The Aoostar is really small, measuring 5" x 5" x 2.4", roughly the same size as a Mac Mini. It features a surprisingly snappy AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850H 8-core CPU with a max turbo frequency of 4.7GHz and Radeon 680M onboard graphics, and 24GB of soldered LDDR5-6400MHz RAM. It will accept up two three PCI-E 4x4 M.2 SSD modules (none are supplied).

There are plenty of connectivity options here. Running down the list, the ports include two USB 4 Type-C ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two USB 2.0 ports, one HDMI port, one DisplayPort, one 3.5mm audio jack, and two 2.5Gb ethernet jacks. It's also equipped with WiFi 6 wireless networking.

This micro-sized PC works great as a Windows box that can be used for productivity tasks, web browsing, video streaming, and even some light gaming. Attach some local storage to it and it can be used as a home server or a security NVR. It's small enough to tuck away inconspicuously (like affixed to the back of your monitor), sips power, and doesn't get very hot. At this low price, it's a better value and a considerably more powerful alternative to Raspberry Pi.

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