Today's connected life requires quite a few devices no matter what angle you want to look at it. ECS has foreseen this side of the market and has carefully been iterating their LIVA devices in order to have them meet a consumer's base compute needs as technology advances. The physical differences compared to past LIVA units are very clear, and the design change is more than welcome. I live in a community where BMWs, Porsches, and AUDIs are commonplace, and this ECS LIVA Core device is one I can take to my neighbors and get them interested in. We've truly got an elegant device here, and that goes a long way toward making a lasting impression on those users we, as tech enthusiasts, want to influence.

There are clear usage modes offered by the ECS LIVA Core. The included Micro SD port means you can easily import pictures for editing, and the inclusion of an Intel 535 M.2 SSD means the system's base storage is fast enough so as not to hinder performance for those sorts of office-related tasks such devices are intended for. With four USB ports, you can have a keyboard and mouse plugged in along with external storage while having your phone or camera plugged in and charging. Such seemingly simple things truly make this ECS LIVA device deserve the "Core" name as it provides what is now the core functionality of a PC. Add in that it can be hidden behind or under your monitor and doesn't emit a single sound thanks to its passive cooling, and this is the nearly perfect device for those in your family who do not play games.

The ECS LIVA Core is not cheap. It's not like past LIVA devices that are priced at less than US$200. This is a high-end LIVA device with high-quality materials and fast internal storage. That Intel M.2 device isn't cheap. ECS could have chosen a more affordable alternative, but we all know that Intel SSDs are some of the most reliable you can get, so to me, it is critical that we find this M.2 525 drive here. The Broadwell-M chip has decent compute power and video capabilities while consuming only 4.5W, so it is not cheap either. Looking at the MSRPs of the Intel 535 M.2 drive and Broadwell-M 5Y10c, ECS has done well with the budget they've committed to, and then they wrapped it in this sleek casing that is oh-so-easy on the eyes. The ECS LIVA Core should form the basis of basic compute performance for most non-gaming users, and is, as such, comparably priced to other Intel NUC-type devices. So I'm OK with the price, although I know some of you aren't going to be happy since it doesn't have a discrete VGA. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the forums!