XDO Pantera Pico review
Our Verdict
The Pantera Pico is a tiny PC with a lot of horsepower given its atomic size. While information technology has excellent desktop applications, it also excels equally an HTPC.
For
- Excellent hardware given the price
- Very affordable
- Tiny footprint
- Plenty of ports
Confronting
- No LAN port
- Kickstarter funding/pre-order
Tom'due south Guide Verdict
The Pantera Pico is a tiny PC with a lot of horsepower given its diminutive size. While it has excellent desktop applications, it also excels equally an HTPC.
Pros
- +
Excellent hardware given the price
- +
Very affordable
- +
Tiny footprint
- +
Plenty of ports
Cons
- -
No LAN port
- -
Kickstarter funding/pre-club
XDO Pantera Pico: specs
Price: Starts at $219
CPU: Intel Celeron J4125
RAM: 4GB, 8GB
Storage: 64GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Ports: 3x USB-A 3.0, 1x USB-A 2.0, microSD, HDMI
Dimensions: 2.half dozen x 2.six x 1.75 inches
Weight: 6.2 ounces
Tiny class gene PCs like the XDO Pantera Pico have always been a niche affair, but I find them interesting even so. Of course, devices like this are quite limited due to hardware constraints, restricted to the most basic of tasks (web browsing, web apps, etc.). Nevertheless, they can excel at existence home theater PCs (HTPCs), as well. The Pantera Pico I received for review found a home as just that: an HTPC that could possibly supervene upon my Nvidia Shield Goggle box or Chromecast.
The existent bummer with the Pantera Pico is that XDO used Kickstarter (and now Indiegogo) to fund the projection, but at least the matter actually exists. You can pre-order one of these in a few different configurations and relieve some money with early on bird pricing. But even at full toll, it's a cracking tiny PC for basic tasks. Hook up a monitor, connect a mouse and keyboard, and you're off to the races — or a remote, if you go the fix-top box road.
In this XDO Pantera Pico review, I'll not just touch on this little computer's merits, but besides how it ultimately turned out equally an HTPC.
XDO Pantera Pico review: Price and availability
The Pantera Pico comes in a few unlike configurations. The base model has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $219. The 8GB+256GB variant will toll $249, the 8GB+512GB $279, and 8GB+1TB $349.
If y'all pre-order on Kickstarter, you can get some nice early on bird pricing. Early on bird pricing has been extended over on Indiegogo.
XDO Pantera Pico review: Design
The Pantera Pico comes in some fun colors and I received the crimson model. While it certainly stands out against my dark article of furniture and devices, information technology likewise adds some life to the PC itself. But you can get black, pink, blue, bronze, and lavander, too.
Otherwise, the PC is a little cube, measuring 2.6 10 2.6 x 1.75 inches. Both the front and back contain the ports and vents line the sides. At that place'south a blue light that runs around the articulate border on the top, where you lot'll too find the sleeky black encompass and the XDO logo.
If anything, this design choice cheapens the Pantera Pico for me. The aluminum body looks pretty prissy, but the light square and superlative do not. A matte cover and a simple, single power LED would have sufficed — the blue light is quite bright and the glossy top shows fingerprints and dust rather prominently.
XDO Pantera Pico review: Ports and upgradeability
Being a self-contained organisation, the Pantera Pico doesn't have much room for upgradeability. You're locked in with the options you select at checkout, whether that'southward the 4GB or 8GB RAM options or copious storage choices.
Every bit for ports, the Pantera Pico features three USB-A 3.0 ports, 1 USB-A two.0 port, an HDMI port, USB-C for power, and a micro SD menu slot. There's enough of room to hook up peripherals or drives for storage — you could also turn this thing into a miniature NAS if y'all wanted.
XDO Pantera Pico review: Performance
Given the Celereon J4125 processor, you tin can't wait the Pantera Pico to do also much heavy lifting. The flake is enough fine for basic tasks, like streaming media, web browsing, and writing short- or medium-length documents. A gaming machine this is non, considering it'southward rocking Intel UHD 600 graphics. That means this tiny PC can output 4K, too.
Fifty-fifty so, we ran the Pantera Pico through some of our usual tests.
| Pantera Pico | |
|---|---|
| Geekbench 5.iv (unmarried / multi-cadre) | 449 / 1485 |
| 25GB file re-create (time / transfer rate) | 269 due south / 100 MBps |
| Handbrake (Mins:Secs) | 51:23 |
| Firestrike | 405 |
| Fourth dimension Spy | 134 |
| Dark Raid | 1795 |
The Pantera Pico'due south CPU tries its hardest, but this PC was never meant for difficult labor. Y'all get modest performance, but that'southward enough for what it'due south ultimately meant to practice.
While I've had the Pantera Pico in my living room, I did observe it gets quite hot when merely idling. Be sure you lot leave your unit somewhere well-ventilated.
XDO Pantera Pico review: Software
You lot tin install Windows ten or any Linux distribution of your choice on the Pantera Pico. My review unit of measurement came with Windows pre-installed, and that's what we ran the performance tests on. All the same, I idea this tiny PC would work ameliorate in my home as an HTPC, then my search for an appropriate operating system began.
I came across LibreElec, which is a Linux distribution that uses Kodi as a front-end. It'due south a Television-showtime UI, so I got a remote to control everything. I had hoped that I could replace my Nvidia Shield TV (2017), but limitations in some of the apps my family uses kept the Pantera Pico from truly shining as a replacement.
But equally an part HTPC for Plex and YouTube casting, LibreElec worked fine. It'due south blazingly fast on the Pantera Pico, but I did have trouble getting the installer to piece of work properly. It turned out the upshot was with LibreElec's USB writer software — switching to Etcher solved the problem.
XDO Pantera Pico review: Verdict
The beauty of the Pantera Pico is that it's versatile. Whether you want a beautiful and pocket-sized desktop for basic tasks, an HTPC, and perhaps some kind of server (Dwelling Assistant, Pi-Pigsty, Plex, NAS, etc), this little guy volition serve you quite well.
It faces competition from Intel's NUC products, only the Pantera Pico has a price advantage in about respects. Don't sleep on this one. I've had a ton of fun playing with this tiny PC.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/xdo-pantera-pico
Posted by: meansbutarly.blogspot.com
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