Fanless Intel N100 stick PC bundles Windows 11, 16GB RAM and 256GB eMMC into a tiny form factor

Mele PCG02 Pro Stick PC with Intel N100 CPU — (Image credit: Amazon)

Mele has released a new stick PC based around a quad-core Intel Alder-Lake N100 3.4 GHz CPU. The PCG02 Pro has been designed to work with dual displays, making it a versatile and easy-to-carry general-purpose PC. Hat tip to Fanless Tech.

The company has older variations of the PCG02 Pro but what makes this stand out is the Intel N100 CPU as it is versatile in performance and features for its size while being low-powered. It has four CPU cores and on-chip UHD graphics, enabling 4K resolution at 60 FPS to two displays via dual HDMI which Mele advertises as a key feature. The CPU supports up to 16GB LPDDR4X soldered RAM on the Mele PCG02 Pro PC. For storage, it has 256GB eMMC and a micro SD port for expanded memory. Intel's SoC has also piqued the interest of Raspberry Pi users in terms of its performance versus power consumption. While it is pre-installed with Windows 11, it is compatible with Linux.

The device is aimed at those of us who want a quiet and portable general use PC, this isn't a gaming PC, unless you like retro gaming. Just like other stick PCs in the range, it doesn't have any format of M.2 storage. Instead the user must upgrade their storage using the Best Micro SD cards which should offer similar performance to the onboard eMMC.
The PCG02 Pro is complete with a dual Wi-FI AX and Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless networking. Dual USB 3.2 and a type C provide basic connectivity. The Intel N100 CPU is a power efficient, yet potent CPU that will handle multiple applications with relative ease. As long as your requirements don't push the N100 too hard, you'll get decent desktop performance for many tasks.

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According to a Reddit thread of N100 owners, the performance of the N100 is close to Skylake flagships without E-Cores. We've not tested this, but it seems that there are many happy users in the thread. The performance and power consumption of this CPU makes it ideal for HTPC, File, or Plex servers. It could also make for a decent emulation platform for older consoles, or as a PC gaming machine for titles released in the last decade. Since it supports Quick Sync and AV1 decoding, one would assume this will be perfect for broadcasting livestreams via OBS. Since the Mele PCG02 Pro can be powered by a power bank, it becomes a better option for backpacking livestreams and outside broadcasts.

Since Intel discontinued its NUC and subsequently gave the form factor to Asus, many brands are keen to fill the gap in this segment. The purpose of such stick PCs is usually for general purpose and office work with the ability to provide multimedia experience. Stick PCs can also be found in digital signage But as noted earlier, the Intel N100 seems capable of running some known games, but this device is more for productivity and low-power projects.

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Roshan Ashraf Shaikh has been in the Indian PC hardware community since the early 2000s and has been building PCs, contributing to many Indian tech forums, & blogs. He operated Hardware BBQ for 11 years and wrote news for eTeknix & TweakTown before joining Tom's Hardware team. Besides tech, he is interested in fighting games, movies, anime, and mechanical watches.

10 Comments Comment from the forums

JamesJones44

Pretty cool, but eMMC is disappointing. I'm sure that is the best they could do for the price envelope, but my experiences with eMMC have been very disappointing as far as performance goes. Great for secondary storage, but for primary storage it's just too slow.
Reply
mac_angel

these aren't new. They have been around for a few years now at least, just slightly updated specs.
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derekullo

We used a combination of Intel NUC, Asus NUC and Intel Compute Sticks velcroed to the back of a TV for displaying camera feeds from the cameras for different areas of the multiple libraries we serve.

The NUC's still work just fine, but the Intel Compute Sticks which these mirror only lasted for about a year and half before the fan started to go out and staff complained about the noise since it was located just above their circulation desks.

They were never taken off so it was a literal year and a half of uptime before the fans in the Intel Computer Sticks started to go out.

Not having a fan that can fail could make us reconsider them for our future needs.
Reply
Notton

I hope that eMMC is sitting in a M.2 SATA or NVMe slot.
I like that it comes with 16GB of RAM. That's the maximum N100 supports, and is plenty for windows.
Reply
wr3zzz

I would definitely consider getting one if they can get it under 1 lb. Also from a more reputable brand. I need fanless but not if it means the unit is easily fried due to poor design/build.
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BleuCheddar

"the performance of the N100 is close to Skylake flagships without E-Cores"

N100 uses Alder Lake E-Cores which have roughly the equivalent performance of a "flagship Skylake CPU" core, individually. Skylake didn't have E-Cores (those are a new development still) and the wording could mislead an inexperienced reader to think an CPU architecture from 2015 (a.k.a. 6th Gen Core series) had P & E cores-which it did not.

Another way to say it would be "the Alder Lake E-cores that power the N100 have roughly the same performance as the individual cores (the equivalent of today's P-cores) found in Intel's Sky Lake flagship CPUs from 2015."
Reply
CelicaGT

Better off getting one of the dozens of mini PCs on the market. About the size of a current Gen Apple TV but with upgradable RAM and NVMe SSD, same processor and for less money. Recently picked up a Beelink version for the old man, was around 170CAD iirc. As received spec was 8GB RAM, 256GB NVMe Gen3 storage. Dumped in 16GB RAM that was laying about, and a 1TB SATA. For general computing there's no beating the value of these things.
Reply
usertests

JamesJones44 said:
Pretty cool, but eMMC is disappointing. I'm sure that is the best they could do for the price envelope, but my experiences with eMMC have been very disappointing as far as performance goes. Great for secondary storage, but for primary storage it's just too slow.
Notton said:
I hope that eMMC is sitting in a M.2 SATA or NVMe slot.
I like that it comes with 16GB of RAM. That's the maximum N100 supports, and is plenty for windows.
The somewhat larger MeLE Quieter4C has an M.2 2280 slot:
https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/12/05/mele-quieter4c-ultrathin-fanless-intel-n100-mini-pc-supports-up-to-three-displays/
I'd get that over this (or more likely some different brand). It's also fanless if that's the requirement.

N100 "unofficially" supports 32 GB of RAM. Intel is not honest about Atom lineups.

BleuCheddar said:
Another way to say it would be "the Alder Lake E-cores that power the N100 have roughly the same performance as the individual cores (the equivalent of today's P-cores) found in Intel's Sky Lake flagship CPUs from 2015."
Alder Lake E-cores (Gracemont) have about the same IPC as Skylake cores but are hitting lower clocks, and without hyperthreading. So an N100 is comparable to roughly an i5-6600T, but with a superior iGPU, AV1 hardware decode, etc. It is limited to 32 GB of single-channel (64-bit) memory, sometimes using slower DDR4/LPDDR4(X) instead of LPDDR5/DDR5 to cut costs.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5157vs2613vs2614vs2570vs2565/
Without a fan there could be even less performance since an N100 can be made to use over 20 Watts despite the "6 W TDP". Unlike other Alder Lake chips, Intel has been cagey about clocks and base/turbo TDP for Alder Lake-N.
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das_stig

eMMC no thanks, would it have taken much space to put in a small m2 ?
Reply
usertests

das_stig said:
eMMC no thanks, would it have taken much space to put in a small m2 ?
This chonky "stick" form factor is for people who think the MeLE Quieter 4C (w/ M.2 2280) is unacceptably large.

It looks large enough that you'd think they could fit 2230/2242 in there, but I guess not.
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