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Aftershock Nano S review: The mighty mini PC

By Koh Wanzi - 24 Aug 2016
Launch SRP: S$1412

Introduction

Probably one of the most compact PCs you ever laid eyes on

Aftershock Nano S

It’s compact, portable, and with an impressively low profile. You can easily pick it up in one hand and move it over to work at another desk. Happily enough, it barely takes up any space on your desk, leaving you free to clutter it up – or maybe keep things tidy if you’re the organized sort – with the detritus of your daily life.

And no, the things we’re talking about is not the latest new-fangled laptop, but Aftershock’s Nano S mini PC. Make no mistake, this is not a mini PC in the sense that it is a small desktop. It’s tinier still, and is actually so compact that you can literally pack it into your backpack and take it with you without anyone knowing that you’ve got a PC in there.

But if you think that the Nano S’s size means that it’s any less powerful, you’d be wrong. There’s actually plenty of room for reasonably high-end hardware and a ton of RAM. For starters, it packs an Intel Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

In other words, it’s plenty powerful for most work-related tasks, including moderate photo and video editing workloads, but it draws the line at gaming. With no discrete graphics card, it’s unreasonable to expect gaming-grade performance from the Nano S. Whatever Intel’s claims about its Skull Canyon NUC, which the Nano S is actually based on, it’s important to calibrate your expectations from the outset and realize that this is not a gaming machine.

 

Ain’t nobody got space for a full-sized desktop

Aftershock Nano S

To set the record straight, the Nano S is really a rebranded version of Intel’s Skull Canyon NUC. Intel officially took the wraps off the machine at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March, touting support for high-end hardware and things like Thunderbolt 3 and HDMI 2.0.

Intel even billed the Skull Canyon NUC as a gaming machine, although without space for a discrete GPU, the single thing backing up that claim was the system’s support for the Razer Core external graphics dock.

With that said, Aftershock isn’t following Intel’s marketing direction and has dispensed with all pretense that you’ll be able to play the latest games on the Nano S sans the external GPU dock. We wholeheartedly agree with this approach – if you’re looking for a compact gaming system, you’re better off looking elsewhere. But if you have your feelers out for a mini desktop for work, there’s plenty of reason to be interested in the Nano S.

For starters, here’s a quick run down of the core specifications on our review unit of the Nano S:

  • Intel Core i7-6770HQ (2.6GHz, 6MB cache)
  • Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580
  • 8GB DDR4 2,133MHz RAM
  • 250GB Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SSD
  • 2x2 Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 with Bluetooth 4.2
  • Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Suffice to say, the 45 watt quad-core Core i7 processor is more than adequate for nearly all productivity tasks, while the 8GB of DDR4 RAM should be enough for all but the most demanding photo-editing workloads.

Still, this is just Aftershock’s recommended configuration, which means it isn’t even the best you can get. It also costs S$1,412 – that’s not exactly cheap, but it appears to us a fairly reasonable price to pay for such a compact and powerful workstation.

Nevertheless, should you require still more system resources, you can opt for up to 32GB of DDR4 2,133MHz RAM across two SO-DIMM slots and a 512GB Samsung 950 Pro PCIe M.2 SSD. If that isn’t enough storage for you, there’s actually a second PCIe x4 M.2 socket where you can opt for a second 512GB Samsung 950 Pro drive. Both M.2 sockets support SATA and PCIe drives in the 2242 and 2280 form factors.

However, if you don’t want to order the beefed-up specifications right off the bat, you’ll still have the option to add in better components further down the road as the system is user upgradeable. Popping off the four screws at the bottom of the Nano S and removing the base plate will immediately reveal the RAM slots and M.2 sockets, allowing you to add and remove the RAM modules or SSDs easily. There's also a small cooling fan inside the chassis – definitely no passive cooling here – that exhausts heat out the back of the system.

Aftershock Nano S base

Aftershock Nano S internal

As it turns out, the Nano S can actually get quite hot after working for extended periods of time, but we didn't see any negative impact on performance, even though we observed the CPU temperatures hitting close to 100 degrees Celsius at times. There's minimal CPU throttling, so it looks like something about the chip or design is actually successfully sustaining performance despite the compact chassis.

When it comes to ports and connectivity options, there’s a surprisingly wide selection for such a diminutive PC. The Nano S measures just 216 x 116 x 23mm, with a capacity of just 0.69L, yet it comes with enough ports that you’ll probably never find yourself lamenting that it isn’t a tower PC. How small is it really? Here's a look at it beside its 120 watt power brick and the 5.7-inch Huawei Nexus 6P. 

Aftershock Nano S size

To put things in perspective, Lenovo’s recently announced IdeaCentre Y710 Cube gaming desktop has just four USB ports, the same number as the Nano S. Aftershock’s mini PC has two USB 3.0 ports on the back, and two more on the front (the yellow port doubles as a charging port). This means you’ll be able to plug in a mouse and keyboard, and still have ports left over for a couple other USB peripherals. There’s even an SD card reader on the front, which we find exceedingly convenient. This also means that you won’t have to waste a USB port on a separate card reader and can leave it free for other devices. A regular 3.5mm headphone jack and infrared receiver are located beside the USB ports.

Aftershock Nano S front ports

Round the back, you’ll find a decent selection of the latest display connectors, including a full-sized HDMI 2.0 port and a Mini DisplayPort 1.2 connector. There’s even a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 port to go with that, so you can even connect up to two 4K displays or just take advantage of the blazing fast data transfer speeds and fast charging capabilities.

On top of that, there’s an Gigabit LAN port that is driven by an Intel I219-LM controller. The wired connection is complemented by a 2x2 Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 module, which tops out at 867Mbps over two spatial streams. There’s even Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity so you can also connect up a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for less clutter.

Aftershock Nano S rear I/O

Finally, the top lid can actually be removed and replaced with a plain cover or one customized to your liking (this will cost you S$90). The skull logo on the top has a distinctly gamer-oriented flavor, but given our reservations about treating this as a gaming machine, it’s nice to have the option to go for a plainer look to cater to more serious users.

The Nano S has greater applicability as a compact workstation and multimedia machine, which is precisely the angle Aftershock has gone with. Having said that, it is still capable of running certain less demanding titles (as we’ll see in the results in the next section) like Dota 2, but don’t be expecting frame rates over 60fps.

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8.5
  • Design 9
  • Features 8.5
  • Performance 8.5
  • Value 8.5
The Good
Compact size and attractive design
Good overall performance
Suitable for professional content creation thanks to Intel Iris Pro Graphics
Good selection of ports and connectors, including one Thunderbolt 3 port
The Bad
CPU temperatures can get a bit high
Mediocre gaming performance
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