CompuLab fitlet-iA10 Barebone

The Fitlet i-A10 is the little computer that could! It is very versatile, stable, small, and full of features. I've built it out to be a pfSense firewall for my home network and it performs perfectly. The dual gigabit NIC's make make this possible, which is a very nice feature (one that doesn't exist on many micro PC's). I bought the heatsink for the device as well. It reports running at about 36C (97F) which is actually cooler than my Raspberry Pi 2. Under full load, I've gotten it to 41.6C (107F). You can also increase the top speed of the CPU by changing the TDP setting in BIOS (I'm running 8000 TDP right now). The firewall runs FreeBSD, but I plan on trying Ubuntu or Mint Linux in the future. It even supports Windows 10. With no moving parts, I expect this machine to last a long time.

If you're looking for a good mini-pc, look no farther. I purchased this to replace an old laptop. I wanted something small and expandable. Since I mainly use my computer to surf the web, send emails and stream videos, I really don't need a beefed up system for gaming. I did as the previous reviews recommended by adding 8gb of ram, a 250gb ssd, and the larger heat sink. I installed the latest version of Linux Mint and couldn't be happier with the performance.

fantastic little boxes, but HOT. i wouldn't recommend buying without the extra heatsink.

I recommend buying the bigger heatsink and add a small amount of thermal paste between this heatsink case and the board as it does get a bit warm.Recommend reading their well written Wiki - [...]Updated BIOS to latest version [...]Installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Minimal CDInstalled Compulab's custom Linux Kernel [...]http://amzn.com/B00TQPIRQ4 - CompuLab fitlet-iA10 Barebonehttp://amzn.com/B00TGIVQ4G - Samsung 850 EVO 120 GB mSATA 2-Inch SSD (MZ-M5E120BW)http://amzn.com/B0144ST37Y - Compulab Heatsink for fitlethttp://amzn.com/B00CQ35HBQ - TECHTOO® 9dBi Omni WiFi Antenna with RP-SMA Connector for Wireless Network Router/USB Adapter/PCI PCIe Cards/IP Camera/Wireless Range Extender(3-Pack)