Minisforum GN31 Mini PC Review
The Minisforum GN31 Intel Windows 10 mini PC is not the best mini PC on the market, but it can do something that most mini PCs failed to do successfully and that is dual boot to Android X86. Not just dual boot, but boot with 90% of all Android features working, including audio passthrough via the HDMI port and Netflix working (STD 480p)
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GN31 Hardware
- CPU – Intel Celeron J3160 2.24GHz
- GPU – Intel HD Graphics 400
- RAM – 4GB DDR3
- Internal M2 SATA – Hooddisk 128GB
- WiFi – Dual Band AC 2.4GHz + 5.8GHz
- LAN – 1000Mbps
- Bluetooth – 4.1
- Expandable SATA – 1TB 2.5″
- 2 USB 3.0
- 2 USB 2.0
- 1 HDMI 1.4
- 1 VGA
- 1 Micro SD TF
- 1 headphone jack
Windows Features
- Full Microsoft Office working well (not included in purchase)
- YouTube in 4K/8K
- Netflix in HD/4K
- Antivirus compatible (not included in purchase)
- Activated Windows OS
- 4K 2160p display resolution
- Keyboard and gamepad compatible (not included)
- Dual Boot ready (compatible with all Android X86 ROMs)
Benchmark Windows 10 OS
- Geekbench4 – 1022 single-core | 2951 multi-core
- Ice Storm Extreme – 14,510
- Cloud Gate – 2047
- RAM Copy – 4436 MB/s
- Disk Speed – 437 MB/s write | 512 MB/s read
- WiFi – Low speeds
- LAN – maximum speed
GN31 Dual Boot To Android 9 Pie X86
Bliss ROM Android 9 Pie X86 Features
- Launcher with drag and drop, pop up menus, and navigation bar and status bar.
- OS is rooted.
- Google Widevine Level 3 / No HDCP
- Netflix in 480p quality
- Amazon Prime working
- YouTube 4K (Smart YouTube TV version)
- YouTube 1080p – (Android TV version and Vanced version)
- No Dolby vision / DTS audio
- 3D gaming with Vulkan
- Screen mirroring (airscreen app)
- No root switch in this ROM ( Available in other X86 ROMs tested)
- “AUDIO Pass-through HDMI”
Android X86 Benchmarks
- Antutu – 94,175
- Geekbench4 – 1143 single-core | 3435 multi-core
- Ice Storm Extreme – 6854
- Slingshot extreme (Vulkan) – 1508
- SlingShot – 1981
- RAM Copy – 5306
- Internal Storage speed (500GBG SSD) – 462 MB/s | 313 MB/s
- LAN – Max speed
- Wifi – Poor speed 5.8GHz not working under X86
Conclusion
The Minisforum GN31 is one of the mini PCs that I personally like. Not for the Windows OS most mini PCs have that covered, but for the dual boot option to Android X86 with audio via the HDMI port. This is almost perfect for a dual boot project and I look forward to the day when we have full compatibility of Android running Super powerful hardware.