Review: Pipo X7

Introduction and performance

We first encountered the Pipo brand when we reviewed the W2 a few months ago. The tablet left us with a good impression of the China-based company, especially when it came to value for money.

So much so that we've asked for another device from them, the X7, which promises to hit the right notes as well.

The X7 is essentially a mini computer that utilises the same kind of hardware you'd expect to see on a tablet, an entry-level laptop or smartphone. This one doesn't have any baseband hardware, cameras, display or battery, which means that it should be significantly more affordable.

Design

Instead, everything is neatly packed in what looks like a sleek aluminium enclosure that also doubles as a giant heat sink with plenty of vents on the sides and underneath. Other than Pipo's logo/labels, there's nothing; no Intel Inside, Windows 8.1 or Office 365 stickers.

This machine is tiny at 188 x 129 x 25.6mm (W x H x D, 7.4 x 5 x 1-inch) and light (440g, just under a pound) though. When we took it apart, we found that there was plenty of space inside, which is ideal to keep things cool and prevent the processor from throttling.

We were sent the grey model but a black one is also on sale. Both carry the same price: $97.99 including delivery but excluding taxes (which is around £67, AU$124).

Inside the Pipo X7 is a quad-core Intel Atom Bay Trail-based processor, the ubiquitous Z3736F, a 22nm part clocked at 1.33GHz, but capable of ramping up to 2.17GHz.

It is backed by 2GB of DDR3 memory and 32GB of storage courtesy of the equally popular Samsung MBG4GC; the same part can be found in the Dell Venue 8 Pro and the Microsoft Surface 2. Note that Windows shows that 23.5GB of that storage is accessible with about 16.1GB free (that's after more than 90 updates to Windows).

You can supplement that by adding a microSD card and even more if you attach external hard disk drives to the four available USB ports (there are two front and two at the back, even if they are all USB 2.0 which is a real let-down).

Since this is a desktop PC, you can also expand remote storage by hooking up a NAS either via wires (through the 10/100Mbps Ethernet port) or wirelessly (thanks to 802.11n connectivity) helped by an external antenna.

Other ports/connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.0, a dual-purpose audio connector, an HDMI port and a power-in for the 24W external power supply unit. A single button is used to power on the computer and a red LED lights up when the machine is turned on.

Performance

As far as performance is concerned, the X7 should be more than adequate for the non-demanding, average user, the type of audience who would be content with that box which can make a TV "smart". It boots really fast and 13 tabs opened in Internet Explorer 11 consumed only about 40% of the device's processor resources (and 90% of system memory).

Don't expect to game seriously on the X7 though. The graphics performance is likely to be ridiculously low thanks to a combination of paltry video memory (32MB) and entry-level graphics (an Intel HD Graphics part clocked at 313MHz).

It does turn relatively warm when in use but never hot to the touch (unlike some laptops I've tested in the past).

The X7 hit 2.9 on Microsoft's Windows Hardware Experience Index with graphics revealed to be its major weakness. It scored highly on processor (5.6) and hard disk (7.1) on a scale of 7.9.

An interesting titbit: one of the tools we used, PC Wizard, reports that the X7 runs on a 32-bit version of Windows 8.1 v6.02.9200 Connected Home Edition, a moniker we haven't come across yet. Still, this one came with Bing (as expected) and Office 365 Personal, even if it is not mentioned anywhere.

Verdict

Pipo has managed to produce a nice little piece of kit and I have to say, it does everything we expected from it. The X7 ticks all the right boxes as long as you are not too demanding. It's true that there are some shortcomings, but none of them are deal-breakers.

We liked

As a geek, I have to say that I appreciated taking it apart and looking at this machine's insides – a thumbs up for that. I liked the fact it shipped without any bloatware – which might have a negative impact on the user experience – but Office 365 Personal is here which is worth £50 (around $75, AU$95) by itself. It ran totally silent thanks to the lack of fan, which makes it ideal as an HTPC.

We disliked

The X7 isn't perfect though, and if there's anything Pipo could do to improve the device, the first thing would be to swap the USB 2.0 ports for USB 3.0 ones, and upgrade the Ethernet port to GbE. Pipo might also want to consider putting the power supply unit inside the computer to eliminate the need for a bulky external plug. Lastly, how about a VESA connector should you want to shove the device behind a monitor or television.

Final verdict

Should you buy it? Yes, if you can. The device is not on sale in the UK at the time of writing although you can import it from a fair few online retailers (thanks to Geekbuying for providing us with our review sample). Those looking for a more powerful alternative might consider a NUC (Next Unit of Computing) like this Intel one.

If you want something more portable, a tablet like the Pipo W2 – which is slightly more expensive – might be a better option. It's worth noting that Pipo is likely to launch an HDMI dongle running Windows in the near future. It already sells Android-based affairs and there are no technical challenges that would prevent the company from doing the same for Windows.

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