Chuwi AuBox X 256V mini PC review: A microcosm of where small PC designs are heading under the current price pressures

TechRadar Verdict

Had this machine not been supplied with a single 16GB memory module, it would get a much stronger recommendation from me. Despite that mistake, this classy platform delivers a great user experience when combined with the right amount of memory.

Pros

• +Metal chassis
• +Dual M.2 slots
• +Dual 2.5GbE LAN ports
• +USB 4.0 ports
• +16GB of LPDDR5X memory

Cons

• -Zero memory upgrades
• -The fan can be noisy
• -Needs a docking station

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• 30-second review
• Price and availability
• Specs
• Design
• Features
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• Should you buy it?

Chuwi AuBox X 256V: 30-second review

Chuwi has crammed Intel's Lunar Lake platform into one of the smallest and most affordable packages, close in size to the original Intel NUC. The Intel 200 series processor is a serious proposition for anyone chasing efficient local AI compute, a punchy compact desktop replacement, or a whisper-quiet home server.

The 115 TOPS headline figure is not marketing fluff either. With the NPU, GPU, and CPU all pulling together, this machine genuinely handles Copilot+ workloads and lighter local LLM inference without breaking a sweat.

The price is the real story, though. At around $829 direct for the model with the Core Ultra 7 256V silicon, this is slightly more costly than a similar 1TB configuration from GMKtec while maintaining a similar physical footprint. Build quality is impressively high, and it comes with USB 4.0 ports, dual 2.5GbE LAN and dual monitor outputs.

The downsides of this design are that the 16GB of memory is not upgradable, the small size of the system doesn’t allow for a silent cooling system, and using the second USB4 port requires a docking station.

However, most high-end mini systems are transitioning to surface-mounted memory, and there aren’t many other options powerful enough for local LLMs.

Overall, if this system had been launched only a few months ago, it would have been cheaper and probably offered a 32GB option. But its price and specifications increasingly look like the new norm, and by definition, that’s a retrograde step from the systems that came out a year ago.

At a lower price, this might have been featured in our best mini PC guide, but that argument gets less compelling above $800.

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