The Dreamcore One is one of the newest small form factor PCs to enter the market. It intends to be a portable PC that is at home on the most space-challenged desk or even in the living room, thus making it a suitable replacement for a console. It boasts clean lines and a brushed aluminum chassis, a refreshing departure from the often garish gaming-oriented designs.
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The chassis is a Not From Concentrate S4 Mini, a 4.3L case that can house up to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070. The aircraft-grade aluminum chassis is both light and robust, with a powder-coated exterior for a nice textured finish. Both left and right side panels are perforated, revealing the interior.
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It's difficult to find fault with the NFC S4 Mini chassis, and the fit and finish feels top notch. We particularly like the smooth, rounded edges, which help create a more seamless look.
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The power button glows a vivid magenta when the PC is powered on. The front of the PC is also blissfully devoid of any interruptions like USB ports or headphone jacks. That may be a problem with larger cases, but the Dreamcore One is compact enough that reaching behind for the rear I/O ports shouldn't be too much of a hassle.
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You can lay the machine flat on its side as well, although it's probably a good idea to keep the side with the fan facing up.
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There are screws on both sides of the case that once removed, will allow the side panels to pop off and give you access to the components inside.
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You can see here the rear of the motherboard and the Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Mini inside. Once the correct screws are removed, the side panel slides right off.
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Our review unit came with a 500GB Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SSD, but there's an option for up to a 1TB Samsung 960 EVO drive.
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The other side panel comes off to reveal the graphics card PCB and chassis fan. You can see here also the single 8GB stick of Corsair RAM.
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Dreamcore has gone with an MSI B250I Gaming Pro AC mini-ITX motherboard, which supports dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
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Here's a closer look at the rear I/O ports. You'll find a total of four USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 ports, in addition to HDMI and DVI-D display outputs.
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Unfortunately, the power source is an external one, and the power brick is as long as the Dreamcore One's base and quite heavy too, so the machine isn't as easy to transport as it might seem. This isn't that uncommon when it comes to mini PCs because of the inherent space limitations, but it is still a bit of a bummer, especially considering the otherwise great design.
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