Announced back in May, the ECS LIVA QC710 mini desktop PC based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c is now available on the Microsoft Store. Via CNX Software.
Described as a ‘developer kit’, the mini PC, which runs Windows 10 Home for Arm but can be upgraded to Windows 11, appears to be US-only and sells for $219, though students, parents, teachers and the military can get this down to $197.10. No refunds are available, however, if you don’t like it as this is more of an app test device than general consumer tech.
More of a development testbed than anything you’d actually want to develop apps on, the QC710 has a very low spec, with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and just a few ports (Ethernet 10/100, micro SD, 1x HDMI, 1x USB 2, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, and a Type-C for power) alongside Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth. It’s pitched toward silent operating and instant-on operation rather than extreme processing power. It’s pretty small, at 1.38 x 4.69 x 4.59 in (35.05 x 119.13 x 116.58 mm) and weighs just 0.51lb (0.23kg). For comparison, the M1 Mac Mini measures 7.7 inches on each side and is 1.4 inches thick, and weighs 2.9lbs.
The Snapdragon 7c is an 8nm chip with eight 64bit cores running at up to 2.4GHz, enough GPU to power 4K HDR video, and a built-in LTE modem. A Gen2 version with better clock speeds (2.55GHz) and faster memory controller was announced in May, but it’s not entirely clear which version is powering this devkit. The Snapdragon 8c, offering 3.15GHz and a better GPU on a 7nm process, is also available.
Microsoft allows Windows 11 to be installed on older, unsupported hardware but specifically nixes official support — minimum requirements for full compatibility remain unchanged
Windows 11 for Arm can run natively on specific Android smartphones — the test device heats up very fast, and battery life substantially decreases
