Shuttle DH02U7 - Review 2022

Finding a mini PC that supports up to iv displays is hard enough, let alone one that can be VESA-mounted backside one of them. The Shuttle DH02U7 (starts at $i,487; $1,795 equally tested) does both. The DH02U7 is built for professional use, but at that place's nothing that says its industrial-class capacitors and 24/seven operational design would brand information technology a bad home PC. Yous can buy this model pre-configured and fix to use out of the box, or as a barebones unit of measurement to which you lot add your own components. Thr DH02U7 is a viable choice if quad-monitor support and VESA-mounting options are a priority, but the workstation-grade HP Z2 Mini G4 steals its thunder. Our Editors' Option winner in this segment, the Z2 Mini G4 offers a similar feature set and significantly improve performance for about the aforementioned money.

You lot've Got That Industrial Look

The TLDR version goes like this: The Shuttle DH02U7 is a small 1.7-past-vi.vii-past-7.5-inch (HWD) metal box with no styling ambitions. That might exist oversimplified, but I remember it's on point. One glance at its direct-lined outside is sure to give y'all a gut reaction around whether looks affair to you.

The DH02U7 has its own mode, in an industrial sort of way. The lack of flair is a plus if yous want to keep things depression-central and/or make others think you didn't spend equally much every bit you did. If you plan to VESA-mount this PC and continue it out of sight, the looks could be a moot betoken, anyway.

The four.8-pound DH02U7 is heavier than information technology looks. The heft is a practiced matter; the chassis is sturdy and inflexible. The squared-off corners aren't abrupt. The power supply is external, as is typical with most mini-PCs. A 120-watt adapter was included with my Cadre i7-powered review unit.

The VESA mounting holes are on either side of the chassis. The included VESA bracket supports the 100mm-by-100mm and 75mm-by-75mm standards.

Quad Monitors on a Mini PC

This Shuttle supports quad monitors thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics fleck. (At the link, just for a crude thought of GTX 1050 operation, is a review of an indicative GTX 1050 card, not the verbal compact version employed here.) If it had integrated Intel graphics, every bit is the norm with mini PCs, only two or three monitors would be supported, and that's presuming the PC offered that many connectors in the kickoff place. And then, four connectors is a care for.

I'd be over the moon if there were some diverseness amongst them, but they're all HDMI. At least i DisplayPort connector would have been welcome, as it would have opened the door for daisy-chaining fifty-fifty more than displays. It's admirable that all of the HDMI ports are full-size, though, so you lot won't need to purchase special cables or adapters.

Information technology's specially notable that the HDMI ports are version 2.0. I consider that a requirement for hooking up HDMI-enabled 4K displays, as the version 2.0 ports support 4K out at 60Hz. You wouldn't want to run a 4K monitor off an HDMI port that isn't version 2.0 or amend, as you'd but get 30Hz (or less) at 4K. If you're looking at a high-terminate digital-brandish solution like this, yous want things to wait their best. You shouldn't accept to compromise on refresh rate at this system's price.

The quartet of HDMI video-out connectors resides along the back of the DH02U7, along with an Ethernet jack, two USB Type-A 3.0 ports, the ability-adapter jack, and both antennas for the internal Intel 3165AC wireless bill of fare. Also, a legacy serial port underscores the professional audition of this PC; plenty of vertical-market devices out in that location still apply the aging standard, and USB-to-serial adapters sometimes but don't cutting it. Non visible in this photo are the two security-cable lockdown notches; the DH02U7 conveniently has i along each side of the back corners. The idea is that if this PC is deployed in a kiosk or other public place for digital brandish purposes, you'll desire to lock information technology downward.

The front holds split microphone and headphone jacks, plus 4 USB Blazon-A ports, two of which are version ii.0, and the others version 3.0. The power push button sits in the centre. A flash-card reader is missing in action, but for most deployments in public spaces, it would be irrelevant, anyway.

Ultrabook-Class Operation

When I wrote this in late September 2022, Shuttle's online store immune only the base Celeron 3865U-equipped DH02U model (note the lack of a "7" at the end) to be custom-configured, non the DH02U7 I'm reviewing. I searched online and plant the Core i7-7500U-equipped barebones model for $1,487 on Amazon. Pricing out the components included with our review unit—Windows 10 Pro ($149), 16GB (2x 8GB) of DDR4-2133 laptop-style memory ($125), and a 2.v-inch 120GB Western Digital Light-green SSD ($33)—my unit of measurement comes to a street price of $i,795.

That'due south going to sound like an atrocious lot of money if you lot're coming from the traditional desktop world. The Cadre i7-7500U dual-core processor provides the level of functioning you lot'd arrive a thin-and-calorie-free notebook, not a desktop. The quad-core processors typically found in mid-tower desktops half the price of my DH02U7 would run rings around information technology in benchmark tests. And so again, the DH02U7 is a fraction of the size of a mid-tower, so perhaps that's a fair trade-off.

The Cadre i7-7500U processor has plentiful pep for most usage. Notwithstanding, information technology's not well-suited to CPU-intensive tasks running over a long menses of time. Office productivity, web browsing, and 1080p video streaming across multiple displays are its potent suits. The 16GB of dual-channel retentiveness in my review unit provided plenty of multitasking headroom.

Mini-PCs sporting defended GPUs tend to be few and far between. A business-class competitor to the DH02U7 is the HP Z2 Mini G4 workstation mentioned earlier, which I mock-configured on HP'southward website for $two,000, comparably equipped. On the consumer side of the equation, however, I found the barebones model of the Zotac ZBox Magnus EN51050 was but $669. Information technology includes Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics, albeit a 2GB version. (The Shuttle I'm reviewing has the 4GB carte du jour.) Toss in the components I mentioned to a higher place, and it's withal nether a one thousand. But the Zotac isn't VESA-mountable like the Shuttle and HP units, which is potentially a major turn-off, nor does information technology have a professional feature set.

Piece of cake Disassembly

The summit cover of the DH02U7 slides off subsequently removing the two screws belongings information technology on. Cabling is kept to a minimum in its surprisingly roomy interior. The 2.v-inch bulldoze bay comes out after removing the chassis cross-brace, under which you'll notice the wireless carte and an M.2 Blazon-2280 (80mm) slot for an SSD. (The M.ii slot was empty in my unit; see our picks for the best M.2 SSDs.) Two storage drives are what we await in a PC this size.

The two 260-pin And then-DIMM slots for laptop-fashion DDR4-2133 memory are too under the 2.5-inch bay, occupied in my unit by a 16GB (two 8GB-DIMM) dual-channel setup.

Taking It to the Demote...

Although it's a fine performer for everyday usage, the Core i7-7500U dual-cadre processor in the DH02U7 held it back in near of our tests. As I noted, this PC isn't designed for heavy workloads. The Western Digital Dark-green SSD in our unit is likewise entry-level, only it's still much faster than a traditional difficult bulldoze.

See How We Test Desktops

The 3,360-point showing from the DH02U7 in our PCMark 8 Work Conventional benchmark indicates it's ideally suited for everyday productivity usage. The tiny Intel NUC Kit NUC8i7HVK led the pack, thanks its fast Intel core i7 quad-core processor and meridian-of-the-line storage.

The performance disparity between the DH02U7 and the other units is pronounced in the CPU-express Cinebench and Handbrake tests. As I said, its Cadre i7-7500U is a adept choice for nigh usage, but there's no substitute for more cores when heavy lifting is required. The hexa-core Xeon processor in the HP Z2 Mini G4 workstation is light years ahead.

The GeForce GTX 1050 in the DH02U7 comes to its rescue in the 3D-related benchmarks. Information technology's slightly stronger than the Quadro P1000 in the HP Z2 Mini G4, and expectedly matches the GTX 1050 in the Zotac ZBox Magnus EN51050. The DH02U7'due south 2,549-point showing in 3DMark Burn down Strike Extreme suggests information technology can handle some newer game titles. The MSI Vortex G25VR and the Zotac ZBox Magnus EK71080 are far better-suited for fragging.

Cooling Performance

Two modest fans inside the chassis are responsible for keeping the DH02U7 cool. The fan closest to the front end is for the Intel CPU, and the rear fan is for the Nvidia GPU. Holes around the fans in the peak of the chassis are the chief air intakes. Meanwhile, exhaust is pushed out grates running forth either side of the chassis.

I institute the metallic chassis likewise acted every bit heatsink when I started running benchmarks. This PC gets hot to the touch on under full load, and information technology'due south not quiet. The tiny fans must spin fast to movement enough air.

In that location's a distinctive high-pitched motor sound at their peak speed, aural across a living room and probable loud plenty to be heard over a quiet moving-picture show. It's a good affair they were spinning fast, however; I observed the core temperature of the GTX 1050 level off in the upper 80s (that's degrees Celsius). That's too close to the carte's thermal limit for my preferences, but it never did exceed that range.

A Hefty Premium for Flexible Digital Signage

A mini PC that supports quad displays and VESA-mounting options is rare, but you'll find them both in the Shuttle DH02U7. It blends a rugged industrial design, niche professional person features similar a serial port, and simple end-user serviceability into a tiny package that yous can hide backside a monitor. It might not exist a whole lot to look at, but once again, hiding it is the whole point.

The DH02U7'south competition, notwithstanding scarce in number, is trigger-happy. The HP Z2 Mini G4'south available hexa-cadre processors run rings effectually the dual-core chips in the DH02U7, even the height-tier Core i7-7500U in our test unit. The HP also supports VESA-mounting options, can be configured with a serial port, and can connect even more displays (upwardly to six) by daisy-chaining off its DisplayPort connectors. The $1,795 street price of our DH02U7 didn't aid its cause, as the HP tin can be had for nearly that much.

Overall, we like the potential in the Shuttle DH02U7, just it needs a quieter cooling system and a price cutting to make a viable alternative as a performance PC to the HP Z2 Mini G4, which remains our top choice and Editors' Choice in the professionally geared mini-PC segment. If you're looking for simpler and cheaper digital signage, yous'll want to investigate some of the other models from Intel and Zotac mentioned earlier.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/desktops/29749/shuttle-dh02u7

Posted by: battlerunted.blogspot.com

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