have any BD disc for sure, and this drive was purchased as dvd drive for kodi.
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I have nothing to confirm, but just linking (if helps) to this DisplayPort 1.4a to HDMI 2.0b Protocol Converter. Another, very similar one, confirms expectations from your post (in order to play real 4K HDR 60fps material): “This device is an active protocol converter with HDCP1.x/ HDCP2.x repeater supporting HDR video quality for deep color media content playback. This device is suitable for video sources such as BD players, Game consoles and STBs for streaming 4K HDR protected content over HDMI2.0b interface.”
Mar 23, EDIT: Above is related to DP 1.4 (which was wrongly though on my side), therefore for DisplayPort 1.2 it might be about (chip only): MCDP2800 (64 LFBGA, 7x7mm) – LSPCON for Motherboard:
www.megachips.com/products/Product_Brochure/MCDP28x0_Product_Brochure.pdf
or this one (with the same chip):
https://www.kinet-ic.com/mcdp2800/
Optionally, this one:
https://www.paradetech.com/products/ps175/
Intel confirms this solution. Please see Chapter 6: Additional References.
I meant (but didn’t clearly express) a BluRay drive as part of the computer i.e. internal for laptop / desktop / mini.
It is certainly possible to have a USB-connected external optical drive. I don’t have one that does BluRay however.
CEC tunnelling, snooping
“these violent delights have violent ends …”
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