Minisforum Unveils V3: A 2-in-1 Tablet with Ryzen 7 8840U and Windows 11 Pro
by Anton Shilov on February 8, 2024 10:30 AM EST
Minisforum has formally announced its V3, one of the industry's first AMD Ryzen 7 8840U-based hybrid PCs that can serve as a tablet, a laptop, and an external display, which is why the company positions it as a '3-in-1' system. As the machine packs an eight-core CPU, it may offer the performance of some mid-range laptops. Meanwhile, despite being a 'tablet,' it has two USB4 ports and an SD card reader, a rare feature for this class of devices.
The Minisforum V3 is closer to a classic laptop than a tablet, but this happens often. The system features a 14-inch detachable multitouch display with a 2560×1600 resolution, a 500 nits brightness, a 165 Hz refresh rate (which will undoubtedly be appreciated by gamers), and a stylus support that measures 323.26×219×9.8 mm and weighs 946 grams without the keyboard. The device is made of die-cast magnesium alloy and packs all the common sensors and features for tablets, such as a 5MP rear and 2MP front camera, gyroscopes, and a fingerprint reader.
The Minisforum V3 is powered by AMD's Ryzen 7 8840U (8C/16T, 3.30 GHz – 5.10 GHz, up to 28W) with built-in Radeon 780M graphics (768 stream processors) and is mated to up to 32 GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory as well as an up to 2 TB M.2-2280 SSD with a PCIe interface. To ensure consistent performance under high loads, Minisforum squeezed a cooling system into the tablet with four copper tubes and two fans, a rare feature.
When it comes to connectivity, the Minisforum V3 comes with a Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth 5.3 adapter, two USB4 ports, a V-Link connector (a USB-C that acts like a DisplayPort In), a UHS-II SD card reader, and a 3.5-mm jack for headsets. Thanks to the V-Link connector, Minisforum's V3 can act like a tablet and a laptop and as a display for another notebook.
Minisforum V3 comes with an integrated 50 Wh battery, which is more or less in line with what some other thin-and-light 14-inch laptops offer. To easily balance between a long battery life and maximum performance, V3 has three power profiles, including power-saving mode (15W), balanced mode (18W – 22W), and high-performance (28W). Meanwhile, Minisforum does not estimate the actual battery life of the device for now.
Minisforum is expected to announce the pricing of its V3 hybrid PC next month.
Source: Minisforum
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meacupla - Friday, February 9, 2024 - link
The only thing I'm not too thrilled about is the 8840U.Asus Flow Z13 manages to cram a i9-13900H and RTX 4050 into a similar size, so it seems like a 7840HS/8840HS might have been thermally possible.
Still, it would be nice to see how it performs.
goatfajitas - Friday, February 9, 2024 - link
"The only thing I'm not too thrilled about is the 8840U."Its nearly the exact same CPU isnt it? Same cores, same specs, same 4nm process, lower voltage spec on the U. The performance difference would really only play out depending on heat and load which is more dependant on htecolling solution.
meacupla - Friday, February 9, 2024 - link
Yeah, they are the same. The difference is in binning, clockspeed, and max sustained TDP.If the cooling is sufficient the U series should behave like an HS series.
The question I have is "how close?"
heffeque - Friday, February 9, 2024 - link
No thank you. This is supposed to be more portable than powerful, so U series is the best fit.That being said, AMD's U-series has an incredible efficiency, especially compared to Intel's offerings.
Can't wait for Notebookcheck to review it!
Though personally right now waiting for a Minisforum MiniPC that has a 7600M XT or even a 7900M dGPU (fingers crossed!)
meacupla - Friday, February 9, 2024 - link
That's the thing though... Flow Z13 still retains portability while packing hotter running hardware.heffeque - Sunday, February 11, 2024 - link
Battery life on the Flow Z13 is not great. No need for HS on this form factor.goatfajitas - Friday, February 9, 2024 - link
The rest of their products are very fairly priced. I just bought a UM780 last week and am loving it. Was worried about the (to me) unknown brand but this little thing is a beast.lmcd - Sunday, February 11, 2024 - link
I'm personally hoping they go the other direction with a $400 N100 tablet. A well-made board (efficiency-wise), battery, and screen selection could make for the first meaningful iPad competitor in years.RogerAndOut - Monday, February 12, 2024 - link
$400 N100 tablet, that end of the market is being serviced by Chuwi with their 13" i5-10210Y based UBook XPro 2023 or 10" N100 based MiniBook XTekCheck - Tuesday, February 13, 2024 - link
Will USB4 ports feature DP 2.1 AltMode at 40 Gbps?