A look Inside

Tearing the ECS LIVA Z apart was quite easy. I started by partially screwing in a screw for the VESA mount to act as a handle. Then, I removed all four screws and lifted the bottom off the unit. This gives immediate access to the M.2 and DDR3 SO-DIMM slots. The first M.2 slot is populated by the wireless card, while a second can be filled with an M.2 2242 form-factor SSD. So if you plan to expand your storage options, that's the size to look for. The single 4 GB stick of memory is a Kingston CBD16D3LS1KBG/4G rated at 1600 MHz with 1.35V.


Carefully removing four more screws allows for the motherboard to be lifted out of the enclosure. Be careful as small wires are attached to the wireless card. The CPU heatsink does in fact have a copper core that pulls heat away from the Celeron N3350 SOC and dissipates it through a large aluminum array. Considering the CPU has a 6W TDP, it is more than adequate for regular usage. Finally, a look at the system board itself shows that it is quite heavily populated given its small size. Thermal compound was well applied and the board is generally well thought out. Build quality here is quite solid, and with the option for some minor upgrades, I am quite impressed.