Introduction

I like tiny PCs. I mean fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand tiny. Quite a few have been on these pages already, such as ECS' LIVA units and ASRock's Beebox. However, these ultra-light PCs, while consuming tiny amounts of power, also offer tiny performance when compared to many people's needs. If you surf the Internet, no problem, but most offer limited internal storage, meaning that at some point you're either going to be adding in a USB device or they simply aren't your main PC.

Working together with Intel, ASRock has come up with an entirely new PC form factor, Mini-STX. This new size of motherboard allowed ASRock to slam PC desktop and laptop features together into the tiny size of the DeskMini's 154mm² x 80mm. In that small package, you can add dual 2.5" SATA devices, an M.2 drive, two SO-DIMMs, and a 65W Skylake desktop CPU and cooler. That's right, an Intel i7-6700 can slide right in too, so you can get nearly the best in performance Intel's Skylake CPUs offer in a package that's not that much bigger than Intel's NUC platform.

Rolling ultra-small computing in with high performance CPU capability and high-speed storage is something that is worth considering! Want a 2000 MB+ M.2 drive in your tiny PC? ASRock's DeskMini 110 can do that! USB 3.1 Type-C? Yes, it has that too. If you don't need a GPU for gaming, ASRock's DeskMini110 has pretty much everything you need!

Packaging

I received the ASRock DeskMini 110 prior to retail availability and without retail packaging. I got the unit itself already populated with a CPU and cooler, a new kit of Kingston HyperX DDR4 SO-DIMMs, and the power cabling. Thank you, ASRock!


The provided power brick boasts higher efficiency than some other power supply types, with ASRock claiming a 14% power efficiency boost over traditional PSU designs.


The provided low-profile SATA cabling is weird for sure. Featuring both power and data through the same little plug is awesome for sure, but I only got one and would have liked two. I do believe retail units will have two.


Also included is a set of rubber feet in case you decide to leave this unit on your desk rather than VESA mount it. There are also several screws in the bag for both the M.2 ports and mounting 2.5-inch drives.

Exterior Look

ASrock's DeskMini PCs feature a 5"x5" size, making for a tiny cube that provides performance greater than that of Intel's NUCs.


The front of the ASRock DeskMini 110 has a very simple look with dual audio and a couple USB ports and the power switch. It comes with feet in a bag, so you can decide whether you want to put it on your desk either sitting flat or standing tall.


Both the side and bottom for the rubber feet (which helps minimize transferred noise through fan vibrations) are solid. The remaining sides do have a decent amount of ventilation. The bottom where you'd add the rubber feet so it can lay flat also contains attachment points for a VESA mount. I didn't get a VESA mount or the other required hardware with my demo unit. It appears those must be purchased separately.


The rear of the unit has the power plug's hole, three different video outputs, dual USB, and a LAN port. There are also areas on the case that could allow for the addition of other accessory ports, although wiring to make use of those optional holes were not provided in my pre-release sample, which, like the VESA mount, leads me to think that they also are optional accessories you'd need to purchase separately.